# Ragboy Presents: Artifacts of Oros, a Star Wars d20 Story Hour (updated 06/29)



## ragboy (Jul 2, 2004)

Greetings, 

This is my first story hour for ENWorld. This game grew out of the Star Wars d20 boxed set and was DM'ed by me and played by my kids (10, 8, and 7). We moved on to the d20 books (Revised Core and others) and have had a great time with it. A few notes, caveats and warnings...presented in a FAQ format... 

*1. What's the "theme" of the campaign?*
The overarching purpose of the campaign was to have fun. With that in mind, the characters are in constant danger, but I let the story drift with my players, since it's their game and story, essentially. Overall, I always gave them an "out." In other words, no characters were killed in the making of this campaign.

Within the game, the action was fast-paced, but I was surprised how much they wanted to actually role-play (and got bored, sometimes, by the mechanics-intensive nature of combat, etc). We spent an entire session in a casino gambling and gathering information, for example. My son that's playing a Gungan (more on that later) spent an entire session "working" at a droid repair job (and not only enjoyed the session, he came back to the party lodging "tired" and not able to go out, since he had to go back to work the next day). So, overall, I was really surprised at how balanced the gaming has been and how much they've contributed to the story with their character actions and general personalities. 

*2. How accurate is it with the published material?*

The timeline begins just after the invasion of Naboo in Episode I. While I use some elements and characters from the movies, I tried to make the story my own without relying too heavily on the events of the movies. The story is still under the umbrella of the "big Star Wars story." Other than Coruscant, Naboo and a few others, I haven't used any other locales from the movies or expanded universe. I figure the Galaxy is a huge place. There's no reason to limit the setting by staying within their bounds, and there's no reason to spend a lot of time "fact" checking with 500 published resources. Any deviations of details from the movie or expanded universe were done because either I don't have the resource, or I'm not really interested in someone else's 
details.

Oh, and if you played the boxed set, you'll recognize the character names, though the characters are somewhat different. 

*3. What have you omitted from the published materials?*
All references to midichlorians in the movies were ignored. My Force is a mystical process (to be explained within the story) and has nothing to do with biology. Other than that, I used a lot of different resources from d20 (D&D, Star Wars, and others), movies, and expanded universe (starwars.com, comics, books, etc) and tried to stay with the intent of those details where it didn't conflict with the story I wanted to tell.

I don't like the Force system as presented in the rules, but I haven't had time to home-grow a system. If you're reading along and thinking "well a 3rd level Jedi can't do that!" I made some subtle changes to the system for story reasons and I have no apologies for doing so.

On that subject, the game was based in d20, but I considered the rules to be pretty fluid. Fudged rolls, prodigious changes in enemy plans, and other such prestidigitation that some gamers would hate at the table were pretty commonplace. But, when you're playing with kids, it's about the fun, so... 

*4. Why the @#$*(@ is a there a Gungan character?*
There is a Gungan character because my kids like Gungans. The player that played the Gungan, in particular, really likes them. Though it was painful at first (and almost impossible to write without cringing), I've tried to tone down the annoying method of speech for the Gungan. Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do. Note: You will not hear the Gungan utter "Meesa, this" or "Meesa, that." I had to draw the line somewhere. My kid's Gungan character is skillful and indispensible to the party, so you won't have a bumbling Jar-Jar clone. 

*5. How long will this Story Hour run?*

I'm committed to getting our Episode I written out in full. I'll continue to update the story as time allows and as desired by whomever reads along. I expect to update the Story Hour weekly (on Sundays). 

I have a campaign built out to three full episodes, and currently we're about to wrap up Episode I. So, I'm hoping for a lot of content. I may continue the other episodes here or on my own website. I also have a second related campaign (with adults  that I'm thinking of story-izing, but time is pretty tight right now. 

*6. Why are you writing this?*

I'm writing a story hour because I love to write. I do it for a living and I'm always in need of more practice. I love gaming and I'm always in need of a different perspective on the game-storytelling relationship. I'm hoping to gain some personal insight about both writing and gaming processes and some feedback, if anyone's interested in providing that. 

