In Character Thread

Episode 0 A rude Awakening

"ON YOUR FEET!"

The shout wakes you out of deep sleep as your eyes pop open revealing a tall broad shouldered rebel leader standing in the doorway of the berthing area. His large human stature blocks your view of the hallway behind him. The bright white lights over the bunk beds snap on, a stark contrast to the peaceful dim light and gentle rest you were enjoying.

You scramble out of your bunks and stand in the single empty ilse. The cold floor on your feet and the still air tells you that morning is still hours away, and something is wrong.

"Where's his bunk?" The officer storms into the room, ignoring the line of recruits standing at a hasty sleepy attention. Making his way to an empty bed with no recruit standing next to it.

Through the glare of the bright lights you see an empty bed, sheets thrown back, footlocker ajar and a missing recruit. You're startled and confused. You all went to sleep at the same time, where could he have gone in the middle of the night?

The officer bends down to inspect the open footlocker, digging in it briefly by tossing some spare clothing aside and out of the trunk.

"There's nothing here." He says curtly, addressing the 3 other junior officers still waiting sheepishly at the door, unsure weather to enter or stay outside. All markedly afraid at the large officer's interaction with them.

"Take it. Take all of it." As he gestures around the empty bunk and footlocker. The 3 other officer scurry into the room and quickly start to pile the loose articles of clothing and bedding into the footlocker.

"Does anyone know where this man is?" He addresses the room in a loud, calm , authoritative voice while pointing to the empty bed.

The room remains deathly quiet as the remains of the bunk are packed up.

".....nobody? Fine." He turns towards one of the female officers standing just outside the door. "Who'd he come in with?"

The officer shuffles to her second data pad and swipes quickly on it, feeling all the eyes of the room on her.

"Togen, Armitage, T1 dash N33, and Ama-Ama-ran-tha, Lieutenant " she snaps to a quasi form of attention, pleased in her quick response to the question.

The Lieutenant's eyes scan the room, looking at the party. His eyes come to rest on Tiny.

"Well, they're still here. They're either genuine, or stupid." His voice hints at moment of humor, and the seriousness of the room lightens for the briefest moment.

"You four, follow me." He motions with his hand a following gesture as he begins to walk out of the room. Your eyes dart back and forth at each other, unsure weather to get dressed first or go in your sleeping attire. As if he has eyes in the back of his head he barks "NOW, please. Leave your gear."

You shuffle into a line and follow the Lieutenant out the door into the hallway. Your eyes try to meet the officer's standing outside the door, but she looks down at her data pad anxiously averting her eyes so as not to make contact.

The Lieutenant walks you down the narrow well lit hallway. Only wide enough for about two men shoulder abreast, the white insulation panels on the walls and ceiling keeping out the bitter icy environment of the rocky moon's interior. You pass numerous closed doors, mostly to other sleeping areas, some to maintenance closets.

After about 30 yards a door on the left opens abruptly and 2 base security guards enter the halway just in front of the Lieutenant.

"Put 'em in there." He says, as he points to the open door without even turning to look back at the party as he walks away down the hall. The 2 security guards usher the party into the room.

The door shuts swiftly behind you and you hear it clank loudly, locking you in. [Daunting]

The room is a 10 x 12 metal box with a large window on the right that appears to be a 1 way mirror. There are 2 metal chairs bolted to the floor with their backs against the left wall, as if two people are to sit and look iinto the mirror together. You see an old drink distribution station affixed in the wall that hasn't been cleaned in ages. Paper cups are stacked upside down nearby. On the wall with the mirror, you see a metal speaker box, for use communicating with someone on the other side. The overhead lighting is covered by a metal screen.

It's clearly not a jail cell, but definitely a secure waiting room. The four of you stand in the room, looking at yourselves in the the reflection. Tired, confused, mildly cold.

The party takes 1 strain for not getting a full nights sleep, and 1 strain for being in the cold room in only your sleep wear.

T1 stands precariously close to the door that slams shut behind the group, knocking on it several times with a metalic clank.

"Query: Why are we locked here?" he asks the group.

He begins to circle around until he reaches the glass of the two way mirror, pausing before knocking on it. He cocks a fist backwards, and looks towards Mo.

"Observation: This section of the wall has glass. Potentially leading somewhere other than this room. Should i facilitate an escape plan?"

The glass will be a [Hard] difficulty with an upgraded die from the wire mesh embedded inside it.

