Episode 3: Answers and Allies

[Jingo]

"I agree," Kaida nodded. "Whether he is working against the Empire and harboring force users, remains to be seen. Even if he is, there are bound to be Imperial spies watching him closely. We should be cautious."

[tomcat]

Caden nodded, "All right then, when the Aegis gets into comm range, we'll drop from hyperspace and transmit an encrypted message to Organa. If it looks, and feels safe, we'll arrange a meeting."

Aboard the ISD Vigilance, Moff Thieraan stood looking out of the massive bridge viewports down on the silent planet of Bakura, and her northern polar cap. He had brought in a second of his Venator-class destroyers to maintain a hemispherical Imperial presence over the planet, while the investigation of the two senators' deaths was conducted. It stretched his remaining forces thin in their coverage of his sector, but he figured an expiditious close to these crimes better than them dragging out and involving any outside Imperial aid. He had already heard that Vader was making his presence known on the Outer Rim. Thieraan gave a faint shudder. He had no desire to deal with the Emperor's apprentice.

To the matter at hand, Wilhelm now bent his thoughts. What had they learned? With Ranie and Seelig's deaths, he had uncovered an abuse of the namana production here on the planet along with an arm of death stick trade. Each of the drugs led down different paths - to the Hutts and to the shadowy, mysterious organization known as the Bando Gora. Thieraan had heard nightmarish tales of what the Gora clerics did to their acolyte followers - transforming them into terrible spectors of their former selves and creating a hive-like mindset where they willingly fight and die for their own. It was said that the cult had been broken up years past, by Count Dooku, with the death of Komari Vosa, but Thieraan knew that it only took a new leader to re-invigorate an organization. He wonders who, or what, would have taken over.

As the governor mused, a deck officer approached. "Governor Thieraan, I have a report from the Bureau of Ships and Services... it appears, sir, that a Loronar-class explorer named the Aegis landed on Cloud City in Bespin, some weeks past and has never left."

Thieraan allowed a smile to crack his face, "Wonderful! Then we shall prepare to jump to Bespin and capture our subjects before they leave."

The officer spoke hesitantly, "Sir, there is already an Imperial presence now over Cloud City. Darth Vader's fleet of destroyers are currently in the process of delivering the Emperor's message of unity."

Governor Wilhelm Thieraan's stomach went acid. "Now what?" he thought to himself.

[tomcat]

Wondering if her father would have had contact with Bail Organa since the bio on him in "Force Unleashed" book says he "...worked behind the scenes to aid the nascent resistance movements sprouting up across the galaxy..." but maybe that's in the future?

Okay, Jared... I finally can answer the question.

First, I added a timeline thread to our game so you guys can see where our story sits in the midst of Star Wars universe canon.

Second, the answer to your question... Organa would most likely have tried to extend aid to your parents as well as other anti-Imperial nobles of Commenor, in as subtle a manner as possible. It was in 19BBY that Organa and Mon Mothma began discussions of rebellion, and senators of Commenor may have been present. We can use this as part of our story -arc, in regards to what Kaida may learn as the game progresses. Anyway, that was 5 years ago (in game) and Kaida has been on the run since. Also, the info on Commenor is somewhat vague during these times so it makes for a good, canon-free world to work with for gaming.

The Force Unleashed story isn't for another 12 years, Vader is essentially training the boy right now, and the foundation of the Rebel Alliance starts the same year. But all these years, Organa is doing what he can to work against the Emperor, all the while protecting (and teaching) his adopted daughter, Leia; helping to hold the Senate together; and keep Alderaan as Empire-free as possible.

[tomcat]

Eight hours after their decision, the Aegis dropped from hyperspace and came to an almost complete stop - Caden only keeping steerage with the sub-light drives. They were still a distance from Alderaan, but well within communication range. In fact, the explorer vessel was now deep within the Core Worlds and the new Imperial Order. It made most of the crew restless.

Caden walked to the comm station with the rest of his companions looking on, and began to scroll through prior message transmissions to acquire the transmit address of Senator Organa - the one which he had communicated with him when picking up Dan Qinos. It took only a few minutes to go through the cache of memorized electronic broadcasts that the Aegis had sent, and there it was. Caden loaded up the frequency into the comm system and prepared to transmit. He looked over his shoulder at the rest of the party, "Here goes... Sam, remember to use the best self-extracting encryption that you can when this sends. I want to make sure that only Organa can get it and hear it."

The droid nodded.

The transmit button was activated, "Senator Organa, this is a friend whom you had employed not long ago to run an errand of great concern for another friend and colleague of yours. Times have become precarious and it is of utmost importance that I am able to speak to you in confidence." Caden emphasized the last word. "I can only give you one word to explain our relation... Qinos. I will await for word back from you over this channel, and via this encryption, for a period of 2 hours."

