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Epireus

Xavier- you return to Epireus in the New Beginning, welcoming the opportunity to rest after taking a laser in the gut. You fled the Vorkuda system unopposed, as did many freighters and fighters escaping the colony's destruction. Dak's Arnian Navy acquaintances escorted you to the edge of the gravity well and you made the jump without complication. Dak and Rianna likely came with and stayed below to rest.

As always, you find the secret mountain base in a state of disrepair, since the Dark Jedi that live in it are pretty great at destroying things but less great at cleaning up after themselves and performing maintenance.

The base is relatively empty but for the Dark Jedi who may accompany you on this next quest.

(Hint hint, Dark Side players who wish to join)

Con is sitting on a makeshift couch, mostly fashioned from parts of previously whole couches. He keeps bouncing a ball against the wall and catches it again, it gets pretty boring in the base, so he's done that for a couple hours.

(Con's back! Yay!)

Relle will likely join Con in the social room, after finishing a run around the base of the mountain, building up her strength in the high gravity.

"Bored?" Relle asks Con as she struts into the room. She watches the ball bounce back and forth, pictures nailing it with her pistols as a small moving target, but obviously doesn't do so.

Con looks at Relle, but continues to throw and catch the ball cause he's an amazing Jedi

"Oh no, this is the highpoint of my day, I got a couple hours boredom scheduled for the evening. How was your run? Lots of fun running stuff going on?"

"Just my usual high gravity run," Relle says, continuing to watch the ball. "Didn't see anything weird on the perimeter, the Epireans are staying away today."

She shrugs.

"Well, it's good someone looks after that. Probably should work out some time too, going to get rusty otherwise"

He catches the ball and looks at it for a second.

"Lets play catch", he pitches the ball straight at Relle.

Relle catches the ball with ease, snapping out a hand at the precise moment it reaches her.

"Easy there, partner," Relle says, feigning hurting her arm catching the ball. She pitches it back.

"My arm must have gotten considerably stronger" he catches the ball and stands up. "The wall is a much worse player though".

Azarl will drift into the social area, sensing activity from his colleagues. He watches them, chittering to himself in his buggy language.

(Count me in)

"I would hope so," Relle says, waiting for the next pitch. She notices Azarl walk in but largely ignores the giant creepy bug.

"You wanna play as well?" Con looks at Azarl as he throws a curved ball at Relle.

While you're all playing an all-too-friendly game of catch, the New Beginning arrives, back from whatever secret mission Rand dragged the Psycho Brigade out on.

Xavier lands the ship and goes to help his hurt comrades off the ship.

At which point, exhausted and wounded Xavier probably tumbles down the gangway into the base's hangar. The starship lift automatically starts retracting down into the mountain. The lights flicker on as the mountainside hatch closes up.

Xavier goes into the room where the others are playing and plops down on the couch and attempts to pass out.

Relle sees Xavier stumble in and slump down into a couch.

"You look awful," Relle says. "Where are the others?"

(Why the hell not. Count me in.)

"In dire need of some rest," Rianna says, limping in after Xavier and claiming the nearest place to sit. "And healing, for that matter."

She only stopped in there because her own room is too far away at the moment.

Azarl ignores Con's and Relle's ball game upon Xavier and Rianna walking in, both wounded. He senses their pain.

"," Azarl says in his native tongue. If he can have his protocol droid present, the droid will translate for him.

Con will pick up his ball, which Relle obviously didn't catch, it is his favourite after all.

"I think beat up and tired suits you guys"

"You look even worse," Relle says to Rianna. "What the hell happened to you two?"

"Thank you for that terribly keen observation, Azarl," Rianna replies, tiredly.

"What happened? A lot of things. Deadly jungle, hostile natives, Jedi nonsense...Galder losing his blasted mind..."

"Well Galder losing his mind more so than normal," Xavier adds to Rianna's comment. "Although this time he may have literally lost his mind."

"," Azarl says. ""

"He's always been crazy but now he may also have a formerly imprisoned Sith's mind controlling him as well now," Xavier pauses. "As to your last question don't know. But we and anyone else who can join him are tasked with hunting him down."

