Thread 1.3.1: The Reluctant Smuggler

Summary

A Gotal named Hus Jot ran into The Initiates in The Dock region of Northwest Coromons on Fresia. The Initiates, Rin Tos in particular, offered him protection from The Onyx Tigers.

Yavin IV

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Carida Memorial Station

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Fresia

Meeting Hus
After running into Hus at The Dock, they found out that he was running from two goons from The Onyx Tigers who the Jedi scared off. They were chasing him because he recently lost a shipment he was smuggling for the Tigers. He never wanted to be a smuggler and was trying to leave the life, but the Tigers won't let him. The padawans took Hus back to The Mynock's Wing to keep him safe and then went looking for the Onyx Tiger boss, Vass Manduc. On the way back to the ship, they were attacked by a seeker droid on a bridge sent by the Tigers.
Confronting Vass
They found Vass on a private beach at The Resort in the Northwest Coromons, talking to a Twi'lek man and being entertained by a Zeltron woman. When they interfered, a fight broke out with Vass' private security and the Twi'lek ran away. Tomla Niron kept the Zeltron woman, Lyshea, safe and captured and tied up Vass. When local security came to investigate, Master Dal Konur picked the group and Lyshea up in the Mynock's Wing, but they let Vass go, although not before telling him to leave Hus alone.
Hus Flees
After Hus is told that his protectors attacked Vass and mentioned his name to him, he freaks out. The next time he's left alone on the Mynock's Wing he bolts, heading back to his apartment in Lower Coromons where two assassins from the Tigers are waiting for him. They blast him at point blank range, but The Initiates show up right after and cripple one of them and let the other go, telling her to send Vass a message that Hus is under their protection. They then take Hus and the crippled assassin to the hospital for treatment, where they were both expected to recover.
Suspicious Death
The day after taking them to the hospital, the padawans are commed by the hospital and informed that Hus has died and the other patient was taken home by his family. Going to the hospital to investigate, they find that Hus died from rejecting the bacta he was being treated with. Tomla finds a mysterious man leaving the hospital with a barrel and follows him to a meetup with another person. She stops the theft, but causes the barrel to break, spilling bacta onto the ground. They later find out that Hus received a visitor shortly before he died, and he added an undetectable poison to the bacta tank.
Lyshea Next
After returning to The Mynock's Wing, the Jedi see a news report about a man with a partially healed severed spine washed up on a beach with a message burned into his chest: Lyshea next." Tomla tells Lyshea about the threat to her life, who also freaks out. Tomla is able to calm her down, but doesn't trust anyone else to keep her safe, so secretly takes her to hide out on ViGureni until her colleagues can do something to ensure her safety or they can finish their mission on Fresia and they can all leave the planet together.
Continued Attacks
About 24 hours after the "Lyshea Next" message is sent, there is an attack by The Onyx Tigers on The Mynock's Wing inside the hangar bay at The Dock. A group of people used a device to pry open the landing bay doors above the hangar bay in order to drop explosive charges onto the ship from above. Rin was able to get the ship running and the shields on just in time, but both the ship and the hangar took a lot of damage.
Parlay?
Vass Manduc reaches out directly to The Initiates and Lyshea via comm. After mocking them and confirming that the The Onyx Tigers were behind the bombing of The Mynock's Wing, he says that the attacks will continue unless they hand Lyshea over to him. He also warns that if they try to leave Fresia with her, he has several ships in orbit that are ready to blow them to space dust. Lyshea, already feeling guilty for the danger she has put the Jedi in, agrees and says that she will be at the Onyx Tiger base in one hour.
Inside Connections
In trying to find a way to get off planet with Lyshea without getting blown to bits by Vass Manduc's orbiting ships, Rin reaches out to Captain Jacob Jason at the ISO to request an escort off planet. Captain Jason agrees and says that it will be ready in one hour. Not long after, Vass comms them back to ask why they are late for their rendez-vous, and also to let them know that an ISO escort will not help them. Clearly he has someone on the inside of the ISO.
Friends in High Places
While attending a dinner party at Incom Corporation CEO Kritia Haccor's estate, The Initiates let her know of their predicament. She says that she would be happy to help them by having her engineers on Prime Coromon provide a dummy ship with which they can switch the transponder signal with the Mynock's Wing. They thank her and Rin goes take the ship to Prime Coromon so that the signals can be switched.
Final Confrontation
Tomla and Lyshea meet Vass Manduc on ViGureni under the pretense that the Jedi can offer him something very valuable - a formal arrangement with Incom Corporation. However, when Vass shows up with two of his brutes, Lem sneaks onto their speeder and slams it into them. They take Vass captive and lock him in The Mynock's Wing.
Thanks to Kritia Haccor, Incom engineers on Prime Coromon are able to switch their ship's transponder with a dummy ship, which they send off planet ahead of their departure. Four The Onyx Tigers starfighters in orbit lock on to what they believe is the Mynock's Wing and destroy it before realizing they've been duped. Just as they close in on the real Mynock's Wing, Lyshea blasts one of the fighters with the ship's turret and Rin throws them into hyperspace on their way to Khomm.

Plot type

Side Quest