Star Wars - Underworld Legacy
Episode 3: Thunder in Paradise
Unfortunately, the Bothan was nowhere to be found and nobody knew anything of his whereabouts. Although the holo showed him taking several shots from Vimdarr, none of them looked lethal, so he was probably still alive. The crest of the mysterious bandits was recognizable as “Bloodtalon-Pirates”, but they were not widely known either. Kira suggested to the desperate Mia that she could contact former crime lord Toro who had escaped Nar Shaddaa a year ago.
At that time, Reelo Baruk and Chiz’tor who were competitors had opted to work together to bring down Toro’s Shadow Dragon syndicate that had managed to rise in the blink of an eye and threatened both their businesses. Trance had been sent to infiltrate the organization disguised as a pleasure slave, but had soon found out that Toro was too nice to be a cold blooded gangster. Instead, he had only been the face of the organization that was secretly led by imperial agents and a Sith-Lord. Darth Deceptius had even attempted to awaken Trance’s latent force powers and convert her to the dark side, but had ultimately been defeated by her with Mia and Randrack. Afterwards, Toro and one of his consorts had gone under the radar.
Kira on the other hand had held contact with Leila, said consort of Toro, who also was a gifted slicer, but had kept this secret from her boss Reelo Baruk. This way she was able to make arrangements for Mia, Shanta, Randrack and Dar’Shok to be welcomed as VIP-guests on the water holiday resort world Xhira. Due to the strict immigration procedures they had to leave their weapons behind and could only carry stun-rigged sporting blasters. The additional VIP-status of Mia and Randrack as Protectors of the Galaxy also led to a heightened medial interest, which they countered by holding an official press conference right after their arrival with the requirement that they’d be left alone for the rest of their stay.
Meanwhile Shanta enjoyed being able to wear a fashionable bikini for the first time in her life and go for a swim in the crystal clear water of the pool facilities. There she met other young holiday guests, made some friends and fell in love with Warren, a shy, but handsome human boy from a wealthy family. Dar’Shok had made it his personal duty to protect Shanta, and so he disliked the course of events. He made it quite clear to the boy that he would be bantha-fodder if he as much as scratched the girl.
Then the group met Toro and Leila who officially worked at the hotel as lifeguard and book-keeper, but really had a booming smuggling enterprise going on as a side job. Every few weeks they had other freighters drop off cargo from their ship into the ocean while they went out in a boat or submarine to pick it up. Since the planet had very strict customs regulations for immigration, but almost none for departures (after all, what else should one take away from a pure holiday world, other than souvenirs?) the customer’s representatives were invited as guests and carried the wares with them when they left, totally duty-free.
Unfortunately, the planetary government had not only taken note, but also action and the last drop had fallen into a deep underwater chasm. Toro recruited Randrack, Mia and Dar’Shok to help him salvage the shipment, and only due to thoughtful preparation and a manipulated camera they were able to convince the authorities that they had merely visited the acclaimed coral reef.
After this issue had been dealt with Toro came up with some information. He didn’t know much about the Bloodtalon-Pirates, except that they hated hutts with a burning passion and were mainly after their shipments. Two and a half years ago they had contacted him to propose a collaboration between them and the Shadow Dragons, but he had to decline since at that time he had only been an imperial puppet and they didn’t want such an alliance. Back then the leader of the delegation had also lost an eye, when imperial elite sniper Ro’kia made it clear that he was to leave.
All Toro knew about Grittor was that until about 5 years ago he had been a despicable cutthroat on Nar Shaddaa who had double-crossed every single one of his business partners and customers to gain maximum profit while all the involved parties usually went for each other’s throats, and when the dust had settled he had made it out again. The Twi’lek knew, however, that a former friend and business partner of Grittor – one of the few who had not yet been double-crossed – was currently lodging at the hotel on Xhira. His name was Deon Roberts, and he was a scrupulous gambler and highroller, especially in sabbacc games.
