MISSION REPORT: After The Onslaught

OBJECTIVES:

• Secure XR XII Stimpak Samples and return them to Corida – Pending

ENEMIES ENGAGED
Two Squads of X-Wings: Mostly Deceased

MISSION DETAILS
One moment we were aboard the Onslaught, pulling away in the Grand Moff Lee, and the next we were engulfed in a barrage of angry plasma and fighters. We were determined to get to Corida.

There were numerous X-Wing squads looking for targets. Two of them direct their attention at the Grand Moff Lee. I started strapping Salin in and shouted for Baz to get in a gun seat, despite his heavy bleeding. As he started shooting at the oncoming X-Wings, I patched up his wound with my Medpac. It was a hard task, given the yoking and swerving Turk was putting the Lee through. I got his bleeding to stop, saving the smuggler’s life and ensuring the continued operation of his blaster turret.

As the ship lurched to one side, I used the momentum to throw myself into the missile operators chair. 4GT howled targets off at us and the Dewbacks went to work. Turk punched the speed, shooting away from the X-Wings, who gave chase. Baz used the mounted guns to fire off a few warning shots at the approaching X-Wings. The sound shocked Astra into a flurry of action at the communications console. He spooled up a Hyperspace route and refocused our shields against the oncoming attackers.

The first squad of X-Wings strafed us but Turk spun the Grand Moff Lee away from the shots easily, meanwhile the second squad was lining up for an attack run. 4GT read us off the coordinates of the ships new positions. Astra jammed their communications, to keep the squads from ringing the M60 Capital Ship looping in the distance.

An indicator light came on for the weapon controls I was manning, I dialed in 4GT’s coordinates and fired a missile, scrapping the lead X-Wing of the lead squad, raining debris on the fighters behind it. Baz fired into the same group and tore into another X-Wing. Turk swung the ship around to return fire, finishing off Baz’ target and disabling a second fighter, leaving that squad with only two. The leadership of the squad must have been taken out, because the remaining two ships couldn’t manage to focus on the Grand Moff Lee long enough to shoot it.

The secondary squad loomed, shifting itself into better positioning, despite Turk’s efforts to keep them from our tail. 4GT shouted out more vectors and Astra boosted the shields, rotating some from the front to cover our rear. My weapon was slow, and while it reloaded I shouted out visuals of the incoming squad. Baz fired into the remaining pair of the first squad, with Turk swinging the ships Ion Cannons around and shouting, “Die Rebel Scum!” as the cannons decimated one X-Wing and nearly crippled the second.

The second squad, following behind us, had to pull back to avoid the scraps and floating bodies of their rebel companions. 4GT pulled up a hud on my weapons display, indicating the leader of the squad, while Astra confirmed positions and estimated the X-Wings course. I took it all in, lined up the X-Wings in the missile controls, and fired, a blue trail shooting off into space toward the rebels. The two lead craft spun out of the way of the missile, leaving the squadron leader wide open. His ship exploded, sending his wings outward to crash into the two ships behind him, until they too became part of the explosion. Baz fired into the debris cloud for good measure, Turk made another retaliatory attack, but did little damage.

The X-Wings responded with a Proton Torpedo. It slammed into our shield and damaged the ships systems, but the Grand Moff Lee kept flying. Baz fired again and finished off the last X-Wing of the first squad, Turk shifted the ship around and used the Ion Cannons to tear apart one of the remaining two from the second squad. The lone remaining X-Wing charged us, fired it’s torpedos, which went wide, and then punched their engines, shooting back toward the M60.

As soon as they were out of the ships weapon’s ranges, Astra and I got to our feet, working on stabilizing The Grand Moff Lee. Astra shifted power away from the damaged systems, rerouting them to the Hyperdrive and cutting down on our wait time. A few moments later the pinpoints of stars shifted into long blue lines, spinning around the cockpit, as we broke into Hyperspace.

Turk pulled out a clutch of cigars, offering them to everyone. I removed my helmet and took one, lighting it up. Behind us, the Onslaught hung hopeless in space, but we would complete our mission and return these samples to Corida.

End Mission Summary
-Cassius Numa

MISSION REPORT: Escape the Doomed Star Destroyer: Onslaught

OBJECTIVES:

• Secure XR XII Stimpak Samples -

ENEMIES ENGAGED
Rebel Soldiers – Deceased
Salin – Captured
Rebel Droids – Avoided

RECOMMENDED FOLLOW UP ACTION
Avoid All Boarding Action on The Onslaugt, haul it into the nearest star.

COMMENDABLE CITIZENS
Crew of the Star Destroyer

MISSION DETAILS
We were given medical attention for our extensive wounds when we returned to the Star Destroyer we had deployed from: The Onslaught. We would be taking The Onslaught back to Carida to turn in the Stimpak Samples from our mission on Ceibos.

We were taking some R&R at Rebo’s Pool, the only Club on the ship that played Galactic Jizz. Turk was gambling, Baz was wisecracking, and I was making progress with Bae, the tender of the bar. She was a sweet, dark skinned human who enjoyed listening to my old war stories. Too young for me, but a guy can hope. Unfortunately this time was cut short as the Star Destroyer abruptly departed hyperspace.

Lots of the patrons lost their footing, and I caught Bae before she hit her head on the bar. Claxon’s began to blare and demanded we take up our battle stations. Over the intercom we could hear the automated systems announce: Damage Reported at Hangar, Reactor, Barracks, and Bridge. I encouraged Bae to get to safety and gathered up the Dewbacks, ordering the crew to head to the barracks and arm up.