So...on with the show...


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## ragboy (Jul 2, 2004)

*Episode I: Secrets of the Jedi*

A time of strife has descended on the Galaxy. With corruption rampant in the Republic Senate and recent aggressive moves by the Trade Federation in the Naboo system, the citizens of the Galaxy are holding their collective breaths and hoping that peace and order can be maintained. Not all is as placid and orderly as it seems for the Jedi, either. As the self-proclaimed Defenders of the Galaxy, the Jedi Council rules in Coruscant, but there are disenfranchised Jedi Masters throughout the known worlds that believe the Council has been compromised by its close association with the Senate. Some of these "rogue" Jedi see trouble approaching quickly from the horizon. Rumors of dark Jedi, ancient Force artifacts and the return of the Sith have all but been ignored by the Council. For these provincinal Jedi, however, the threat is all too real...

*Cast of Characters*

*Rann I Kanu * - A Zabrak, Rann was orphaned at a young age and adopted by a friend of the family, Jedi Master Wei-Lun. Raised by the often enigmatic Jedi, Rann began learning the ways of the Force very early. He was never allowed to accompany his Master on his many off-planet trips, and has spent his entire life on the planet of Naboo. Rann assisted Wei-Lun's neice, Sia-Lann Wezz with her new speeder repair shop until the troubles with the Trade Federation. Though he was still considered immature by Wei-Lun's standards, Rann has risen to the challenge of strife that the Trade Federation brought to the peaceful planet. He spent the first few weeks of the blockade and invasion serving in the resistance, fleeing the planet in search of answers after Master Wei-Lun was killed. 

*Arani Korden * - Arani was born in a starship and has rarely been far from one her entire life. Taught to fly, astronavigate and maintain all manner of ships by her spacer father, Arani naturally wished to become a pilot after she reached adulthood. Due to a period of economic troubles in the Galaxy, Arani fell in with a "bad sort," though she has found close friends and allies everywhere from the dark underbelly of Coruscant to the dreamy cities of Naboo. Arani did some business with the Jedi Master Wei-Lun, providing him transport and freight service to and from various parts of the Galaxy on her starship, the Polestar. She was trapped on Naboo after  a freight hauling trip when the Trade Federation unexpectedly blockaded the planet. Though she has obligations to her creditors, Arani served briefly in the Naboo resistance, and, after Master Wei-Lun's murder, agreed to take his apprentices to Coruscant. 

*Toba * - Though the Gungans of Naboo are typically insular, Toba grew up in a clan that actively traded and interacted with humans. As such, Toba developed technical skills that allowed his own family to prosper. As a young adult, Toba actually left his family's lodging to take work in a human burg, building and repairing maintenance droids, speeders and other machinery. He responded to an advertisement for a technician to repair speeders in a performance speeder shop and that's where he met Sia-Lann Wezz. They were quickly friends and Toba proved indispensible to the young woman's new business. During the blockade and invasion, Toba assisted his friends in the resistance and fled the planet with them when Theed fell. 

*Sia-Lann Wezz* - As the neice of a Jedi Master, Sia-Lann was destined for the Order. Her parents separated when she was only an infant, then left Naboo seeking work. She was left with Wei-Lun as his ward and apprentice. Though she has great talent in the Force, Sia-Lann is drawn to the worldly things of the Galaxy. She has traveled with Wei-Lun on some of his more mundane travels, and actually helped her uncle negotiate a shipping and transport contract with Arani Korden. She loves to interact with other people and other species and has a business acumen that Wei-Lun tried to dissuade, though he was never successful. She started a small business, a speeder repair shop, and it began to prosper after only a few months. Her commercial dreams shattered by the attack of the Trade Federation, Sia-Lann joined the resistance with her friends and fled Naboo after the death of her Master and the fall of Theed.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Look for the first post tonight!


