STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- The Council of Taneshla

An albino Nautolan sits in a private booth in a cantina, sipping imported wine from a glass and waiting for his associates to arrive. To onlookers he appears to be patient and tranquil, doing nothing more than lifting his wine to his cracked lips and glancing around at his fellow patrons. It could not be farther from the truth of Nume Rand's emotions. Inside, he is boiling over with aggravation. His associates are late. The general rabble of the cantina annoys him. His thoughts have strayed to failed plans and his anger is rising.

Presently, a dark-hooded figure strides into the cantina and many patrons look to this newcomer, his presence felt. He lowers his hood to reveal a fair-skinned man with pointed ears and a smug grin. He moves across the cantina to where Rand is sitting and slides into the booth. Anyone looking his direction now look away; business is being conducted and nobody wants to eavesdrop on these two for fear of the consequences.

"You're late, Gallador," Rand snarls.

"My apologies, Master," Gallador says. "I have just put our final piece in place."

"Your operation is going according to plan, then?"

"Of course, Master."

"They do not suspect?"

"No. They cannot see through our obfuscation."

Another dark-hooded figure enters; nobody looks his way. This one does not lower his hood until he reaches Rand's table and sits himself beside Gallador. Vash Bloodcarver seems annoyed and frazzled.

"What is YOUR explanation?" Rand asks.

"I nearly crashed Arneth's ship. I'm no pilot, you should have sent Gallador to..."

Rand cuts him off with a momentary squeeze of his fist and Vash wheezes until the Dark Master lets go.

"Did you find them or not?"

"Yes," Vash says, gasping for breath. "I wish you wouldn't do that."

"Don't question our Master's actions," Gallador hisses.

Before Vash can answer, Rand raises his hand again threateningly. Vash bites his tongue and Rand lowers it.

"Everything is in place?" asks Rand.

His associates nod. Rand's aggravation has faded in light of this news. He grins widely, showing his sharpened teeth.

"Excellent... most excellent..."

-

Welcome to “The Fall,” an episode of the Retrospection games. As an episode of this series, “The Fall” will be a very personal plotline, exploring events involving the player’s character. Going off of Ushgarak’s ever-popular Star Wars roleplaying game, these mini-episodes occur in game-play’s past. In this case, we will deal with the events leading up to the final act that brings Rianna over to the Dark Side- the slaying of her mentor and others.

Rianna has gone out on her own to prove to herself and the Order that she is fully capable of continuing her Knighthood without the assistance of her mentors. As such, she has found a new lease on her Jedi ability to dispense justice and taken up work as a mercenary. However, this is having an adverse effect on her emotional stability; instead of righting herself on her own terms, she is becoming increasingly erratic and excessively violent in her missions. Her violence, along with her success rate, have earned her a small reputation in the underworld.

The time period is set in 32 BBY- a month before The Phantom Menace. Rianna is meeting her Contact in a restaurant on the upper levels of Taris, the faded city-world, to organize another assignment targeting criminals that the Jedi Order cannot quite catch...

Taris

Since leaving the Order, it has become uncommon for you to make appearances in well-to-do areas of Republic worlds. You have become more accustomed to the corrupt and violent underbelly of the Republic. Today can be considered a short vacation from such things as you meet your Contact in a fine-dining establishment with a fancy alien name. Your Contact is a ruggedly good-looking young man who is always wearing a battered leather jacket and a pair of shooters in quick-draw holsters and always seems to have forgotten to shave. Sometimes you get bad vibes from him- glimmers of a conflicted mind through the Force- but otherwise, he is generally pleasant.

"Lunch is on me," the Contact offers as you are seated. The restaurant is in a high building overlooking the cityscape of Taris, rebuilt over the thousands of years since it was bombarded by the Sith. Speaking of which, the Contact does not know of your prior affiliation to the Jedi Order, nor that you have a lightsaber in your possession. You parade as an unarmed martial artist, though you carry a light pistol on you for appearances.

"So, how've you been?" the Contact asks.

That pistol is purely for appearance and nothing more, since the disaster caused by the last time Rianna fired one means that she has even less desire to try and wield one as a weapon than she did before.

Anyway, Rianna has left behind wearing her Jedi robes most of the time and dresses in simple clothing that would blend in among a dozen human cultures, but still favors darker colors. And obviously she must have somewhere to hide her lightsaber, as she hates going anywhere without it.

"A nice change," Rianna comments, feeling mildly out of place in the fancy restaurant. "Same as usual. What news do you have for me today?"

"New assignment from my employer," the Contact says. "This one's big. We're meeting here for a couple reasons. First reason being, Taris is a hop, skip, and a jump from Vanquo. That's where we're going."

Vanquo... ugh, a mining world. Just the thought brings you grief.

