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Episode One
- Bazaar
Scene One: Jungle Assassin
Senator
Liliahna was dispatched on the Blue Dolphinto the Ilthorian herd ship
Bazaar on a re-supply mission for the Rebel Alliance – looking forward
to a danger-free mission and also the opportunity for a few days
well-earned R&R. After arriving safely aboard the
Ithorian
herd-ship, the Rebel party took one of the turbo-lifts to the upper
level. As they headed down one of the jungle trails around
the
village of Isttu, when their stroll was interrupted by the harsh crack
of blaster fire. Ahead of them on the trail, a man burst through the
undergrowth carrying a blaster, he looked frantically behind
him
and another flurry of blaster bolts singed the air around him. Looking
around frantically the man dived into the undergrowth across the path,
disappearing from view. A moment later, following him, a menacing
looking droid emerged from the forest. The droid stopped for a moment
to scan the party, then disappeared once more in the dense vegetation,
firing as it went.
For a second the members of the party looked at each other – so much
for R&R! The rebels leaped into action, heading into the jungle
in
pursuit of the assassin droid. While Old Ned, Slim, Joe and Gant made
their way down the path to where to the droid had crashed through the
undergrowth; Liliahna and Ogela ducked into the jungle and began
crashing through the undergrowth.
Liliahna arrived first to witness the droid catch up with its hapless
victim, who fell to the ground as a blaster bolt seared into him.
Liliahna fired off a shot towards the droid as her colleagues arrived.
Ogela fired at the droid, which whiled and fired at her twice. Slim and
Gant also fired of catching the droid with glancing hits. Old Ned,
belying his age, ran up to the droid and taking out a lightsabre, held
it against it’s casing pressed the activation stud. As he did
so
the others unleashed another fusillade of blaster fire and the droid
crashed to the ground - a smoking sparking ruin.
While Joe pored over the sparking remains of the droid, Ogela and the
others went to see how it’s target had fared. Unfortunately he was
beyond help, but with his dying breath had scratched the word “Kamiroz”
into the earth next to him. Ogela searched the body discovering from
hid ID that the dead man was a miner called Hanos Darr.
Scene Two: Isttu Investigations
Leaving
the
scene of the crime, the group headed on into the village of Isstu.
Having involved themselves in the dead miner’s affairs, Liliana
resolved to solve the mysterious clue left by him. After spending some
time in the local cantina listening to the conversations and rumours –
“the Alliance had been destroyed in a final battle ”; a “crime lord was
vacationing on the Bazaar”; “a ghost ship keeps appearing an
disappearing throughout the sector”; “spider-like aliens were planning
on invading the galaxy”
After a few drinks, Ogela decided she was hungry and they decided to
gram a bite to eat in the Jungle Café. After eating, the rebels spent
the rest of the afternoon wandering round the village, getting to know
the layout, doing some shopping, and keeping a sharp ear out for any
mention of Hanos Darr or the mysterious “Kamiroz”. They
quickly
discerned that the miner’s body had been found - the story going the
rounds was that the miner had destroyed the assassin droid before dying
of his wounds. According to rumour the local authorities suspected that
the assassin droid must have had accomplices as the miner’s blaster
pistol, with which he’d defended himself, was nowhere to be found at
the crime scene.
Late that afternoon, they checked into the less expensive of the
village’s two hotels. While chatting with the desk-clerk Ogela managed
to find out that Darr had been staying at the hotel as well. After
settling into their rooms and refreshing themselves; Ogela, Liliana and
Slim made their way to the unfortunate miner’s room. Fortunately the
authorities had not got there yet and sealed the room. Ogela managed to
bypass the security lock and they went in. The room was a twin, the
beds not slept in, and there were two travel bags – Darr had not been
alone!
While Lilania stood watch outside - keeping a keen eye out for the
authorities, Ogela and Slim searched the room thoroughly. They took
care not to leave fingerprints, but despite generally trashing the
place - even empting the miner's toothpaste tubes and cutting
their bars of soap up - found little of interest other than that the
miners had been working the Alderaan system. They were just about to
leave when they suddenly notices a light flashing on the commlink –
there was a message stored. Ogela played the message back – it was from
an Ithorian with distinctive spotted markings on his face – he warned
the miners that that were in danger and bid them come to his shop as
soon as possible. Ogela deleted the message and they left,
heading out into the village to grab a bite to eat.