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## ragboy (Jul 3, 2004)

*Chapter 1 : Flight of the Polestar*

Chapter 1 - Flight of the _Polestar_
*What Has Come Before*

When the Trade Federation blockaded Naboo, our heroes lived and worked in the small city of Gheva. The fear and uncertainty devastated the local economy, destroying Sia-Lann Wezz' speeder repair shop. The invasion hit Gheva just as hard as the rest of the planet, and the four friends vowed to fight the Trade Federation as part of the resistance. After several missions against the occupiers, Master Wei-Lun was murdered in his home by a group not believed to be part of the invasion force. At least one Jedi led the group, though the heroes were not able to confront the assailants since the battle for Naboo had begun in earnest. Wei-Lun's home, the only home Sia-Lann and Rann I Kanu had ever known, was destroyed in a droid ship strafing run on the city center. Wounded, but determined, the group decided to leave Naboo, seeking answers about the Trade Federation's invasion and the murder of the Jedi Master. After liberating Arani Korden's ship, the Polestar, from the city spaceport, the heroes' Galaxy-spanning adventure began... 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“The shield be down, sah!” Toba groaned, flipping switches across the _Polestar_’s control panel.

Laser blasts from circling droid ships sizzled past the ducking and weaving starship. 

“I know, Gungan!” Arani Korden said through gritted teeth, as she jammed the control stick to the starboard. 

Droid ships streaked across their view as the spinning vessel lost some speed in Naboo’s upper atmosphere. 

“I have them!” Rann I Kanu announced over the intercom. 

A chain of guided missiles streaked over the cockpit of the aging freighter, splitting into a wavering star pattern as they chased down evading ships. Arani guided the Polestar through the gap, now clogged with flak, and engaged the astrogate computer. 

“Hold them for just a few more seconds, Rann!” Arani yelled.

“Shield back up in da rear,” Toba said, grinning and shaking his floppy ears in delight. His eyes bugged suddenly and he wailed: “Mudda ship!” 

“Holy living shiiii....!” Arani screamed, her hands operating the controls on their own. 

The _Polestar_ fishtailed and its rear careened off of the side of the droid mothership, spraying parts of both vessels in a fiery display. The control panel lit up with various errors, and alarms wailed throughout the cockpit. 

“Weapons are down, Arani,” Rann barked. 

“Calculation complete,” Toba said, huffing, and reached to punch the hyperdrive.

“Wait!” 

The stars blurred and the besieged planet of Naboo receded to nothing, as Arani read the tiny display on her ancient astrogation computer: *Calculations Complete. Prime Calc Error 10x00x06*.


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## fenzer (Jul 5, 2004)

Sounds fun Ragboy and just as long as no Gungan's were hurt in the writing of this story, I'll stay tuned.


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## ragboy (Jul 5, 2004)

fenzer said:
			
		

> Sounds fun Ragboy and just as long as no Gungan's were hurt in the writing of this story, I'll stay tuned.




Thanks Fenzer! Another (longer...ahem) update tonight.


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## ragboy (Jul 7, 2004)

"Blasted Gungan should have stayed in the swamp!" Arani said, slamming her headset against the control panel. 

"Arani, it was an honest mistake," Sia-Lann said, leaning back in the jumpseat and stretching her back. 

"That idiot could have gotten all of us killed with that stunt," Arani said, rounding on her companion. 

"But he didn't, and he learned from his mistake," Sia-Lann stood and slid into the co-pilot's seat. "Toba is a gifted mechanic and he is fiercely loyal to us. He saved our lives countless times over the last month just by being able to fix a speeder or replace a focusing coil on a blaster." 

Arani simmered, punching up system information on the navcomputer. 

"What are we arguing about?" Rann said, flopping into a jumpseat.

"What do you think?" Arani said as she scrolled through information on her navcomputer screen. "I don't have a lot of time. I have to get that money and now I'm a week behind schedule." 

"That's what happens when your planet's invaded," Rann said, yawning.