"It's been pretty much abandoned on and off for the last four thousand years," your Contact says. "Now it's got a pirate infestation."

Rianna represses a shudder at the idea of visiting a mining world. What happened on Ord Coridari still haunts her and she certainly doesn't wish to visit another world like that...

"Pirates. Brilliant. And I'm sure they're hiding down in the mines, which will make ferreting them out fun..." Rianna says with mild irritation. "Still, a job is a job. What are the other reasons for meeting here? This isn't exactly our usual sort of place to meet."

"Yes, joy of joys," the Contact says. "The other reason is recruitment. But we'll get to that."

He starts to fill you in on the Crimson Queen, the leader of the pirates.

"She's been rallying what you could almost call a harem of young men to do her bidding. She's rather striking and just a teeny bit mad. Not a good combination. They've been hitting targets in the area but they're too small time for anyone to really care."

"Well of course, why do anything yourself if you can coerce others into doing it for you?" Rianna comments, being vaguely reminded of Astrune.

"Is this Crimson Queen any sort of danger on her own, or just when surrounded by her minions? And what targets have they hit?"

He lists a few smaller worlds in the general system, including a refugee camp on the barren, irradiated surface of Jebble where they killed people and stole things. Stealing from the weak and helpless.

"Eyewitnesses say she joins in on the killing," the Contact says. "I'd assume it's not in an execution fashion, since they do hit-and-runs. Probably packs a pistol or something. Not guns are a problem for you."

He mimes a subtle karate chop as the waitress brings your meal.

Small-time stuff, basically.

"Too many people rely on guns, and are helpless without them," Rianna says, taking a bite of her food. "Not that I'm assuming that's the case here...but more often than not, it is."

"So the pirates need to be taken care of before they hassle anyone else and become a big deal?"

"Basically. She's got a surprising amount of followers, all young men hoping to win her over with their valiant pillaging. She could put them up to much worse than raids if she wanted to. Or so my employer says. I know they've trodded on a few feet. I've been given a decently sized purse for this."

One thing that has bothered you about your arrangement with the Contact- not even he knows who his employer is. You just know that he gives the Contact (and yourself) a lot of money for your work.

"How many followers is a surprising amount? And I'm guessing that's where the recruitment part of why we're meeting here comes in..."

Heh, yeah, that would bother Rianna. She doesn't like the idea of possibly being manipulated.

If the Contact has any concerns about it, he has not voiced them.

"We're looking at close to fifty..." the Contact says. "Maybe more."

"Hmmm, that is rather a lot, especially since it's not like they're doing anything that will make them rich...just harassing people with nothing anyway," Rianna comments. "Certainly more than I'd be willing to handle alone. Do you have anyone in mind to recruit for this?"

"Exactly. They're not going to be hardcore military types or anything but there are rather a lot. That's why we're going to get some help."

The Contact has a tavern in the lower levels of the city in mind for recruiting.

"We'll go as soon as you're finished eating," the Contact says. "We're going to need some hard guys on this."

Rianna's been nibbling away at her food while talking, so she's pretty much done with what she'll eat by now.

"I'm ready to go when you are. Sooner we get this started, sooner we're done..."

With your bill paid, you and the Contact make your way to the undercity. The Taris undercity has always been ruled by gang rivalries and criminals who have shied away from galaxy, and it is no different when you make your visit.

The Contact takes you to the tavern he mentioned and between the two of you, you drum up some interest in the mission.

You have 12 points to spend on your support.

-

2x Thugs: Basic guns-for-hire - 1 point

Heavy Thugs: More experienced criminals and hitmen - 1 point

Graf: A cold and calculating female assassin - 3 points

Vanuul Vek: A bad-mannered, muscle-bound Gamorrean, mostly speaks in grunts - 2 ponts

Zazez: A fidgety little alien with extendable droid legs on his back and a pair of droid bodyguards - 3 points

Alber: A quiet demolitions specialist from the Republic gone rogue - 2 points

Kalvit Retoso: Dangerous, boisterous mercenary known for his use of oversized, ridiculous weapons - 4 points

Vreedo: Jumpy, eager Rodian swoop gangster - 2 points

Kinahi: Honorable warrior with a hefty electro-katana - 2 points

Well, Rianna's not hugely pleased with most of the people who were attracted to this...but nothing to do about that now but make the best of it.

Graf, Zazez, Kalvit, and four meat-shields.

...do I have to keep my Jedi-ness hidden during this? 😛

That is up to you. You haven't had any close calls with the Order or anything since you left, but you also haven't had reason to use your lightsaber.

Rianna will keep her lightsaber with her, then, and if she needs to use it, she will.

With that, the Contact reveals that you will be taking is ship, a modified black little freighter with just enough room for all of you. You leave Taris behind for a short trip to Vanquo.

Feel free to get to know whom you've hired for a moment.