Edged by the Empire

Episode 06 Family Obligations

Previously on Edged by the Empire…

Before the game began, no Obligations were triggered. As before, even if there was only one player, I considered all three main characters as player characters so three Force Dice were rolled, resulting in a Destiny Pool of 3 Light Side Points and 1 Dark Side Points. Irfan finally did some character advancements with the 60XPs he had been saving up, purchasing the Dead to Rights Talent and upgrading skills like Melee, Piloting (Space), Gunnery and Stealth.

The YT-1300 light freighter Lava Jaeger and her crew, Captain Hondo Pash, his kid sister Yuzy Pash, their armoured hired gunslinger Giin Lawquane and the astromech droids R2-8B8 and R5-K2 arrived at Naboo where Imperial Star Destroyer Obdurate was patrolling. Hondo informed them of their cargo of computer parts from Christophsis bound for Silverlake a port city on Naboo.

As they approach the lakeside city after a pair of Z-95 Headhunters fly past their freighter and ignoring them, the weapons lock klaxon blared. Giin – stationed at the top turret – said over the comlink, “What ith going on?” A missile was streaking toward them from the city outskirts. Hondo told him, “Hold on!”

The Lava Jaeger jinked, the missile missed and Giin (with an extra Boost dice from of the Triumph) blasted the missile out of the Naboo skies.

The sun was setting as Hondo set the ship down at Landing Bay 2. An Imperial officer, two stormtroopers and two Naboo security troopers were waiting for them. Lieutenant Ryle was concerned at the attack on their ship, which the entire city saw. He asked Hondo about his crew and cargo. The stormtroopers inspected their cargo and found nothing but computer parts, and they were satisfied with Giin’s identity. Ryle promised to find out who shot at the Lava Jaeger then took leave of them.

After Hondo paid the port authority 50 credits for landing and berthing privileges, Giin told him that he had to go visit an old comrade who had contacted him earlier. They were to meet at the old Gungan ruins of Colo Char, 200 kilometers to the east. As he strode out into the spaceport to look for a speeder rental shop, Hondo and Yuzy greeted their contact, Mors, who arrived at Landing Bay 2 with three load lifter droids.

Mors lamented about the raised taxes and reduced traffic to Naboo after there was a strong Imperial presence in the system, because the local Moff was good friends with the Emperor. He told Hondo that the next time he came, the landing charges might be doubled. After his droids took possession of the shipping crates, Mors said farewell to Hondo. Hondo waved to him, “Thanks. Good doing business with you.”

It was then that Yuzy said, “I’m hungry. Let’s get something to eat outside.”

There was someone waiting for them in the bay as they debarked. It was a middle-aged human with a sleeveless jacket and heavy duty pants. He looked as if he had been through a hundred wars. He had a wisp of red hair streaming down from his mostly-shaven head.

Warily, Hondo answered, “Giin Lawquane said he had to go to the Colo Char ruins to meet up with an old Naboo friend.”

The man appeared to be distressed. “But he’s supposed to me with me. I am Tombs, his old Naboo friend. This means he’s heading for a trap.”

They decided to go help Giin in case he was running into an ambush. Tombs had a SoroSuub Gian speeder parked outside. Yuzy tried to come along but Hondo told her, “Stay with the ship. It might be dangerous for you to come along. I don’t want to lose you again.”

As the Gian speeder sped away, Yuzy contemplated returning to the ship. She gleefully wandered out into the streets instead (because Hondo failed his Charm roll to get her to stay).

Driven by Tombs, the speeder left the city behind and headed along the green fields towards the hills. A twin blaster cannon with a blast yield enough to turn another speeder into molten scrap was mounted at the Hondo’ seat – the passenger seat. Tombs asked, “How did you meet Giin?”

“He was a prisoner of Teemo the Hutt. When I rescued my sister from him, I also freed Giin. He signed up with my ship as a gun-for-hire.”

“I haven’t seen Giin for more than 10 years, but I’ll tell you this,” said Tombs, “you couldn’t find a better person than him to watch your back out here. The only trouble is we have a bounty on us so we try to keep out of sight. It’s a long story. Even though I was born on Naboo, I rarely return here. I’m only on Naboo because I knew Giin would be coming. I guess someone else also knew this and sent a false meeting location.”

