Gatherings

[tomcat]

It took the Aegis a mere twenty-two hours of flight to the Abrion Sector and the planet Salliche. From within the cockpit, Caden saw the many hues of hyperspace suddenly cease and the myriad of stars in real space appear. The ship rocked somewhat as it often did in the transition from lightspeed to sub-light. Caden ignored it as he turned to his navplot to see if the stars were where they should be, and thus the Aegis was where it was supposed to be. The computer had already overlayed the starchart to what the sensors were detecting - the various stars, pulsars, and other space anomolies - and he found that they had dropped out right where he wanted. At sublight, the planetary system that contained Salliche would be only minutes away. The Bestinian returned his attention to the ship's controls - he had no desire to have their trip end to soon by him driving his ship into a small moon, planetoid, or even an asteroid. There were always lone bodies outside a star's accretion disc that may not be plotted.

The thirty minutes passed with no challenge and the Aegis soared from planetary orbit to orbit until the agro-world was seen glowing a soft green and blue in the dark of space. It had a solo moon as its only partner during its 412 day traverse around the huge yellow star named Sallus. Salliche was one of eighteen worlds in what was called the Ag Circuit, all closely ruled by the Empire, although this planet's direct interest was managed by the Sallice Agricultural Corporation. S.A.C. had maintained a good relationship with the Republic and during the Clone Wars had fulfilled many contracts for food products to the war effort. Palpatine's new Order did not change this agreement, as the S.A.C. gladly recommitted their cooperation. Still, the planet was garrisoned by Imperial Forces - not enough to cause planetary dissent, but enough to keep an eye on things. Within the Core, Emperor Palpatine believed that was enough.

Caden received his flight approach from the planetary ground control - all was happily in order with his ship and identification. The ground controller ordered them to a docking port on the outskirts of Netassa, the landing bay was 723. It took only another fifteen minutes before they had pierced the atmosphere and visual returned to Caden. Below him was sprawling green country within the planet's temperate zone, with denser foliage along the equator and then frozen poles at top and bottom. It was a typical M-class planet, although this one apparently had fantastically rich soil to allow agriculture to dominate its exports. In fact, it was the Ag Circuit that supplied food to the majority of the Empire and Salliche was one of the leaders of that chain of supply.

The ground quickly approached and the Aegis was soon subject to the planet's curvature. Caden saw gravity normal, atmosphere normal, and temperatures in a quite comfortable range. Netassa soon came into view and he allowed the ship's autopilot to follow the waypoints to where they would land. Once over the port, Caden took control and brought his ship in to land. As he looked out of the canopy, he saw streets and markets along with homes and small businesses. No buildings were much larger than five to eight stories and farmland dominated the rest. One thing that did catch Caden's eye and held it was what looked to be a large gathering of people in a central square.

The landing struts thudded to the ground and Caden hit the ship's intercom, "Welcome to Salliche everyone."

They had just over a week before the prisoner transfer would occur - plenty of time to become acquainted with the terrain, roads, and potential threats. It also allowed Kaida's new pet time to arrive.

With the struts on the ground, Sam opened the landing ramp and vented the ship. The droid was out into the bay in no time, surveying their dock and making sure they would have the room - and the privacy - to move stuff off the Aegis. He did not want to reveal too much, but they would need to ready the speeder bikes and other weapons. He would wait until the routine visit by the dockmaster was over and their docking fees paid before he began his work. He did not have to wait too long.



This post amends my earlier post that said it was three days to Salliche. After doing better research via Wookieepedia, I found both planets were in the core bands of the galaxy. Star Wars has never been a big info source for telling us how fast hyperspeed is, so I moved you at the speed of plot and gave you guys a little more room time-wise to make your plan.

[sdrotar]

Caden strode out to greet the dockmaster, introducing himself and any crew members that joined him.
He explained that they stopped in for a little rest and relaxation; they'd needed to see someplace green again -- and looked forward to purchasing some fresh food while they were here.
As he spoke, he asked the man for the local news; if there was anywhere to avoid while they were there.
He kept incessantly chattering away, essentially trying to cheerfully annoy the dockmaster enough that he wouldn't want to come back after he took their credits.

Gather Information +12 to learn local news/rumors for the dockmaster:

Rolled 1d20+12 : 9 + 12, total 21

Deception +12 (or Persuasion +12) to annoy the dockmaster:

Rolled 1d20+12 : 17 + 12, total 29

[GandalfOfBorg]

BIT remained inside the ship, prepping himself and his weapons for the mission to come.  With the task of working on the droids coming up, he had to be sure he had all the tools at the ready -- its not the easiest of chores to retask a droid, even starting with a clean slate.