"No," Arani yelled. "That's what happens when you put a blasted amphibian in the co-pilot seat."

"Hold on," Rann said, standing. "He didn't fly the ship through the entire Trade Federation armada. That was you. We could have waited until things cooled off a little before..."

"If you're unhappy with your pilot, I can drop you back off on Naboo," Arani said. 

"Anything's better than this bickering," Rann growled. 

"Is it?" Arani stood, facing off with the young Jedi. 

"What's that?" Sia-Lann said. 

Arani and Rann turned to the viewport. A small wheeled space station gleamed in the distance.  

"Vedyll Station," Arani said. "Hopefully they have an astrogation computer." 

"What do you mean?" Rann asked. 

"The one I have is busted, Rann," Arani said, sharply. "Haven't we been discussing this?"

"Toba didn't have anything to do with that," Rann answered. "You're blaming him for your outdated equipment?" 

"Guys, guys, come on," Sia-Lann said. "Let's prepare for docking and stop this." 

Arani slumped down in her chair, and Rann stalked off. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Toba hefted the last of the empty crates on the lift droid. 

"What are these?" Rann called from the back of the cargo hold. 

"Those my junk," Toba said, punching commands into the droid's interface. "Muy spare parts and components." 

Rann held up a battle droid head. "You kept this stuff?" 

"Good circuitry in there," Toba said, smiling. "Fixed the ship with some of it."

"Aren't you worried that there're tracers or something in here?" Rann said, peering into the severed neck of the droid head. 

"That model don' have tracer," Toba said. 

"How do YOU know?" Arani's voice filled the cargo bay. 

"Arani!" Toba exclaimed. "You scare me." 

"You brought Trade Fed parts on my ship?" Arani stalked into the cargo bay. 

"No tracer, Arani," Toba said, waving his hands wide. "I taking them out."

"You just said there weren't any tracers," she seethed, pointing her finger at the Gungan's nose. 

"Droideka have tracer," Toba said, sheepishly. "I taking them out and smash them."

"I want you off my ship, Gungan," Arani said. 

"Arani," Sia-Lann said, walking into the cargo bay. "He's a passenger on this ship, the same as all of us. If Toba says there's no tracers, then there aren't any. We had an agreement. We all get to Coruscant." 

"I fixing all the ship, Arani," Toba said, brightly. "Weapons not working, though. Weapon systems are....old."

"Stay out of my way," Arani said, pushing past the Gungan and stomping down the exit ramp. 

"She think I breaking the ship?" Toba said. 

"You just cost her some time, is all," Rann said, lounging on Toba's junk crates. "You can't be blamed for breaking this wreck."

"She'll be alright," Sia-Lann said, staring out into the space station. "You did well, Toba."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Sia-Lann had never smelled a space station before, and so far, she hoped never to again. The main ring of the station was as wide as a Theed boulevard, but rather than being airy and deserted, it was packed with vendors of all species hawking their wares. The established merchants sat in cramped booths crowded with all manner of electronics in various stages of disassembly, food in various states of freshness (from living to charbroiled to rotten) and other cast off junk. The latecomers walked the crowded ring with their wares actually slung from their backs or borne by droids or, she assumed, by slaves. These merchants, louder and, Sia-Lan noted, dirtier than the booth variety, mostly sold weapons. Lots of weapons. Though she'd been in the resistance on Naboo for a month, Sia-Lann was still not used to seeing so many weapons in the open, both for sale and slung from practically everyone. At home, only the security forces carried them, though some kept projectile rifles in their homes for hunting.

A squat, toothy snouted creature suddenly appeared before her and barked something while holding out a half raw lizard. 

"No, no, thank you," Sia-Lann said, backing away. 

The creature barked again and thrust the "food" toward her. Rann stepped between them and gave the creature a little shove. 

"She said no," Rann said, squaring off.

"Snivvan's are always a little pushy when it comes to sales," Arani said, guiding her lift droid past them. "Better to buy it and dump it in the trash." 