"He was possessed by an ancient Sith and took off."

Rianna's a bit more blunt and to the point

That's Rianna's best quality right

"Count me in, whatever you guys did looks like it was a lot of fun"

"Good we'll send you in first."

"Sounds great...so where are we going?"

"We're going to...Rianna tell him where we are going to!"

"We don't have a clue where that idiot took off to. But he has Dak's ship," Rianna says. "Xavier's far too cheerful about this mess."

"Because I know we're going to fix it"

"Good, good, that narrows it down to the whole galaxy, we're making progress. What are the ideas? Where would an ancient sith lord want to go? Or maybe we could track the ship, I remember Dak definitely wanted to install a beacon, in case we or the bureau needed to find him."

An important distinction to make here for those coming aboard the old Psycho Brigade's mission- and maybe a refresher for the Psychos themselves. Rather than the stuff of legends, the warrior Rallo was an unimportant no-name trained in the Dark Side. Whether he simply lacked the talent or the Jedi cut his career short, he never became a full-fledged Sith Lord.

Regardless, Xavier and Rianna can fill in their audience that Rallo and a legion of Sith shocktroopers assaulted the jungle world of Vorkuda in ancient times, to wipe out a small Republic outpost in a contested region of space during the last Sith Wars. Said outpost held one of the Jedi Order's remote meditative temples, staffed by a quartet of powerful Jedi Masters. Impressively, the Masters held off Rallo's forces and defeated the Dark Jedi. They then utilized him in a virtual reality experiment attempting to convert him to the Light Side of the Force. Ultimately, they deemed this experiment a failure and left Rallo's mind trapped in the virtual reality device- a sort of mental prison.

Long story made short- the actions of the Psycho Brigade accidentally released him, while trying to hunt and kill Sael, a wannabe Dark Jedi who Rand deemed too weak to join your bunch.

Rallo's body having long-since decayed to dust, he currently co-inhabits Galder's mind.

---

Con raises an important point nonetheless. Where would Rallo go? Much has changed in the Galaxy since the Sith Wars.

He also hits upon something Xavier had thought of as well. You have Dak's transponder codes, but lack the means of tracking the Black Dawn across the Galaxy... whereas a certain organization hell-bent on your destruction possesses those sorts of resources in the form of a Galaxy-spanning network of satellites and sensors.

Who wants to go hack the Bureau network system!!!!!

Do we know anything else about Rallo? What species he is? Where he lived in his time? If he had any bases? Where the Sith were stationed at the time?

Good questions. He looks human for the other questions Xavier shrugs as his response.

"So how did Galdallo escape you guys? Makes me really think Rand was right when he tried to convince us to murder you in your sleep."

"I don't know perhaps Rianna should be the one asking. I was in the middle of fighting a war."

"Did you win your war?"

"Of course we did," Xavier replies.

"He was controlling Galder's body, which means he was able to fight with Galder's skill. And unfortunately that idiot is a bit better at fighting than I am."

"Yeah that's also why we need the extra help. Galder maybe a little nut but he is good at killing things."

"Getting killed by Galder is luckily still a bit off, we should see how we can get into the position to be killed by him.

I guess Azarl, Rianna and I (people with Jedi Lore) could research some about this Rallo, although he might not have made much of an impression on history the way you guys talk. But maybe we find a lead about his time anyways."

He looks at Xavier then at Relle

"Since you two can't read it would probably be best if you look into a way to track Dak's ship.

Unless we have better ideas?"

"I can read just fine Con," Xavier points out Con he does have Jedi Lore.

"Still our skills could probably be better used tracking down Dak's ship," Xavier replies.

Xavier wants gather any information he can on the Bureau's network and how they use to track down ships.

Jedi Lore would definitely come in handy sussing more about Rallo's time period. While not a big name in his day, you could draw some associations with his contemporary Sith overseers and go from there, potentially.

Lacking extensive resources here on Epireus for that sort of research, you need to use general knowledge from your past studies, or you can figure out a resource you could gain access to.

Either would come down to Jedi Lore rolls. Pros and cons to both.