So Randrack dressed up in style and had Leila temporarily boost one of his accounts with a few more zeroes, so he could go to the casino, challenge this gambler at his own game and get a few answers out of him as part of the prize. Since this wasn’t really a game of chance, at least not the way these players played it, Mia and Dar’Shok prepared to break into Deon Robert’s hotel suite while he was occupied in his game. And before that they had helped Shanta dress up for the gala ball she wanted to attend with Warren and his parents.
In the beginning all went relaxed as Randrack enjoyed the casino atmosphere in his smoking and almost instantly found out how two of the participants in the highroller game cheated. But when he finally could join the game himself he had a losing streak and lost a considerable amount of his fictional money. Meanwhile Mia and Dar’Shok had successfully broken into Deon’s apartment and found a box of his favorite cigars, a very expensive brand that was only sold on one specific mid-rim space station. At the same time, a rodian spy entered the apartment as well, but was less careful and raised the alarm which made Deon instantly quit his game to get to his rooms.
The next moment all hell broke loose. Two aqua-troopers fired torpedoes right into the Cliffside in which the hotel was built, so it was halfway submerged. One torpedo hit the casino where Roberts was still raging to the staff that wasn’t cooperative while Randrack was able to step outside just in time. The other impact was in the central hotel structure directly above the ballroom whose domed transparisteel-windows cracked shortly afterwards and ripped many guests out and into a watery demise. Mia and Dar’Shok were in hot pursuit of the spy, but then she could escape into a turbolift, which fell to her death after the explosion. The other lift capsule with Mia and Dar’Shok onboard was slowed down by the influx of water from the ocean, and due to the high water pressure was instead pushed upwards and blasted out of the tube on top level.
After a hard landing on the topside pool-levels Mia and Dar’Shok wanted to hurry down the slippery flight of stairs on the Cliffside amidst pouring rain to quickly get down to the boat pier where Toro was waiting. Dar’Shok slipped, grabbed on to Mia and also pulled her off the stairs and set both falling to their supposed death when Mia used the force to slow down their descent and safely set them down on the pier. Meanwhile Randrack and Leila had made their way down to the mini-sub-hangar and had taken the submarine to get out of the hotel.
One of the aqua-troopers chased the submarine while the other attacked the boat. On the surface Mia was able to turn the torpedo around using the force, so the trooper blew himself up. Randrack led the second trooper to the underwater chasm to try to lose him there. Meanwhile Leila had detected several seismic charges on board that were kept for emergencies and now she threw them out the airlock to stop their pursuer. The first two charges missed completely, the next two managed to blow up a part of the rocky sides of the chasm and number five finally hit the trooper itself and rendered him immobile, so he was then crushed by the falling rocks.
Unfortunately the last charge, number six, exploded right under the submarines propulsion system and so it ran aground and was no longer of any use. Leila and Randrack were able to get to the surface using the diving gear that Leila had put into the sub before departure and the others picked them up with the boat. Leila and Toro were dropped off at their secret hideout and the rest took the boat back to the hotel so help with the rescue operations. Some hotel guests had unfortunately drowned, but many – including Warren’s parents – had had enough time to get to the escape pods – thanks to a warning shout by Shanta, even before the torpedoes had hit.
But there was no trace of her or Warren. After careful search with the force Mia detected a faint life sign in a derelict escape pod that was still submerged. They hastily took out the capsule that had already run mostly full of water, with a struggling Warren inside who could barely hold the face of unconscious Shanta into the small remaining air bubble. All attempts to revive the girl failed until Mia discovered that she was in a hibernation trance, probably to conserve air for Warren. But since the Twi’lek didn’t know the trigger for waking her up, Warren was asked, and apparently Shanta had told him that he knew what he had to do. So the shy boy was urged to finally kiss the girl, and so the sleeping Shanta was woken up from hibernation by her first kiss.
Unfortunately the vacation ended in provisionary shelters on the small islands of the planet before the guests could depart. There was no trace of Deon Roberts or the Rodian spy to be found, but the customs officials embarrassed themselves as they searched the baggage of Mia and her friends for smuggling items and found nothing even remotely restricted. At the same time Toro’s freighter “Azure Dream” took off and left the planet at max speed.