Next morning, Liliana and the others headed out to tour the shops
again, this time looking for an Ithorian with the distinctive markings
on his face.They quickly found who they were looking for in the Droid
shop. The Itorian, Poltiss, said “Thank the Force you’ve arrived” and
swiftly shut the door behind them. He told them that Kamiroz, Darr’s
partner was still alive and had important message for them. Poltiss had
arranged for the miner to be hidden by a friend of his – one of the
priests who tended the Mother Jungle on the lower deck of the Bazaar
Thanking Poltiss for his efforts, Lilianna swiftly led Ogela and Slim
to the nearest turbolift. Using the code Poltiss had given
her
they were able to dro down to the lowest lever of the Ithorian ship –
where normally visitors were not permitted. This level of the enormous
ship was more functional that the two above, save for in the centre
where, in a huge dome, was a transplanted piece of the jungle from the
Ithorian homeworld
Making their way to the jungle, they were met by the agitated figure of
a robed Ithorian, presumable the priest spoken of by Poltiss. The
priest bade them hurry as “evil men had entered the jungle and would
harm their guest”. Dashing into the jungle area, following a faint
trail, the rebels could hear blaster fire coming from
ahead. Ogela ran forward almost crashing into two
assassins
who were just on the point of finishing off Kamiroz.
A frantic gun battle erupted as Slim and Liliana arrived and the two
assassins were slain, although Slim was wounded in the process. Kamiroz
however was badly wounded and Ogela went to work with a medi-pack.
Before the miner passed out however, he was able to pass on his
message. “The Royal Palace of Alderaan had been found almost intact in
the remains of the planet and someone claiming to be Bail Organa had
been found living there! The report had been filed at Mining Outpost
11, where he and Darr had been stationed”
Episode Two - Walking in the
Graveyard
Scene One: Mining Outpost 11
Dropping
out
of hyperspace in the Alderran system, the Blue Dolphin was confronted
by the shape of a massive warship heading towards them on a collision
course. Ogela frantically dived for the controls and at the last minute
managed to put the Dolphin into a steep dive - missing the oncoming
vessel by scant metres. While Liliana tried to unsuccessfully to raise
the other vessel on the commlink, Joe ran a sensor sweep, only to find
the other vessel had vanished! However from the sensor logs he was able
to identify the vessel as an Alderran War Frigate. They’d met the
“ghost ship” spoken about by the old spacer back on the Bazaar. Once
everything had settled down, Ogela carefully piloted the Dolphin into
the asteroid field to wait for Slim to arrive. Once Slim’s
x-wing
dropped out of hyper several hours later, the pair headed off to Mining
Outpost 11. On arrival at the base they were challenged by the
outpost’s control room, but a story of needing to stop for repairs from
Liliana seemed to satisfy them and permission to dock was obtained.
While Joe began running diagnostics and fussing around the ship doing
the “repairs” the others headed into the mining outpost. Gant and
Liliana went first - heading up to the middle deck and the rec. room
where they began questioning the miners. A little while later Joe,
Ogela and Slim left the ship and headed into the outpost making their
way to the lounge area. Back in the rec. room one of the miners – a big
burly Gammoran - took exception to Gant’s questions and threw a punch,
when Gant retaliated (albeit pulling his punch) the miners buddies with
stepped up from their table, one of them pushing Liliana aside. The
senator paused for a moment to call the others for help on her
com-link, before stepping forward and pole-axing the miner with an
expertly judged kick to the crotch
As the brawl continued, the other miners in the rec. room watched on
appreciatively, however when Ogela and the others arrived they
looked speculatively to see if the newcomers would involve
themselves. Realising that getting involve would probably spur the
other miners in the room to join in to assist their colleagues Ogela
leaned casually against the wall and watched, taking their lead from
the smuggler Joe and Slim did likewise, although the young pilot kept
his eyes on the senator in case she were hurt. The senator however
seemed more than capable of handling herself in a fight as she dodged a
punch that came swinging in. Gant, realising he was wasting his time
pulling his punches, unleashed a massive haymaker against the bruiser
he was fighting – stunning him. After that the brawl was
swiftly
resolved - Liliana dropped her second miner and Gant finally put the
big Gammorran down on the floor. The newcomers having proved
themselves, one or two of the miners even applauded, the miners seemed
much more open and friendly.
