Episode III: Prep Work

“HEY Zeb, you got the Scarlet?” I asked over comms. “I think Mr. G and I have some ‘catching up’ to do.”

“10-4,” Zeb replied from the cockpit.

I showed Mr. G to the lounge/dining area of the HWK-1000 and requested he allow me to give him a pat down to ensure my crew and I’s safety. He consented, and I was able to find two items on his person: a datapad, and a large metal coin imprinted with an insignia.

“What's with the coin?” I inquired.

“It signifies my membership with the group I represent. Without it I would be unable to convene with them.”

Asking no further questions, I handed back his personal items, and continued our conversation.

“So what happened back there with your ‘friends' ambushing us?”

“The Mandalorians and I have a tenuous relationship. They're bound by a strict code, however, effectually they are independent. I had paid them to put us into contact with one another once you had landed, but that was all. It appears they were also paid to find the same data as my superiors, though by who is the missing puzzle piece. It is vital to our operation that we transmit the data before they acquire it.”

“So where do we go from here, Mr. G?”

“I can securely transmit the data from one of two sites: the first being our headquarters, although it will be quite the trek to get there, and the second is a secret installation on the nearby planet Kamino. The government there is unaware of our presence, however, and we would have to meet with my contacts there ‘under the radar’ so to speak.”

“Okay, well let me talk with the group and we'll try to come to a decision on what the plan is.”

He nodded, and I motioned for Aegeon and Hector, who was just climbing up from the gunner turret, to follow me to the cockpit, closing the two metal doors behind us with the press of a button.

“What do you think guys?” I asked after relaying the information just received.

“Personally, before we do anything I’d like to get these laser turrets equipped before going into any hot zone,” said Zeb, the crew nodding in agreement.

“I might need a few reloads for my Variable Holdout before getting into anything tricky,” I mentioned.

“I'm pretty set,” chimed in Aegeon.

“Same here,” said Hector.

“Okay,” I agreed, “so we'll need a place to set down for a moment and see about making some light purchases as well as getting out of Rishi while things cool off.”

With this we began pulling out datapads, searching for nearby planets that could be a safe option for repairs and possibly purchasing gear.

“Hey, this place Scarif is nearby, but it's not showing up on the main maps.” I mentioned. “I feel like I've heard of it before..”

We decided to check out the planet as it was only half a day’s travel from our current location. As soon as we'd made the jump to hyperspace, the crew and I began settling in to our personal affairs: Zeb started work reprogramming and outfitting one of his ‘droids for combat-readiness; Hector seemed to be quite occupied with some sort of gunnery simulator, honing his skills; Aegeon was in a corridor, switching between Vibro-Glaive and Cortosis Shield while going through a series of movements and attacks, apparently honing a few different martial arts he'd picked up over the years; I, on the other hand, decided to take a much-needed nap in the bunk I was designated to, waiting for the ship’s navicomputer to begin beeping, notifying me that we would be disembarking from hyperspace momentarily..

The hours passed slowly, but eventually we'd made it to our destination. The planet Scarif appeared to be quite bare, a series of small tropical islands spread out amongst an ocean of water, with ice caps near the North and South poles. Several space stations orbited, seemingly-abandoned. A half-completed Star Destroyer connected to a docking tunnel looked as if construction had been halted. Curious, we decided to do an in-depth scan on the station for anything we might find useful. Moments later, small lifeforms began popping up onscreen, informing us the station was now the home to some sort of possible infestation - Mynocks perhaps. After reviewing the information, we decided to continue course to the planet’s surface.

As the Scarlet zoomed over the many islands and small tropical forests inhabiting Scarif, Zeb, my co-pilot at the moment, spotted a clearing in an outcropping of nearby trees which housed a landing platform. Maneuvering into position above the platform, we set the ship down, powering down the thrusters as the landing gear absorbed the weight of the ship. We noticed vines had taken most everything in the area, making it hard to see just what surrounded us. After completing a post-flight check of the craft, I hurried out to survey the surrounding area; Zeb was already starting work on mounting the two twin laser turrets to the ship’s forward-dorsal side. He seemed to be combining them into one quad turret. Impressed with his work, I continued outward, carefully trekking into the surrounding forested area, energy pistol in my dominant hand, checking for any useful scavenging options. As I was leaving, I noticed the landing pad we'd set down on had the Imperial logo imprinted upon it, impressing upon me the fact that this had been an old Imperial installation. Eventually, I found two areas of interest, although both were covered almost completely in vines and undergrowth; the first was what looked to be a crashed transport ship; the second being a command center which loomed over the surrounding area.

