Episode 3.08, Kanter's War, Chapter 3 Report
General Summary
Turned out that Erenn Baize responded pretty well to the direct approach. He didn’t hesitate, but answered my question right off. The pirate leader had no plans to have some ‘bloody, glorious’ campaign to conquer Chalcedon.
As it turns out, he’s been busy sticking it to the Chalcedon Trade Guild, Black Sun, and Force-all know who. Basically, anyone who would set out to grind down the moisture farms around here. Noble of him. Also says there’s a deep story there that we ought to find out about. But given everything going on? I’m not sure we’ll have time.
But for now, his explanation of what he is really up to would do. I walked back only to find that the storm, or what was left of it, rattled the comm system for a moment. Figures. I repeat what Baize told me. It’s good news, really. It means Baize will be more in line to work with the new government than just blow the whole thing up.
Despite the good news, the galaxy apparently wasn’t done with us yet. But I’m getting a little ahead of things.
During my talk with Erenn Baize, So’zen, Aerena, and her droid, Spukamas had headed downstairs to interrogate the captives. After all, we needed information about what clan Tilles thought they were doing. It’s always a tough road questioning captives. It takes a good bit of charm for that. But I figured between So’zen and Aerena, they would handle it fine.
I was going to talk out the details, see if we could get Baize on board with an alliance to wrap this all up. Then things went sideways. So’zen appeared back upstairs about the time the obelisk outside reacted with the light and energy of the fading storm. Literally the stone needle starting humming in the Force.
It felt like we were ants and the planet was ‘talking to the storm’. Which, really, that wouldn’t be the weirdest thing I’ve dealt with all month.
The most dangerous went to So’zen realizing we were sitting in a refurbished B’omarr monastery… and the monks of questionable morals might still lurk in tunnels below the estate. According to scans, a network of sealed off catacombs. Nice. Yet something else to discover for our own good.
But it also meant we needed to spread out. I stayed with Vance to work out the details and logistics concerning Baize. Vanya, So’zen, and Reese headed for the obelisk. Aerena was already on the lower levels, questioning captives.
The discussion with Vance was brief. Baize had made clear his actual intentions of protecting the locals from a corrupt Trade Guild on Chalcedon. Nalarine was right to send us here to talk to him first. She may not like to hear this, but she may be the right person in the right place for Chalcedon and a better life for its people.
Obelisk Inspection
In the meantime, the others heading to the obelisk had a quick chat with Erenn Baize. I hate to admit it but I eavesdropped over the comm. It was short and to the point. Vanya drove home that Baize needed to make an important choice, not just for him, but for his people, too.
First, he could own being a Vor and take all the legal nightmares that would harass or kill himself and his people. Second, he could drop the Vor claim and work toward a better Chalcedon. But he couldn’t do both. Vanya spelled it out pretty clearly. Baize couldn’t help others while cutting himself in half or gutting himself in the process. That wasn’t balance, and he needed that.
Baize said he would take time to think it over, but he still wanted to know about his father’s Vor family, his ancestry. Just to know. Makes sense. On a more serious note, he wanted to know why he and his mother were dumped on Chalcedon to die. That one? It had all the earmarking of a really big problem later. Keyword on that was ‘later’.
Past that, he was fine if they investigated the obelisk, provided they shared what they found for his own history buff amusement. Small price to pay, I thought. So did the others.
Turns out Vanya, So’zen, and Reese hit pay-dirt. Pun mostly not intended.
There was a room under the obelisk. A map room of ancient Chalcedon. Reese got scans of the apparently hollow obelisk. So’zen made the trek underneath the relic and took a detailed holorecording of the diorama. If the map is at all accurate, there were several ancient cities on Chalcedon thousands of years ago. One might be at the bottom of the Honloo Dust Ocean, another might be a portion of current Port Etmar, and a third somewhere to the east. Say out toward the Xemki Highlands.
Best of all, with the door opened, sunlight pouring down from the hollow obelisk met the light through the door. This caused two tiny crystals on the diorama, representing the obelisk at Port Etmar and here at the estate, to light up. The light they cast? It pointed out a third city and obelisk under a glass mountain. Again, maybe the Xemki Highlands.