-

Xavier- the Epireus group knows about the Bureau network better than most, having survived a handful of encounters with them. It is a network of planetary relays and satellites throughout Republic space, detecting ships by their transponder codes (or entire lack thereof).

Here, the challenge would be figuring out how to make use of it. You can't imagine the Bureau would let you borrow it for just a moment.

You do have the Black Dawn's transponder codes already, from Dak himself.

I assume we could manually hook into the network if we managed to get to one of the satellites? Of course we want to make sure they can't get a record of Dak's Transponder code while we do it.

What kind of pros and cons? Azarl has the highest Jedi Lore of those playing.

Working with what you already have is safe but limited.

Finding an outside resource gives you more information but may require leaving Epireus.

Also, the more people working on Jedi Lore, the better the results. But you cannot do anything else during this period.

--

Xavier- that would mean hunting around for a satellite inside Republic space. That could take time, which risks discovery.

A rudimentary Fix-It check for technical knowledge tells you that the Bureau could probably cut the satellite out of the network if it appeared compromised.

A planetary relay would work better...

We commit to figuring out stuff about where (when?) Rallo comes from or we do other stuff. Got it.

Anyone want to join Azarl in working on that? We should probably figure out what else needs to be done so we don't overcommit on Jedi history time.

Could Xavier find relays that closer to the fringe of Republic space?

What was the planet we were on with the Dugs and stuff? Where Xavier sliced and diced the transponder tower? I remember that being not too far from Epireus; if they fixed their stuff that could be a possibility.

You imagine you could, Xavier!

Rianna- you're referring to Newhaven, and it's a no-go. The Bureau upped their presence in the system (read as: more patrol cruisers, more Osokan teams) and began providing direct funding to the Dug militias (read as: more Dugs armed with more and bigger guns, addition of a fleet squadron of starfighters and other planetary defenses).

I think Newhaven was before my time?

Relle has lots of useful tactical skills but she's not great at research in any direction... but maybe the Fellowship can help her in some way? She will see if her assassin friend Graf wants to join in the hunt.

Yeah we joined after that, Relle.

Anyone going to help Azarl with Jedi Lore research? I don't want to make the decision alone.

Xavier will try to find one of those planets. One that is far enough away from Eperius and hopefully less guarded.

Newhaven was a mess that included such fun as the Friendship Circle, shoplifting in an intergalactic Home Depot, and pondering the possibilities of Dug skin disguises. It was, um, interesting. And a long time ago.

Rianna can help with the research. She's not bad with Jedi Lore, plus she knows about how Rallo got trapped, which may be useful in pinpointing more info.

Two for Sith research class! Just need a decision if you're leaving Epireus or staying on it for this.

Xavier- it will be Savoir-Faire to start browsing for fringe Republic worlds that have Bureau presence.

Originally posted by REXXXX
Savoir-Faire


Oh really....perhaps Con can be of some assistance!

Yeah I don't think Xavier has that skill so perhaps he should help with the Jedi Lore

There's three!

... Fellowship and Graf?

Xavier and Rianna, do we want to do our research from Epireus or figure out where else we should go?

What resources do we have here to work with, and where could we possibly go off planet where we could research?

Good questions Peach!

Maybe we could take Dak's ship to......damn

Team Nerds-

The Epireus base doesn't have much in terms of resources, aside from a small collection of books that Rand and Gallador have compiled. But really, it would be a "what do you already know" check.

--

Team Assassin-

Relle, they want nothing to do with this. They don't like the Bureau either, but they don't want to give the Bureau reason to look into their activities in the Republic.

Graf needs incentive to follow you off on some damned fool adventure.

--

Team Con-Knows-Everything-

You're really well-traveled, Con. You don't need to do any research when the others ask where you think they could try to hijack a Bureau sensor relay. Newhaven comes to mind first, but Rianna confirms that it wouldn't do much good to try that place again.

Rather, the Bureau has recently set up a relay in the Flor'sahn System.

Well, we know Rallo's name, and that of the Jedi Masters that trapped him, and where all that happened. Using that info we can pinpoint when he was actually alive during the Sith wars.