"I take one," Toba said, flipping the Snivvan a credit. 

The creature looked at the coin and handed Toba three of the smelly creatures.

"We need to be careful, Rann," Sia-Lann said. "We can't afford any more problems."

"I was trying to help," Rann said. "I couldn't tell what that...creature was doing." 

"I had it under control," Sia-Lann replied. "You must be more pati...what is it?"

Rann's eyes had gone wide over the top of her head. She spun around to see a column of battle droids marching down the curve of the station ring. 

"Arani! Toba!" Sia-Lann said and pointed. 

"Blast," Arani breathed. "Let's get back to the ship." 

The four companions threaded their way through the press of the crowd, Rann nudging those out of the way that needed urging. A wookie with a massive blaster rifle across his back rounded on Rann, growling, as the Jedi attempted to shove past him. 

"Oh poodoo," Rann said, stepping back quickly. 

"You should watch where you're going, little one," a voice said near his ear. 

Sia-Lann slid up beside her friend and addressed the impeccably dressed man. 

"We are sorry, sir," Sia-Lann said. "In our rush to reach our ship, we have inconvenience you and Mr...." 

"This is Thuyalla," the man said. "And I am Brumn Finch." 

"Perhaps you could help us? We require a...diversion." She handed the man a credit chip and pulled her companion after her. 

The man raised is eyebrows at the approaching battle droids, and then keyed the credit chip's balance. "I see," he said. "I think Thuyalla wouldn't mind a little tussle."

"That would be most prodigious, sir," Sia-Lann said, bowing slightly then pulled Rann after her. 

"Thanking you," Toba said, bowing as he shuffled past. 

As the companions ducked down Spoke 31 toward the central docking bay, they heard the wookie roar a challenge. A basso honking answered and all was chaos in the station ring. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"That was smooth," Rann said, looking back down the corridor. Even through the blast door, he could hear the ring of blaster fire and the roar of the combatants. 

"Well, you can't always solve things with your lightsaber, Rann," Sia-Lann smiled, as she pressed the keylock to hatch. 

All was dark in the docking bay, save for the Polestar's interior lights. Both the Jedi felt an alarming surge within the Force. 

"Look, Hanjo," a cold feminine voice said. "Jedi puppies and their friends." 

A tall, thin woman in a close-fitting jumpsuit and a heavy knit poncho stepped out of the shadows under the Polestar. As the light from the open door fell across her face, the companions recoiled. Her skin, a pale shade of pink, seemed to crawl with strange, living tattoos, even darting across her wide red ovid eyes.

A short bald man walked out behind her, casting a purple cape off his broad shoulders. 

"Now, now, Dietre," he said, his voice deep and strong. He fired his lightsaber, a pale pink blade shimmering in the darkness. "She's to be preserved."

"Oh, I know that," Dietre said, igniting a red-bladed lightsaber. "But he never said we couldn't have a little fun, first."

"This can't be good," Arani said, slipping behind the jamb of the blast door and jerking her pistol from its holster. "So, do you still think that junk ain't traced?"

“Nothing in them, I swear!” Toba said, sliding to the other jamb. 

Rann and Sia-Lann drew their lightsabers as one, sliding into the docking bay and in opposite directions.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


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## LostSoul (Jul 7, 2004)

Cool, I like it.


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## ragboy (Jul 7, 2004)

LostSoul said:
			
		

> Cool, I like it.




Thanks LostSoul. More tonight...


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## ragboy (Jul 8, 2004)

*Note: * After this update, I'm going to my weekly schedule of posting on Sunday night. Thanks to the two vocal readers and any others that might be out there... 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Rann’s heart beat in his throat. Dietre weaved out of his attack with a confidence and grace that only attested to her skill. His hands shook slightly and breathing quickened. 

“You fear me, young one,” Dietre said, her mouth open to reveal sharp white teeth. “I like that.” 

