With your short meet-and-greet done, you can be on your way! Gralus Turandi just has a few last words for Xeth and crew before they head off.
"Do not under any circumstances let your ship get taken," Gralus says, "and don't let Tarnik use the one he captured. If he gets off-world with those droids, things will get ugly. The surrounding worlds have done their best to keep profiteers from getting weapons and space-worthy ships to the warlords of Respite. If things get out of hand, there is a contingency in place to handle it. All the planets in the area will send ships to bomb Respite back into the primitive age. Respite doesn't offer the Galaxy much but it would be nothing short of a tragedy if everyone living there was summarily killed because one man was too big for his own boots."
-
You are underway. Respite is solidly in the Outer Rim but away from Hutt Space. With G8 and R3 both hooked in, navigating there couldn't be easier.
Barker spends the flight cleaning his flechette launcher. This is more or less a hefty shotgun that Barker gets a dice bonus with for using at melee range.
Navir, however, keeps trying to hit on Tilulla.
"I see you're strapping," he says, commenting on your pistol. "What model is it?"
Hm. "Peace." Yeah. I have a strong drink, and chat in a pleasant but guarded manner with Horus.
-
Rexx, since I'm clearly a walking red slice of awesome, I'm going to need a physical description for Navir to better determine my course of action. Apologies if it happened earlier and I missed it.
And while I'm at it, Vera, mind giving me the cliffs notes on your character, like we're getting to know each other on the ship? I know a little about you but probably not as much as I should.
-
Midway through the flight, I check in with Gator who punches into the communications systems for the ship. Rexx, do I have any voicemail?
Horus Navir is dark-skinned and decently built, with dark hair cut close to his scalp. He has a cut along his left cheek and a blaster burn across the right side of his neck from his recent escape from Respite. He's not unattractive. And he is, of course, human.
Your contact has sent back a curt message saying he'll look into it.
Curt? Nobody likes me. 🙁 Well, except for Horus.
"This thing?" I say, gesturing with my light blaster. "It's a D-17. A friend of mine painted the cute guy on the side," referring to the small but elaborate decal painted onto the side in bright tones. "There was supposed to be more of a scene going on, but she didn't get to finish it." I grimace slightly at the memory it dredges up, but only briefly.
"So what can you tell me about Respite that isn't in the official briefing?" I ask after his response to the blaster convo (if there is one).
-
The following is for my own inventory purposes:
Two vibro-blades, a light blaster, a bowcaster, and a rocket launcher, 3 gasmasks, large tub of water, grenades and flashbangs, synthrope and grappling hooks, body armor
Your contact is a busy man; you've never known him to be easy going.
"I like a woman who knows her toys," Navir says, oblivious to your grimace. He pats the assault rifle he is cleaning. "Safe to say I've got a few of my own.
"Respite is a dirty mess. Everything all burnt and grimey from over a century of fighting."
-
As a note- body armor has some side effects. It provides you with an Armor rating, but it reduces your Agility and (for Jedi) Lightsaber pools for every point of armor you wear.
To be fair on Navir and Barker, you have five gas masks. The water will last you easily a month. There are ten grenades and ten flashbangs total.
Vera-Kin is the same species as Master Yoda, though far younger. She has her crotchedy old Jedi Master moments but largely her main schtick is that she is filled with wanderlust and always on the go when she is not performing a mission or duty to society. In her youth she was likely like Tilulla, I've decided- unruly, talented with the lightsaber, maybe a bit of combat and blaster action. She spent a long time bringing up her Force power once she began her Renegade wandering.
She has also trained three students- Trogari Besh, Numok Geth, and Nume Rand. The first two are Mentor merits for two of our players- Geth himself is Xeth's Master. Rand fell to the Dark Side and is played by Zink for the Dark Sider game.
She's starting to bring back her combat abilities, starting with her blaster. She carries a small gun that looks like a toy.
-
She comments on that now with Navir.
"I carry this," Vera-Kin says cheekily, drawing the blaster only to show it off. It is tiny enough to fit in her hand and looks a 1950's toy gun. "Like me, do you?"
I laugh hysterically at the barb from Vera. "It's ok Master. I like you just fine. Fun-sized, yes?" Knowing that this will likely produce another eyeroll from Vera-Kin, I then smile warmly. "But don't worry, consider yourself lucky," as my glance quickly shifts toward Horus (so that he doesn't notice) and I give her an ironic look.
I pour another drink. "I like this mission."
"Tarne's guys are a bunch of ragtag fighters that don't have enough zeal to be Malteen's zealots, or lack the technical know-how to join up with Wazo. Some've got blasters, others don't. I don't know much about Malteen's or Wazo's guys other than what you were told. Malteen's all about melee. Wazo's got tech."
"What kind of technology does Wazo have?" Vera-Kin asks. After the mercenary answers, she addresses the issue of working with the warlords. "Malteen and Wazo both sound problematic as allies. I suggest we examine just how much opposition we would get if we tried taking an intrusive approach to Tarne. Not an assassination, but if he lost control of the droid army, he'd lose his threat level against the other warlords."
"Take out the head, eh? Also not a bad idea. But do we know where we might be able to find Tarne specifically on the planet?" I look back at Xeth. "I still like the idea of talking to the other warlords. Even if we're not technically working with them, a mutual understanding that Tarne is the enemy among us might make life easier for us. I'd rather not fight on multiple fronts."
"Well I say we see where we stand with the other warlords. A direct assault seems to me like the potentially best approach, and maybe we can use one of the other guys' resources to create a diversion."
My brow furrows, then my face cheers up. "Or I can use my natural sexiness to distract them and get inside!" I frown after a moment. "Though I suppose exotic women looking for a good time are pretty rare on Respite. I doubt I'd make it far before getting cut down."