[Jingo]

Kaida asked Abby to help BIT get setup with whatever they'd need for the droid work. Combined, those two had a lot of tech expertise and they'd have to draw heavily upon that to get the droid reprogrammed in time for their rescue attempt.

Then she exited the ship and stretched, looking around. She was glad to be on terra firma once more. She took a deep breath and filled her lungs and her mind with the peaceful greenery, the farms and smiled, letting the sun play on her face.

Best not to get too attached, she knew. Their stay here would end in violence and death for some. Best to accept that. But for a little while, she could enjoy it. She tried to relax, closing her eyes. She even toyed a little with the exercise Farok had tried to teach her and stretched out her senses.

Never once in all their sessions had she succeeded. She had picked up the light saber forms quickly enough, her natural dexterity helped her there. But... How was it possible to let the force guide your actions? To feel things through the force? Farok claimed that a trained Jedi could sense a host of other life forms. How was that even possible?

After several deep breaths she grew frustrated with her attempt and shook her head. She refused to let that spoil her current mood and followed after Caden.

[Posterboy]

Just checking to see if I under BIT's character right... he always keeps his face hidden right?

[Jingo]

I don't know. I'd like some more description on his char too. What does he look like? Any mannerisms he has etc?

Kaida caught up to Caden as the dockmaster left. "We need to get in touch with the resistance here, if there is one." She spoke in a low voice. "Salliche has long been a strong Core planet so there's probably not a lot of discontent here, but there is always some. Care to do some asking around with me at the local cantina? Also it's such a lovely day, it'd be a shame to waste it," she stretched languorously. "How about we rent a hover car and take it out on a spin to check out the likely convoy route and anything else about the re-education camp? You can think of it as a date."

[tomcat]

Caden smiled from his success. There would be no interest for the dockmaster to come back around unless they stayed beyond the amount of money that was paid. Their bay had its own warehouse storage which would allow them to work discreetly.

The only troubling thing that the Bestinian had learned from the dockmaster was that the local Agro-Unions were up in arms and walking off their jobs in the fields, due to the Empire's strong-handed control over the planet. The dissent had started quietly about a year ago, but now their was strikes and fields were left to go fallow. There had not been more Imperial presence militarily, but negotiators were trying to sort out the details with th unions. The net affect was that business was being affected across the board and Salliche's economy was beginning to feel the pinch.

Even as they talked, Caden could hear chanting beyond the docking bay in which he stood. Kaida suddenly walked up beside him and laid on her charms. He listened to her offer and thought it at least worth the walk out to the street to see what was going on, and so they did. Kaida and Caden exited the large docking bay and exited out into what looked like a huge cul-de-sac with a series of bays wrapping around the huge circle. Inside the circle could be seen trucks, mechanic vehicles, tow rigs, crates of merchandise that needed loaded or emptied, and finally a large group of people. Surrounding them all along the many exits from the small space port were the white-shelled Stormtroopers of the Empire. They grabbed the two companions' attention, but the more interesting person was a man who stood atop a large platform - or truck flat bed - behind a makeshift podium, who was speaking to the crowd. His words seemed to be igniting the spirits of his gathered workers and they chanted softly as he spoke - the song was patriotic in nature.

The Imperial troops did not seem to be interfering with the rally, but their presence was definitely known.

[tomcat]

Along with his weapons and armor, BIT also sat down in front of the ship's computer and began to search for all information that he could on the Confederacy's droidekas. He had battled many of them during his time in the war, and the thought of having one of the things around here was not to thrilling. Granted, they were a perfect killing machine, but that could work out in the wrong direction.

The black marketer had said the droid would be delivered to Salliche within the next two days - they merely had to wait until contacted. He figured he would use the time to make sure the princesses new pet would be kept on a leash.



Here are the tests I will need to prepare the droideka:

Modify droid [processor] - DC 20 Use Computer and DC 20 Mechanics (requires a tool kit) and will take 1 full day of work
Re-program droid - DC 10, once the processor has been modified, it can be easily reprogrammed within 10 minutes.

[tomcat]

Farok and Ardana, along with Abby - feel free to give me some narrative and/or dialogue for what you want to do.

There are a total of 8 days to spend before the prison transfer. These days can be spent doing what Kaida proposed - taking a tour of the surroundings. It can also be used to start the skill challenge if you guys want to hit the bridge.

[Jingo]

Kaida watched the crowd for a while, and the man speaking and tried to pick out who some of the other strike's leaders might be. She then asked one of the crowd sympathizers quietly details about the man so she could arrange a quiet meeting with him later.

