Carsten's Mythic Adventures, Part 7

Continuing from Part 6, here's the next installment from Carsten:

Scene 10, Chaos 6:
Setup: Ash tries to steal a starship from the landing field at night.

Scene setup is unmodified.

After losing almost all his money Ash had no other choice. He had to revert to his backup plan, which involves stealing a starship from the landing field. He hated himself for it, but this was a hard galaxy and he had to think of himself first. Without a ship he couldn't make any money. Without money, he couldn't pay of his debt and would be a wanted man pretty soon. Actually he was lucky that this backwater core world just had a landing field. No real security, no locked docking bays. The ships were standing there just like in a large parking lot.

Is the area brightly lit (unlikely)? Exceptional no, great, the area is not illuminated at all. Only the occasional light from a ship provides illumination.
Are there armed security patrols (50/50)? Yes. The missing lightning is compensated somewhat by the occasional spaceport security patrol.
Does Ash spot a suitable space transport (likely)? Yes.

Ash was lucky, since the entire area was not illuminated. However, an occasional security patrol was sweeping the area. He located a suitable space transport. It was a corellian YT-1300, like all corellian ships a sturdy and reliable vessel. He observes it for a while to determine if somebody was aboard. Man of the Streets vs. TN 8, success.

Is somebody aboard (50/50)? No, good for Ash.

The ship seems unoccupied. Ash waits for the security patrols to pass by before slipping out of the shadows. He heads for the entrance ramp to the transport, taking care to avoid the patrols.
The patrols are Starport Security Guards 2 or 3, roll 1d6, 1-3 = 2, otherwise 3. Rolled a 1 so security guards (2). Single Action contest Man of the Streets vs. Guards, success.
The guards are talking to each other and are distracted, so Ash slips by unnoticed and reaches the entrance ramp. He examines the lock.

Is the lock a high security lock (50/50)? Yes. Great.
Does Ash notice that it is a high security lock? Smuggler vs. TN 12, failure.

Seems pretty standard issue, should be a piece of cake. Ash sets to work, using his security kit to remove the plating to hot-wire the lock. Since Ash didn't notice the improved security the difficulty is raised. Smuggler vs. TN 15, failure.

Does he set of an alarm (likely)? Yes.

“That should do it.” Instead of the noise made by an opening ramp he suddenly heard an alarm.
“Damn! Only once I want something to go according to plan.” He immediately runs of into the darkness, as quiet as possible, and hides behind a starship landing gear.
Can he slip away unnoticed? Man of the Streets vs. Guards, success 12 to 11, close. The guards immediately turn around and run for the ship, blasters drawn. Once there they start looking around, examining the area. One of the guards walks around the ship, inspecting it from every angle.
Do they notice that the lock has been tampered with? Security Guard vs. TN 8, failure. “Did you find anything?”
“No, everything seems to be in order. It's all locked down and secure.”
“I didn't see anybody either.”
“Let's go to the office and notify the owner. He better takes a look for himself and checks if everything is in order.”
“Yeah.”
The security guards wander off. That was close. Alright, so the owners will be here soon, but the guards are otherwise occupied. He got a second chance but he had to be fast. He heads for the transport once more, this time taking better care and examining the lock in more detail. How could he be so blind? A grade two security upgrade. Well, he had dealt with them before and now that he knows what he is up against it should be doable.
Smuggler vs. TN 12, success (18).
Finally he hears the well-known noise of a hydraulic starship ramp opening. Alright Ash, now or never. Let's get of this rock. He darted for the cockpit, closing the ramp behind him. The good thing was, that all corellian transports of the YT-series basically used the same modular components, so he felt immediately at home. No time to warm up the engines or go by the book, he had to do a rather unconventional smuggler's lift-off.
Smuggler vs. TN 10, success.
God bless corellian technology he thought as the YT-1300 lifted off without protest. Ash knew that those by the book procedures allowed for enough tolerance and had a large safety margin so it was alright to ignore them every once in a while. In the cockpit he felt immediately at home, even though it was not his ship. “Don't worry lady. We will have time to get to know each other better soon enough. But first we need to make a little trip through hyperspace.”
One of the habits Ash will probable never lose is talking to the ships he flies. All those years in the spacelanes had convinced him that ships had a soul and personality, so you better stay on good terms with them.
When he reached the upper atmosphere the engines were warm enough to go to full throttle, which Ash did. Seconds later he was in the familiar and somewhat comforting blackness of space, heading for the edge of the planet's gravity well at top speed.
He ignored all hails from traffic control, shut down his transponder code broadcast and made calculations for the jump to lightspeed.

Does spaceport security have starfighters to intercept (very unlikely, since it's only a landing field)? No.
Are there imperial ships in orbit (50/50)? Yes.
Do they give chase (50/50)? Yes. Of course....

