Chapter 1 - Rescue Mission

[corum]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....

It is a time of change.

Emperor Palpatine, and his servant Darth Vader have

destroyed the old Jedi Order and with it all hopes of peace in the galaxy.

The Jedi, once guardians of truth and justice in the galaxy,

have been hunted down and killed or have fled in exile.

Without the Jedi to oppose him, Palpatine has declared himself emperor of the first Galactic Empire,

thus bringing an end to the Republic that had stood for over 25,000 years.

Although initially preaching peace and harmony, it quickly becomes clear that the emperor means to enslave the galaxy.

A small band of Rebels lead by Bail Organa, his young daughter Leia and Mon Mothma are attempting to resist...

[corum]

You sit in a white war room aboard a rebel alliance cruiser, various charts and maps are illuminated on the wall projected by a small blue and white R2 unit. A young human dressed in Rebel Alliance military uniform, stands before you. He is Risiev Creda, Alliance lieutenant. He instructs you on your mission:

"I would like to thank you for volunteering for this mission... the stakes are high and it will be very dangerous, but we will see that you are well rewarded for your services"

He eyes the room...

"Varkan Trether is a Sullustan architect who has worked for the Kuat Drive Yards in the Fondor system for a number of years. Whilst they usually supply technologies to all governments of the galaxy, the KDY have recently begun to work exclusively for the Empire... lets just say this has radicalized Varkan and he has offered to help us by giving his secrets to us. We hope that with his information Jax Pavan and our brothers and sisters in the Coruscant underworld can attack and disrupt the Empire's plans for Imperial City..."

The droid bleeps and ticks several times, Risiev gives him a tap on the head and he whistles.

"Varkan waits in a disused orbital ship yard just outside Fondor in the Tapani sector... His current post for KDY is to dismantle the ship yard, which threatens to come out of orbit and destroy other yards in the area. However, this is a cover arranged by friends of the alliance in KDY. He plans to defect to the Alliance and we need you to pick him up and deliver him to Coruscant..."

"We will give you a ship, a freighter class with a good hyperdrive and an astromech droid to pilot it. You must do your best to avoid any imperial entanglements"

He pauses, catching his breath

"Please remember... many good men and women have given their lives to make this happen, we are depending on you..."

"any questions?"

[corum]

((please give a brief pen portrait in your initial post "you see a... etc))

[Expl0siv0]

Ranik sits in the white room, on a rebel cruiser, but is more interested in the view to his right. He gazes out at the stars, bored of the briefing before it even began. He then hears Risiev start talking and his attention turns towards him. He didn't like taking orders but he knew when to listen to important information.

"Any questions?" Risiev asks as he finishes the briefing.

"I have a few." Ranik raises his hand. "The plan seems simple enough overall. But regarding our ship, I'm curious as to which specific model we're flying. Also, how do you propose we get into the ship yard? After all, I doubt we're going to be able to just stroll in. Are we going to have a disguise of some sorts?" He waits a moment and then continues, "The droid. It's not going to pilot us once we're there is it? No offense sir but I trust my skills over a droid any time."

[corum]

Risiev is taken aback by the brash young Duros, but is impressed by his question:

"Yes, imperial presence in this sector is growing daily, and we must be careful"

He looks at the group

"We have arranged for a modified Barloz frieghter, the kind used by KDY for maintenance crews, the empire have no reason to suspect anything, especially if the pilot is a droid"

[kladams707]

A rather large wookie stands cross-armed, impatiently waiting for the the briefing to be over.

He steps forward as Risiev finishes.

Waoowoc whooao cscwoanan rcahrracao

Does not smell right

His gutteral utterance reveals what his body language already says. He doesn't trust the situation. But clearly he's prepared to go, if it means the possibility of helping the rebels.

[ybn1197]

Zerrack, standing at attention in his crisp Alliance uniform observes the gathered assemblage as the briefing begins. Military discipline, he thinks to himself, it takes so much of the concern away. Just trust in your commanders and it will see you through. As the briefing proceeds, Zerrack takes in every little bit information. Once it completes, he raises his hand to ask a question. "Begging the LT's permission sir; why are we taking this gentleman to Coruscant, the heart of the enemy. Doesn't that put him in greater danger, sir?"

[corum]

Risiev also stands to attention, in response to the young alliance soldier...

"Indeed, it is a dangerous time for all those who oppose the empire"

He addresses the group again...

"Once he has made contact and exchanged information with the Jedi Jax Pavan, Varkan will remain on Coruscant. The Emperor is planning something big on Coruscant involving technology developed by KDY. We feel Varkan will be most useful on the ground, where he can observe and assess the Empires movements and advise our brothers and sisters in the Coruscant underground how best to respond."