We met up with 4GT in our quarters. I put on my armor and Baz threw on some Snow Trooper armor. In my backpack I carried the Medpac and our disease and antidote samples. Turk was already headed to the hangar when I gave an order for him and 4GT to head there. I thought that they should get out into their fighters as soon as possible before the hangar was shut down, and incase Baz and I got in trouble and required an evac.

Baz and I headed deeper into the Barracks to straighten out whatever was happening there. In my headset I cued up Gigi Tonen and the Blasting Bass Blasters, one of my favorite tracks, it’s manic high pitches and constant beat keeping me on my toes as we cautiously made our way deeper into the barracks.

At first there was an endless stream of people pushing past us but slowly the level of retreating personnel dropped significantly, until there was no one passing by us anymore. We came to a darkened hallway section with a cylindrical obstruction that had burst through the ceiling. Baz moved ahead and checked it out. It was covered with pods, which opened up immediately and began leaking little droids. The droids began expelling gas. I ordered Baz back and closed the blast doors behind us, hoping the droids would waste the gas. I wasn’t sure our helmets could handle it.

We retreated and I called out to 4GT about the threat, then asked him to notify Astra that we should find out why we’d been pulled out of Hyperspace. We communicated that there was gas and everyone would need filtration units. 4GT relayed this over Comms and the stations speakers.

We made our way to the bridge to meet up with Turk, to see about taking over controls and salvaging the Star Destroyer. We checked the controls and found that the bridge had suffered a breach. I reasoned that these were probably the same droids that had been injected into the barracks. On the other side of the door was either poison gas or raw vacuum. Baz and I left Turk to figure it out, with 4GT Coordinating some droids that could go into the bridge with him and take control of the Star Destroyer.

Baz and I broke off to head to the Reactor, where I recalled that there had been report of a breach. The Reactor is voiding energy all over. The staff was in shambles, running around like crazy. The whole ship would soon explode if they didn’t get back to their jobs.

I grabbed the nearest scrambling engineer and demanded a status report. He told me that there was damage and they didn’t know how to contain it. I squeezed on his throat and calmly explained that he could either get to repairing the ship or they’d all die, and that wouldn’t be because the ship had crashed or rebels would kill them, but that I would personally obliterate them.

The engineer got to work on repairs and began stabilizing the ship. Our limited options were becoming increasing limited as the ship took damage from a rebel attack on the outside. We became worried we would have to leave in the Grand Moff Lee.

It took debate over the comms, but we decided to vacate the Star Destroyer and advise a retreat. Baz and I ran out of the reactor core and made our way to the hangar, to get to our ship. When we arrived, a rebel transport had landed in the bay and begun spraying blaster fire out over the Imperials therein. I ran into the fight and let my heavy blaster go full auto, the others opened fire and we mowed down multiple targets and even blasted Salin with a few bolts. Took out the mounted turreteer.

Salin took down my cover with his weird gun. It destroyed the boxes I was hiding behind for cover. Turk ran by me, taking a few shots at the Rebels as he passed, headed to prep our ship for takeoff. Baz and I continued to provide cover fire while 4GT loped after Turk. Most of the blaster fire was aimed in my direction, my red armor must make me stand out.

Reached to my belt and plucked a Frag Grenade, throwing it into the U-Wing and blasting those inside. The computers were destroyed and the U-Wing lifted off the bay floor only to careen into a wall as it’s boosters continued to accelerate. Salin scrambled out of cover and I chased. Baz broke out of cover and chased as well, firing at Salin with his weapon on stun.

Didn’t have time to switch my Blaster Rifle to Stun like Baz did. Instead put a blaster bolt through Salin’s kneecap, knocking the old man down and nearly removing his leg. The old smuggler spun around and squeezed off a bolt of plasma into Baz’ chest. Baz collapsed on the old man and fired his stun bolt into the man’s arm, rendering his firing hand useless.

Behind us, Turk positioned the ships guns and took out the remaining Rebel. Tried to get Baz’ wounds under control but couldn’t stop the bleeding, though a Stimpak helped get him in better condition temporarily. We loaded Salin into the ship and exited the hangar bay just as the infected people emerged from the depths of the ship and began to wreak havoc.

We found Astra waiting onboard The Grand Moff Lee. Then, with our samples and Salin secured, we raced away from the Star Destroyer hangar just as a horde of infected personnel broke through the hangar doors.

Further Reporting pending…
-Cassius Numa

MISSION REPORT: Rebel Science/Prison Facility on Cibus

OBJECTIVES:

• Capture XR XII Stimpak Samples – Completed

ENEMIES ENGAGED
Rebel Soldiers – Deceased
Wampas – Status N/A
Infected Prisoners and Personal – Deceased
Rebel Experiments – Deceased

RECOMMENDED FOLLOW UP ACTION
Mission Commander Cassius Numa highly suggests an orbital barrage of the planetary surface to eliminate possibility of spread of infectious agent.

COMMENDABLE CITIZENS
None

MISSION DETAILS
I was placed in command for the duration of the mission, the first time since re-enlisting that I was given the position. Performance wasn’t perfect, but we completed the mission and got everyone home.

Veric Traig, our prisoner from our previous mission, was taken by Imperial Intelligence for further questioning. Some of the new intelligence he provided included the location of a rebel prison facility on Ceibos. Garren provided us with access codes. We were charged with getting a sample of an experimental Stimpak. This sounded similar to our first mission.

We were given two Rebel uniforms and two prison uniforms to aid us. Included with these uniforms was the advice that we not let the access codes go to waste. We were reminded that the Stimpak was our goal and that anything beyond that would be a bonus.

We approached the facility and Astra hailed ahead, but Astra received no response. I commanded a sweep of communication traffic and found the world oddly dead of any noise. Turk eyeballed a landing pad and brought us in to land.

