Continuing from the start of Carsten's Mythic-powered solo Star Wars RPG via Risus, here are the next three scenes:
Scene 2, Chaos 6:
Setup:
Ren and Mr. Smith meet in front of Ren's starship to discuss some final details.
Scene is not altered or interrupted.
Did Galvin Export technicians try to manipulates Ash's ship at night to monitor his communications to make sure that he doesn't reveal the new route to anybody else (very likely)? No (92, odd but hey...they believe in good people)
"How was your stay in the executive suite captain?" Mr. Smith asks, as Ash shows up at the landing pad a couple of minutes late.
"Wake up call didn't get through, otherwise fine." Ash replies with a grin, his hair was a little messed up, he was unshaven and maybe still a little drunk.
"Well, now that you are here..." Mr. Smith gestures toward a repulsorsled which contained 12 navigational beacons, each not much bigger than a football.
Ash walks up to the sled, takes one into his hand and makes a move as if throwing a football.
"Reminds me of my old college days. I was quite the football jock you know." He grins.
"I fear these costly pieces of technology are a little more sophisticated than a football. Please becareful."
"Don't sweat it....I know how to handle technology. Did you bring the money?"
Without a word Mr. Smith reaches into his inner pocket and pulls up a small stack of credchips.
Eight chips, each worth a thousand credits, and hands them over to Ash. Ash slips them into his pocket.
"Sweet. Now where do I need to go? Who do you feed your fishpacks to?"
"The planet is called Telgram 3 in the Telgram System, located in the Outer Rim. Have you had the pleasure of travelling there before captain?"
Has he (unlikely)? No.
But does Ash know something about the planet? Smuggler roll vs. Target Number 12, success (16)
The planet was randomly generated just now. The results were: Function: Exploration, Terrain: Caves, Government: Monarchy, Spaceport: Stellar Class, odd, but let's see what we can make with it.
"No, but I do know the place from a fellow spacer who did some business there. From what I hear the planet is not settled and only inhabited by a primitive indigenous humanoid species that worship a king and paint caves. Very primitive but apparently pretty interesting to some science geeks that walk down into the caves regulary to do some exploring. But the Empire does maintain a large space station there as a trading post that hosts a nifty stellar class starport where you can refuel and refit your ship...for a fee."
"Very impressive captain. I applaude your memory. For someone who claims to have never been there you do know a lot about this place. You are correct. The Empire maintains a strong presence there. The space station is used as a resupply point for outer rim patrols charged with eradicating space pirates and looking for terrorists."
"And those lucky troops get to enjoy your delicious fishpacks. What a thrill." Ash couldn't help but grin.
"You should not judge so quickly captain. These "fishpacks" as you call them, are highly refined and concentrated protein and carbohydrates and come in very many flavors."
"Yeah, so does chewing gum. Well, I think that's it then. I know where to go so I will plot and chart you a nice little secret new hyperspace lane. See you in a couple days."
Ash opens up the ship, pushes the repulsor sled into the cargo hold, prepares the beacons so that they can be jettisoned from the cargo hold, warms up the engines and lifts off.
The Twi'lek watches him depart.
"Well captain, I hope for your sake that the new hyperspace lane stays a secret. We don't take lightly to double-crossers, should that thought have crossed your mind."
He turns and walks back into the main terminal.
End of Scene.
Chaos: increases to 7
NPCs: unknown ambushers, Mr. Smith, Galvin Exports Fishing Company, Mr. Smiths superiors
Threads: chart new hyperspace route (open)
Scene 3, Chaos 7:
Setup:
Ash is onboard his starship, the "Never To Late", has left the vicinity of the planet and makes
calculations for the first planned waypoint of the new hyperspace lane to be.
Scene setup is altered.
How? PC Negative, attract pleasures, interpretation: Ash attracts the attention of the traffic control who likes nothing more than the pleasure of depriving him of his hard earned credits so that they can enjoy some pleasures themselves.
Ash just lifted off as his ship-board comlink starts beeping. "This is the Never To Late. Go Ahead."
"Never To Late, this is starport traffic control. You just lifted off without proper clearance, explain."
Ash makes a frown. "What do you mean, without proper clearance. I was just seen off by the corporate brass that pays your salary. I assumed it was all taken care off."