Her roundhouse caught him in the side of the head and her lightsaber tried to take it off. Stars exploded across his sight as he backed away. Rann fought for his life, barely deflecting her blows that seemed to come faster and faster. The tattoos scrawled themselves across the dark Jedi’s neck and chest like arcane writing. Ancient, evil things took shape and dissipated. In the story writing itself on her pale pink skin, he saw his own death, impaled by her lightsaber. His breath came in gulps and strength began to ebb. 

###
“The center of a Jedi’s grasp of the Force is the breath,” Master Wei-Lun said. 

The master thumped Rann on the chest, hard, and the apprentice collapsed, gasping. 

“Cut off the air supply and all the body struggles to regain it, to the exclusion of all else.” Wei-Lun circled his apprentice who now took great gasps of air. “Now, stand!” he barked. 

Rann leapt to his feet, wavered, and then fell. 

“Too much breath and the brain is fuddled, unfocused.” Wei-Lun threw his chest out. “Breathe with your entire body. Slow and steady. This is control.” 
###

Rann glanced off the dark Jedi’s blade into the wall and breathed with his whole body. His sight cleared instantly, and the Force flowed around him. His backslash took her topknot. 

“I am through with you, pup,” Dietre snarled, the smell of her singed hair wafting across him. 

Rann jammed his lightsaber in a measured thrust, sensing her dodge and easily pulled his blade up to deflect her over handed slash. 

“Not by a long shot,” Rann said, calmly.

A blaster bolt slammed into the wall over his head, and he ducked and circled. He could see Toba and Arani firing up the corridor into Spoke 31. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The first shots from the battle droids took them by surprise. 

“Down, Toba!” Arani yelled, whirling and returning fire. She could see the blast door into the spoke was melted through and battle droids filed through firing. 

Toba scrambled into the docking bay and fell prone, pulling his blaster pistol. Super heated bolts sizzled through the doorway, exploding on the walls, floor and the Polestar.

“They shooting the ship!” Toba called, firing into the lead droid and knocking it into sparking pieces. 

“I don’t care about the ship just now,” Arani called, blasting covering fire as she scrambled into a maintenance trench inside the bay. “Get over here!” 

Toba half crawled, toward the trench, and then shrieked in pain, tumbling onto his companion. 

“I’m hit,” Toba wailed, untangling himself from Arani. 

“Get off me, you big slimy lug,” she yelled, pulling a det canister from her belt. “This should hold them.”

She flung the canister, and it bounced once then exploded in the knot of battle droids. Droid parts cascaded into the docking bay, but more droids moved into the hallway behind them, firing as they went.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“You have a pure power in the Force that I have not encountered before,” Hanjo growled, calmly walking the perimeter of Sia-Lann Wezz’ reach. “I see why he wants you.”

“Who?” Sia-Lann said, trying to control her fear. She could feel a jolt of anxiety from her opponent at the mention of his master and a fleeting image danced across her thoughts. “You fear him more than your own death.” 

“Who does not fear their master?” Hanjo said, executing a strike as graceful as the Dance of the Wings during a Naboo Equinox festival. 

This she dodged, and then struck low at the man’s legs. Just as gracefully, he flipped over the blow and danced out of her range again. 

“He wants you for that power, you know,” Hanjo said, and she felt envy from him. “He says that you could be his true apprentice.” 

“All this talk is enlightening, Hanjo, but more about you than me.” Sia-Lann circled him, looking for an opening. “I know that you will not kill me, or that you fear ‘him’ enough not to. I also know that you fear me. Why do you fear me?”

Hanjo’s placid face broke into a grimace, and he projected the Force, suddenly, pushing Sia-Lann through the air. She slammed backwards into a mobile terminal, scraping her back and legs as she pitched over it. She heard the clink of her lightsaber skittering away and she sat up shaking the stars from her head. The bulky man was over the terminal with a roar and she snatched her lightsaber with the Force, ignited it and blocked his crazed slash. Both Hanjo and Sia-Lann rolled to their feet, the former staring dumbly at the smoking stump where his arm once was. 