While the others settled down in the rec. room and the galley, Ogela
and Slim went to report in to the Outpost Commander who they found in
the Mine Control centre. Afterwards, Ogela began to prowl around the
station trying to get the layout in her mind – and also identify
potential access points to the outpost’s computer systems. After an
hour or so wandering round, she returned to the rec. room to brief her
colleagues.
From her survey of the base, Ogela had identified three possible access
points to the Outpost’s computers – the Mine Control centre, the
Outpost Control Centre of the Asteroid tracking station. After some
debate they decided the easiest point to try and infiltrate the
Outpost’s computer systems and download the survey report was in the
asteroid tracking station on the lower level as that appeared to be
unmanned. After waiting for the station to shift to night-shift mode,
the rebels trooped down there, dragging Joe’s R2 unit, POL-e, along
with them to download the data into.
While Joe attempted to access the computers, watched by the others,
Gant stayed out in the corridor trying to look inconspicuous. Finally
Joe managed to locate the survey data and began downloading into POL-e,
just as he did so in the corridor outside Gant was startled as someone
fired a blaster-bolt at him, from the dimly lit corridor. Gant
immediately ducked into the room with the others to warn them only to
watch in horror as the door locked itself behind him.
Joe called out that he would try to open the door from the computer
system, but Gant took more direct action firing his blaster into the
door’s locking mechanism! As the door slid open unfortunately, a
blaster bolt from the corridor hit the outlaw and he crumpled to the
floor. Joe rushed over to help only to have another bolt hit him and he
joined Gant on the floor. Crouching down Liliana quickly ascertained
that they were only unconscious - whoever was firing at them, their
blaster was set to “stun”! Slim and Ogela meanwhile dived
into
the corridor blasters blazing – the Force was with them as one of them
managed a hit and the shadowy figure crumpled against the far wall.
As they got to their feet however, things rapidly got worse as round
the corridor from the other end Ogela spotted the familiar white
armoured figures of Imperial stormtroopers. As she fired off a couple
of shots – causing the stormtroopers to scatter and dive for cover, she
shouted at Slim and Liliana to grab their unconscious friends and head
for the hanger deck. As Ogela continued blasting at the stormtroopers,
Liliana and Slim staggered down the corridor carrying their burdens.
Seeing her friends reach the turbolift to the hangar deck, Ogela began
a fighting retreat, dodging the blaster bolts from the stormtroopers.
Once the lift had delivered them to the hangar deck, Ogela fried the
controls with a single shot. Slim dumped Gant in the hatchway of the
Dolphin, calling to his astromech unit to prep his x-wing for immediate
launch. Once Ogela was aboard the Dolphin herself she swiftly prepped
the ship for launch and the rebels departed.
Safely away from the outpost, and hidden in the asteroid field they
perused the survey report. It confirmed that message that Kamiroz had
given – somehow, part of the Royal Palace had survived the destruction
of Alderran, more importantly the survey report included the precise
co-ordinates of the asteroid the remnants of the palace was located on.
Furthe examination of the data stored in POL-e showed that they had
also acquired an Imperial commiunication to Darth Vader implying that
this whole thing was an elaborate trap to capture Princess Leia and her
friends.
Scene Two: Asteroid Run
Deciding
to
spring the Imperial trap that had been set up for Leia and her friends,
Slim and Ogela steeled their nerves and began to pilot their ships
cautiously in the maelstrom of spinning diving asteroids the survey
report had pointed them towards. The asteroid belt here was at it's
thickest and most dangerous and on board the Blue Dolphin all hands
were at action stations - Joe was in the turret of the ship's laser
cannon, Liliahna was anxiously scanning the sensors and old
Ned
was making deep fried sandwiches in the galley!
