STAR WARS: DAWN OF DEFIANCE

Episode I

THE TRAITOR’S GAMBIT

It is a dark time in the galaxy. The evil Galactic Empire has spread
from the Deep Core to the Outer Rim, and everywhere
the Empire’s tyranny can be felt.

Fleeing from the oppression of the Emperor’s minions, agents of
Senator Bail Organa have run to a remote space station above
Brentaal. Known to be a vocal opponent of the Empire,
Organa may be the last hope of freedom in the galaxy.

In the hopes of stopping these dissidents before they can
reach the Senator, the Empire has alerted its forces on
Sel Zonn Station, where the struggle for liberty rages on,
and the first sparks of rebellion have begun to burn. . . .

A surviving group of personnel of ‘The Star Blades’ has been on the run for the past 6 months. The heat has died down from the events following Order 66, and our heroes have been subsisting on small jobs and tasks suited to their skills. They get word that their might be lucrative work on an out of the way space station on an out of the way Core World of Brentaal. Our heroes arrange passage to see what can be found…

Seemingly motionless among a sea of starships and satellites above the twinkling world of Brentaal, Sel Zonn Station grows larger into view every second. A central pylon forms the bulk of the station’s mass, and three landing platforms leading to docking bays extend from the central section, equidistant from one another and jutting out into space. The dorsal side of the station features a disc shaped secondary structure, on top of which blinking lights indicate the presence of a landing platform reserved for wealthy patrons.

Our heroes disembark to the station, and find it is not all spit and polish. A few steps off of the beaten path quickly reveal that the station is rotting from the inside out. A short walk away from the main venues leads to decrepit sections of the station, filled with broken lights, tarnished metal walls, missing deck plates, and all manner of suspicious aliens that have been driven out of the nicer sections by the Empire.

The heroes head toward the tourist trap area of the station, disguised as The Promenade. This area is filled with the bustle of revelry and commerce. Spilling out of the gambling halls are the sounds of victory and the moans of defeat, while the music of local bands issues from the cantinas. Only a handful of citizens mill about in the main areas of the Promenade, a few gazing out the massive windows at the planet Brentaal hovering below. Businesspeople hawk their wares to the passersby, and a few Imperial stormtroopers make their way down the main avenue of the Promenade on their usual patrol at a leisurely pace. A couple of our heroes notice there are also some people dressed in traveler’s clothes and carrying poorly concealed hold-out blaster pistols, these civilians seem as though they are keeping a watchful eye on nearly everyone at the same time. Their also seems to be an air of animosity against the obvious aliens of the group (Gonzo and Mordor) but nothing overt. This has our heroes slightly more on edge and alert as they continue on to business.

Our group heads into the local cantina, eerily named Gundark’s Cantina and order food and drink from the owner, an human who names himself “Gundark” Saff. As business is slow at the moment, he accepts an invitation to sit with them. They ask if he knows of any work that a group like them might be able to procure, as they’ve heard Sel Zonn might have some people hiring. Mr. Saff says he’ll inquire through some contacts, and to enjoy an order of his specialty ‘Jawa Chalupas’.

Mr. Saff advises a few minutes later that he has arranged a meeting at the casino across the Promenade called The Credit Chip. They are to go in together and someone who has been given a description of them will meet with them to discuss employment opportunities. The heroes down the last of their drinks and their Chalupas and head out of the cantina.

Meanwhile… A woman with short black hair and the greasy uniform of a mechanic comes stumbling onto the Promenade, clutching her midsection as though injured. She struggles to make her way across the floor toward our heroes, though clearly she is having difficulty walking. She spots the heroes coming out of the cantina and calls out to them.

“Please, help me! There are credits in it for you, just help me!”

Mere seconds later, two of the civilian informants of the empire as well as 2 stormtroopers burst into the area from the north end of the Promenade. They raise their blasters, aiming them at the woman, and shout through their helmet speakers, “Step away from that woman. She is under arrest in the name of the Emperor!”

Gonzo sneaks away from the group and starts to circle around to get in behind the armored troopers, while Neth backs off to the side. Mordor stands still but is plotting what to do, and Izza assess the situation but doesn’t take immediate action.