Ash's reckless flying and the turned of transponder causes a flight of TIE-Fighters to investigate.
With their engines screaming they close in on an intercept course.
Multi-Action conflict. TIE-Fighter Flight (3) vs. Smuggler (4). Ash gets away.
The TIEs were closing in fast but they couldn't reach him before he left the planet's gravity well.
The calculations are ready and Ash makes the jump to lightspeed.

End of Scene.
Chaos: decreases to 5
NPCs: unknown ambushers, Mr. Smith (Twi'lek Corporate Executive), Galvin Exports Fishing Company, Mr. Smith's superiors, the Empire, Rebel Alliance, Stormtroopers, Balvin'Gen (fat Bith Information Broker), Imperial Agents on Paltar, Rebel Agents on Paltar, Paltar Street Gangs, Marisha (Human Tech and Gambler), Kalliis (Duros Information Broker and Gambler), Spaceport Security on Paltar, owner of stolen starship
Threads: chart new hyperspace route (open), try to replace the lost beacons (open)


Scene 11, Chaos 5:
Setup: Ash exits hyperspace at the first waypoint he set for the new hyperspace route to make calculations and to travel to the second waypoint.

Setup is not modified.

After his quick get-away from Paltar Ash jumped straight to the coordinates he calculated for the first waypoint of the new hyperspace route. He used the time in hyperspace for a thorough inspection of his “new” ship. Also, he altered and reprogrammed the ship's transponder signal, essentially giving it a new identity. It was a pretty basic YT-1300. Limited shield capability, standard hyperdrive, one standard double laser cannon in a turret. Not much compared to his souped up Never To Late but it should do to get some cargo runs in to finally pay off his debt. Even though he didn't have the navigational beacons any more he could still complete his assignment.
While the beacons made it indeed easier to travel the new route, they were not required. He could travel the route twice by himself, there and back again, calculating the jump to every waypoint and storing all the astrogational data in the ship's navcom. Once back on Galvin he could transfer all that navigational data, enabling the corporate transports to make the calculations pretty easy, using his data as a reference. It would then only be a few days old. On their first trip along the route they could then set-up new beacons which would transmit navigational data via an encrypted hypertransceiver frequency for future jumps.
Ash exits hyperspace at the waypoint, decelerating fast and bringing the ship to a complete stop.
There he was again, in the black endlessness of space, somewhere between the star systems. Time to take a look around and to gather as much navigational data about possible nearby stellar objects as possible. He initiates an active long range scan in a sweep around his ship.

Are there any ships in the vicinity (very unlikely)? Yes and random event (11). Focus: Introduce new NPC (nice), communicate dispute. Random NPC: Sullustan gambler. Starting attitude: neutral. Interpretation: The Sullustan informs Ash of a dispute going on in this area of space.

Ash couldn't believe his scopes. There was indeed somebody out here with him, in deep space.
What kind of ship does the gambler have (complex, description tables)? gracefully rustic.
A pleasure yacht that imitates the look of old naval sailing vessels with a large solar sail that can be retracted for hyperspace jumps which collects solar energy while traveling in-system.
It was a medium-sized vessel, somewhat larger than his YT-1300 but not a real capital ship. It was on an intercept course but it was traveling slow and didn't appear threatening. It resembled an old naval vessel and even had a solar sail. It hailed him.
“Greetings. Nice to see somebody so far out. What brings you out this far, if you don't mind me asking?” The captain of the vessel was speaking in an alien language.
Can Ash understand him and identify the language (smuggler roll vs. TN 8)? Yes.
Ash recognizes the language as Sullustan.
“You are Sullustan? I could ask you the same thing. I didn't expect to run into company this far out between star systems.” Ash was speaking basic, assuming the Sullustan understood him.
“You are correct captain. I am. My crew and I are just enjoying a little solitude far out in space, sailing the solar winds.”
“I just stopped for a little sublight engine performance check out in the open.”
“Well captain, be careful. We had an unpleasant encounter not to long ago. We ran into an imperial patrol in the last uninhabited system we stopped at to recharge our solar power collectors. Even though they didn't say anything it appeared as if they were looking for something. They boarded us and inspected every angle of our ship very thoroughly. Afterwards they told us to leave this area of space. They stated, this area of space is in dispute.”
“That might explain why I had the pleasure of being ripped out of hyperspace a few days ago by an imperial interdictor. I stumbled right into an ongoing space battle between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance. I almost didn't make it out.”
“Well captain, it might be a good idea to conduct your sublight engine test someplace else. If the Empire finds you out here, they might easily assume that you belong to the rebels.”
“You know what, I think I'll do that. Thanks for the heads up. Anything else you want to share?”
“Nothing I know of at the moment.”
“Well then, clear skies to you....or should I say calm seas?”
Does the Sullustan invites him over for a game of sabbacc (50/50)? No.
“And to you captain.”
The space sailer changed course and flew off, using the solar winds as propulsion.
Actually a pretty clever system Ash thought to himself. You don't expend a lot of energy and have no real drive emissions, which makes it harder for other vessels to track you with their sensors.

That's where Ash's adventures end for now! Tomorrow, Carsten's final thoughts on his sessions...