Maldan Togen shivers from the cold. He has gotten little sleep the previous night, and was still drowsy and restless.

"I am unused to these frigid temperatures. A squad of Imperials would almost seem preferable, as it would certainly warm us up at least. Yet I suspect we need not worry, droid. These are most likely standard precautions, considering that we are all strangers to these people, as we are to each other. No, my big worry is for the one who disappeared in the night. If anyone can warn the Imperials of this base's location, he is the most likely culprit."

Maldan looks at his other companions. They look like capable warriors. He hopes that their skill accords with their appearance. It will be nice to be among warriors once more.

Sure, give me a [Hard] Vigilance check.
Take no strain for the cold. You can make a vigilance check as well if you'd like.

Maldan gives the doctor a hearty smile. Well it seems we have some soldiers among us, so I suspect you will be needed here more than you think. Though I hope it doesn't come to that.

"I am Designation T1-N33, You may call me T1. Query: Doctor, are you trained in droid services?"

Tiny is growing impatient. He does not enjoy being trapped in a room with this many people, and he feels very out of place.

"Query: What if this is a test? Perhaps we are meant to escape?" His question is clearly directed initially at Mo, but based on his posture, it seems he will accept an answer from any of the people present in the room.

He continues to look towards the window. Logically, someone is behind there watching them. silently judging the group.

About 15 minutes elapses before the door to the room opens. The large Lieutenant enters the room followed by 2 junior officers carrying your footlockers.

The junior officers set the heavy trunks down on the floor and separate them so that they may be opened. The Lieutenant continues to walk into the room all the way to the other side of the wall, and turns to address the group.

"We’ve got a problem." He states frankly, though it comes as a surprise to no one. The junior officers actually seem more calm than earlier.

"One of our recruits has decided to up-and-leave in the middle of the night." He pauses, waiting for the information to settle in.

"Now ordinarily, this thing has happened a time or two. Recruits get scared, think they have a better life not getting involved, run back home to mommy." He glances around the room.

"..problem is that it usually doesn’t coincide with the base losing our sole communications with the outside world." He places his hands on his hips in a disappointing judgmental stance.

"We searched your trunks, and checked the holocron recordings. We’re pretty sure you lot are just as surprised as we are. Nevertheless, you all arrived on the same transport together, and we had to be thorough"

"That still leaves the issue of the comm tower though. Gold squad is prepping for a big mission today, and I need them tip-top. I’m assigning you to check out the relay, get it back online if you can, or report the damage if it’s sabotage. He nods softly before taking a more quiet, more serious tone.

"Take your weapons with you, we’re not sure if our missing recruit is involved, or if its completely unrelated, be on guard." He takes his hand off his hip and places it on Tiny’s metal shoulder, the only one close enough both in proximity and stature.

"These boys will get you some hats and jackets for the cold out there." He points at the junior officers.

"Ice storm blew in last night…" The Lieutenant begins to walk through the room, and out the door

….helluva first day! His voice trails off as he makes his way down the hall.

After getting situated, the junior officers lead you out of the room down the hall and into a maintenance shaft. The shaft is more narrow than the hallway, and not as well insulated. You can feel the bitter cold of the surrounding rock. The howling wind of the storm can be heard raging overhead.

The middle of the shaft opens up around a ladder that leads upward through a vaulted ceiling of about 10 feet and through a small access hatch. On either side of the ladder there are benches with heavy boots laden with snow and mud tucked orderly underneath. Behind the benches are thick heavy jackets with fur lined collars hanging over staggered knobs. Some still have icy snow clinging to the shoulders. The lighting in the room is a dim blue and it’s hard to see color variations in the clothing and hats under the monochromatic light.

"Take what you need, and make sure it gets put back where you found it." one of the officers shouts over the howling wind.
"Once you get outside, the communications tower is about 200 yards uphill" the other officer says pointing in the direction of the access hatch in the ceiling. "Stay on the ridgeline where this hatch opens up, otherwise you’ll get lost in this storm. Visibility is bad and we won’t get sunlight for two more days."

You're very disappointed with yourself. You just had training the other day about observation and the world around you. How you're supposed to take note of all the details. Now you can't even remember the smallest detail about the guy you came in with. His face just blends into the background and you can't recall it. It's so frustrating, especially now, when it matters.

