Aftermath Session XXI

[baronsamedi]

Moving from my gunnery position to a pod with a number of soldiers (plus Khayall and the Clone Troopers) to board an Acclamator-class cruiser. We had a fairly well thought out plan but it has already begun to go awry.

We left Orto Plutonia with the very beautiful and charming Riyo Chuchi aboard the Sunrise. Sheela was flying separately and Sigma had his new Magnaguard Starfighter attached as it had a somewhat inferior hyperdrive apparently. The trip was about two and a half days, which I spent basking in Riyo Chuchi’s presence. Greegan seemed a bit smitten with her as well as he spent an…inordinate amount of time outside the repair bay. Oddly, there was some role reversal as we spent time actually filling Riyo in on some of the very latest events, and she let us know of some of the events at the beginning of the Empire. We finally let her know Namri was a Jedi, and she expressed how pleased she was with the kindness I showed Chaz, and such. That made me feel warm inside.

Riyo is beautiful. Her eyes are luminous and golden, her skin a shining blue. Her hair is light and feminine, her every move graceful. I don’t see how anyone could avoid falling for her.

Anyway, the couple day trip to Arbra was uneventful. Apparently the droids spent more time than they absolutely needed to in the cargo bay looking at all the Battle Droid bits, which could make one a bit paranoid I suppose if one is not following a certain former senator around being smitten. Greegan was also there a little bit of the time, though I somewhat question that he would do very much to keep the droids out of trouble. Outside that, Jek seemed a bit distant, even a little melancholy, though I did not want to pry. Truthfully…in retrospect I probably would have gone to see if he was OK if I was not spending time with Riyo, and that makes me feel kinda guilty. I should look out for the herd emotionally as well as physically. Greegan also did some forgery of identities but we have not been outside of dealing with friendlies so not sure how that has gone. I know R5 was spending some time with him on it.

Anyway, we arrived at Tebraal Base. The base had acquired more technology and things were busy when we arrived…Khayall noted, in fact, moreso than an off alert base would be. Darvin Serek greeted us again, and when Jek introduced the lovely Riyo, he whisked Riyo, Jek, Khayall, Namri, and myself to talk to Captain Ibtiba Retrosh. R5, Greegan, Nika and Sigma stayed behind to switch out the hyperdrive on the Magnaguard.

[Editor’s Note: I’ll just chime in here and inject this before Master Dumaw rambles on because I can. Greegan seemed to have an…odd…relationship with the Verpine Kista’zurai who came to assist us with the hyperdrive…Greegan is normally, well, passive is a nice way to put it. Short of Sheela being in danger, or I guess that Chuchi woman, it is hard to get him to not act rather…timid.

I’ll be frank that Chuchi woman bothers me. Master Dumaw is a simpering toy wrapped around her delicate finger, and Greegan is not much better. I don’t think it is a good thing she can strut right in and seize control of Master Dumaw so completely; I know Khayall Sand checked out her history but what if she wanted to use him as a tool? She could certainly get him to do nearly anything in exchange for showing another centimeter of neck. She is a politician, not a farmgirl, as well…she knows what having an enormous thug like Master Dumaw can mean. Certainly that she had a lovesick lummox following her around was not lost on her, nor was Greegan’s interest. Master Dumaw had previously promised Khayall Sand to work with him on piloting speeders and such like the STAP, but he was too busy mooning over Riyo to do so.

I spent most of the trip discussing the haul of Droid parts with the much more clear minded droids on the ship. Even Tau-1 was saner.

I digress. While Greegan shows a significant tendency to acquiesce to the will of others, he apparently grows a kilogram of spine when around this Kista’zurai. He would slap the Verpine's hand away from the console, and generally sass him at every turn. We got Nika up on the chassis of the Porax-38 (or Magnaguard as the others call it) and, a minor if amusing electrical incident with Nika aside, got the hyperdrive upgraded in about 12 hours. Contrary to Master Dumaw’s slightly dim understanding of how starships work, we actually upgraded the hyperdrive from a Class 2 hyperdrive to a Class 1, to bring it into line with the Yanab Sunrise’s and Sheela Hui’s V-19 Torrent. This takes some doing and while Nika is a ball of fur, disease and teeth she is quite handy with a hyperdrive. Kista’zurai wanted to tinker with the Sunrise but Greegan warned him off, then Master Dumaw and Colonel Jek Hebrides returned, so I will return you to Master Dumaw’s doubtlessly embellished account. –R5-D7]

We went with Serek, and Retrosh greeted us warmly. She gave Riyo a respectable welcome as she is due, and discussed the situation with us. The short version is, The Empire has been making some inroads on Susevfi and have been talking to the Chancellor. The Chancellor has a fairly lassaiz-faire attitude toward running it, but the Empire probably would not. I don’t have to explain why this would be bad for Ero, and she may need our help soon. Before we do that, there was one other point for our interest, well, two as it turned out.