"Negative Captain. This spaceport is under private management and not owned by Galvin Exports. You still have to comply with our regulations."
"Yeah, alright. Don't sweat it. I'll keep it in mind for next time."
"I'm afraid I will have to impose a fine for lifting off without clearance. Please transfer (1d6 x 100) 400 credits to the account data you are receiving right now."
"You gotta be kidding me! 400 credits is a rip-off. What if I tell you to go to hell?"
"We will post a system wide bounty on your vessel for bringing you in and you will have to serve six days of jailtime. In addition your vessel will be banned for future landings at this installation."
"Fine. Have it your way then." Ash transfers the funds and makes a mental note to put 400 credits extra on Mr. Smith's bill after he got the job done. Character funds adjusted. After this unpleasant encounter, Ash heads out into system space. The Never To Late is running at peak efficiency and Ash is about to leave the planets gravity well.
Are there any other ships in the vicinity that don't belong to Galvin Exports (unlikely)? No.
Civilian space traffic is pretty light. No other ships are currently on his sensors except corporate freighters belonging to Galvin Exports. Ash leaves the planet's gravity well and slows down his ship to docking speed. He pulls up the star charts and starts calculating a completely new route into the unknown, dividing the distance to the Telgram system into 12 parts, one waypoint for every navigational beacon. Complex calculations into uncharted territory take time. Time Ash uses to go around the ship and double checking every system while the ships navcom is performing the calculations.
Did Ash make correct calculations for the first waypoint? Smuggler roll, TN 14, success (16).
After a while, the navcom signals that it is done and Ash takes a few minutes to double check everything. "Looks good. Well old girl, let's get this show on the road."
He punches the ship to full throttle, the stars turn into elongated lines and finally into a cloudy mist as the Never To Late enters hyperspace.
End of Scene.
Chaos: increases to 8
NPCs: unknown ambushers, Mr. Smith, Galvin Exports Fishing Company, Mr. Smiths superiors
Threads: chart new hyperspace route (open)
Scene 4, Chaos 8:
Setup:
Ash is in deep space, in the middle of nowhere, and prepares to set up the first navigational beacon.
Scene is interrupted: Focus: The Empire. Abandon Good. Interpretation: Ash stumbles into a space battle between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance. The Empire is winning and the rebel ships are heavily damaged and need to be abandoned. The Rebels jettison escape pods.
After a few hours in hyperspace, the proximity alarm suddenly starts beeping, two hours early. Almost in the same instant the ship is shaken heavily and is forcefully ripped from hyperspace and back into realspace. Out of the viewport Ash witnesses hell breaking loose in outer space. Instead of a deep black he sees bolts of light flashing about. Debris are flying all over the place. The com channels burst with static and the intimidating triangular shape of an imperial Interdictor-Cruiser, together with two Strike-Class Battlecruisers, looms in the viewport ahead.
Is Ash's hyperdrive damaged because of the forceful rip from hyperspace (very likely)? Yes.
Does the Empire think he belongs to the rebels (somewhat likely)? Yes.
Is the Empire shooting at the escape capsules (50/50)? Yes.
Do they try to capture his ship with a tractor beam to question him (50/50)? Yes.
"Shit!" Ash swears under his breath, his fingers flying over the controls as he regains the control of the ship. The ship computer informs him that the hyperspace is damaged and out of order. Even if it were working it wouldn't do any good because of the artificial gravity wells projected by the Interdictor. Ahead a Nebulon-B frigate is drifting, chunks of hull melted down by turbolaser fire from the strike cruisers. The frigate is jettisoning escape pods which are blown to bits by strafing TIE-Fighters.
Does Ash recognize the opposing ships as Rebels? Smuggler roll vs. TN 8, success
An X-Shaped fighter zips by the viewport. Ash recognizes it immediately as an Incom T-65, better known as an X-Wing Starfighter. A high-tech space superiority fighter with deep space capability used by the Rebel Alliance. Immediately behind, a pair of TIE-Fighters gives chase.
Does the Empire use TIE-Interceptor starfighters in the battle (very unlikely)? No, random event (77). Focus: move away from thread, celebrate technology. Interpretation: A pair of concussion missiles is fired at Ash. In order to evade them, he has to succeed at three pilot rolls. If he fails at one of the rolls he can only improvise and jettison the navigational beacons as decoys ("celebrating" the fact that he had them after "celebrating" his ship's modifications) so that the missiles don't hit his ship. Sadly, that would make it impossible to complete his mission, oh well....