Like your compatriot, you remember nothing. Which doesn't bother you as much as Tiny, but it makes you think. If you can't remember to take note of those around you, what else have you missed? What if you miss something during a startup sequence on a fighter? That could really cause problems. Wait, what if you already had forgotton something and didn't even know it? No... no way... you know your systems... batteries to on, boosters to high, hyperdrive cooling to on...

You continue going through your checklists for starting up several fighters in your head, testing yourself for a deficiency, and finding none. But you are definitely distracted.

Take 1 strain

Disregard my last roll! I forgot to add difficulty. Im assuming since there was an ice storm recently, its gonna be a hard check with a setback from the recent snowfalls

Perception- Tracks or anything i see outside the hatch?
Total: 2 Failure, 1 Threat, 1 Triumph

The icy snow is driven almost sideways. You can't even make out the mountain you're standing on, let alone any tracks. If someone left footprints the storm would have wiped them out by now, everything looks native.

What sticks in your circuitry however is the force required to open the hatch. Your left arm servo reported a voltage decrease of 3.72 micro joules of electricity. That corresponds to about 68 newtons of force on the hatch to break the ice around the opening.

Statistically speaking that's more than a human would be able to provide with one arm to an upward hatch while on a ladder in bulky clothing. Your conclusion therefore is that you are alone, and the recruit did not come this way.

Take 1 more strain for your servo joint which seems to be stiffer now after the power spike.

Bracing himself for the cold, Maldan begins climbing the unforgiving terrain. As an Iakaru, he is accustomed to climbing, but the road ahead is daunting even for his years of experience.

OOC:

Rolling coordination. Also, as an Iakaru, I gain a boost due to my Brachiation talent, since I am using Coordination to climb (for reference, it adds a boost to all Athletics and Coordination checks related to climbing, sqinging, and balancing.)

Your transport had no windows, and the crew weren't liberal with their information. You could try a core worlds check if you wanted, but the storm obscures the starry sky so it would be hard with 3 set back die.

Or you could wait to talk to someone inside in the morning.

"Assessment: I was also imperial property. Che Mora helped by painting me blue. Perhaps you just need a new coat of paint"

Tiny says, pointing to an area on his shoulder where an imperial insignia was quite obviously scratched out with something sharp. He directs himself to Mo after speaking to the doctor.

"Query: Do we have more blue paint, captain?"

The Party continues the climb in the windy storm. Carving out a knee high trench in the fresh snow in the pitch darkness. Tiny's light beams into the distance, snow blows in to the beam and the light is reflected harshly.

The ridge line appears to be about 3 feet wide, very rounded and soft from all the snow. Each side descends into a dark stormy wind driven snow. You're making good time, and this trail should be sufficient to find your way back.

Assessment: We are over halfway there. We should arrive at the relay soon.

Tiny continues to flash his lights into the snowstorm, hoping for any clarity in this horrible weather.

Maldan continues to scamper ahead of the group his short strong legs making quick work of the dark snowy terrain. The light from Tiny, shines on in a cone of brilliance. Then suddenly the light waves around erratically and the sound of metal and snow tumble off the trail leaving the party in darkness looking down the hill.

The fall was not a bad one. Only about 10 feet down the slope you can see a mound of snow and dark metal. Tiny's light, now obscured by the snow covering it, dimly illuminates a small circle through snow.

No harm done, the snow is very soft here. And as a result of losing the light you can see a dimly green light flashing in the distance up ahead. It's the Comm tower's night beacon. You're almost there.

As the group continues to scale the ridge, Mo begins to worry less for the safety of the group and more for whatever threats they have waiting for them at the comm tower. So instead of focusing his attention on utilizing his climbing gear and keeping things coordinated in the snow, he begins to start peering ahead, squinting into the dark, swirling snow hoping to make out any details of where they're going.

"I think I can see something ahead of us, guys." Mo says, trying not to be too overly loud, though he is fairly confident that the wind will cover much of any sounds he makes. After a moment squinting ahead he does indeed seem to make out the dim lights of the comm tower, but before he can really start to take stock of it, he feels a jerk on the rope as Tiny slips off and tumbles down a short fall.

Tiny readies his rifle, aiming his sights up the hill. If they do encounter somebody or several somebodies up there, he is going to be ready to open fire.

"Statement: T1 is prepared to fire on your command, captain.