When we finally approached the facility doors in our proper costumes, we found a full crew of rebels trying as hard as they could to keep the doors closed. The man in charge of the exit wouldn’t open the doors because he had not received any communication from the inside. The men maintained that there had been a prison uprising and that containment of the Imperial Loyalists inside was necessary until he could get more information.

We tried various persuasive tactics, Turk’s gambits didn’t work. Eventually, I called him a coward for locking his allies in with the rioters. His response was pulling a blaster on me.. I still outdrew the guy, but the lucky bastard had the Force on his side, the shot went wide and he lived. I was shot then. A lot. I pulled a Stimpak and slammed it into my thigh, not bothering to take it out. I was shot again. They shot the gun from my hand, I pulled a frag grenade and threw it in their direction, but the pain in my body made it hard to aim, the grenade went wide. They lit me up again. By the end I’d taken six blaster shots and my body hadn’t given out on me. There was a time I’d be impressed with myself if I’d lived through one.

I got my heavy blaster rifle back in my hands. I finally registered 4GT shouting at me to move to cover. Bleeding and burnt under my armor, I staggered to cover and hand off my heavy blaster to Astra. Turk fired from the underbelly of the ship, taking one of them down and nearly a second. Baz got into a fisticuffs with the officer behind the desk.

Astra killed another one behind the crates. The dying rebel shot Astra. We both took a shot at him and missed. He was eventually taken down by the others.

Eventually we’d taken all the rebels down, but they’d torn us up pretty badly. I had Astra try the console, but he couldn’t get the doors open. We hobbled back to the ship to look for a new entrance.

Eventually we found an icy cave we thought we could sneak through. We had Baz change into the Snow Trooper armor to keep himself limber, and myself and 4GT ventured into the caves, hoping it would lead to a back way into the facility. Instead we found two giant white furred beasts with vicious claws. I had Astra search the Imperial database after the mission to confirm that these were Wampas.

They tore into Baz, and I thought I’d lost another soldier. They tore into me as well, nearly scrapping my armor. I knew we couldn’t win against them, so I shot up the ceiling of the tunnel and caused a collapse between us and them.

After the collapse, there was a quiet. Baz wasn’t conscious, 4GT was stunned. I pulled one of Baz’ Stimpacks from his belt and used it on him. We got to our feet and hobbled back out of the cave before the Wampas could finish us off. We met up with Astra and Turk midway, they helped us back to the ship.

We took to the air and located a new landing pad and had 4GT use his fusion cutter to open us a way in, no longer concerned with subtlety. Inside we found a big hangar. Astra plugged into the computer and before he got himself locked out, he managed to download a map of the place.

We used the map to navigate our way down to the labs Inside we found creatures that looked very similar to the beasts I fought back on our first mission together. I used the last of my grenades on a group of them, then we mopped the rest up. We stumbled across an Imperial soldier too cowardly to pull his wits together and escape with us. We promised to come back for him, but circumstances prevented us from keeping that promise. Once we got down to the labs we found tanks full of these creatures. They were being grown there.

There were two rebel guards that told us about how these creatures would save the galaxy, how we’d all become these creatures. We took the samples and they started to fight us. The creatures burst out of the tanks they had been growing in and a countdown began. At some point during this fight I lost consciousness. I think it was a blaster, but I didn’t see the shot coming. Astra must have given me a Stimpak, because I saw his face briefly when I regained consciousness. A moment later he was fending off a big beast that had broken out of the tanks while I was out.

I switched my Heavy Blaster to Full Auto and mowed one of the beasts down. Turk was almost to the door already, with the samples we had come for. We beat a rushed retreat back out of the labs as a timer counted down. We rushed past the cell with the soldier who wasn’t willing to leave, we ran through the hangar we’d used a fusion cutter to enter, we ran all the way back to our ship, with our samples.

I ordered the ship to lightspeed before the timer ran out, reasoning that if it was an explosion, we would do better the further way from it we were.

As mission commander I highly recommend a planetary bombardment of Ceibos, to eliminate any lingering threat this new rebel weapon may pose.

Mission Report End
-Cassius Numa

MISSION REPORT: Infiltrate Ymia

OBJECTIVES:

• Aquire Rebel contact of Salin, currently in Imperial custody. (Completed)
• Do not alert Imperial presence to operation.

ENEMIES ENGAGED
Imperial Storm Troopers
TIE Fighters
Rebel Holdouts

COMMENDABLE CITIZENS
None

MISSION DETAILS
I would like to begin this report by apologizing for my tardiness at the initial mission briefing. I stayed out too late at The Belching Rathtar. Feliya and the Hootful Haderan Clan were headlining and they don’t make it out to this part of the galaxy often, so I indulged.

We had not been informed that Dorn Squad would be taking on additional personnel, so it was a surprise to see the leather clad civilian waiting for us in the briefing room. Garren introduced him as Astra, our new splicer. Sounds like he’s here with us on some kind of community service.

Anyway, Garren starts talking to us about Salin, Baz’s surrogate father, who’s princess kidnapping gambit we had foiled on our last mission. Analytics had gone through the hyperdrive of the Correllian Blockade Runner we’d scuttled on our first mission. By charting past locations of the ship, the Empire was able to intercept another rebel vessel and shot it down over Ymia. Among the captured rebel personnel is a man who has close ties with Salin.
Garren wanted us to retrieve this rebel agent from the makeshift holding facility, so that the rebel could be properly processed for information.

We were given control of a ship, which we named The Grand Moff Lee, after the eponymous Moff who rose to prominence in the Clone Wars, but had tragically died of an, “Over Vigorous Heart,” according to the Imperial News Vids. It was fast, armed, but uncomfortably cramped.