The TIE-Fighters are the standard imperial model, cheap to produce, very fragile, very fast, very agile and armed with a double laser cannon. Suddenly, his proximity alert is blurting: Two highyield concussion missiles, launched from the strike cruisers are hot on Ash's tail. Ash tries every trick in the book, pulling of a few maneuvers that push the Never To Late beyond it's tolerated stress levels. Three smuggler rolls vs. TN 15, 12, 10. Failure, success, success. Too bad... But with no effect. The missiles are closing in fast. He has to think of something.....if only he had decoys.
That's it! The beacons. He pulls a few more tight turns and corkscrew maneuvers, waiting just for the right moment and......a few seconds before impact he jettisons the beacons, directly into the flight path of the missiles. A huge explosion rocks the ship as the missiles explode within the metal cloud that was created by the twelve navigational beacons.
"So much for the beacons..." he thinks. The explosion caught the attention of two TIE-Fighter flights (a flight is the smallest combat element, consisting of a leader and a wingman). The four ships change course to intercept the Never To Late, closing in fast on an intercept course, their ion engines screaming. Ash pushes his ship to full throttle and calculates an escape vector, trying to stay out of range of their laser cannons.
Multi-Action conflict. A chase. The two flights are treated as a grunt squad Two TIE-Fighter Flights (3). The chase is resolved using the best of set rules. Every loss in a cliche represents either the TIEs gaining on Ash or Ash gaining on them, depending on who won the round. If the TIEs catch Ash, all lost dice are restored and a dogfight begins. Ash rolls his smuggler cliche vs. the TIEs.
Round 1: success, TIEs are reduced to two
Round 2: success, TIEs are reduced to one
Round 3: success, Ash gets away from the TIEs
He pulls every trick in the book and a few that aren't in any books. The Never To Late is shaking in protest but holds together. The engine roars as Ash allocates every bit of emergency power to the sublight drive. The TIEs engines scream as their pilots try to keep up with him. Rolling and shaking in unison as he does they stay hot on his tail, firing shots. But Ash was the better pilot.
With every maneuver, with every unpredictable move, he increases the distance, staying out of range of the TIEs. Finally, the TIEs break of the pursuit and race back towards the main battle still going on. Ash was still within the artificial gravity wells as the strike cruisers fire their tractor beams in an attempt to grab a hold of the Never To Late. Tractor Beam Operator (3) vs. Smuggler, failure, ouch.... The tractor beam operator had studied Ashs tactics and aimed accordingly. A sudden jolt brought the Never To Late to an abrupt halt. “Damn it!” thinks Ash. “They got me. Come on old lady...keep it together just a little longer.” What now? Ash considers his options.
Basically he could do one of two things: He could stop resisting, let the Empire haul his ship in and explain the situation to them. Going by the facts he had nothing to hide. His ship was up to specs (well, at least he did a good job of letting it appear that way) and he was contracted by an imperial supplier. He didn't fire on any TIEs and didn't interfere with the battle except for self preservation.
But he knows the Empire. Basically it would come down to the officer in charge. If he was a corrupt and abusive individual he would have a hard time. But the second option was even worse. He could try to break free and get away, which would certainly involve some firing and flying that would be considered a hostile act. If he didn't make it, he would be toast. Ash decides to go for option one and powers down his engines, lowers his shields and hails the strike cruiser. “This is Ren Ashfield of the Never To Late. I surrender. I have nothing to do with these rebels. I was on a mission for an imperial contractor when I was pulled out of hyperspace. Feel free to board my ship and see for yourself, I have nothing to hide.” It feels good to actually be able to tell the truth sometimes.
The response came immediately. “Never To Late. This is the imperial strike cruiser “Vanguard”. We will bring you in. Keep your shields down and your engines powered down. Prepare to be boarded.”
End of Scene.
Chaos: decreases to 7
NPCs: unknown ambushers, Mr. Smith, Galvin Exports Fishing Company, Mr. Smiths superiors, the Empire, Rebel Alliance
Threads: chart new hyperspace route (open), try to replace the lost beacons (open)
Next post, the final two scenes...
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