Caden released the transmit button and looked again to Sam, "Were you able to encrypt it securely?"



All right, Sammy... I need an encryption roll with a DC of 20; if you succeed, the transmission is sent with encryption. The good thing is, to hack into it will require a DC of whatever your roll is plus 10.

I also will roll a Persuasion roll from Caden to see if Organa is interested/willing to respond (there are many Imperial ferrets trying to draw out any traitors to the Empire).

Caden Persuasuion test
DC 18 Persuasion +10, Not visual -4*, Key word +2** = +8
-------------------------

Rolled 1d20+8 : 18 + 8, total 26

* because Caden is a voice over a transmitter, Organa may be apprehensive
** Qinos is a name that will certainly make a difference

[tomcat]

Oops! I guess I should have clarified that the Encryption test is a Use Computer test. I also forgot to add the image to the post, but I did not want to modify and lose Caden's roll.

[donimator]

Sam interfaced with the ship to prepare the message for transmittal. A passive scan of communication traffic gave a hint of encryption protocols in place in this sector and this info was used to refine the scramble. He hadn't had much experience with Imperial code-breaking though. They were scarce in the Outer Rim and were rather new and constantly changing to begin with. But it was just complex math problem with some simple string theory derivatives thrown in. Within seconds he arrived at a sequence that had the best probability of success. He gave the command to send, but a sense of trepidation flooded his circuits. He self-diagnosed, but could not lock down a mechanical fault. This was new and he would have to run a filter through his programming during his next shutdown.

Sam's Use Computer roll TN20
Use computer +10

Rolled 1d20+10 : 3 + 10, total 13

[donimator]

Caden released the transmit button and looked again to Sam, "Were you able to encrypt it securely?"

poop
Another sensation flooded through Sam...dread?...failiure?...Perhaps he was spending too much time with sapients. "The message was sent, Caden. But the result was less than I had hoped for. It will still be difficult to decode and there is so much traffic that it will likely be lost unless someone is actively monitoring the Senator's messages." Sam considered his last statement. The new Empire reaching for control of the galaxy and forcing the former instruments of order in the Republic to bend to their will. Sam calculated the probability that the Senator's communications would be monitored..."We better pick up our scanning."

[tomcat]

Not that it would matter here, but remember that you guys do have Force Points to use when you need to tweak a dice roll.



If there were prying ears out there, Sam, Caden and the rest of the group could only guess. For now, they would need to wait to see if a reply would come from Senator Organa. Minutes passed and as they did the crew of the Aegis began to disperse to different areas of the ship, their minds filled with personal thoughts about their current situation.

Kaida and Britton went to the galley to prepare some food; Brim and Caden also went to the ship's lounge but found other things to involve themselves. Kara stayed on the flight deck looking out at the stars. If they needed to get away, she wanted to be ready. Beside her stood Sam. The droid remained linked to the Aegis and he kept a vigilant watch with the scanners and the other antenna arrayed on the explorer's outer hull.

More time passed.

On Alderaan, Senator Bail Organa was summoned to his office by his personal aide. It seemed the senator had a private communique that had come through channels that were reserved for hightly confidential communications. The aide had not listened to the message - Organa did not allow that - only reported the fact that it was there. Bail had the utmost faith in his aide and did not worry about any others being aware that there was a secret message, let alone a secret back line of communications to him. The channel was isolated and super-encrypted to evade the Empire's efforts in tracking down dissidents, but there was always a need for caution.

Organa looked at the blinking letters on his monitor. He stubbed the receive button and watched as some very basic encryption was unraveled and what was fuzz became words.

"Senator Organa, this is a friend whom you had employed not long ago to run an errand of great concern for another friend and colleague of yours. Times have become precarious and it is of utmost importance that I am able to speak to you in confidence. I can only give you one word to explain our relation... Qinos. I will await for word back from you over this channel, and via this encryption, for a period of 2 hours."

"Qinos?" Bail thought about the name. He remembered now. Kal Ranie had needed help on Bakura. He then looked at the time stamp on the transmittal... "45 minutes ago," the senator spoke out loud. He had time to do a little research of his own. He wanted to be sure of just who he was going to be talking to, and just what kind of problems could arise.

More time passed.

On the Aegis, Kara walked back to lounge and looked at Caden. There was only ten minutes left of the two-hour window that they had given the senator.

Sallo smiled to himself as he plotted the position. The Core Worlds? "So," he thought, "The fools have flown deeper into the web."

The smile on his face suddenly fell away. That means there was more opportunity for others to find them! He needed to move.

[tomcat]

Caden could see the look on Kara's face and knew that she wanted to fire up the engines and get them out of there. The time was almost up and there was no word from Organa. Caden sighed and stood up just as the communication system started to drone. Someone was calling them. The entire crew perked up and watched as the Bestinian quickly moved to a comm unit.