We rode out on a Star Destroyer on routine hyperspace patrol, sparing the team an extended ride in The Grand Moff Lee. A few days later we broke off from the Patrol, with coordinates to rendezvous at after mission completion. Astra took the comms, Baz and I set up at the guns, Turk and 4GT set down in the cockpit, and R5 plugged in to recharge at a charging station.

Ymia was a resort planet, it’s economy based on tourism and exotic game hunting. When the rebel ship crashed on Ymia’s surface, the Empire quickly established a prisoner processing center by requisitioning a sprawling resort. They had also established a steady patrol of TIE fighters and set a Star Destroyer into contiguous orbit while the operation played out below on the surface.

Turk kept us out of scanner range for the Star Destroyer, dropping quickly into atmosphere. The resort wasn’t suffering much, it was winter in this region of Ymia, when we visited. the northern hemisphere was white with snow, and blizzarding clouds. We made a pass at the resort prison, checking it’s defenses from above, but we didn’t land on site.

Instead Turk took us out over the frozen forest, settling The Grand Moff Lee down in a snowy clearing. When the doors opened I did my job and took point, the others following behind me. I picked up an old game trail and started moving us down it, figuring it would eventually bring us to a road. I was so busy looking for tracks that I didn’t hear the speeders. Astra knocked down a dead tree in the path of the troopers, hoping they’d take a detour.

Instead they smashed their speeders and landed in the snow. Everyone else made it to cover in time to keep the Troopers from seeing them. I however, was wearing dark red armor. I tried to deescalate the situation by telling them I was a private contractor leading a hunting party. As a credit to their training, they didn’t believe it. Turk emerged from the snow to back my story up, but then Astra gave himself away by stepping on a branch buried under the snow.

When the Troopers heard the snap, they rightfully expected an ambush, so they burried a bolt in Astra’s chest. 4GT and Baz sprang up out of the snow, the robot trying to coordinate us. Baz had switched his gun to stun, but the Trooper’s armor was doing it’s job. The troopers weren’t going to stun back, they were intending the use of lethal force against Baz.

I made a judgement that lethal force was necessary. Switched my Heavy Blaster to Full Auto and buried a quiver of light into their backs. Aimed for their spines, so it would be quick and painless. Carbon scoring confirmed the shot pattern was tight.

Gave Astra a Stimpak to get him back on his feet. We did our best to bury the troopers under soil, but most of it had frozen solid, so we settled for snow.

Took point again and picked up the trail the speeders had whipped through the snow. Eventually we came up on the resort. We set up a stakeout position at the edge of the forest. A LAMDA Shuttle came down from the Star Destroyer, depositing Engineers who were heading into the building. Astra attempted to mix himself with the engineering staff in order to infiltrate the facility. It looked like he was stopped just before entering, when he couldn’t produce credentials. They detained him and took him inside.

Figuring we’d lost Astra, I took some time to check along the perimeter of the resort/prison. I found every door guarded by at least four Storm Troopers. They had set up communications equipment, shield generators, anti aircraft weapons, and even an AT-ST was marching a slow loop around the facility. If I had been there as some kind of surprise inspection, I’d have been impressed.

Turk and I decided to go sneak off and find the rebel ship that crashed, leaving 4GT and Baz to wait for any communication from Astra. We followed the path leading out of the place and toward the crashed ship. Instead we came across some rebels, huddled hopelessly against eachother, a futile attempt to stave off death from the cold. With only the two of us, Turk and I decided to leave them alone, but noted their coordinates on our datapads.

Eventually I picked up the trail of Snow Trooper bootprints leading away from the rebel wreck. Followed them back to their source. By the time we arrived at the rebel ship the sun had gone down. The flames from the wreckage made the snow look orange. We made out five snow trooper guards, their shadows cast long by the crackling flames.

I sent off an unsecured broadcast, pretending to be a rebel, claiming we would be gathering reinforcements at the position we had noted on our pads earlier. Three of the snowtroopers jogged off through the snow, in the rebel’s direction. Turk and I switched our weapons to stun for the remaining two.

Unfortunately while we were sneaking closer, Turk nearly tripped on a rock hidden under the snow. The troopers noticed. I shot one of them in the arm. One took a shot at me that went wide. Turk blasted one in the chest with a stun shot and I finished off mine. We detained them and went to work setting up a secondary distress beacon on the rebel ship, hoping to draw out most of the Imperials back at the resort.

We got back to the prison and waited a bit longer. Astra snuck up on us, having used our beacon distraction to escape the facility. He told us that there would be a prisoner transfer and that he’d arranged for our ship to be a gunship escort for the transports. We rushed back through the snow to Grand Moff Lee, where R5 had already been warming up the engines for us. We hopped on and made our way to the landing pad, in formation with the transports. When we got to the pad, we were somehow able to get our rebel prisoner, but a few guards came onboard as well.

After we lifted off, I got off of the gunnery seat and started a casual conversation, during which I pulled a stun grenade from my belt and dropped it on the floor. One of the Storm Troopers noticed and said, “You dropped something.” The blast hit everyone in range, our Prisoners, the Snow Troopers, Baz, and Astra. After the blast I pulled my Light Blaster Pistol and put a stunning shot into one of the Snow Troopers that was still standing. Baz shot the other one with a stun shot.

We stuffed the nonessential personnel in the escape pods and got ready to eject them. Turk tried to take us to Hyper-Space. The Star Destroyer made contact and told us to disengage. there was an extended back and forth that Astra was brought into, claiming that the engine was doing it involuntarily. They intended to get us with the tractor beam and that was when Turk made to break away. A Tie-Fighter that was part of our escort dropped behind us and made a strafing shot. It became clear that things wouldn’t be going well.