Episode 4: Lost in Space
The following weeks held a huge dilemma for Dar’Shok. On one hand he had clearly seen Mia use the force to save both of them from a lethal impact, and as a Barabel he deeply worshipped Jedi, their culture and the force. On the other hand he had already worked for Reelo Baruk the whole time and so he had reported Kira, her little secret and her obvious betrayal to his boss. After returning from Xhira he found out that the boss had taken the woman to his headquarter and put her in chains. It didn’t take long for Mia and Shanta to find out, either, but without suspecting Dar’Shok’s true employer. As quick as he could the Barabel tried to wipe out all traces of this leading to him, while at the same time he began addressing Mia as “master”, like his ancestors had always revered the Jedi.
His deception was successful and Reelo only showed Mia and Shanta a holo of Kira and his regular pleasure slave having sex while chained together. To make matters worse he also told young Shanta that her mother had been chained up the same way, when she had been in his “service” years ago. The girl was shocked since Mia had always played down the details when the subject had come up and never really told her the truth that her mother had been held as a pleasure slave. After this visit Shanta confronted Mia and demanded the full truth.
Reelo had also made clear that Kira’s punishment was merely a temporary arrangement and could end at once if Mia brought him the Godo flame jewels that Vimdarr Titon had been tasked to obtain five years ago. They had been meant to be traded for a shipment of slaves that Vimdarr would have needed to barter with Chiz’tor for Mia’s freedom. But at the same time Trance Killian had freed the slaves instead of delivering them to Vimdarr and that had led to several bounties being placed on Trance’s head, from Reelo as well as from Chiz’tor. Although Vimdarr had definitely tried to cash in as the previously found holos proved he hadn’t been successful. Instead, others had found Trance, caught her and turned her in with Reelo and later Chiz’tor, which had let to her involuntary “services” as a pleasure slave for both crime lords.
Chiz’tor was interrogated as well and he freely told them that Vimdarr had been tasked with delivering a large spice shipment to a certain clan Ru’killian from Brentaal, but only a fraction of the spice had reached its destination. Both incidents hinted at Vimdarr’s lost spaceship and the Bothan Grittor who had had his part in this whole scenario. So this was their next goal.
The only clue to Grittor’s whereabouts were the special cigars his late business partner Deon Roberts had been smoking which were only obtainable on a single mid-rim space station named Keldron-Station. So Mia, Shanta, Dar’Shok, Baldwin and Wroonian pilot Su were going to Keldron-Station. Shanta had recognized Su as one of the Protectors of the Galaxy and was asking her details about her mother, but the egocentric pilot didn’t exactly know what this was about. First she suspected Shanta to be an elderly woman who was styled like a teen, next she believed her to be a mystic on a quest for self-awareness, and when she finally recognized the similarity she took Shanta for a reincarnation of Trance herself. Only the most obvious seemed the most unlikely for her and she didn’t fully believe that Shanta was Trance’s daughter, even after Mia told her. Instead she was quite irritated that the cocky girl was able to handle the spaceship that once belonged to her mother.
When they arrived at the station they took ample time to analyze the situation and scrutinize the cigar vendor and other shops before they finally arranged an audience with information broker “Ibro” in the back rooms of the “Stardust” cantina on the second day. Ibro turned out to be a Bothan with an injured leg and a crippled arm, both souvenirs of a long gone shootout. He was surprised that they had taken so much time to finally reach out to him as he had had them under surveillance since their arrival.
Although she already suspected Ibro to really be Grittor, Mia nevertheless handed him a larger sum to buy the coordinates of Vimdarr’s secret asteroid base, the access codes and the safest route there. Ibro explained that Vimdarr’s ship had an autopilot which was programmed to always return there, even if it was stolen. The Bothan said that due to his age and his old war wounds he had not been able to salvage the ship which he suspected to still contain a spice shipment. Then he sent them away.