I commed back to the group with my discoveries and as I returned, Zeb was already finishing up his work. We left the Scarlet in the hands of his loyal ‘droids to see just what we could scavenge from the two sites of interest.

As we neared the downed transport, our steps slowed in hesitant caution. The landing gear and hull appeared to be rusted to the brink of collapse from the encapsulated humidity of Scarif’s tropical atmosphere. A smell reeking of rotting flesh hit us like Bantha breath. As I peeked inside the ship cautiously, I noticed a large, jointed arm ending in spear-like points belonging to a much bigger animal. It seemed as if the beast was in the middle of feeding on the carcass of whatever the rotting smell was coming from. I slowly stepped backwards, returning to the group and informing them that we may or may not want to engage this thing, whatever it was. We decided to head back to the ship nearby and see if we could taunt it out of hiding once onboard.

We made the quick trek back to the ship; Hector jumping on the now-operable quad laser turret as I lifted the craft into a hovering position, switching on the system’s outboard comm-speaker.

“Hey Bantha Spew! Come and get us!” I yelled into the microphone.

We waited, and a moment later...it appeared...crawling out from the safety of its temporary feeding shelter, searching for the source of the noise. It was an Acklay. We'd all seen it used in popular coliseum events to maim and murder its victims with vicious intensity. Its six spear-like forearms could stab and pin almost any being while its razor-sharp teeth tore the parts it desired from the rest of the body. It stood no chance however against our newly-integrated turret system.

“Come on you blinking brain tick!!” I yelled, excitedly egging the creature closer for a clearer shot. It obliged, charging the landing pad area we were hovering just meters over, as Hector broke in the quad laser turret, eager as we all were to test its power. Gripping the dual-trigger system with both hands, the turret came to life, firing round after round of laser bolts, in a barrage that immediately crippled the monstrous beast, and within moments it was clearly dead.

“Whooo!!” I yelled into comms from the cockpit, Zeb and Aegeon watching anxiously beside me as the turret had taken out the beast's legs one-by-one instantaneously, as it collapsed proceeding to destroy its remaining body parts in short order; the Acklay was now a pile of blistering laser-burn holes.

I hurriedly set down the Estoc and we rushed out to get a better look at the scene of destruction we'd just caused, as well as check out the downed transport ship not far within the surrounding forest.

The downed ship turned out to be almost empty, devoid of any useful parts or weapons we could salvage. It had spent too much time rotting amongst the jungle-like floor of this island. Somewhat disappointed, although overall quite satisfied with the performance of our new onboard weaponry, we decided to proceed to the towering command center, which could be seen through the trees not far from our current location. As we approached, Aegeon began to feel what he could only describe as a dark presence lurking within the walls of the Imperial building. We entered slowly, finding ourselves in a large lobby-like area, devoid of any power to its many overhead lights. Following our force-sensitive friend, we noticed several large scrape marks indented into the permacrete floor beneath our feet, continuing downward into a stairwell, and apparently towards the source of the dark presence. We descended cautiously, Hector scanning behind us for danger.

Underground, we found ourselves within a bunker, scrape marks continuing along the floor, eventually coming to a halt at the bottom of a windowed command room just above us which overlooked the area in which we stood. The area was pitch-black, but using our lights we could make out vines which edged their way along the walls, computer terminals, and servos placed strategically over the room, the still-intact remains of what once was a powerful building designed to house many soldiers and officers.

As I scanned the room, my eyes fell upon something that caught my attention. As I peered closer through the darkness, I realized what I was seeing, and froze. A pair of red eyes were staring back at me, belonging to an enormous, green, four-legged lizard-like reptile which was watching us from its perch, appearing to be attached sideways to the surface of a vertical permacrete wall. Slowly, I attempted to get the attention of my nearby companions; no one noticing my rigid movements within the darkness of the room as they explored unknowingly..

I then slowly raised my energy pistol, taking an aimed shot at the beast's head before it could pounce..