I strapped myself into the gunner seat and took a few shots. The matrix was totally different. Turk jerked the ship around and kept us out of trouble, one of the TIE Fighters ran into one of the other prisoner transports, causing unwanted casualties. Baz fired a Proton Torpedo and knocked one TIE into TIE. I obliterated the last one with a turret shot, managing not to hit any transports.

Once we were clear, Turk took us to hyperspace. As we broke into the blue strobe, Astra was bragging about having completely wiped our prisoner’s presence from The Resort’s records.

I would like to note I sincerely regret the loss of Imperial personnel during this mission, but believe we acted correctly given our orders and the circumstances that played out on the field.

End Report
-Cassius Numa

MISSION REPORT: Surcasis Mission (Part 2)

OBJECTIVES:
Investigate King Donovan H’Darr’s intention to join the Rebel Alliance. – Completed

ENEMIES ENGAGED
7 Rebel Guerillas – Deceased
Salin – Alive

COMMENDABLE CITIZENS
Kodo Ray – Deceased (Killed by Rebels.)

MISSION DETAILS

Like any great citizen of the Empire, Kodo Rey’s death did not prevent him from continuing to serve. We used his home as an ad hoc HQ for the duration of the Surcasis mission. After a night of rest, we set out the next morning to find a contact which the others had pulled from Kodo’s rolodex, a Quarran named Josh Thorn. Kodo’s posthumous generosity continued, when he volunteered en abstentia to let us borrow his speeder.

When most everyone else in Tinia was having their breakfasts, we were sauntering through a seedy Paza’ak Den looking for Surcasian criminals. Turk found Josh Thorn at a table, then convinced the Quarren to use the brand new Heavy Blaster Rifle for collateral on a game. It was a tense game, but Turk won. At first Josh tried to accuse us of cheating, but after Turk bought a round for everyone, the Paza’ak player calmed down and cooperated, giving us information about an Ithorian named Io Novar, who might know more information about Salin’s kidnapping operation. Asked Turk what his plan was if he lost the game. Didn’t care for his response.

We were lead to a Spice Den, one we were assured Io Novar liked to frequent. Turk, who loves the sound of his own voice, talked the Ithorian into trading data from the Princesses Droid for information about Salin’s location. Turk wiped everything about us from the data, then transferred the rest to Novar. The transaction complete, we headed off to the warehouse district, to look for Salin’s compound.

Our initial pass didn’t give us much information, so I asked to be dropped off on a roof across from Salin’s warehouse. After doing a sweep of the building’s exterior, no guards were found, only cameras. After some encouragement, Baz was dropped off a block or so off and he walked himself to the front door. He talked to a droid, or a data pad, leaving a message for Salin to meet him for drinks later. Baz then took the speeder and headed off to meet with Salin. When Baz confirmed that the Princess was in the compound he’d say the signal words, “I think you need another drink,” then we would breach the compound.

We waited as the rain fell, myself on top of a rooftop, scope trained on the front gate. A ship left out the top of the hangar, headed in Baz’ direction. We listened in on Baz talking to a guy who turned out to be his old mentor. Salin didn’t trust Baz, he’d brought backup just in case. EVentually Salin gave him a task, to hand deliver a note to King H’darr, then Salin left. The signal never came. Baz opened the letter and found it was a threat for King H’Darr to meet their ransom and they would hand the Princess over.

We decided to switch Baz for Turk, sending the latter off to meet with King H’Darr and deliver the note. Whatever he did there, it worked. H’Darr gave us free reign for our operation, the law enforcement reaction time would be slow, he promised. Turk gave the go ahead and I moved to enter the compound through the roof, as the ship carrying Salin returned to the compound.

The landing wasn’t quiet, the rebels opened fire and tore a hole through my chest. The shot must’ve seared lung tissue, breathing was hard and still hasn’t gotten better. Took a Stimpack and asked 4GT if he could use his fusion cutter to get through the front door. In moments, he and Baz burst through the hole the Droid had made, joining the fray.

Took a shot that didn’t go well, burried myself in cover behind the wall of a fuel shack. There was noise from inside the fuel holding area, a muffled woman’s voice. Went around the back side of the hut, took a Stimpack. Took a moment to recover, finished the walk around the shack, fatally perforated the three rebels standing there. Caught a glimpse of Baz running toward the ship Salin had just landed in, it was preparing for takeoff. Baz put a bolt in the ceiling door controls, stalling them for a while.

Standing upon the bodies of my rebel foes, I peaked inside the fuel depot and recognized the Princess tied up inside. She was tied to a bomb on a countdown, which one of the rebels must have activated. Called out on Comms that the Princess had been found. Baz peeled away from his attempt to get aboard Salin’s ship, instead coming to untie the Princess.

A manned turret emplacement opened fire, an impossibly direct hit in the back. Let the shot spin me around, took out one more rebel, while 4GT dropped a comms satellite on the gunnery emplacement. Baz was having some trouble with the ropes and the bombs and some sage advice from an old Storm Trooper must’ve gone a long way, because after speaking with him, he got her free. We managed to get the Princess out in time, though Salin escaped on his ship. Turk arrived just in time, swinging Kodo’s speeder into the open roof and allowing us all to get aboard before the facility exploded.

Back at Kodo’s place we asked the Princess a few questions about her culpability in her own kidnapping. She gave the impression she hadn’t realized what she was getting herself into. Still, 4GT and I thought we should report her. But Turk had made a deal with the King, insuring that Surcasis would continue to support the Empire for now.