During information gathering Su, who suffered from a bruised ego, started another attempt to at least become friends with the two six-legged cats that were Shanta’s and Dar’Shok’s pets. So she went to the pet shop on the station and bought a pair of large dragonflies, because she had overheard someone talking about dragonflies being one of the cat’s favorite meals. She didn’t pay any attention to the animal care and handling tips in the attached document because in her mind the dragonflies were supposed to end as cat-snacks very soon anyway.
She only found out that these giant dragonflies loved to hunt and eat small furry animals like the cats when Shanta heard her cat scream in pain and went looking. They came just in time to save the cats from the dragonflies that were attacking and biting them. Dar’Shok squashed the dragonflies with his bare hands and Su was confronted, but failed to see the real problem.
Instead, Su’s honor and ego were bruised badly and that showed the next morning during their departure. While Shanta was maneuvering the ship on its repulsor cushion through the hangar and into take-off position angry Su pulled the throttle to full thrust without prior warning and dashed out of the hangar spinning wildly. Baldwin and Dar’Shok were already strapped in, and Shanta in her pilot’s seat as well, but Mia had been on her way up the ramp to the cockpit and was tossed around on the walkway. When Shanta screamed at Su to stop messing around the pilot seemed even more affirmed that she needed to prove what an ace pilot she was and went into more crazy loopings and spins. During these maneuvers Mia lost her grip on the handrail, hit her head hard on the nearest wall and passed out.
After Su had stopped showing off Shanta and Dar’Shok went for Mia and brought her to her quarters where Shanta tended to her wounds. The Barabel on the other hand waited until Su had finished the calculations for their hyperspace jump and had activated the hyperdrive before he stunned her with his blaster and carried her into her quarters. There she was searched very thoroughly and a whole crate of weapons and explosives were confiscated from her. Afterwards he also shackled her and let her rot in the dark of her cabin for a day.
Mia and the two cats recovered from their ordeal and the next day Shanta brought Su who was still in binders something to eat while Dar’Shok had a watchful eye on the pilot. Up until that point the Wroonian had suspected that their ship had been captured and the crew kidnapped and was quite irritated that everyone except her was moving around without shackles. Eventually Mia had a stern talk with Su about her behavior on board the ship, and for the rest of the journey the egocentric Wroonian seemed pretty meek and dejected.
At the end of the second day the “Deep Hopper” arrived at the secret asteroid base. On the last part of their journey they became suspicious and scanned for tracking devices and found two: implanted into the cats Nascien and Comet. Since they had neither the skills nor the equipment to surgically remove the implants, and killing off the pets and leaving them behind in cold vacuum wasn’t an option either, they had tried to tune the ship’s course to the rhythm of the beacons, so whoever was tracking them wouldn’t know their exact location.
The asteroid indeed had antennas, viewports and a large hangar bulkhead that could be opened with the code obtained from Ibro. Inside there was room for two light freighters, but one was already taken up by a ship that resembled a JS-77b Starhound shuttle, like the one Vimdarr used to fly. So they maneuvered the “Deep Hopper” inside as well, only to notice that the hangar doors were closing behind them and the code didn’t open them up again. To make things worse the shuttle was only a hologram.
Next they scouted the interior of the asteroid and found a small lounge, a command center and a storage room with a pallet of sacks that held a white powder. Despite the first impression being a large shipment of spice this turned out to be simple flour, which had probably been used as a distraction. The command center brought no additional information as the power would have to be restored first and that looked very time consuming.
Before that could happen three ships came into range: two TIE-hunters and a Corellian corvette named “Pride of Brentaal” with the family crest of house Ru’killian on its hull. They demanded the crew surrender and hand Shanta over to them lest they open fire. Desperately the crew opened the hangar doors with a mechanical crank and then they faced off against the clan’s ships. Until these were shot at from above and two more ships came into view: the “Sky Princess” and the “Star Knight”, two modified Ghtroc 720 freighters just like the “Deep Hopper”, and both registered to “Galactic Tranceport Ltd.”. While the “Sky Princess” fired some missile and forced the TIEs to regroup, blowing one of them up in the process, the “Star Knight” used its turbolaser turret to hit the corvette’s weak spots. The second TIE-hunter was then snatched away by a spaceslug from a nearby asteroid and the “Pride of Brentaal” was temporarily disabled, so that all three Ghtrocs could escape.