The party approaches the communications tower. A large two story tall grey antenna jutting up into the foggy clouds. Several lights continue to blink steadily on top of the tower as well as within the small electronics on the shaft of the antenna.

At the base of the tower are several large containers each about the size of a washing machine that contain all the equipment required to operate the tower. Each has a door that provides access to the internal contents.

One of the boxes appears damaged.

Maldan moves closer to the group. "I, too, have difficulty seeing through such an oppressive storm. Yet perhaps if we all focus our efforts, there will be a greater chance that one of us can see what we hope to find."

As the party stands perplexed at the base of the tower, the storm rages on around them.

Oh shit, im pretty new to t he FFG system tbh, i have a super basic understanding of it, but i assumed you wanted me to look at something else while someone else made the check on the box to determine what happened here.

Tiny scans the tower with his specialized optics. There's no one hiding. There's not even any heat signatures. The tower is cold and there hasn't been anyone in the area recently. The surrounding area is all the same temperature, and given his calculations, if a warm blooded individual was on or around the tower it would take approximately 5.2689531 hours for the temperature to normalize with the surrounding environment (given a standard deviation of the current delta Q of temperature of course). Therefore there exists a 99.126 percent probability that you are completely alone standing next to the tower, and the greatest threat to your welfare would be the current environmental conditions.Still looking for the perception check to determine what is wrong with the tower before you can head in out of the cold.

The party surveys the tower and associated equipment and can't tell what's wrong with it. It's obvious that one of the crates is heavily damaged, maybe by an impact of some sort, but nobody can quite figure out what kind of impact or where it came from. It's bent inward, there are scratches and marks to the container.

Nobody can tell if this damage is the cause of the outage or if it's completely unrelated. You'll need someone else to come out and make a more professional determination under better conditions. You photograph and scan the area with your datapads for your report.

While it was not a successful trip, Mo feels better knowing that they have a scan and pictures to take back to command, so he removes 1 strain.

The party heads back down the mountain.

Following in the path they took coming up is easy, there is a noticeable trench from the four of them leading down the ridgeline back to the hatch. They travel quickly, and it seems to take less time to travel back, than it did to travel up the ridge.

Once they approach the hatch Maldan reaches it first and opens the hatch. The fresh fallen snow slides off the door and piles up near the hinge. The wet door shines in the light of Tiny's beam.

The party climbs down the ladder, comfortably following each other down in quick succession, followed by Tiny, who keeps the ladder illuminated. With each heavy footfall on the ladder on the way down snow and ice fall to the floor below adding to the already messy dirty ambiance.

The blue lit room with coats surrounding the walls and the ladder in the center seems both brighter and warmer than it did before you left. Perhaps it's the contrast from the outside temperature, but the base feels more lively. At the end of the maintenance shaft that leads into the well lit hallway, you see recruits and cadets and officers walking by frequently. Some holding food, some holding datapads, and others walking together talking. It's obvious the morning is in full swing.

As you doff your jackets and boots a rebel junior officer turns from the hallway down your maintenance shaft.

"Statement: I saw everything. Surely youre technicians can download my visual memory banks of the excursion"

Tiny chims in, tapping his head.

"Addendum: Ignore the climb to the tower. I had a slight misstep"

Armitage, pauses for a moment, wondering if the story is believable. Lying to a rebel officer is a stressful situation.

Maldan strokes his chin thoughtfully as he regards the images being projected before him.

"It would be an honor to undertake this mission, of course, but I would like to know more about these leaders that we must entreat to join us. What do we know of them? Are there any who are more predisposed to supporting our cause than others?"

Tiny raises an oversized robotic hand.

"Query: What is the transportation to the planet, and when we land, how do we get around?"

Tiny turns to leave the room, choosing to keep stride with Mo.

"Excitement: A new ship! Captain we get a new ship!" He exclaims, trying to keep his excitement hushed but failing.

Marbo pulls a thin plasteel panel with some adhesive, a few wire connectors, and a small roll of sauter and a small torch, out of his bag and shows it to the good doctor.

As the party heads down the hallway heading towards the garage, the familiar sound of ratcheting tools and voices echoing in the large space can be heard before rounding the corner into the entry way.


The hallway terminates in an archway that opens up to a large open room with a very high ceiling. The cavity was carved and blasted out of the rocky interior of the icy moon on which the base occupies.