There was a party, but I stayed at Kodo’s residence, recovering from my wounds. It was nice to have the place to myself. Kodo had a pretty good sound system and good taste in music. Guy deserved better.

- Cassius Numa

Objectives

Enemies Engaged

Commendable Citizens

Mission Details

First thing I remember is visiting a bar. Name of the bar? Doesn’t matter: it burned down! We met our guy Kodo Ray easily enough. Shifty guy from my recollection. No sooner did we make his acquaintance did some fringer-looking tough guys walk in and started shooting.

I managed to protect our contact from the rebels’ initial volley but he still managed to take a fatal shot. Before he kicked it, he let me know some vital information: the king’s daughter has gone missing from her hotel room. I knew we had to investigate.

Security at her hotel was tight, but we finessed our way past, undetected. In her room, we found her security droid waiting and after some negotiating, he divulged what he knew about her disappearance. She’d left with a man who [:baz-kellen|Baz] recognized as his old mentor Salin. By all the evidence it was not an abduction.

Next we acquired a base of operations, where we launched our next endeavor: find a way to contact Salin. Our friend Kodo’s belongings held the name of someone in the criminal element who could help us.

It took only a minor payoff to get this quarren’s help, and we were face to face with Io Novar. In exchange for information on Salin, we gave Novar the data from the princess’ security droid minus any data regarding our operation. Novar gave us the address of a hangar he knew to be used by Salin.

After some rest, we drove by the hangar on recon. Nothing came of it so we decided to leverage our connection to Salin and had Baz meet with him. Baz couldn’t get Salin to divulge anything, but did earn his trust enough to ask Baz to deliver a message to the king.

I took it upon myself to meet with the king, while the rest of the team would stand ready to breach the structure as soon as I gave the word. Talking to the king revealed some important information: the note was a message from her abductors informing him that he must announce public support for the Rebellion by the Surcasis government. If he did, his daughter would be returned to him. Instead of that plan, I offered to retrieve his daughter from these people in exchange for some less public support for the Empire: some favorable fee reductions for Imperial ships docking here. He acquiesced, and I gave the team the go ahead.

I arrived at the hangar just as they needed evac. I picked them up, with the princess. Soon after she was reunited with her father.

Dictated but not read.

MISSION REPORT: Surcasis Mission

OBJECTIVES:

• Investigate King Donovan H’Darr’s intention to join the Rebel Alliance.

ENEMIES ENGAGED
Three rebel soldiers. – Deceased
Droid – Detained but unharmed.
Local Law Enforcement – Stunned but otherwise unharmed.

COMMENDABLE CITIZENS
Kodo Ray – Deceased (Killed by Rebels.)

MISSION DETAILS
Requisitioned a Heavy Blaster Rifle and a Light Blaster Pistol, was really excited to use them. Later received news that this would not be a combat op. Brought the blasters anyway.

Baz was placed in charge of the unit by Command. It was decided that we should not represent ourselves as Imperials, given the changing political climate. Put the helmet in a tactical backpack and hung a poncho over the rest. This worked out, it was cold when we landed, and the poncho did not stand out.

The buildings in Tinia were a combination of ostentatious prewar edifices with post-war enhancements brought in from various parts of the galaxy. We were looking for one structure in particular: a bar. Baz and Turk thought we might find our contact, Kodo Rey, inside.

Walked in and took a position near the bartender, keeping an eye on the front door. The other three made their way over to a table that Coto was occupying. They sat down and talked for short period, Kodo looked pretty nervous. Turns out his paranoia wasn’t unwarranted, as it didn’t take very long for rebels to show up. They were looking for Kodo, I guess, because they made as if they would head right for him.

Stole a drink and broke the nearest jaw available, then dove behind the bar for cover. The rebels opened fire, so the heavy blaster rifle got to break in it’s auto-fire mode. Made one rebel into a martyr, maimed another, but not before they shot our fleeing contact in the back.

Baz turned up behind the bar too, sent a few shots at the rebels, but they went wild, ricocheting and igniting a pool of alcohol between us and the attackers. Another round of auto fire from the heavy blaster rifle brought the last two down. We retreated out the back door with Kodo’s body, before the place burned down.

Baz, Turk, and 4GT got a lead from Kodo before he died. The King’s daughter, Princess Cerronea H’darr, had vanished a few nights ago, about the time when the King seemed to change his mind about being part of the Empire. We went off to the hotel she’d last been seen at, where she had bee attending some kind of school event.

Once inside the hotel we hit a few stumbling blocks. We couldn’t get the Concierge to let us get a room, a few levels of the hotel had been completely shut off to visitors, and local law enforcement was crawling all over the place. Failed at getting a uniform, so Baz and Turk went off on their own to find some.

While they were gone, 4GT and I hung out at the bar, listening to the band. Waited until one of the off duty staffers of the hotel broke away from his drinking buddies and went off to use the facilities. In the restroom he suffered a concussion, but he didn’t have the kind of ID required to get upstairs.

Baz and Turk came back with two mobile laundry hampers and staff uniforms, so those of us without uniforms hid inside the hampers. When we got upstairs they had to be escorted by a guard. When they found the laundry room we stunned the guard with the new blaster rifle. Put on the uniform and escorted them to the next floor up, where the kidnapping presumedly happened.

Once we were up there and past the next set of guards, we found a Droid guarding a door. After some insults and 4GT trying to play sympathetic, the droid admitted that it was guarding the room the Princess had been occupying when she was kidnaped. After it repeatedly refused to grant us entry, it became clear that force was necessary. Tackled the droid and knocked it through the door, the other three followed behind and barricaded us in.