As they began to move through the swirling field of rocks, some as
large or larger than the Blue Dolphin, at first things went well, but
Slim's more nimble x-wing quickly got separated from the larger ship as
the two pilot ducked and weaved amongst the tumbling asteroids that
were all that remained of once-proud Alderran. Suddenly Liliahna
spotted an anomalous blip on her sensor screen - there was something
out there that most certainly wasn't an asteroid! swinging round in the
laser turret, Joe quickly spotted the culprit - an Imperial probe droid
- and locked-on his targeting systems.Ogela, mindful of the asteroids
spinning crazily around her began to initiate some evasive manoeuvres
as Joe opened fire, blowing the droid into pieces!
However as the began moving forward again, it quickly became apparent
that the probe droid had got a signal off before Joe had destroyed it
as a larger imperial battle droid hove into view, ion-cannons firing.
Ned, abandoning the galley headed for the comms unit to call Slim for
assistance. While Joe and the battle droid traded shots, Slim receiving
the message, swing his x-wing round and began the dangerous traverse
back towards the Blue Dolphin.
While Ogela started a series of evasive manoeuvres and Joe and the
battle-droid traded shots, old Ned started playing with the comms unit
spouting a stream of gibberish out into space - but was most surprised
when someone appeared to answer him!
Ogela, tired of playing with the battle droid suddenly accelerated the
Blue Dolphin, swatting aside a couple of asteroids, causing minor hull
damage but leaving the droid behind. Slim fired off a proton torpedo
finally managing to destroy the droid.
Leaving the worst part of the field, they arrived at their
destination
Scene Three: Asteroid 7785
Managing
to
land safely on the surface of the asteroid, ahead of them they could
see a large cave mouth - someone had been here before theme as the
shimmer of a magnetic field across the mouth of the cave hinted at an
atmosphere beyond - which Liliahna's sensors confirmed. Donning breath
masks they began the short trek to the cave. As the neared it they
could see a pulsing red glow from within. Moving through the
force-field they found themselves in a huge cave, the source of the red
glow appeared to be over on their right and they began moving
cautiously in.
Arriving first at the source of the glow, old Ned discovered it was a
severely damaged Imperial probe droid, Joe moved forward to examine the
wrecked droid and quickly discovered that it's power cells had ruptured
and the whole thing was likely to explode! Just as he did so Slim
caught the glint of light on white armour out of the corner of his eye
as across the cave, stormtroopers began emerging from their hiding
places. The ambush was sprung!
As blaster bolts exploded all around them, the Rebels dived for cover,
all the time anxiously looking at the wrecked probe droid, in case a
stray blaster bolt hit it and hastened the inevitable explosion. As
their officer order the stormtrooper's advance, the rebels began
returning fire, dropping two of the stormtroopers with well aimed shots.
Slim, followed by Joe, started heading for the exit, only to see the
way blocked by more stormtroopers, they fired off a couple of shots,
but the troopers managed to get to the forcefield at the mouth of the
cave, strengthening it to an impenetrable barrier. Ogela and
Liliahna,secure behind their cover, laid down a barrage of
shots
against the imperials as the battle raged, both sides taking minor
casualties. Gant, concerned for the Senator, called on her somewhat
exasperatedly to withdraw!
Back nearer the mouth of the cave things were not going so well, though
taking their toll of the stormtroopers, both Slim and Joe had taken
wounds. Ned, who had moved deeper into the cave, seeking better cover
to return fire from, suddenly spotted what looked like a doorway
embedded into the rock wall of the cave and called to the others. Ogela
and Liliahna began heading for the old man while Gant provided a
covering fire.
One of the stormtroopers reacted, using a shoulder mounted repeating
blaster to start systematically blowing apart the cover Ned was taking
refuge behind. The old Jedi fired off a few shots randomly, but was
aided when a single shot from Gant wounded the trooper, forcing him to
drop the repeating blaster.
As Ogela and Liliahna started heading towards Ned, things took a turn
for the worse for the rebels and both Gant and Joe took more wounds,
crumpling to the ground unconscious. Near the cave mouth, Slim leaped
to his feat and grabbing Joe slung him over his shoulder and began
retreating. Liliahna revered her run towards Ned and swung
back
towards Gant and began dragging the unconscious outlaw towards the rear
of the cave. As they did so the tortured whine of the ruptured power
cells in the probe droid reached a crescendo, the stormtroopers
charging forwards suddenly realised what was about to happen and began
to flee. As Ogela, tried to open the doorway Ned had found, the old man
used a medi-pack on Gant. Eventually the rebels managed to get through
the doorway, scant seconds before the probe droid exploded, collapsing
the cave they'd just left.