Astromech droids and mechanics can be seen scattered throughout the scenery. The edges of the garage have many workstations with large tool boxes and large equipment recently used, placed out of the way. To the right about 800 feet away, you can see the blue energy shielding covering the main entrance, keeping the bitter weather outside.


Near the main entrance a row of 6 Y-Wings are lined up side by side, noses pointing in the same direction, toward the center of the room. Hoses attached, boxes and crates nearby, but no personnel attending to them.


Directly across the hanger from the Y wings, 2 X-wings sit next to several open spaceship parking spaces. It looks as though there were 8 X-Wings parked here, and 6 of them are out of the hanger, judging by the open parking areas.


The crates and hoses are all pulled back from the empty spots, indicating they left this morning, and haven't yet returned. The 2 remaining X-wings both have maintenance crews patiently tending to them. Sparks fall from the tools of a repairman under one the X-wings, and he lays under the ship welding on the hull. The cracking and sputtering of the welding echos in garage.


Towards your left, near the rear of the garage you see a YT-2400 freighter surrounded by large crates and a handful of technicians.





To the untrained eye, it looks completely normal from a distance, but as the party walks across the concrete floor of the hanger to get a better look the damage to the freighter is immediately apparent.


Large deep black blaster marks score the aft of the ship near the top of the engine output. The ship looks to have been chased down and fired on by some very large weaponry. It's surprising that the damage didn't pierce through the hull.


Working around the freighter are several small pit droids. They are opening the crates and taking parts and pieces out, assembling them into larger components and laying them out in some order that seems obvious to them and the mechanics.


A floating Toydarian peers through the glasses perched on the edge of his nose as he observes the pit droids working, making notes on his datapad and stroking his dirty white beard.


Out of the interior of the ship the party sees a large Besalisk and small blue Squibb walking down the ramp towards the Toydarian both grinning with a guilty childish smile.

"Introduction: Greetings. I am designation T1-N33, Gunnery specialist and weapons enthusiast of the crew of captain Che Mora Amorantha," Tiny gestures towards the Pantoran he is accompanying, "He is more than capable of flying this...thing."

Tiny seems lost for words. He cant quite call it a ship. Theres no guns, no big proton torpedo bays, not even a Flak launching Mass driver. Tiny debates briefly about just sitting atop the ship with his rifle to stop any imperial vessels, then determines it to be a bad idea.

Mo's eyes are fixed on the ship, bounced around to pick out details of the craft, and it's obvious to anyone watching that he's eager to get on board and slide into his seat. Absently he shakes hands with the Besalisk as he restrains himself from heading inside. At the mention of piloting the craft he focuses his attention on the conversation at hand and says, "You better believe I can fly her. And, for the record Tiny, this isn't a 'thing', this is one of Corellian Engineering Corp's finest crafts, a YT-2400. Once our big friend here gets her fixed up, I'm eager to put her through her paces. How much of that damage is superficial and how much more time do you need to get her operational?"

"Addendum: Make sure the guns work!" Tiny chimes in, following where Mo left off. He is staring towards the ventral weapons port, trying to see if he can determine what kind of weapons system is on the ship

"Sounds good. I'll stow mine and maybe help Deks if he needs some unskilled labor. The sooner I'm flying again, the happier I'll be..." Mo said, with a nod to the Besalisk before heading in and "accidentally" putting his gear into the captain's cabin.

Maldan grumbles as he scratches his head. "I have nearly no mechanical experience to speak of, but if I can be of service in any way, I will do my best to accommodate you." He moves inside and begins unloading his gear.

A couple of the mechanics look at the ship, and look at the doctor curiously. They look back to the ship, whisper among themselves and ask.

what?

The dorsal turret angled up and back, as if frozen in its position during combat is quite prominently displayed a top the freighter.

I think a computers,or core worlds check would be better since you're not actually setting the jump right now. [Easy] plus 3 setback die because the engines are inoperable and shore power is disconnected.

Tiny checks the mechanism for the ventral turret. Everything seems to be in working order, ready for action, and more importantly power. The engines are still down, but once repaired the turret will function as intended.

Repair Shields
1 Threat
1 Triumph

Deks works at the shielding circuitry, its overloaded and fried. Unplugging the old burnt pieces and plugging in the new parts. Flipping on the power to the unit, a component pops a snaps in a smokey spark laden explosion. Deks shields his eyes, [taking 1 strain] he quickly unplugs the smolder piece. Holding it up to the light he examines why it failed.