I'm thinking that, from there, we can find out what planets might have been Sith strongholds at the time, and use those as potential places where Rallo/Galder may be?

Sounds like a solid plan and we have some real knowledgeable people on Jedi Lore here.

Indeed, you can make that your approach. If there is a consensus among the three Jedi Lore researchers, I can make the roll.

Sounds good to me.

Let's see what you guys know. Don't disappoint!

It was my idea, so clearly I'm in favor of it!

Nothing from Azarl but we have a majority. Cumulatively, you have a Jedi Lore pool of 17. Rianna and Xavier harken back to history lessons in the Jedi Archives on Sith campaigns, while Azarl calls upon ancient legends from his distant part of the Galaxy. Seven successes gives you some basic knowledge to go off of.

Not even Master Rand knew about the secret Jedi base on Vorkuda's jungle moon. But as part of the greater picture you put together, that makes sense. While you do not recall Vorkuda and its jungle moon ever coming up in lessons or legends, that area of space still sits outside of the Galactic Republic, and fell quickly to the Sith war machine during their last great campaign- two thousand years ago, shortly before the supposed extinction of the Sith and their Dark Lords. Vorkuda would have lain on a Sith war path that pushed deep into Republican territory. In keeping with aggressive Sith strategy and overall character, they established a forward base somewhere in the Inner Rim.

Looking back from your current time period, you know that this particular Sith operation was short-lived. It overreached its supply lines from the Outer Rim and the Republic Fleet denied their advance into the well-defended Galactic Core. Combined with the Masters of Vorkuda freeing their system and the overall lack of cooperation among Sith forces... well, you know the rest. The war carried on elsewhere and ultimately ended with the defeat of the Sith and their disappearance.

Azarl probably doesn't love the Sith much, since they enslaved his people around that time. Is Vudes anywhere near the war path that took Vorkuda?

Anyway, Azarl proposes that Rallo might follow the old war path, looking for something familiar or trying to find help from his long-dead Sith overlords. Or something. I'm not sure what he could hope to find and I'm sure he'll find out quick that things are much, much different.

What kind of incentive does Graf need? I can try to Persuade her, apparently Relle's good at talking.

Relle finds all the speculation interesting but has little to offer. She listens to the others before giving Graf a call to try convincing her to join in the hunt.

Originally posted by HereticalDruid
Azarl probably doesn't love the Sith much, since they enslaved his people around that time. Is Vudes anywhere near the war path that took Vorkuda?

Anyway, Azarl proposes that Rallo might follow the old war path, looking for something familiar or trying to find help from his long-dead Sith overlords. Or something. I'm not sure what he could hope to find and I'm sure he'll find out quick that things are much, much different. I think this is the best course of action. At least it gives us a place to start.

But we don't know where the Sith made their bases, Rex?

No, you do not. That would require extensive research on a subject where existing historical records already prove exaggerated, incomplete, or straight-up falsified. But it DOES narrow down the part of space you need to search, and making use of the Bureau sensor relay in the Flor'sahn System would greatly reduce your search time.

All you need to do is gain access to that Bureau sensor relay without bringing the Bureau down on you. That would end your search before it begins, and probably hand Galder over to the Bureau in the process.

So that means we need to infiltrate briefly commandeer the relay to find the ship. Wipe any data that got stored by it, and get out before anyone from the Bureau find us?

Sound about right?

That sounds right to me. I can't imagine we could try to talk our way in so Intrusion would come in handy here. And Fix-It/Sabotage.

Con has all three and some talky skills. Rihanna and Relle are sneaky. Xavier and Azarl aren't anything except Fix-It handy.

Sounds like we have a decent team for an infiltration operation. We may not be able to do too much planning though until we get where the relay is an scope it out.

Sneaking is one of the things Rianna is best at.

(the other is killing)

I think we want to avoid the later skill on this one, but with our luck it probably will happen. In which case Xavier will sit and watch with a big tub of popcorn as Rianna goes to work.

Definitely harder to plan without knowing the place.

In which case, you can start getting ready to depart unless there are any other final preparations you want to make.

How will you all travel?

Will probably have to take Xavier's ship since he still has it in this game

One last ride...old friend...the ship, not you, Con doesn't like you.