The Rebels gazed round as they found themselves in what was obviously
once a gallery in the palace, suddenly one of the holo-displays
shifted, changing form into a black armour clad figure welcoming "the
Princess" and her friends, old Ned breathed the name "Anakin" before
recoiling in some distress.
As the rebels began exploring the ruined complex, they discovered other
holograms, one of Grand Moff Tarkin ordering the Death Star to destroy
Alderran and one of what was the populace of the planet creaming in
fear and terror. As they moved forward through this, Slim guessed that
this was all some kind of psychological warfare attack,
designed
to unsettle Princess Leia as she entered the Imperial trap. Eventually
they arrived at a rock-strewn and shattered staircase which
still
led to a lower level. Whatever the stairway had once spanned was now
gone, leaving only a dark chasm which beckoned menacingly.
With nowhere else to go, Ned, Ogela and Gant began the
descent of
the treacherous-looking stairway. As Joe looked hopelessly at POL-e who
would never be able to navigate the rubble-strewn descent, Liliahna and
Slim joined their colleagues on the stairway, unfortunately both of
them slipped. the Senator managed to regain her feet, but Slim stumbled
towards the edge. Ogela frantically reached for the x-wing pilot, but
he fell, spinning off into the darkness as the others stared in horror!
Scene IV : The Palace of Alderran
The
rebels
stared in horror at the darkness below, but could see no sight of their
comrade. Gant was first to recover from the shock and, breaking a
glow-stick, tossed it over the edge of the broken stairway. There about
20 metres below they could see the comatose figure of Slim, caught in a
micromesh net slung across the chasm. Unfortunately no one had though
to bring rope along and a frantic search of the ruined offices they had
passed though was commenced, while Liliahna kept an eye on Slim.
Eventually some robe was found and Joe climbed down to investigate.
Finding that Slim had simply been knocked unconscious by the fall the
task began to recover him, no simple task with the rotund pilot, but
eventually he was brought back up to the stairway where after a few
moments he regained consciousness.
Liliahna suggested Ogela go ahead with the rope and they could string
it the length of the stairway to assist the less able climbers. This
was duly done and the stairway safely crossed. Ned and Joe manhandling
Polly all the way.
The other side of the stairway contained more rooms, which the party
decided to split up to explore more quickly. The search revealed little
- save when Old Ned stumbled into a nest of space slugs- until Liliahna
and Gant found their way to the amphitheatre where the Alderran Senate
had met. There, after the door had slammed shut behind them, another
hologram activated – this one was different than previous ones, not
accusatory but seeming to show a debate from the Senate after the Clone
Wars discussing the disposal of weapons of war – at then end, a huge
starship was shown, which Liliahna recognised as the “ghost ship”
they’d seen earlier. As the hologram faded a door in the opposite wall
opened and an old man beckoned them forwards, saying “Another Chance”,
almost immediately an imperial officer appeared next to him and cuffing
him to one side, pointed a blaster at Liliahna. Behind him the senator
could see the white-armoured figures if stormtroopers!
As the stormtroopers deployed onto the floor of the amphitheatre and
the blaster bolts started flying, Old Ned suddenly felt the disturbance
in the force as his friends were in danger. Calling on the others to
follow he raced towards the amphitheatre, cutting through the lock on
the doors with his lightsabre. The officer and his six troopers were
swiftly dealt with, but Ogela suddenly spotted many more stormtroopers
poring out of an unnoticed doorway out in the main hallway.
The old man re-appeared again, gesturing them into the room once more.
Taking him up on his invitation the rebels trooped into the room after
which the old man locked the blast-door –to hold back the imperial
reinforcements for least a few moments.
As the sound of blaster-fire hitting the doors resounded, the old man
told his tale. He had been a senator of Alderran, off-world at the time
of the Death Star’s attack. When they imperials had located the ruins
of the palace, they had sought him out as someone familiar with the
building and engaged him on their scheme to trap Princess Leia. He had
agreed to assist the Imperials, as he wanted to contact Leia himself.