The explosion knocked them both off their feet. 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Dietre’s lightsaber bounced wildly off of Rann’s, always interposing at just the right angle. He could feel the anger and frustration building in her. Just as Master Wei-Lun had taught him, the anger of one’s enemies always undid them. He flipped over her shoulder, avoiding the sizzling blade by inches and kicked out, sending the dark one sprawling, but she was up like a cat. Dietre’s blade sliced into his upper arm and Rann grunted. Too late he felt her project the Force at him and suddenly, he was on his back with the dark Jedi’s blade hovering a finger’s breadth from his nose. His lightsaber lay out of reach. The quiet hum of her blade was all he could hear, though the flashes of battle raged all around him. 

“You were almost a worthy opponent, young one,” she growled, a smoking furrow decorating the left side of her face. “But this is the moment when all the best become nothing.” 

He saw the streak of flame before he heard it, appearing out of the docking bay door. A hot dot skimmed the floor, and then a ball of white fire expanded with a roar. 


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Arani fired another shot, splashing another droid into pieces. Bolts sizzled past her head. She checked her load: Two shots left. Her ammo belt was empty.

“Toba, do you have more power packs?” she called over her shoulder. 

“No, no,” Toba said, blasting away. “Using the last one.” 

A two-droid team appeared at the far end of the hallway. One knelt with a tube on its shoulder while the other manipulated the butt end of the weapon. 

“Down, Gungan, down!” Arani screamed, jerking the floppy-eared amphibian into the trench. 

A det-rocket streaked down the hallway exploding on the steel flooring in front of the trench. Arani felt white hot shrapnel cut through the back of her jacket, and the world went black. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


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## ragboy (Jul 12, 2004)

RgB: Short update today. Longer one tonight...
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-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Toba’s ears rang. He shook his head, feeling disoriented, and realized that all was dark and silent. 

“The swamp being dark tonight,” he said aloud, sitting up in his mud burrow. “Quiet, too. No tchi-tshi bugs out tonight.” 

When his head cleared the top of the trench, he realized where he was. A second wave of droids made their way through the blast door and the rocket launching droids were reloading. Blaster bolts zinged over his head and he ducked back into the trench, seeing Arani for the first time. She lay crumpled on the other side of the maintenance trench, her back a crisscross of oozing, burned wounds. Toba checked the load on his blaster. Empty. He reached for Arani’s and recoiled. The weapon was still hot from the explosion and mostly melted into useless slag. The gleam of silver from her belt caught his eye. One more det canister. The Gungan snatched it and peered over the lip of the trench. The droids were gathering into ranks for another assault. He stripped the packing case from the canister and keyed the timer. Dragging Arani toward him, he threw her over his shoulder and started the timer. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

In the confusion, Rann willed his lightsaber to his hand and swiped Dietre’s blade away, kicking out at her feet. The dark one collapsed with a yell, and the padawan rolled to stand and leapt to the top of the Polestar. From here, he could see Toba struggling to lift Arani, though he did not see Sia-Lann and her opponent. A flash of red caught his eye and Dietre landed nearby. 

“You don’t think you could escape so easily, do you?” she growled, stepping carefully over the uneven hull of the ship. 

Rann blew a sigh and brought his blade to guard, backing away. He was exhausted. The waves of anger flowing off of the dark Jedi’s mind made it hard to think. His grasp of the Force felt tenuous. She came at him like a bantha, swinging her lightsaber at his face. Rann took an uncertain backstep, and the two combatants’ legs entangled. The padawan fell back hard, barely glancing away Dietre’s falling strike, but grabbing her off hand. Carrying his momentum, Rann jammed his feet into the dark Jedi’s stomach and flipped her over his head. Dietre descended to the docking bay floor with a wail. 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sia-Lann poked at the smoking remains of the dark Jedi. Hanjo was dead and she was not happy. Now I’ll never know who sent him. she thought. Shaking the ringing from her ears, she retrieved her lightsaber and rushed toward the ship from the back of the docking bay. A wail caught her attention, and she saw the other dark one, Dietre, strike the steel floor with a sickening crack. Bringing her lightsaber to bear, she rushed forward, but the crumpled form was unmoving. 