On their way back Ranja Killian told them that she had planned to visit her niece on Nar Shaddaa to show her the newly modified ships and Reelo Baruk had provided hints on where to go looking for her.
Together they returned to Keldron-Station and confronted Ibro. He seemed to be rueful and offered to come along personally this time to track down Vimdarr’s shuttle with the tracking device he had planted there 5 years ago, shortly before it was stolen. So the Bothan and his two Gamorrean bodyguards joined the crew on the “Deep Hopper” and they set a course for the lower galactic rim. Due to miscalculations in the jump coordinates the two ships of Ranja Killian were left behind and only the “Deep Hopper” emerged at a certain point below the galactic disc.
The crew and passengers of the “Deep Hopper” had barely time to enjoy the breathtaking scenery as they emerged from hyperspace close to a drifting JS-77b shuttle which had been named “Jangada Espaciais” by Vimdarr. It had lost all power and had been adrift for five years. While Shanta and Su remained in the cockpit of the “Deep Hopper” and performed a perfect docking maneuver Baldwin donned a spacesuit and went onboard the shuttle to reactivate the reactor’s energy flow. It worked and all ship’s systems including life support reactivated. In the cockpit he discovered the frozen corpse of the Duro who had stolen the ship. While in hyperspace he had been surprised by Grittor’s trap that had cut the power and shut down all systems.
After life support had been established Dar’Shok, Mia and Grittor along with his bodyguards came onboard and wanted to inspect the cargo hold. When Mia opened the secret compartment where 5 Godo flame jewels were kept, Grittor drew a blaster with his not so crippled hand and demanded that they hand over the stones. At the same time Grittor’s own ship, Corellian YT-1300 freighter “Red Crane” had approached them and docked on the other airlock of the “Deep Hopper”. Two more henchmen of Grittor came on board and wanted to take over the cockpit, but Su and Shanta fiercely resisted and fought back.
On the “Jangada” Mia relinquished the jewels to Grittor, who then was struck down and robbed by his own bodyguard. A brawl started and it ended with Dar’Shok’s vibro-axe being stuck in one of the Gamorreans so that the corpse fell on his former employer Grittor. The other brute could be overwhelmed.
As soon as the gangster had been defeated more ships approached, this time in the name of Chiz’tor who wanted the missing spice back that Vimdarr was said to have gotten away with. It turned out that once again Grittor had arranged this to play Mia and the Hutt against each other, but that backfired this time. The enforcers of the Hutt cartel were taken aboard and could freely search everything, but they had to report to their boss that there wasn’t any spice here. Since Grittor had caused enough trouble already Chiz’tor demanded that he and his henchmen be handed over to the enforcers and Mia could keep the two ships. The Twi’lek accepted and the enforcers left with their prisoners.
Now they had three running ships outside the galaxy and tried to figure out how to safely get them back to Nar Shaddaa. Since Su was a great pilot who didn’t need any help to run a ship she got the “Red Crane”. Shanta and Seashell were a good team already and could pilot the “Deep Hopper” without any problems, so Mia took Lucy onboard the “Jangada” and steered the shuttle of her old mentor. Since all the navigational computers were fed by Seashell’s calculations there was no problem to get back to known space where they soon found the missing two ships from “Galactic Tranceport Ltd.” which had miscalculated their jumps and were now backtracking and searching for the “Deep Hopper”. Together the small flotilla headed back to the smuggler’s moon Nar Shaddaa where Su decided to take over the “Red Crane” as her personal starship and paid the others off. Then the Wroonian pilot took off into the vast reaches of space in search for new challenges and adventures.