The agents move in, covered by the stormtroopers and tell the woman to get on her knees with her hands on her head. She complies as best she can with the abdominal wound. Izza then says “You best do what they tell you.” and winks. The woman catches it and plays along.

Mordor tried to pull out a vibroknife on the sly, but the other agent sees it and points his pistol at him. “Freeze!”

This is all Izza needs. She backs away from the agent that is about to cuff the woman, draws her own blaster, and takes down the agent with skill and precision. A firefight breaks out, with the agent returning fire on Izza as well as one of the covering troopers. She barely avoids the attacks as she takes cover behind a fountain. Neth then gets involved by trying to employ a Force Slam. He concentrates and finally draws upon the force, stunning the agent still standing but failing to effect the trooper behind him. Both also managed to stay on their feet.

Mordor takes the opportunity to move in and stab at the agent, and the vibroknife does its job and the other agent falls. Gonzo then moves in behind one of the troopers, and with his own vibroknife slashes into the trooper he has the drop on. The last trooper backs up and seeks cover by the large central fountain and fires wildly, but Neth has managed to activate his own Padawan Lightsaber and deflects the shots easily.. The group descends and focuses their firepower on the last trooper and he goes down before he can make his escape.

They pick up the woman, who has sought refuge in the cantina, and she directs them to take her to one of her safe hideouts. The imperials do not catch their scent, and they make a clean getaway. She says her name is Maya, and she reveals that she is a member of Alderaanian Security and part of Senator Organa’s personal security detail, and that she was waylaid by the Empire mere hours after arriving on the station. Apparently, the fact that she works for a vocal opponent of the Emperor has flagged her as a troublemaker, and the Empire wants her off the station one way or the other. Our group uses a medpac to ease her condition, and she pays them each 100credits, plus another 100 for payment on the use of the medpac. She then offers them a job, to complete her task since she cannot do so.

Maya indicates she was to secure some very valuable cargo by meeting with a contact on the station named Switch. Switch was responsible for receiving and storing this cargo, which was shipped all the way from the Deep Core. Maya was supposed to contact Switch, recover the cargo, and deliver it to Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan. She asks if the heroes will complete the job for 500 credits each, 1/2 now and half at completion. She can also put in a good word if they are successful with Senator Organa, who is also looking for skilled people that do not agree with the New Galactic Order. Our heroes agree, and set out to find Deep Storage Bay V14. She states as soon as they’ve located the cargo, to let her know so she can arrange transport for it off the station.

In their investigation of the Sel Zonn central computer, they find out that DSB-V14 is in a section of the station that has been quarantined for over a year and a half, yet no maintenance requests have been made for repairs to that section. Additionally, the terminal reveals that DSB-V14 is located along one of the station’s primary exhaust systems, meaning that exhaust conduits should be running right through the storage bay.

The locals also inform our group that despite the fact that DSB-V14 is in a quarantined zone, a large number of aliens are often seen going into that zone. Rumor has it that the aliens operate some kind of criminal organization out of that section of the station, and that a contingent of Gamorreans is always on guard near the deep storage bay. They also are able to learn that since the quarantine was put into place, the station manager has been taking bribes to keep it that way. The bribes are delivered to the manager on a monthly basis by an unsavory-looking Twi’lek, and though the Empire doesn’t like it, the local security forces ensure that Imperials never get too close to the quarantined areas.

Our group gathers and heads into the quarantined areas to find Switch. Upon arrival, they find that they have entered a very neglected part of the station. Many of the lights have burned out, and blaster marks and carbon scoring mar the walls, ceiling, and floor. The area reeks of ozone and electrical fires, and pools of coolant litter the hallways at regular intervals. After winding their way through a near-labyrinth of decrepit corridors, the heroes come upon bay V14, which is guarded by a pair of Gamorreans wielding vibro-axes.

They decide to see if negotiation is possible and attempt to parlay. But the dull witted but loyal Gammoreans refuse to let them pass until they state why they are here and who their looking for. Getting exasperated and an itchy trigger finger, Izzy considers just blasting them, but with a wave of his hand and a “We are here on official business and you want to let us through,” Neth manages to easily convince the weak willed Gammoreans to let them through. As they pass by, Izza quitely states ’Don’t ever try that with me Neth, or I’ll kick you where it hurts…’ Our heroes step through the outer doors…