While she doubted anything would come of such a meeting--these seemed to be a crowd of dissatisfied workers only. She doubted they had suffered sufficient abuses at the hands of the imperials to actually take up arms against their handlers, nor that they had the skills to do so. But, she reasoned, they might be useful in providing a distraction at the time of their strike. Or they might be able to lead her to some who were willing to assist with more direct action.

[tomcat]

Kaida and Caden moved on the outskirts of the crowd, showing interest but not wanting to appear like the were part of the rally. They had no desire to be drawn into some trouble if the Stormtroopers decided to swoop in on the laborers - either to arrest them or worse. Still, they walked around listening to the chants, reading the signs, and trying to perceive what the speaker on the impromptu stage was saying. The trouble was that there was a low murmur of a chant coming from everyone and it carried over the throng causing the speakers words to be muddied.

"Workers right! Workers labor! We will fight for our neighbor! Wages cut and longer hours, labor unions have the power! No more IMPERIAL say!"

Kaida read one sign that was written in black an showed a skull with two x's for eyes, THEY WORK US TO DEATH! NO MORE IMPERIAL RULE!

With the words and signs all speaking of dissatisfaction, Kaida began to speak to people as she walked by. They were evidently farmers, or at least field hands and produce handlers. There were men with bronzed skin from days spent under the sun; among them there were women who wore coveralls and aprons.

Kaida received many a cold, untrusting stare when she asked her questions. It wasn't until she came along a young man of mid-twenties that was listening to the rally, all the while holding a small recording device. Again she made her inquiries and he turned to her with a big, toothy grin, "I figured I would get some of this on my cam unit. Try and get it out on the holonet. So much stuff is being suppressed by the new Empire." He listened to another question from Kaida and then pointed to the man on the trailer in response, "That is one of the local landowners. Rich guy... well he, or I should say they, were until after the Clone Wars. Ownership on Salliche has become a battle of powers - both planetary and Imperial government against the long running wealthy graafs. It's actually worse now for the workers. Pay has been reduced; work loads are up; and we get the grace of having those white-shelled monsters looking over us all the time! I mean it was bad during the war, but at least then they seemed like they were on our side. Anyway, that is Graaf Savraan - he is the most outspoken of all of the wealthy. He has been trying to make the laborers understand that it is not the Graafs that are increasing the demands on output, while lowering their earnings. It seem he is also trying to organize a planetary strike that will make the Imperial Senate listen... even the Emperor."

[GandalfOfBorg]

 
He doesn't hide his face but he's not exactly eager to be out and about.  He tries to hide the fact that he's a clone but its been so long, his appearance has change a fair amount from the carbon copies stamped out of birthing facilities at Kamino.  He was kinda of special forces but nothing like ARC troopers -- simply well-disciplined and efficient, excelling as a slicer and sniper.  The Empire doesn't like deserters of course, but its more like they forgot about him instead of the other way around.  He feels no allegiance to The Empire as well.

When it comes around to it,
DC 20 Use Computer - Roll(1d20)+18: 8,+18 Total:26
DC 20 Mechanics - Roll(1d20)+13: 17,+13 Total:30
DC 10 Use Computer - Roll(1d20)+18: 6,+18 Total:24

And I'm sure a tool kit would be available on the ship or request to borrow one from Abby.

[sdrotar]

"I know this is right up your alley, fomenting opposition and all," Caden said to Kaida quietly, "but we need to get in and get out of here before this stuff explodes. If we're lucky, we can use it as a distraction."
Caden wasn't sure if he wanted to spend his life mounting some sort of rebellion and living on the run -- in fact, he was pretty certain that he wasn't -- but he got the distinct impression that Kaida wouldn't mind it one bit.
"Remember that we're here for your family," he softly suggested, as the anger of the workers swirled around them.

[Jingo]

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Kaida smiled at the smuggler. "I mean, really. You are the one who feeds on sneaking illicit goods past Imperial patrols, and you're calling this little pep rally dangerous. But don't worry, we'll get out of here before it gets too exciting for you."
Perhaps he was right though. The anger was palpable. She'd could use this eventually, if she could put a stopper on it until the time for the strike came.

She listened to the young man with the camera give his spiel and then responded with a friendly nod and spoke quietly for his ears alone. "Well, we might be able to help with your situation. How can I arrange a quiet meeting with this Graaf Savraan, without an imperial presence?"

[Telcontar]

  Doug, did I ever get any info on the planet with my insane galactic lore roll earlier? Btw, sorry I have been Mia I have been all over the place the last couple of weeks.