Originally posted by Bardock42
One last ride...old friend...the ship, not you, Con doesn't like you. Pon can ride in the slave hold uhuh

Azarl will just ride along with Xavier. I'm actually the better pilot, maybe he'd let me try my hand. Con and him could work the guns if needed (I hope not).

Psshh you act like Xavier is going to get us blown out of the sky or something. Like that would ever happen....oh wait yeah you can go ahead pilot if you want

Then Azarl will fly for Xavier! He probably isn't used to the big bulky freighter compared to his nimble starfighter but he can manage.

"Where are we going?" Azarl asks Con, very slowly so that he can be understood by his colleague. "You mentioned the Flor'sahn System as best. Where is the Bureau installing the relay?"

Con and the rest of you can't keep track of all Bureau activities with Republic space (especially from outside it), but he knows enough about the Flor'sahn system to know that one world would serve the Bureau best in terms of establishing a headquarters.

The planet Flor'sahn itself is an uninhabited gas giant, its gravitational pull too strong for colonization in the style of Bespin, and its airless moons not worth exploring. Instead, the only populated world in the Flor'sahn system is Gembrell, a dwarf planet colonized eons ago by Republic explorers. Its surface is dotted with rocky mountains and small mining towns. Gravity is low, much lower than that of Epireus.

If the Bureau moved into this area (as Con has heard that it has), it would have to be on Gembrell. It would position them well to keep the whole system under surveillance, and monitor the only major starport.

I guess it is off to Gembrell in that case.

Lets do this. We should make a fort in the New Beginning's master bedroom...

As long as Xavier gets the throne!!!!

You boys have fun with that.

Come on you're telling me Rianna doesn't want to play in Fort Awesome!!!

I bet she did at the Jedi Temple. She probably napped in them.

Rianna and Relle can make their No Boys Allowed club somewhere else. Hmph!

What if Relle gets the throne and Xav is the foot rest instead? Compromise

You all do not depart for Gembrell immediately, for the simple reason that Xavier and Rianna need rest and medical attention after their escapades on Vorkuta. Despite the beatings they took, Rand stabilized them before they returned to Epireus. The sparse medical supplies and assistance from Azarl and Con are enough to patch them up totally. Consider yourselves at full health but feeling more fragile than you're used to.

Once that's sorted, the New Beginning takes off with Azarl at the helm and the crew loaded aboard.

For Con, Azarl, and Relle- you're all wondering how you're going to pull this off. The Bureau won't pick up the New Beginning right away, but getting into the Bureau headquarters won't be easy and it would seriously ruin any effort to chase Galder/Rallo deeper into Republic space if they found out who you were. You need to leave absolutely no trace of your having been there.

For Rianna and Xavier- you're more preoccupied with the idea of going up against Galder/Rallo again. You've both fought with Galder before, but Rallo's skills are beyond his. The acolyte trained in a time of total war between the Sith and the Jedi. But then again... the body isn't his.

Xavier is slightly antsy about the idea of going up against Galder/Rallo.

"So Rianna how do you think we shoud handle subduing Ralder?"

Relle wonders how the hell they can pull this off without leaving a trace, since their normal modus operandi up to date has been to make really blatant attacks that can only be attributed to their horribly violent group.

Hey if there was a group of us Dark Siders that could pull off discreet it will be this one!!!!!!

We are skilled intrusionists, I believe in us!

Relle- a legitimate concern, despite your colleagues' optimism. How would you make sure that everyone acts without drawing attention to the group and who/what you are?

Con- same question. You know the group can get rowdy, very few of you are talented in stealth. How would you keep everyone under control?

Xavier- you haven't fought Rallo directly yourself, but you saw how he operated inside the virtual reality simulation. You may want to review that to formulate ideas. Otherwise, it may come to a slugfest between him and your group.

Well, Con thinks Rianna is our biggest loose cannon issue (no offense, don't kill me hard), on the other hand she's also our best stealthy-thiefy kind. Do we know anything else about the relay, trying to decide whether it makes more sense to try to con our way in or inflitrate it heist tyle...

Hey!

