Deadly Dealings
Diplomatic action
10/7
Size matters not.... . . ((GM note: this adventure references Allandor System but took place somewhere else -- do we have notes as to where?))
The Official Mission Briefing:
Freeworlds Territory system Allandor sends a desperate mission to Alliance of Worlds capital Procopia for emergency help: Allandor is an agricultural world, badly damaged by the recent civil war and trying to rebuild. Their rebuilding supplies don't show up, no matter how many times they've reordered. Emperor Kane's diplomatic office has offered to provide material support if nearby Procopia can't, and the situation is now strained enough for Allandor to consider accepting the offer.
Got that?
Right, then.
Here's the real deal.
Right, then.
Here's the real deal.
Capt. Benacor was hired to go pick up a farming supply shipment from this one planet, and make DAMN SURE that it arrives at its destination this time. It can't be an Official Mission from the Admiralty because of political blahblah, so as far as I know, this is an under-the-table "favor".
When Grand Admiral d'Arcy gave us the official briefing, we saw some serious hints that we were not getting nearly enough of the real information for our own good.
Once we saw Count Vorboccioni in the background, our questions became much more pointed. D'Arcy turned us over to a Lord Solicitor named Galen who (legally speaking) was the highest-ranked non-Count judicial authority in the Freeworlds Territory.
Lord Solicitor Galen: I must have some evidence if I am to act on such an allegation.
Vanya: Not true. Legally, your voice is the voice of Emperor Gregor himself; you can issue any order you see fit.
Lord Solicitor Galen: I need evidence if I am to have any chance that they will stop fighting long enough to listen to me.
Eleni is advised to take along certain personnel to help figure out what's going on, or fight off the pirates in question. Yeager and Danar are "on leave", therefore in civvies, but of course Yeager's going to pack his outerwear in his footlocker.
I'm invited along by Eleni on the recommendation to bring an experienced private investigator. I think Yeager was "hired" for fighting capacity, but I have no idea what the official links were for the Vor guys to this job. It's usually great to do some work with Danar and Khun (so long as he isn't being that "Count Vorboccioni" guy, as that involves a personality shift into a stranger I have trouble understanding much less trusting).
Danar had planned, of course, to bring along his Mentat ... but some of the party, especially myself, raised a ruckus: "That is not KitKat!" So this very different-looking person stayed behind, to take care of Danar's investments or something. I don't get what is going on here, but I am going to find out eventually: we all know KitKat, we can clearly see that this guy looks different and handles his face differently, but Danar acts like we're the ones being weird about it.
Apparently, by the way, Danar's parents and siblings have been recovered, and he's no longer heir to the Count Vorpadaran title (much less the head of his Great House).
Eleni: So now you're free to be a lay-about?
As the Mismatch arrives in-system, we land in the middle of a firefight. Three lambda-class shuttles, modified for long-range maneuvering, and three cargo pods equipped with ion cannons, have this hyperspace exit point completely surrounded, and are shooting at each other. One hits the Mismatch -- we never did find out if that was on purpose or not -- and zany defensive hijinx ensue.
V: Master Sergeant, in your expert opinion: If you were planning a mission and this was the distraction, what would it be a cover for?
Yeager: A great big clusterfuck.
Unfortunately, during the fight we get ionized pretty hard in the aft hold. Yeager's armor has to be degaussed and recharged before we get to the station, and the circuit board that controls the gravity in that area winds up broken. Rather than rant at the guys who were running the ship guns, Eleni elects to go "lie down" (meditate on not smiting anybody) while Khun steers the ship into dock and Yeager jury-rigs enough repairs to get us by.
Yeager: We've got gravity in the cargo hold. Not in crew quarters, though.
In dock, while deionization happens and replacement of faulty critical equipment ensues, Yeager and Khun (and the Mismatch's resident R5) go to inspect the shipment (for tracking devices and explosives) before hauling it back to the ship. Meanwhile, I start plunking around for clues about the previous vanished shipments.
Subpoenas and several conversations ensue.
Vanya: "Okay, Danar, it's just you and me here. Truth. That is not Kitkat."
Danar: "You'll have to expand your definition of 'Kitkat' a little."
Tsu Vorboccioni: Is Master Skywalker available? Vanya really would like to speak to him. Quickly, if possible.
Kenobi: I ... see.
Tsu: They're right behind me, aren't they?
Kenobi: {slightly confused} No ... there's no one behind you.
Tsu: Oh. But you said you saw...?
Kenobi: I just know my padawan.
message droid: {is happysparklygolden floating eyeball}a few minutes later:
message droid: Is this ship the Mismatch? Are you a member of the crew of the Mismatch?
Vanya's player: {rolls 2d6 for Common Sense check; receives 1 on wild die}
Vanya: I really don't want to wake Eleni up right now.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, via holotransmission: Maybe you should prove to them that you're not a Dark Sider first.
Khun decides to go straighten out this subpoena issue, and leaves Yeager and the R5 -- who has identified itself to Yeager and Khun as former Imperial Intelligence property -- to bring the inspected cargo back to the Mismatch. Vanya heads for the Navigators' Guild to get better access to the pertinent info.
Tsu Vorboccioni's player: I've got a plan, and it's a bad one.
Rather surprisingly from my point of view -- I was busy talking to Danar and didn't hear what the GM was doing to party members located elsewhere -- a distress call suddenly comes in from Yeager. He says he can't move, the droid's in even worse shape, and bad guys are present. Danar locks up the ship and grabs Yeager's footlocker, and we head off.
Can I borrow our railgun?
All hell breaks loose. The two shipping companies who've been competing for this contract previously are now in open warfare, inside the station and out in nearby space. Those lambda-class shuttles show up and start firing on the Navigators' Guild's great big ship. A shipbuster missile comes out of apparent nowhere and breaks the NG ship into several large chunks, each heading for a critical government location.
Except for the hyperdrive, which has broken out of its housing and tumbles through space directly toward the locked-down turbolift in which Vorboccioni is trapped.
I use the Force to grab all the big pieces of broken starship, just long enough to remove their momentum and leave them relatively stationary in nearby space.
For an instant, a heartbeat, there is calm. The people on the broken chunks of capital ship will live. The people on the station will live. A heartbeat later, yelling and fussing and vying will resume; but I have this, we have this: a heartbeat of calm. This is what the Jedi are for.
Size matters not .... but momentum is a bitch!
Danar and Tsu try to fast-talk me into claiming right of salvage (via telekinesis) on a freakin' capital ship, busted up into very large pieces by surprise missile attack, belonging to the Navigators' Guild.
Note: the Navigators' Guild is where all salvage claims have to be registered
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