Eventually reached an arrangement with the droid and it let 4GT plug directly into it. We found out that the Princess wasn’t kidnapped at all, she’d left willingly, with Baz’s old mentor Salin. Never heard of the guy, buy Baz seemed pretty worried.

We made our way out of the hotel without alerting anybody, then found a place to plan our next move…

I have debriefed our newest arrivals of the special operations program. I am deeply concerned with their actions on the moon of Argai Minor. While escaping from local dregs, the squad secured an Imperial astromech droid, R5-B1, and proceeded to the closest mining facility. There, they were taken captive and used for hard labor for roughly three weeks. By imploring the use of fellow prisoners, many of which were identified as missing Imperial members, the squad attempted an exodus. On a scheduled surface assignment, the prisoners managed to overtake their guards. The troopers defeated the security force and took control of the encampment’s blaster turrets. After making their way into the mining facility’s central office, they apprehended the owner, Jar-Tan Jen. From there the team contacted local authorities. Sector law enforcement secured the scene until Imperial personnel arrived to extract our members. All were returned to Carida, including R5-B1 who has been retasked to assist Dorn Squad.

I will continue to keep a close eye on Dorn Squad. I am concerned with filling troop gaps with such unorthodox outfits, especially with the sensitive nature of the work. Perhaps their superfluous character could be useful with more expendable work.

MISSION REPORT: Droid Retrieval and Cleanup

OBJECTIVES

• Locate Escaped Witness from Derelict Correlian Blockade Runner – Complete

ENEMIES ENGAGED

• 2 Scavengers
• Scavenger Organization
• Cort, the Scavengers Leader

COMMENDABLE CITIZENS

• Bobek, a Miner.

MISSION DETAILS

Descent into atmosphere of Argai Minor’s moon went per usual: Flames engulfed the pod, we bounced around in our harnesses, stomachs shooting up to to our chests and then down to our legs when the retro-rockets kicked in. The Sozzenels wailed in my speakers as we crashed and slid a few meters, then unstrapped and popped open the hatch to see a surface of tall grass and rolling hills.

As usual, I took point. The others gathered the survival supplies in the pod. It was twilight and we could make out the faint glow of an encampment in the Northeast, so we started heading in that direction. Through the helmet I could make out a skiff sailing over the grasses, headed toward us. Signaled for everyone to hide, but the setting sun must’ve reflected off my armor: The skiff made right for us and the two occupants hailed, the younger of the two, found out his name was Zun, demanded I put down the slugthrower. After he was informed that this wouldn’t happen, the older of the two, Bobek, interceded and explained that they’d come to help.

Bobek elaborated that there was an illegal scavenging operation nearby, which was most active at night. Bobek and Zun came out to be sure the scavengers didn’t get to us first. They admitted they’d seen the first escape pod come down to the south, but that it was too dangerous to travel in that direction, because of the scavengers. The illegal operation had a base in the southeast, which Bobek insisted we avoid. Everybody else came out of cover and we loaded onto the skiff, then headed to their camp.

The locals were welcoming. Bobek explained that they’d travelled here to mine ore, but that after they arrived the ore was found to be substandard, some kind of contaminant. The Empire lost interest in the ore so most of the mining companies left and those in the camp were stranded. Their current income came from mining and selling ore to the Ebon Depths Mining Corporation. They would be meeting up with the Mining Co. in the Northeast in three days to exchange ore for whatever they were paid.

They said that the scavenger operation was at it’s most active at night and that they had lost equipment and skiffs to the scavengers in the past. It was clear from Bobek’s tone that they had also lost personnel. Some of the more desperate miners may have also become scavengers.

They gave us a place to stay the night and we took advantage, to give a chance for Turk and 4GT to recover from the wounds they’d taken from that beast on the Blockade Runner. Turk slept naked, maybe he thought it was hot. In the morning, 4GT recited the names of all we’d lost on the Deathstar, while I did my morning fitness routine. Droid really knows how to get you to focus.

We gathered a little more information about the scavenger base to the southeast, then Turk got dressed, and we left on foot while the miners took a skiff off to their mines. We decided on going for the Scavenger Base, assuming that they would have picked up the other escape pod sometime over the previous evening. NVR eventually lead us across a trail, which I was able to pick up on. We followed the tracks until we came behind two Scavengers, a Trandoshan and a Human.

There were rolling hills between us and the two, and we found that they had been sent to the other escape pod, as it was embedded in the soil atop a grassy green hill, which the two scavengers had just surmounted. We split up, the Droid and I settling into positions in the rear while Turk and Baz advanced to the next hill. Turk tried to start a conversation with the scavengers. I didn’t hear the gambit, but the scavengers went for cover behind the escape pod, pulling their weapons.

I was nervous about the shot. It was well outside the standard range of the Slugthrower Rifle and the wind was blowing the wrong way. Focus was narrowed on the bigger of the two, when the open pod door happened to show in the scope. Caught sight of the glowing red button for the thrusters and shifted aim at the last second. Slug hit the escape pods reserve rocket ignition and lifted off the hill, tearing up chunks of grass and mud. It didn’t have much fuel though, after floating about four feet off the ground the rockets gave out and the pod crashed back down. Pod rolled back over on the two scavengers, pinning them.

Turk, Baz, and I put shots in the Trandoshan. Smaller scavenger started taking pot shots with his blaster. 4GT updated me on the windspeed and direction and I adjusted my sight, then put a slug into the smaller scavengers shoulder that nearly ripped his shoulder out of it’s socket. It hung from gristle. Wasn’t long before the big Trandoshan was dead, the human just made things worse for himself as he tried to pull his legs free. We interrogated him, during this time I amputated what was left of his arm with a knife. He confirmed that a droid had come out of the escape pod and that the scavenger operation had picked it up sometime after. It was an R-Unit, currently being held at the Scavenger base in the southeast. The two had been sent to see if there was anything else useful among the pod wreckage.