He explained that at the debate he’d shown them the Senators had
decided, rather than destroy the planet’s supply of weapons, to load
all of Alderann’s arsenal on board an automated warship, the Another
Chance, and send it randomly traversing through hyperspace –
just
in case it was needed in the future. The weapons would be invaluable
now in the struggle against the Empire. Although the control systems
for the Another Chance had been damaged in the destruction of the
planet, a hypergate portal was still working which would enable the
rebels to board the ship and recover the weapons. After a
very
brief conference the Rebels agreed the plan and once by one
they
jumped through the portal, the old man remaining behind to disable it
before the imperials could break through the blast doors.
Episode Three – Another Chance
Scene I : The Armory Ship
Arriving
on
the bridge of Another Chance the rebel group was disoriented for a
moment or two. Then they began fanning out across the area. Joe and
Ogela immediately headed for the control section, noting the burnt-out
circuitry and the frazzled astromech droid that the console had been
slaved to. Joe managed to coax the ship’s diagnostics systems into life
and noted down the systems and components that needed urgent repair,
additionally the systems would have to be de-coupled from computer
control.
While Ned made his way to the galley to make coffee and a hot meal, the
others began dispersing through the ship to check out the systems. Slim
and Liliahna ran into a huge spider-like maintenance droid, which to
their horror identified them as an “organic infestation” and attacked
them. Taking refuge in the auxiliary bride, they called for help from
the others. The maintenance droid followed and grabbed at Slim with its
pincers, crushing the unfortunate pilot. Liliahna desperately searched
for a way to deactivate the droid, but ended up firing at it in
desperation. The droid dropped Slim and turned to face her, grabbing at
her, just as Ned crashed through the door lightsabre ablaze. The
lightsabre made short work of the maintenance droid as Ogela arrived
and began administering med packs to the unconscious pilot. Ned then
headed off to the infirmary to see if more medical help was available
there.
Meanwhile on the level above, Joe had run into trouble in Computer
Control which was guarded by war-surplus Trade Federation
battle-droids, and put out the call for help. Once again old Ned was
first on the scene and crashed into the battle-droids lightsabre
swinging. The other arrived in support shortly and the droids were made
short work of, though old Ned took some blaster bolts for his trouble.
The computer room secured, Joe shut down the mainframe, returning the
ship to manual.
The rebels spent the next several hours bringing key systems on-line,
Ogela managed to find another astromech unit and persuaded it to help
them, plugging it into the auxiliary controls, until finally the ship
was ready to drop out of hyper. While Joe prepared to shut down the
automated astrogation computers, Ned took up station in the shields
room, Liliahna in the sensor suite, Slim and Ogela manned a couple of
gun turrets. Joe sent the final command to the astrogation systems and
the Another Chance dropped out of hyper...right into the middle of an
Imperial battle-group!
Scene Two : Imperial Armada
As
Liliahna
sounded battle stations, the imperial star destroyer launched its TIE
fighter squadrons - which began streaming towards the Another
Chance, Joe desperately fed in the co-ordinates Slim had supplied to
the nearest Rebel base, while Ogela and Slim began blasting away at the
TIEs. Ned frantically manipulated the shields to minimise the damage
from the TIEs, the gunners couldn’t get to, when Liliahna spotted
another sensor contact , a freighter dropping out of hyper,
the
Millennium Falcon had arrived. Unfortunately, as the comm. systems on
the Another Chance were still offline, there was no way they could warn
the Princess and her friends.
As the astrogation systems on the Another Chance began the calculations
for the jump to light speed, and Ogela and Slim continued blasting TIE
fighters out of the ether - two more Imperial Star Destroyers
appeared. One of them was much larger than the standard. Ned
groaned as he felt a dark presence in the Force he’d not sensed for
years! Slim, in his gunnery turret, tried to war off the Falcon by
activation his distress beacon, but this only served to make the Falcon
head towards the Another Chance at greater speed.
Things were getting hairy - as more and more TIE fighters
were
swarming towards them – when Liliahna warned them the first Star
Destroyer was nearing tractor beam range. Suddenly the Another Chance’s
astrogation computers completed their calculations and the astromech
droid in auxiliary control launched the ship into hyperspace, followed
scant seconds later by the Millennium Falcon. |