“Bzeeeooo!!!” The shot lit up the darkened area, hitting the reptile and alerting my companions to the threat, while I jumped for cover. Meanwhile, a “snap-hiss” came from behind us as a blood-red lightsaber filled the room with an eerie glow; Mr. G had appeared in the doorway we'd just entered, a menacing look in his eyes.

Aegeon leapt and swung his weapon at Mr. G, the vibro-glaive passing right through into nothingness.

“Projection!” he yelled, and the group turned its attention back to the reptilian beast, which was now climbing rapidly down the wall and towards us, apparently capable of some sort of psychological deception. Aegeon moved closer and readied himself to attack.

As Hector yelled “It’s a Hssiss!”, the monster lunged at Aegeon and bit down upon him, Aegeon quickly gripped within the might of the Hssiss's jaws. Aegeon's armor held, however, and the menacing beast was forced to let go, Aegeon quickly getting back to his feet for another attack. However, from his neck, a black venomous saliva oozed and dripped. As Aegeon continued to hack at the creature, dodging its strikes, the remainder of the group poured rounds from blasters and energy weapons into the beast's thick green hide, eventually maiming it as well as blinding it in both eyes.

It began swinging wildly, extending its remaining senses to find its next victim, but with another round of blaster fire from Hector, the beast collapsed, taking its last breath as its reptilian nostrils flared, then ceased to move.

“I think I'm ready to get out of this place when y’all are,” I breathed with a sigh of relief.

We scavenged the base quickly and were able to come up with a pretty decent amount of salvaged parts from miscellaneous E-11's and Laminate armor, approximately worth about 25,000cr, and decided to make our way back to the ship.

Once aboard, we found Mr. G, sitting right where we left him..

“I managed to contact my superiors,” he said, quite satisfied with himself. “We can either meet them or one of their contacts on the planet Kashyyyk, in Sector P9 of the Mid Rim, where our allies have somewhat of a control over the area and the governing bodies are friendly towards our cause, or, we can continue with the previously mentioned option, sneaking into the installation we've set up unbeknownst to the Kaminoans just near Rishi. The choice is yours. Either way, if successful, you'll have your credits and my superiors will have their data, and we’ll be on our respective ways once more.”

“We’ll need time to think it over. Thank you for making contact, Mr. G.” I said on behalf of the group. “First, we've got a stop to make. We'll need some new credentials for the ship, and I think our contact should hopefully be available by the time we get back to Rishi's atmosphere and make our decision.”

Mr. G nodded in understanding, and I made my way back to the cockpit, Zeb punching in coordinates for the jump as I switched on the onboard mic.

“Strap in guys, looks like we’re heading back to Rishi.”

The hours ticked by slowly, but by the time we’d processed what had just happened on Scarif, we were approaching Rishi’s atmosphere again.

I contacted our associate Cug Lim over long-range comm once we were in orbit, and was met with an unfamiliar voice on the other end.

“Gresk Linaz speaking..”

“Gresk??” I asked surprisedly.

“I heard you were asking for me.. decided to show you my capabilities by hacking Cug's comms. Looking for some new credentials for your ship, I see; I've already got something lined up for you if you've got the credits.”

We made a quick negotiation and agreed upon 12,000cr as well as a favor in exchange for new ship credentials. It appeared Gresk was looking for some slicer gear to be picked up from a mining base nearby and delivered to a system in Bothan space, housing the Bothans' own home planet of Bothawui. We made our way hastily to the nearby mining base located upon an asteroid, en route coming to a group decision on where to complete the remaining transaction with Mr. G's superiors. It didn't take long to arrive at the mining base, and we were soon met by Gresk's contact: a Bothan female who loaded the slicer gear onboard, accepted our credits, and began updating our ship's systems with the new credentials as we lowered the slicer gear down into our hidden compartment, otherwise containing a small jar of some exotic substance (apparently named “Moloch Spice”) we'd picked up from some thankful locals before traveling to Hypori.

Before finishing, she asked us one final question: “So you've got a new ID number…and I've just erased the previous name of the ship.. I just need the new name; have you guys figured out what you're calling it yet?”

I replied, “The Scarlet Estoc,” and couldn't help but smile just a bit.

“Okay,” she said, typing in the new name. “You're all set.”

We parted ways, and set coordinates for our next destination. I switched on the onboard speaker system once more..

“Looks like we're in for a long ride, guys. We'll be entering hyperspace momentarily..

First stop: Bothawui

Next up: Kashyyyk."