Prologue

[tomcat]

STAR WARS: TEMPEST RISING

Episode 1: Round Up on Salliche
Dark times - the Empire has succeeded in bringing a new
Order to the Galaxy. Worlds begin to fall into line and many
support Palpatine within the Imperial Senate. The human population
of the Galaxy find that their lives better, as they are promoted to
controlling positions and the alien races are subjected to segragation,
and even slavery.

For some, the Liberty and Freedom that was stolen by Emperor Palpatine
is too great a gift to let go. On various worlds, separate factions begin to
form, although many cannot gain enough inertia to grow. Memories of The
Clone Wars are still too painful for people to want to return to arms and rise
against the iron grip of the Empire.

For others, tyranny cannot be allowed. Too many were lost in the wars to allow
their sacrifice to be in vain. These freedom fighters press on no matter the odds
and continue to keep the pressure on the Empire, which has yet to completely
secure itself. Many watch and listen and a few in power begin to draw the strings
to pull these loose knit organizations together.

[tomcat]

She ran.

Her heart within her chest felt like it was going to burst. Her legs screamed with the agony of having run non-stop for the near three miles. They were close behind her but she needed to make it to the city - at least to the outskirts where she would find some kind of technology and communications. It all depended on her.

Her name was Darone Fellsum and she was from the planet Commenor. She had worked for the Third Directorate of Intelligence for the Royal Family, under the command of the Prince, Jalek Katan. When that planet had been sacked by the New Order and the Royal Family either scattered or killed, Darone had not ended her work. Instead, she had gone underground and continued in her efforts alongside the man that had led them all. They were all fugitives of the new Empire, but they were sworn in the commitment to find a way to sunder the new emperor's power.

Jalek had sent her on a mission to the planet Salliche, and the capital city of Netassa, in search for his sister, the Lady Kilstara. The Prince had only recently learned of her being alive and her whereabouts after he found his other sister, Kaida, alive. With the information she revealed, Jalek had sent his agent to garner more information.

The planet Salliche was an agricultural world. Vast swaths of land were used for the production of food and bio-fuels. It was a quiet and peaceful world with a simple folk that enjoyed technology, but did so in harmony with the planet. The capital city was large, but it was only one of small number of such cities across the continents. The primary purpose of the few metropolises was for spaceport and trade, Salliche's inhabitant preferring their lives in the country.

Because of the resources of food, the Trade Confederation had taken control of the planet early in the beginning of the Clone Wars. The empty land also allowed for internment camps to be set up and many prisoners of the war were brought to Salliche to wait for the Republic to free them, or to die. With the end of the war, Palpatine saw the opportunity to use the established camps to move political prisoners off of Coruscant – to make them disappear. The Imperial Security Bureau moved in their best inquisitors to procure whatever information was valuable and also to indoctrinate any rebellious spirits.

Darone had come to Salliche as a corporate envoy to discuss shipment terms, all the while trying to garner information about the six re-education camps and a particular captive. The task proved difficult and she had needed to extend herself beyond her cover. Darone had snuck aboard a transport that travelled back and forth between Netassa and camp six. She had secreted her way from the transport and into the administrative yard of the prison. Donning a uniform of one of the food service personnel that hung within an open locker of a staff room, the agent was able to make her way down into the sub-basement of the facility and there slice into data feeds that ran throughout.

A number of prisoners were scheduled to be moved off world. The data reported that the prisoners were no longer useful and would be moved to new facilities where people were sent to be forgotten. Darone saw the name Kilstara on the list. Jalek's sister was not only here, but soon she would be moved and the information needed to be sent to the Prince as quickly as it could. Unfortunately for Darone, her cover was lost and she had to run. After a small firefight, she escaped on a speeder bike and raced back to Netassa. Scout Troopers sped after her and the agent's bike was shot out from under her.

Darone ran. She quickly disappeared into a field of tall standing kaeva crops, evading her pursuers. She continued to run back towards the city where she could disappear once more amongst the many inhabitants. Eventually the field ended and Darone was again out in the open. She ran. Behind her, the Scout Troopers searched.

She passed into another field with large bales of hay that were scattered everywhere. Loose piles of the cut grass were also abundant and she moved from the cover of one to another. That was when she saw it – a transmit tower blinked on the horizon. She drew out her comlink and looked to see if she had a strong enough signal. Suddenly a speeder bike zoomed past her position. She ducked into the bale and set the comlink to transmit, burying it into the straw.

The Scout Trooper saw movement amongst the bales and cut his steering control into a hard turn. He came about and brought the bike's blaster cannon to bear. The world around Darone erupted into a storm of blasted earth and fire.

[tomcat]

Farok made a fist.

The smile that crossed his face told the tale. It had been years since he was able to make a fist with a right hand. It had been years since he had been able to bend an arm, scratch his left arm, and so much more. The smile remained on he man's face.

Yes, the pain was still present, but he knew pain enough and how to control it. The surgeons had been good and the graft was done well. Along with the purchase of the high quality cybernetic, he was once more a whole person. The burning ache that could be felt where bone was connectd to metal, the doctors had told him would persist for at least a month. It would be the shortest month of his life after waiting near half of it to be able to once more make a fist.