Either way, it was something to work with. It also might be the location Almon D’Joy is hunting for. Bonus? So’zen found a set of abandoned flimsies that may have belonged to that Dr. Zack Stavin, who had possessed So’zen for a while. Reese set right to work decrypting those as they wandered their way back inside.
Curious Questioning
I thought things were going well down below, but it also had been real quiet. So Vance and I went to see what Aerena had found. Checking for any sign of B’omarr monks was a bonus. We did not need anyone from that unsettling order stirring things up right now.
We got down there as Aerena was going on about one of Baize’s people having a ‘technique’ I needed to learn. Some gunfighter with a staring technique. I had no idea what she was talking about. Fortunately, Vance had spotted a miniature ‘bug’ in a drone shaped like a desert beetle. Which meant someone with a salty sense of humor was listening.
Vance gave a wild but plausible cover story to give him a chance to bat the thing to the ground. I stepped on it then studied the remains. It was indeed a drone using B’omarr tech. I spared the others of the grim details on how I knew that last part so accurately. No one needs to know that ugly memory.
After warning Aerena about the B’omarr order listening in, we tailed along while she questioned the last two of the captives. She had tried the first two but got nowhere. I caught a glimpse of them as med techs rushed in to treat them. They had been hit with heavy stun more than once. That made me a little suspicious.
So, while I leaned against the wall during questioning to look ominous, I quietly tapped into a nearby security droid to ask a few quiet questions. It was all too happy to help.
It seems Aerena tried a ‘vamp’ routine on the first two, which included direct threats. The act didn’t go over well and so she resorted to letting her droid use the pair as stunner target practice. That’s concerning.
I had felt a little of the Dark Side lingering around, but I didn’t place what attracted it until I saw the security footage. Going for ‘hard interrogation with stun blasters’ instead of just ‘questioning’ will attract the Dark Side every time. I’ll be keeping that in mind in case Captain Kolene starts to act… not herself.
But with the second captives, she tried a different spin on the vamp routine. She really needs to work on that. But it got one captive talking. He postured some, but it was pretty obvious what was happening.
The guy, a Devaronian, wanted an ‘out’. A safe means to escape and a potential livelihood to scrape by with. He knew clan Tilles would come to kill him. So having nothing to lose, he tossed over that Tilles was keeping stolen weapon shipments and kidnap victims in two different locations away from his main base. Also, all the weapons were to go help supply a possible assassination attempt on Chancellor Kanter?
That last one I had a tough time agreeing on. I’m sure some were to go for some half-baked assassination plot by Piotr Sparaval of all people. But all? I doubt that. Some would be payment and supplies for a future job.
In the end, Aerena walked away with some key information. She didn’t think she did. That was obvious, but she really did succeed. Where did it leave us? Needing alternate means to track down clan Tilles’ main base which was possibly some old Imperial military compound according to one captive.
Plans within Plans
We all tossed ideas out of how to grab this intel. The plans were all over the place, all the way to “pretend to be underworld figures there to by the kidnap victims turned gladiatorial fighters”. In the end, we picked the simple route.
Clan Tilles had a drop ship not far away. It was part of the usual dance between Baize and Tilles. But this time, we decided to change the tune. Vanya wanted to set some things right with the captives, especially once she heard what happened. The rest of us were going to head out and raid the drop ship. Take it if we could.
Once we had that, we could tap into its navcomputer and track down Tilles’ base. Maybe even where he is keeping his illicit ‘products’ for sale.
After that? Anyone’s guess. We were here to cement an agreement between Baize and the Chalcedon Freedworlds Republic. Long term? We needed to see what of Almon D’Joy’s plans we needed to wreck.
In any case, Vanya headed downstairs like a Jedi on a mission. I went with the others to ambush a drop ship. Shouldn’t be too hard. It was only ambushing a giant steel brick. Never been that hard in the past.
So we’ll see.
KitKat the Mentat
Danar Vorpadaran
So'Zen Al Saba
VN Ysadora
Aerena Kolene
Davish Tam
post-hurricane by VN Ysadora
Spook has fun! by Aerena Kolene
Report Date
01 Jan 2022
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