After he gave us all the information we thought we could get, Baz gave him a Stimpack for the pain. We didn’t kill him, but we didn’t remove the escape pod from his legs or do anything to staunch the bleeding from his arm. Confident the scavenger died after we left.

We followed droid tracks from the pod to where the R-Unit had likely been picked up, but lost the trail. We figured the scavengers had picked up the droid on a skiff, confirming the story we’d heard earlier. Proceeded to the southeast from there, since we knew the bases general direction.

Found ourselves at the top of a canyon, looking down at the base the scavengers had built into the opposite cliffside. There were a few cliffs, a few huts, and a few cavernous openings in the cliff, leading into the base. We brainstormed and thought maybe we could pretend to sell 4GT to the scavengers, as a diversion to get closer.

NVR-4GT determined that I should stay up on the cliffs in a sniper position, in case things went poorly. The other three made their way down a winding path on our side of the cliffs. They weren’t very quiet, as the scavengers took notice and began pouring out of the cliffs to greet them. 4GT tried to hail their leader, offering to sell himself. The leader must have responded poorly, because 4GT gave me the signal to open fire.

Again, they were having me stretch the limits of my equipment, as the depth of the canyon took them out of the weapons standard range. I buried a slug in the leader anyway, but his armor took most of the damage and I just made him angry. The scavengers opened fire on NVR and the droid slumped over and lost power. I gave a retreat order over the comms, Turk and Baz ran quickly back up the hill. The leader of the scavengers put a bolt in my forearm, but luckily it was my left arm. I rolled out of the way, the scavengers didn’t pursue us.

The three of us regrouped on the cliff, while the scavengers picked up 4GT and took the droid inside. We all agreed that we still had to get inside that base, so we found an alternate path down, that didn’t put us directly in view. Night was falling by the time we got down to the bottom of the canyon again. A Skiff had pulled around to load some cargo. We were just about to sneak inside a side door when I saw them roll out NVR-4GT, seems the droid was the intended cargo.

I volunteered to retrieve 4GT from the skiff he was being loaded onto and cause a distraction in the process. Baz and Turk were incredulous, but they let me go, heading inside instead, to complete the mission objective and destroy the witness droid. I put a stimpack in my thigh and made my way toward the skiff. By the time I had snuck in close, the scavenger leader, Cort, had loaded on with 4GT and some other men. They were preparing to take off. All I could think to do was jump onto the side, using my knife hand to grab a rail, preparing my pistol to take shots in my right. As the skiff took off down the canyon, I heard shouts of warning to the skiff’s pilot. They had seen me jumping on and were giving chase.

4GT had been repaired to operating condition by the scavengers, but they had fit him with a control rod. The droid pulled out his fusion cutter and severed the rail I had tucked my knife hand around for grip. I hit the ground at speed, my armor doing it’s job as I tumbled through grass and dirt, orienting myself again on my belly, pistol aimed up to catch whatever came at me next, a piece of turf stuck to my helmet.

NVR’s fusion cutter worked too well: He’d unexpectedly taken off a chunk of the skiff, the craft did a nosedive to the right, then caught against the canyon wall, spraying fuel, dust, and rocks. While everyone recovered, Cort, their leader, pulled out a vibro-axe and started walking toward me. I lined up a headshot, but reconsidered, remembering his armor. Briefly recalling the stunt with the escape pod earlier, I noticed a boulder above Cort had been knocked loose by the skiffs impact and threw a slug at it to help it along. Cort didn’t even see it coming: One second he was walking toward me with a bloodthirsty gaze and a vibrating axe, the next a boulder came to rest in the space he’d been occupying.

With the leader gone, the control rod’s purpose on 4GT became unclear. He shouted out encouragement to the scavengers, but I’d gotten used to taking the droids words to heart myself. Thinking quickly, I fired another slug at a pool of leaking fuel, catching a spark on a rock and igniting it in a pyroclactic whoosh that caught all the scavengers by surprise. While they struggled to put out the flames on themselves, I dropped my pistol, switched to the rifle, then took out the control rod on 4GT with a well placed slug. One of them put another bolt into me, but then they ran. 4GT finished them off, in their panic. I gave myself another Stimpack and told Baz and Turk that I’d retrieved our C.O. over the comms.

We received confirmation that Baz and Turk had retrieved the other droid inside the base, so maybe the distraction paid off. Finally stood up, having not moved from my landing position during the brief firefight, checked on 4GT’s status, then prepared for the possibility of the second skiff coming in behind us…

End Report

- Cassius Numa

…n’t find the HoloNet app on this thing. The ithorian I bought it from said it had HoloNet on it. Maybe it’s in the tutorial… Hell with it, I’ll do it later. Wait, is this it? Yes!

No connection available? What kind of druk is that?? I want to look up information on those pirates. Maybe the data I dumped from the blockade runner includes local news…

Full minute of background chatter and engine hum

No, I didn’t forget anything: it’s all on me. “Light travel? Travel light,” my commander used to say. Although I could’ve used some protection down in the cargo hold. Look at the bruise that thing left in my ribs! I can’t sit up right.

Can’t believe how that thing was built. We unloaded our blasters on the thing and it didn’t flinch. Hell, it swabbed the deck with our droid’s blood.

Yes, lubricant.

Did you ever hear that joke about the astromech bartender? Hold on, I want to catch your reactions. Let me set my datapad to record…