Risiev's expression darkens

"It will be a dangerous mission, you will be travelling into the jaws of the enemy, we do not ask this of you lightly"

[Expl0siv0]

"A jedi? Wow, this really is a big deal. I thought they were all wiped out for sure." Ranik thought to himself as the officer talked. "Sir?" Ranik raises his hand again. "Sorry to interrupt but do we have any information on what the Empire is planning? I'm wondering if we should keep our eyes open for that kind of information during our mission."

While asking the question Ranik keeps peering over at the Wookie. He had no problems with the Wookie's but he always felt a bit uncomfortable around them, mainly because they're so physically imposing.

[corum]

The Lt looks concerned.

"We can not know for sure, but KDY have been involved in the development of large destroyer class starships and have sent engineers to Coruscant in recent months"

[kladams707]

The wookie, his arms still crossed, started tapping his foot. Clearly his impatience was getting the best of him, and he wanted to start this mission as soon as possible. He noticed Ranik looking over at his direction every once in awhile. In response, he gave a smile as best he could. Though, it probably looked more like a snarl to those who weren't aware. Though perhaps Groznik knew what his own smile looked like to others.

[Expl0siv0]

Ranik looks over at Groznik and smiles back "I hope that was a smile" he thinks.

He then looks at the others in the room as well and asks them, "Well I don't know about you guys but this sounds like a hell of a lot of fun. I'm ready when you guys are."

[Daftendirekt]

Ventri sits silently in a corner, listening to the proceedings in their entirety before making comment. She sits wreathed in layered robes in shades of brown, legs crossed at the knee, stroking one of her blue-and-white ringed head tails. At mention of a meeting with a Jedi, she perks up and stares intently at Risiev.

"We are taking a man to meet a Jedi?" she finally interjects. "I wonder if there would be opportunity for me to speak with him? I am highly interested in them and would love an opportunity to talk with this Jax Pavan."

[corum]

Risiev smiles

"If there are no more questions then I suggest you prepare to depart, you ship will be ready in an hour"

He stands to attention again

"May the force be with you!"

-----------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours later you are on board your vessel, a Barloz class freighter named "The Phoenix Rising". It is a no frills cargo ship with one gun turret. It has obviously seen a lot of action. Scorch marks pepper the ships hull, which shows the scar of many makeshift repairs. It is a small ship (40 meters long) but the accommodation is suited to a small crew.

Capable of holding many tons of cargo, it has in the past been used to transport Tibanna gas in carbonized form. Carbonite blocks still remain in the cargo holds.

You prepare to make the jump to hyperspace, your R2 astromech droid R2-X3 clicks and beeps excitedly
.

[kladams707]

Groznik boarded the ship. The way it looked, he didn't know much, but it certainly didn't look pretty. But he knew it wasn't appearances but ability and resilience that really mattered. He sat, no where near the helm, knowing full well he'd probably end up killing everyone if he tried to pilot.

[Expl0siv0]

Ranik slowly sat up from his chair, stretched, and then followed Groznik to the ship. Upon seeing the ship, Ranik had a huge smile upon his face. "Look at this thing!" he said, admiring the scorch marks on the side. "Oh man! I bet this baby has seen tons of action." The rest of the party might not understand his fascination but he certainly had a special place in his heart for old beat up ships. As a scoundrel you get used to flying "junk" and making it work.

Walking inside the ship, Ranik admired all of the stuff on the inside. "The engineering is kind of shoddy..." he said to no one in particular, as he looked over the structure of the ship.

He eventually found his way up to the cockpit and sat inside the pilot seat. "I'm going to sit here in case I have to take over. You know, if the droid goes down."

[Daftendirekt]

Ventri walks silently aboard the ship, rather miffed at being completely ignored by Risiev. She finds a quiet corner, and sits crosslegged on the floor, wrapped in her robes. She communes with the Force, finding solace and calm.

[corum]

Ventri walks silently aboard the ship, rather miffed at being completely ignored by Risiev. She finds a quiet corner, and sits crosslegged on the floor, wrapped in her robes. She communes with the Force, finding solace and calm.

(( the smile was for Ventri, I should have added ))

[ybn1197]

Zerrack takes a walk through the ship once his gear is stowed. He didn't couldn't pilot one worth a darn but he did appreciate them. A thin bulkhead is all that separated him from the cold embrace of space; it was always best to recognize weaknesses ahead of time. Once his "tour" was done he heads back to the passenger cabins to grab some rack time.

[Expl0siv0]

Turning around in his seat, Ranik focuses on the party members. "I wish we had more time, I'd love to meet each one of you individually. When we get back from this we should share some drinks and get to know each other." He pauses for a brief moment and then continues, "I'm trusting my life with you guys during this mission and I hope you can do the same for me."

His attention was divided fairly even among all the crew but he kept coming back to Ventri. "Hey, you. Sorry, I don't remember your name. You seemed pretty interested in that Jedi, what's that all about?" he asked inquisitively.