It was dark when they arrived at the Colo Char ruins located at the base of steep rocky hills by a waterfall that collected into a river which flowed into the empty fields. There were remains of rocky walls, columns and blocks everwhere, interspersed with bushes and wild nuna scratching the dirt looking for worms. There was a 4-metre-tall stone figure of a Gungan spearman, its features eroded by the elements.

Something was on fire: It was a speeder bike. They hopped out of the speeder and investigated the speeder. Hondo was unable to determine what destroyed the speeder bike. (A failed Mechanics roll.) Then they stealthily crept onward toward a large ancient wall that still stood somehow.

On the other side of the wall was a group of people. A Weequay, a Quarren, a Klatooinian and a Red Nikto – led by a crusty-looking Sakiyan stood over someone who laid belly down on the dirt, his hands bound behind him. It was Giin, captured but alive.

“Zenep Tchek!” Tombs hissed, gesturing at the Sakiyan. “He and his team has been hunting us for almost 20 years. We have to rescue Giin now. Do you have a plan?”

“I’ll call my ship. The droids will be able to fly it here, distract them from the sky and we’ll grab Giin in the confusion.”

“Good plan.”

Hondo spoke into his comlink, “8D8, I need you to lock on to my coordinates and fly the Lava Jaeger here.” There was an unfavourable reply. After a spirited exchanged, Hondo thumbed his comlink off. “Oh no. My sister’s not aboard. They can’t take off. They will let me know when she’s back, but until then I can’t have them abandon her there.”

“We have to act now or we’ll lose Giin,” said Tombs. “I have another way to distract them. You handle just handle the blaster cannon.”

Zenep Tchek and his men were still waiting for whatever it was they were waiting for when a heavily armoured Gian speeder crashed through the ancient wall. The wall toppled onto the Quarren and the Klatooinian. There was a loud crunch and a cloud of dirt billowed into the air. A pack of foraging nuna squawked off into the darkness. Before the dust cleared, Hondo let loose the twin blaster cannon (a Triumph and triggered a Linked quality) and there was a smoking fiery crater where the Weequay and the Red Nikto were standing.

Tombs had his blaster pistol out and fired at the remaining enemy. The bolt hit Zenep Tchek in the shoulder. Though wounded, he still stood. “YOU!” he said, recognizing Tombs. Tchek raised his blaster rifle at him. Hondo swung his cannon at the Sakiyan. Giin got up unexpectedly and blindsided Tchek with his helmet. Tchek was thrown back to the rocks by the waterfall. Hondo pulled the trigger.

Red bolts with enough energy to take down an airspeeder struck. There was an explosion of fiery debris. Rocks flew in every direction. Zenep Tchek was no more.

Tombs rushed over to help free Giin. As they hugged each other, Hondo’s comlink beeped. 8D8 reported that Yuzy was back and they were raising ship to fly toward Colo Char.

“Thankth for coming after me, Hondo,” said Giin.

“Your employer here was pretty handy with a cannon,” Tombs told his comrade.

“It hath been awhile thinthe I saw Tombth… or any of the otherth. But they are like family to me,” said Giin to Hondo. “We’ve been a family thinthe… since the Clone Warth.”

Five minutes later, the Lava Jaeger was landing nearby. Hondo rushed aboard and discovered that Yuzy had bought six large buckets of ice cream without permission and was offering everyone a scoop each – even the droids who shrugged and beeped in amusement.

After the ice cream party, Tombs demeanour became serious. He said, “There’s another reason why I came to look for you after learning you were working for Hondo Pash. Someone had paid me to keep an eye out for Hondo, and when I do find him…”

Tombs took a palm holoprojector out of a belt pouch. He switched the recording on. A tiny visage of middle-aged woman appeared. It was someone Hondo recognized. Yuzy said, “That’s Aunt Zosy.” Zosy Pash was their mother’s sister!

The recording began, “Hondo. Yuzy. If you’re watching this, please return home. You believed that your parents had been killed but the truth is that your mother was in hiding. But now, something has happened. Your mother Doro Pash has been found and abducted by her most dangerous enemy, Admiral Keargan Kanu… your father.”

The recording was still conveying information, but Hondo was stunned. He muttered, “Our father? Our mother?”

It was time to return home.

To be continued.

Notes:

• The name “Keargan Kanu” was taken from Daniel Swensen’s Star Wars Random Name Generator.
• “Tombs” appeared on this blog before, almost 10 years ago.
• Irfan earns 15 XP.