Caden looked at the signal and could see it was coming from Alderaan, and Organa in particular. He thumbed the receiver only to have a mechanical voice begin speaking, "This is P81-3PO replying to transmit code 1225.36A. Received. Alderaan no longer viable ground to meet. Jump to coordinates 16523X, 952400Y, 45787Z and await further. Out."

The static hiss followed as the communication ended from Alderaan. Caden moved to another terminal where he could check the star charts. The coordinates led them to an old Republic space station called Jovan. It was a heavily trafficked station for travelers throughout the galaxy. It was certainly an anonymous place.

The pilot looked back to his companions, "It is coordinates for a space station. Do we go?"

[Jingo]

Kaida did NOT like the feeling that the Empire was still hunting them--hunting her. But it was nevertheless the reality. They had blasted Tie Fighters out of the sky and exited Bespin in full view of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Surely the ships description had been broadcast very widely across all Imperial controlled sectors. In addition, a skilled bounty hunter was after her... How many others of her family had they found and rounded up over the years?

"There's no way of knowing whether or not this is some sort of trap." She eyed Caden, Sam, and Kara. "Do we know what the Empire's presence there will be? If we do go, I suggest we go fully expecting and prepared for a trap." She frowned slightly and wondered how well one actually prepared for a trap that he or she knew nothing about?

[ZehnWaters]

"We'll work through it somehow," Britton said, not sounding terribly convinced.  He then turned to Kaida and placed a hand on her shoulder.  "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you."

[watanabe]

Kara taped her fingers on the control panel without actually typing in any commands.  She looked at the coordinates for the control panel and shook her head.  She'd been to plenty of space stations, and while all the tourists and nobles always said "oooohhhh" and "ahhhhhh" at the wonders of a space station, she knew what they really were.  The stale air that was constantly recycled and breathed by everyone on the station, the shady characters looking to take you for your hard earned pay, crooked administrators always wanting their cut of any deal, straight or illegal.  Worst of all was the sublevels of a space station, it was times like this that she really wished that she had a solid job somewhere, but it was too late now.  She was on the run from the law in many sectors, the Empire in most of the galaxy, and who knew what other forces.  Space stations were probably the closest stationary place she could feel safe anymore.

Looking at Caden she shrugged.

"Could be worse, he could have wanted to meet in the Imperial Senate building."

[tomcat]

Sam and Brim had yet to answer, but already Caden was starting to feel a group compromise. "It will be impossible to know what the Imperial presence will be, but I can make only two assumtions -- if Organa did send us the message in good faith, then the location must be remote enough, or off the beaten Imperial path that he feels safe to use it. If it wasn't Organa, then we should get an idea of whether or not to approach once we get close enough to get a look see." The Bestinian then turned to their droid companion, "Sam, see if you can discreetly tap into the holonet and see if there is any information on the Aegis leaving Cloud City. We must be making news of some sort it the ship was recognized... maybe. I am hoping with our new registration and licenses that the Aegis landed on Cloud City and disappeared."

Everyone liked Caden's mindset, but they all knew that the Aegis' engines gave off an automatic transponder code. If they were scanned as they left Bespin, the ship could have been matched back up with the docking manifests. But that sky was overwhelmingly busy and there were many freighters trying to get away - it was possible that they had slipped through the cracks.

Caden turned to Kara, "Okay, let's get to the deck and start plotting the jump."



More to come in the AM, but dialogue as you please. Star Trek will be updated then, too.

[donimator]

Sam stayed silent on the matter of their destination. Probabilities and permutations gave little comfort when they seemed beset by copious amounts of ill favour or dumb luck. It was the extremes that threw predictions off kilter and the soldier part of him found peace in following and reacting as things came up. He was fine wherever they went. Like few droids could say, he did so of his own free will.

Sam could quickly and efficiently process large amounts of holonet data, but he had little ability to access restricted info or worse, hide the fact that he had been looking for it. With a brute force approach, he searched countless streams of data for mention of their ship or anything similar.

Sam's net-fu
Use Computer +10

Rolled 1d20+10 : 15 + 10, total 25

or (potentially) worse,

Gather info check
Gather info +3

Rolled 1d20+3 : 5 + 3, total 8

[Jingo]

"We'll work through it somehow," Britton said, not sounding terribly convinced.  He then turned to Kaida and placed a hand on her shoulder.  "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you."

Kaida sighed and nodded gratefully. She had been on the run alone for so long, it was hard to really trust anyone. But perhaps they were all in this together, she a noble on the run and this group of misfits and "criminals". She gave him a grim smile and shook her head wryly. "You know, Britton, that's a promise that could get you killed," she gestured out at the vastness on the other side of the view port, "what with the Empire and this mysterious Bounty Hunter on my trail." She hoped it was only one bounty hunter.