It's the plug. It's a 28 pin connector, but on this corellian model the power wire is reversed! These plugs dont have a marked up or down, so it's possible to plug it in wrong.

Deks pauses for a moment before an epiphany strikes him.

The engines! They're plugged in upside down!

He jumps up from the shield station to head back into the engine room.

OOC:

Should we narrate the items we're taking in character, or do we just add them to our inventory?

Mo clicks and taps at the base's terminal. From Kirselest II to Agribba is a 47.26 hour travel time through hyperspace towards the Core worlds along the Corelliean Trade Spine. Planning for a trip in advance will help Mo during the astrogation check since some of the calculations are done on the base terminal.

"Apprehensive: I was saving up for a bigger gun... but would this help?" Tiny resigns himself, opening the closet where he stashed his duffle and pulling out his 1900 credits.

" Suggestion: Shields are unnecesary. Hostile contacts will be shot down and obliterated by the might of the ventral turret,"

announces Tiny, wandering in while exploring the ship.

"Assesment: I feel as though we need more guns. Can you install more guns on this ship?" Tiny asks the mechanic.

Malden makes sure his personal supplies are all in order as he patiently awaits takeoff. Space flight has never sat well with him, so he eagerly anticipated the hour when they will at last make planetfall.

As the engines spool up the freighter raises up off the cement floor of the hangar bay under it's own power. Mo gives the stick a little nudge and the freighter flies slowly out the hangar door.

The snowstorm that was raging earlier is still in full swing, though the winds have died down a bit. Visibility outside the cockpit is down to a few feet.

The cockpit instrumentation is working well, and Mo flies the navigational buoys up through the storm. The grey-blue fog and clouds become darker and darker until breaking though to the blackness of space and the crisp brilliance of the tiny stars.

Mo levels the ship off, slows the engines and completes a last check to ensure the ship is performing well in the vacuum of space. Everything appears fine. The repairs seem to be holding well, and the ship seems to have a bit more power that it should have given the stock freighter engines.

Bleep bleep --- bleep bleep

The communications console blinks an orange light indicating an interstellar transmission can be received.

Mo taps the button curiously.

Mayday mayday, this is the commercial vessel Disteria. We have been attacked by pirates. currently adrift. Request immediate assistance from any ships in the vicinity, our current position is... The voice goes on to read the galactic location of the adrift ship.

Mo plugs the coordinates into the navicomputer to get a sense of where the ship is. It shows up several systems away, approximately a 4 hour hyperspace jump in the opposite direction of Agribba.

"Assessment: Most likely."

Tiny looks towards the gun turret.

"Statement: I am on it!"


Tiny hops into the firing seat and takes aim at nothing in particular. Anybody near the hatch can hear him talking to himself; " Aggression: Pew. Pew. Pew. Die imperials. Pew Pew"

Result:
1 success 3 threat

The ship groans and creaks as Mo brings up the hyperdrive, and as the stars blur past the canopy the hyperdrive makes some very unnerving sounds. A moment passes where the crew say nothing to each other, and just listen to the drive pulasting a rhythmic groaning sound.

They all look at Deks, who is looking off in the distance studying the sound with his head cocked to one side.

He recognizes the sound as air in the hyperdrive cooling regulator. A [Simple] fix but you need to go easy on the drive until you jump out of hyperspace.

Tiny remains in the turret, waiting for any sign of a hostile vessel to appear. Most people who know him would have never seen him as lucid and alert as he is in this moment. He is ready. The gun is ready. Together they are become death, destroyer of imperials.

Deks gets right to work on the shield system. Sitting on the floor next to the shield electronic access hatch, his two right arms each hold electrical probes. He tests two points, then reads a meter placed on the floor while his left hands push buttons on the meter and fish inside the nearby tool box.

That power plug won't get the better of him this time. It takes about 7 hours of tinkering, testing, power cycling, and the shield power is restored. Deks also found a couple shortcuts that were able to improve the efficiency of the system (remove all ship strain, remove critical injury to shields).

The repair was a lot of work, and its been a long day Deks takes 1 strain. But Deks is on a roll with repairs, just a few more left until everything is running properly. Now tired from the long day the ship jumps out of hyperspace.

The coordinates drop them into a large orbit around a orange and red gas giant.