Farok turned to the sight of Ardana walking across the park. Her pleasant color a contrast to the green of spring and the rich blue sky above.



I will continue this intro after I get the rest of the conversation from everyone in the last thead of Black Sun.

[Telcontar]

The man of the desert raised his new arm and let the pain in his shoulder wash over him. He relaxed his fist and with some difficulty placed a long wide cigar within his new grasp. Lifting the new arm he placed it in his mouth and lit it with his good hand.

"ice walks in the spring
among the trees she is elegant
My arm has no pain"

[tomcat]

Caden looked down the manifest one more time and then he scribbled his signature across the document. It was nice to know that he could do that without any challenges. Antturus must have kept his word because since their departure from Malastare, they had had no more challenges with the Empire. Whether there were bounty hunters still out there looking for them was another story, but Caden could live with that... well, he thought.

It had been five Bestinian months, by which the Aegis chronometers maintained its time, since then and they had bounced around the Galaxy for a while to loose any tails. Caden finally decided that he would take them to Abregado-rae, a major manufacturing and trade-oriented planet, the third of five worlds in the Abregado system in the Core Worlds. It sat at the beginning of the Rimma Trade Route, and was also the starting point for the Shapani Bypass or the "Bacta Run". The planet had a reputation as one of the Core Worlds' more rough-and-tumble planets. It was home to the infamous Abregado-rae Spaceport. It was also one world that Caden knew well, having had many trade deals and deliveries there, that they could disappear in the crowd, so to speak.

Even though it was in the Core, the Empire did not have too much interest in it even though the planetary government willingly accepted the Empire's New Order. Still, spacers, smugglers, privateers, and pirates would take advantage of its close proximity to major business and te anonymity it offered.

Abregado-rae was a temperate world with pleasant summers and mild winters in its settled regions. The capital city, named Abregado-rae Spaceport, contained many water canals which were used for transportation. The older part of the city was referred to as The Old Patch. The city had numerous sights, such as the LoBue Cantina. It also had beautiful parks and gardens. The green of the planet and its blue skies made for a peaceful location, too, as long as you did not bring trouble for yourself.

The Aegis had been in spacedock for the better part of the five months for repairs and to allow the crew to relax. They had not stopped to heal from their wounds - both physical and emotional loss for their fallen - and even though Kaida had won everyone's support in rescuing her sister, Caden was not going to take the ship into another engagement without repairs and upgrades. Even Farok had taken advantage of the down time and invested in a new arm. The surgery had been a great success and the former Jedi was healing up nicely. Sam had had his own systems repaired, and BIT (which was the only name he would go by) was fitting in with the group quite well.

He handed back the manifest and was returned a receipt for materials and labor, along with an inventory of ship supply loadout. He gave the droid technician his cred chip and the fees were deducted. He hated doing it - no one liked spending over 6,000 credits - but you couldn't park a ship for free and have it repaired. It wouldn't be long now that they found themselves once more in the fray, but Caden figured he would take advantage of the few days left to continue his many visits to the LoBue Cantina for some gambling.

The day was warm and he turned back to his ship and started up the landing ramp, into the cooler confines within.

Inside the Aegis, Kaida had been busy, too, over the last few months. She had spent the time making networks with agents from her brother's resistance group, creating false communication accounts, and setting up discreet financial accounts for her brother to get her money. She had had a number of false identifications created for herself for the purpose of banking, with no two accounts listed with any data the same.

She was busy with a transfer of funds, when she heard the familiar footsteps of Caden's boots on the Aegis' deck. The man took a fancy to the Corellian-style of high boot and spacer pants. Kaida turned to talk to him when the computer console in front of her chimed. She looked to see that one of her mail network accounts had a new message. She opened it, ran the algorithm encryption software on the received transimission and waited until the language became clear. It was from her brother and simply said, "Kaida, we must talk. Kilstara is to be moved and we must act quickly. Contact me at your earliest convenience."

Caden stopped when he saw Kaida's urgent look. Something was up.

[Telcontar]

Farok was in the hold of the ship. Sweat poured down his face and further stained the weather beaten cloak and clothes that he wore on Tatoonie. The Jedi's appearance was curious by the robes that he wore. The right sleeve hadn't been bleached and faded by the sun as the other had. Its new appearance seemed out of place, but for anyone who knew that up until recently the desert man had had only one arm.
The smell of ozone filled the room as Farok worked to mentally and physically relearn the use of having two arms. His light saber style had always relied on only one arm, in that regard he had been lucky. But subtle nuances he once had known would take practice to relearn and develop into his fighting style.

Ardana was there with him, his constant shadow. Today however she held one of the ship's repair riveting guns. She took aim at her Master and again fired several hot slugs at the Jedi. With fluid and rapid swings of his lightsaber he worked at deflecting and blocking them.  He had several scorch marks on his clothes, but during their time in space his performance improved greatly.  He waived her off deflecting the last of them and powered down his lightsaber and wiped his brow. A sudden blast of the gun sent three more screaming through the air of the hold at the Jedi. The snap hiss of the lightsaber came up again and the three slugs were vaporized by the quick work of the aged man.