One was the Empire was going to be transporting a large number of political prisoners to one of their prison worlds called Subterrel. Captain Retrosh was going to have the Tebraal forces attack the transport, an Action VI, and take over and free the prisoners elsewhere. The Action VI was to be stopping at Mustafar to get some form of supplies. We made the executive decision to help. I mean, it’s good to free prisoners; we were all for it, and I was not going to argue helping them in front of Riyo either. [Editor’s Note: See? SEE? –R5-D7]

The other matter was in the caves under Arbra's mountains, the ones Tebraal is situated in. Apparently some crystals consistent with those the Jedi make light sabers out of were found there. Khayall was…eager…to look at them, to put it mildly. While it was agreed there was little practical we could safely do with them at the time, Khayall wanted to make his own lightsabers, so Serek got a skiff and we (sans Riyo, who was taken to rooms to get comfortable) went deeper into the caves.

After a bit, Namri seemed to sense when we got to the right crystals. There were very pretty yellows, blues, greens, and purples, and many shades between. Khayall did not seem…satisfied with them, however. We got to where the caves were too narrow for the skiff and disembarked to go further on foot, over Serek’s protests. The caves made me rather miss having Varactyls around. My last caving experience had been on Varactyl back, and I missed them this time. Anyway, we traveled awhile when we ran into a whole swarm of mynocks. I had everyone get behind me (Khayall also directed us to flatten against the walls) and bellowed, which caused…quite a bit of noise. It dispersed the swarm and caused a fair amount of debris to rain down. Among the debris was a chunk of silver crystal used in making lightsabers. Khayall was intrigued by this, and had me hoist him up after I regained my breath and composure. He found some silver and even some black crystal. He was debating how much to get when I noted R5-D7 had a hidden compartment with spring, which could hold an extra. Khayall got enough crystal to make three lightsabers…a silver and black one to duel wield, and a black one to store in R5. I noticed as we left Jek trailed a bit behind and got a bit of deep midnight blue crystal for himself.

We met back up with the others and found Greegan berating that Verpine Kista’zurai from before. Apparently they got the hyperdrive installed without issue. Jek told us to rest up as we were setting out in twelve hours for Mustafar and an encounter with the Empire. Sheela seemed thrilled. She and Sigma went to go drinking in anticipation of the battle in a “pilot’s night out.” (I can only imagine what Greegan was thinking) I contemplated going to see Riyo, but decided it would be best to just get some rest. I would hopefully be seeing her after Mustafar.

We attached one of the boarding pods onto the Sunrise with a number of marines for boarding the Action VI and set off for Mustafar, Sigma in his Magnaguard and Sheela in her Torrent just behind. It took a little under a day to get there.

Shortly after we arrived, we found things had changed. Rather than a Action VI, a Acclamator-class cruiser arrived from hyperspace. Jek and Captain Retrosh quickly conversed…an Acclamator had a lot more firepower than an Action VI, and while it did not have an escort it very likely could dispatch V-Wings to defend itself. We decided to press the assault. A large number of V-Wings flew out and into our group of Y-Wings and ARC-170s. A group of ARC-170s and Y-Wings flew through the incoming V-Wings and attacked the shield generator before the Acclamator could get it’s guns ready. The initial volley badly damaged the shield generator but did not destroy it. Meanwhile, the V-Wings heavily attacked our ships. Sheela and Sigma were performing admirably, expertly dodging the V-Wings fire and causing notable damage to the ships. Tycho finished off one V-Wing Sheela had decimated and I helped finish one off Sigma had damaged. Tycho managed to himself destroy one V-Wing by hitting the pilot. Meanwhile the ARC-170s finished off the generator, and the Y-Wings did a number on the point defense cannons. The Sunrise was hit a couple times by V-Wings but Greegan’s master shield recharging and moving prevented any real damage. The Acclamator fired at the Sunrise a couple times with its turbolasers but Namri managed to evade. With the shields down the way into the Acclamator was opened, and Khayall, Tycho, R5 and I are making our way to the boarding craft now.