Also in the orbit are the early formations of a ring. Mostly large asteroids scattered around the giant, some the size of small moons and many the size of capital ships. The adrift ship is nowhere in sight, but the beacon indicates that it's up ahead inside the asteroid ring.

Yawning from where he was half dozing in the pilot's chair, Mo blinks and looks up as the console bleeps to indicate a return to normal space. Getting on ship's comms he says, "Hey everyone, we'll be arriving at that ship in about ... now. Anyone who wants a seat on the bridge, come get it. Tiny, don't shoot anything until I tell you to or it shoots at us first, ok?"

Before moving the ship in closer, Mo points to the sensors console and says to the folks in the room, "Any of you guys good with those, I wanna make sure we aren't flying into a trap here."

The engines hum calmly as the universe waits for our band of adventurers to take action. A small orange battery light illuminates on T1ny's torso and blinks intermittently

There's nothing around the ship as you head to the ring. Once inside the the asteroid ring of the gas giant you cant shake the ominous feeling of flying amongst the large boulders. They block out the sun, and hang in mid air with an eerie presence.
As they take up large sections of your view out the cockpit window, the sensors struggle to scan the area. You continue to follow the distress beacon further into the belt. It's much closer, but you don't see it yet.

Roll an [Average] stealth check with 2 boost die due to the asteroids

The team continues to follow the distress beacon until finally rounding a large asteroid the vessel comes up on the scope.





The computer identifies it as a "Baleen-Class" freighter (Silhouette 6). It appears heavily damaged and listing to one side. light debris and cargo form a trail of damage that reveal the path through the asteroid belt. There is a white plume of something venting out of the engines that highlights the trail of destruction.

Crew quarters and hull look to be intact and not badly damaged. You can see lights on in the bridge. They have not hailed you over comms, they might not even know you're there. The Baleen is {Close} range band to your ship directly on the nose.

Maldan considers this question, looking out into the ominous sight that greets him just beyond the cockpit's viewport, before at last breaking his silence. "We've come this far. I believe we should proceed and investigate."

I've responded to this in the OOC thread.

Scanners aren't picking up anything unusual.

If there is anything out there, Tiny can't tell. But he's ready to blast it. {recover 2 strain}

Just flying closer to the ship won't need a piloting check. If you want to attempt to dock with it it will be [Average].

And since it's been a little bit go ahead and give me an [Average] Stealth check with 2 boost die.

What's that? Who's there? the unmistakable voice of a grumpy Ugnaught echos back over the comms.

They knocked out our scanners and disabled our engines We drifted into this asteroid belt. he eclaims with desperation and contempt.

we have 4 wounded, 1 critically when deck 2 depressurized.

If the pirates are gone, we'll extend the docking bridge to receive your medical support.

As Mo looks over the Baleen freighter, there's no obvious docking bridge. No doubt it's concealed to prevent unwanted ships from hijacking the cargo. Since the crew agree to extend the bridge, it will make docking a simple task.

Feeling a bit relieved, Mo sits back in his chair.

Their ship name is "Bendlebrynn" according to your scan of their transponder. Yours is coming up "Unknown_Vessel_9593582"

As Mo brings the ship in close to the freighter the bridge extends. The YT freighter swings in and contacts the airlock and stops sharply in position. Stabilizer jet thrusters snap on and flicker, holding the YT in position.

The air locks open with a woosh. Inside a long dimly lit hallway, ceiling tiles and lights hang out of position and flicker from damage. Tubes and wires are exposed by damaged and loose panes on the walls.

A fast approaching Ugnaught approaches, wielding a heavy blaster. Pointing it at the the Doctor and Deks he yells at them in a tribal language that is not Basic

"GRACKTU WAM BAL KAT MAN WRACK!"

The Ugnaught raises his blaster and shakes it while pointing at Deks.

"GRACKTU! EEBA YEN GON TA MOOK! WRACK! WRACK NA KAT GOM DA BOOT!" The Ugnaught points his weapon back at forth at Deks and Armitage.

He is clearly very agitated, he shifts his weight back and forth anticipating a fight, while snorting and grunting. He continues waving his blaster at the two. focusing more on Deks and shaking his blaster rifle at him.

Doc waits until the Ugnaught is fully focused on Deks before he pulls his blaster from the pack of his trousers and puts in the back of the creature. "Drop that or you won't be moving for a long time." If the Ugnaught moves a muscle Doc will pull the trigger.