"Desert Imp! You'll pay for that one when we resume your training." He said with a laugh.

Farok seemed years younger now that his body and a purpose had been returned to him. Farok paused and frowned, "Come, the Princess has news of something."

[Jingo]

Kadia tried to keep a lid on her emotions, but when she heard the news that the Empire planned to move Kilstara her alarm level skyrocketed and she sat up straight in the chair and looked at Caden.

"I need your help," she said to Caden without preamble as she swung her chair back to the monitor and re-read the words on the screen. "The Empire is moving Kilstara. I need to talk to Jalek, my brother, as soon as I can. If we can find out where she's being moved to, it might be possible to rescue her while she's in transit."

She stood, her nerves in turmoil. Would she be able to get to her sister in time? As was her habit, she raked a free hand through her hair.

Farok walked in followed by Ardanna at that point. She spared her master and Ardanna a nod and a wan smile and continued. She knew she should have tried the Jedi calming trick Farok had taught her, to slow her breathing, to reach out and try to feel the life around her. But it was hopeless. She had tried it dozens of times over the past five months and had rarely felt anything but annoyance. That and how acutely aware she usually was of her aches and bruises. Farok liked to have them practice the meditation in-between training sessions with the lightsaber. She didn't know if she even had the ability in her, but she knew Farok would have her try again tomorrow just as he had every previous day. Her smile dipped into a shallow frown.

Thankfully she had at least picked up at least lightsaber forms so that she wouldn't accidentally stab herself in the thigh when igniting the blade and might have a chance at hitting the broad side of a bantha, but at her rate, she would never be able to deflect any of the projectiles Farok had demonstrated.

"Anyway..." she wiped the frown away and concentrated, pulling her mind back from her training with the Jedi. "I like the sound of an en-route rescue better than breaking into another imperial prison. Either Jalek doesn't know all the details or he cannot safely communicate them to my accounts. Do you know of a way I can get a secure holofeed to my brother on Commenor? I need to make sure we have as up-to-date and accurate information as we can."

[sdrotar]

"I don't know about 'secure'," Caden said, "but this is a popular spaceport. A single message to Commenor might not raise any suspicion - it'd be one of many from here. There are a few holocom-for-rent stations spread around the port; maybe we could hide your message in plain sight."

I'm suggesting the equivalent of the old "call from a payphone" trick...

"We're in good enough shape here," he continued. "We should be able to ship out once we know where we're going... unless we need to hire a small army first."

[Jingo]

"Well if that's the best route we have, I suppose we'll have to take it. Lead the way."

GM is there something I can do with my computer skill to encrypt the holo-feed?   

[GandalfOfBorg]

Quiet as ever, BIT spooked the crew on more than one occasion with his quiet appearance.  As if out of almost no where, he appeared to Kaida and Caden.  With out much for a sniper and slicer to do until now, he was restless.  "I can set you up with something, or as reasonably as secure as you can be with civilian-grade equipment."

[sdrotar]

BIT was unquestionably odd (and unnervingly quiet at times), but he was also an excellent houseguest on board and seemed eager to help. Caden decided a few days back that he wouldn't look this particular gift horse in the mouth.

He shrugged his shoulders and looked at Kaida. "Anything's better than just throwing it out on the 'net, right?"

[Jingo]

Kaida nodded. She hadn't learned much from BIT, even in the close proximity of the Aegis for five months other than he had once been a soldier who had gone MIA. Still, he had proved himself on Malastare. "Very well. Whatever you can do BIT."

[tomcat]

Sorry for the delays - here we go:

To answer your question, Jared, Kaida's brother already gave her a DC 31 encryption algorithm - meaning it would take an opposed Use Computer test DC 31 to un-encrypt, assuming the individual is aware of coded messages being sent. I mentioned the decryption in the narative.

BIT may enhance, or provide a new software encryption, but he will have to make a Use Computer test and the results will be the decoding difficulty level. Remember that Kaida's brother has the same encrypt/decrypt algorithm, so sending him something more difficult might deter your communications until his crippies can decode it.

You guys decide and make some dialogue with it.

[Jingo]

I'm assuming we've been staying at a hotel right while the ship was repaired?
Also, can we purchase some more hardware/weapons here, right? Do we need to RP that or can we have already done that given the amount of time we've been here?
Can I get a live holo-feed to Jalek from within the ship or do I need to go somewhere to do that? I was assuming the latter, but I don't know SW tech well enough.

Kaida tapped out a few keys from the ship's computer, and brought up the encryption algorithm for BIT to take a look at and then she transferred it to her datapad in case she needed it. "Jalek and I do use an encryption algorithm. From what I can tell, it's reasonably secure. But if you can do better, BIT, I'm all ears."

[GandalfOfBorg]

"Of course I can do better," BIT mildly bristles, "given a bit of time but you're pretty safe from most regarding the security of the data packet itself.  But even then, you should never use the same encruption algorithm more than a few times.  Your immediate concern is the security of wherever you're going to record your message, no amount of data encryption will protect you from someone spying on you while making your recording.  But that's just coming from an old paranoid like myself."