We tend to not do too well at the "lie our way in" approaches...

Do we even have any good liars in this group?

Azarl and Con are okay at lying. We are not much better at intrusion either though. Maybe we can split? That always works out.

On the other hand we don't know anything about how to break in either, if there's a way we could get plans of the base or something maybe we could make a plan.

Well ultimately it is going to take someone with Fix-It to use the blasted thing so unless team sneaky has that as well we may have to try and lie our way in or split up if we have to.

Still our goals should be to find what type of security they have, how we can get past it, break into the relay room to use it, find Dak's ship, erase the actions because we don't want the Bureau having that transaction on record, leave hopefully silently.

So what's next guys?

Xavier has pointed out the important part here- Fix-It will be key to getting what you want from the Bureau sensor relay, regardless of how you get to it.

In any case, you arrive at Gembrell, the New Beginning emerging from hyperspace just beyond the small planet's gravity well. The sparse atmosphere does little to hide the craggy surface, criss-crossed with mountain ranges and canyons, littered with craters made by sentient beings and meteor impacts. The gas giant Flor'sahn spins silently behind it, a marvelous lavender hue, and sporting planetary rings. Gembrell orbits just along the fringe of Flor'sahn's rings.

Your approach to Gembrell goes quietly until you receive a hail from the starport.

Can anyone respond? It probably shouldn't be Azarl since he talks in bugspeak. Con is our social butterfly but Relle could swing it.

Go for it Relle!

Then Relle will respond! What are they saying?

They announce themselves as Gembrell customs and want you to state your business approaching their planet. Unlike the Rim, where you rarely get questioned, they will want to document those going in and out of their starport.

So why are we here guys?

Maybe we could lie about being a repair crew?

Originally posted by Bardock42
Maybe we could lie about being a repair crew? Could work

On the other hand it is customs, might be easier to go with something else to go through like tourism, and then we could still decide how to approach the bureau, on the other other hand we could also try repairs with the bureau, and then have customs documentation to back up our con. Might leave a trace though.

We could go with something like.

"Hey, man, we're her on business. I run a small repair crew and we got a contract. Apparently someone blew their TX-500 unit. Those things are expensive as hell, anyways, we are supposed to repair it, or recycle it if that don't work out" *chit chat* "Know any good joints in town? Job's only tomorrow, might as well celebrate." Etc.

Something like that

How's your Lying skill, Con? And any Force powers to boost it?

Con's not a terrible liar, what with all the practice, and has a skill of 2 (and Charisma of 4) Additionally he also has Presence with the force. That adds three to social rolls, which I am just going to assume lying is.

I think that makes him tied best in this group with Azarl, so I'll go ahead with that plan, unless there's last minute disagreements.

Go for it

Alright, let's do it then!!!

And we roll...

"Repair crew? We haven't had any requests or contracts go out for a TX-500 repair job. Do you have a permit to operate in this sector?"

It's always best to double down on lying. I mean I assume the immigration doesn't actually need to see the permit that's prolly a different department, they are just trying to make sure we aren't lying. So I'd suggest something like this.

"Oh yeah, we just got authorized recently. Now, thing is, my cousin over there, he's a bit slow" *points at Xavier* "so he forgot to bring it. It's all in order though. I got notified about the job from a buddy, we used to work together in a crew on Coruscant and he knew I was looking to start something up, so he bypassed an open contract. Look this is a huge job for us and we just traveled for a week to get here. You know usually you don't get the permit checked anyway and if some need to see the permit my mom will send it over. Should be just a couple days"

What do you think?

Rexx could Xavier use his Fix-It score to generate a quick false permit for us? Or perhaps put a repair job in the queue for them?

Hacking their systems to create a fake job request would take more time than you have and probably raise suspicions. A fake permit is possible.

-

Con- It's possible that on a small moon like this, they would alert port authority to incoming starships. But you sound so sure of yourself that you got the call...

"We can't allow you to operate in this sector without proper authorization," he insists.

Xavier will attempt to make the fake permit so Con can use it.

Con do something with the fake permit I've given you!!!

"Yeah, I get that, look I'd hand it in the second I get it..." when Xavier hands Con the permit he will exclaim "Oh, he didn't forget it after all" Then turn to Xav. "Why didn't you just give it to me right away, you idiot. Alright, we got the permit." Con will pretend to be very relieved "Man, that would have been a disaster of a first job"

Relle watches Con's false bantering with a hint of amusement. She just wants to get to the surface already and start figuring out how to break into the Bureau offices.

One success from Xavier means his on-the-fly permit or authorization codes aren't very convincing, and actually puts Con at a penalty for Lying checks.

"Uhh... I... don't recognize this permit code," says the controller. "Are you sure you've got the right system? This is a Republic-authorized mining ouptost..."

"Yeah it's definitely this system. We wouldn't travel 2 weeks to the wrong system. Seriously though, I picked the permit up myself, if there's a mistake it was made by the agent, it took months to apply and I spend a whole day at the permit office. I tell you it's almost impossible to be a small business owner in the Republic nowadays, get this permit here, go talk to this agency there, wait 5 months and spend all your credits, and then some idiot switches a number or a system around and you end up with crappy documentation. I'm no specialist, it seemed right to me. Really I just want to go in, fix that blasted TX-500 and get paid. I'm sorry, I shouldn't take this out on you, but man, you know this crap can be frustrating, you seem like a nice guy though. Look, obviously we got documentation, maybe just let us go do the job, and we check out what the damn mistake in our permit is later?"

Con will rant a bit. Maybe I could use savoir-faire to embellish the lies with some info about the planet?

Well Xavier tried right

Shitty permits are better than no permits (that's me saying that, Con on the other hand will give Xav shit for it for years to come)

Yeah yeah bring it

Not right now, we are roleplaying fancy businessman and stupid cousin, don't blow our cover.

Relle pipes up.

"Is there any way we can land and get this sorted out? We're wasting fuel up here."

Whether because Relle asked a simple question or because the man doesn't want to listen to Con ramble any further, he stops you.

"Okay, okay, let me clear this with my supervisor, hang on," he says, annoyed.

You wait an awkward moment before he returns to the line.

"We're granting you clearance. Please proceed along the designated flight path. Transmitting codes now."

Azarl- instructions appear on your readout for how to approach the starport.

Woo Azarl take us down.

The New Beginning descends into the thin but dusty atmosphere of Gembrell. As you expected from Con's description and based on what you saw from space, you skim across the tops of several short mountain ranges with high, narrow peaks. You see activity- miners accompanied by heavy load droids, moving equipment and material.

In the stretches between these mountain ranges, the mining operation has been busy at work reshaping the planet's surface. Open-cast mining is the name of the game- massive pits spiraling downward into soil and rock and crust. It is a highly destructive method and they appear to be doing in en masse.

The starport itself is located at the bottom of the largest of these pits, several kilometers across. It is mainly an open landing field with a traffic control tower, which sports some sophisticated communications array. It is adjacent to a small, flat town. All of you find your attention drawn to the massive warehouse that overshadows everything else in the pit. It is cylindrical and metal and flanked by a battery of turbolasers.

Well that seems a little overkill for a warehouse.

"I wonder what they're keeping in there," Relle says. She looks down at the traffic control tower. "The Bureau might be set up in there. I don't see any other complicated comms equipment elsewhere in the city, unless the Bureau is using the warehouse and it's just concealed."

"I think you are unto something Relle. Perhaps getting closer look at it will be in the future."

We can assume Azarl can land a ship without messing up terribly, but you all do get a little start when you make it down into the starport. You're not the only vessel here, which you aren't surprised about. There are a trio of HUGE cargo transports docked, with crews hustling about the tarmac. You see launch pads for a handful of defensive stuntfighters.

But you also see a Bureau dropship. The kind that delivers Osokans.

Well screw that...Azarl take us back up!!!!!

Well hopefully there won't be an armed welcome wagon this time around.

Azarl isn't particularly happy to see the dropship. He expected a Bureau presence but not Osokans. Maybe they didn't bring any this time and just used it for something else?

(But the evil GM wouldn't say that otherwise...)

Azarl will land the ship.