“Sia!” Toba cried. “Going to the ship!” 

She whirled to see the Gungan struggling to carry Arani’s unconscious form up the gangway. Rann covered him from behind a shipping crate, scattering droids with precision shots. Drawing her own pistol, she slid up beside Rann and fired into the phalanx. 

“Go!” Rann yelled, pulling a thermal grenade and heaving it over their cover. 

Sia-Lann fired a last shot and rushed into the ship, the bloom of heat from the grenade warming her back. The Polestar was already rattling to life. She collapsed on the deck heaving air into her lungs. Seconds later Rann joined her, streaked with sweat and dirt and blood. 

“Are you hurt?” she gasped, when she was able. 

“A burn on my arm and leg,” Rann said. “Who in the blazes were they? And how did they find us?”

“I don’t know,” Sia-Lann said, sitting up. “We should probably get rid of Toba’s junkpile, though. We better see to Arani.”

She groaned and weaved toward the lounge as the ship rumbled out of Vedyll Station.


----------



## ragboy (Jul 13, 2004)

*Chapter 2 - Benelli Run*

“How is she?” Rann asked, walking into the ship’s lounge and flopping onto a couch.

“She’s sleeping, but she’ll be okay,” Sia-Lann said. “How’s Toba?”

“He managed to coax that ancient astrogate computer into getting us pointing in the right direction. Where did she say?”

“Benelli system,” Sia-Lann said then shrugged at his unspoken question. 

They sat in silence for a time, listening to the strange clanks and hums from the ship. 

“It’s cold,” Sia-Lann said, pulling her robe tighter around her. 

“Droids shot out the environmental controls.” Rann smirked. “Toba managed to get most of it working. He’s on it now.”

“I wish I knew who those…”

“Yea.”

Sia-Lann looked at her companion. He’d been like a brother to her for almost ten years. 

“I feel him close to us,” Sia-Lann said. “Do you think there’s a chance...”

“We saw him, Sia-Lann,” Rann said. His face darkened, suddenly, and he looked away. “Weu-Lun is dead.”

“Those...Jedi and the soldiers back on Naboo, they weren’t part of the invasion,” she said, looking at her Rann fiercely. “They could have stunned him. Taken him in the confusion.”

“We’ll never know, okay!” Rann blurted, standing quickly. “We’ll definitely never find him ourselves. Those guys were professionals. You think anyone could escape that explosion? HE..IS..DEAD!”

The young Jedi fled toward the back of the ship. Sia-Lann watched the space where he’d been for a long time. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The ship dropped out of hyperspace, coasting to a cruising speed. Tight-lipped and still pale, Arani fired up her data pad. Toba hung his head, tapping out control information on a dusty keyboard. 

“Benelli system,” she said to no one in particular. 

“Can you get a load from here?” Rann asked from the jump seat behind her.

“If your Force is with us,” she muttered. “I have a buddy down there. Let’s see if he remembers me.”

A holo image of the Benelli Communications Company logo appeared. 

“Please hold while we contact your party,” a man’s pleasant voice said. “Benelli Communications thanks you for your patience.” 

Strange, tinny music filled the cockpit. 

“He’s hard to get hold of sometimes.” 

“Hopin’ he can find parts for da weapons,” Toba said quietly. 

“Yea, if you hadn’t...”

“Arani!” a deep guttural voice said. “Where have you been?”

The BCC logo still floated on the holo-projector. 

“Thune,” Arani said. “I’ve been around. Look: I need a run, maybe out to Mijji’s Point or someplace close by there. Need to make some quick cash. You got anything?”

“You are in-system?” Thune said. His furry Bothan face appeared in a wavering hologram. 

“Askin’ him about the...”

Arani glared the Gungan to silence. 

“We set down in about an hour,” she said. “You have a line on a cheap port and landing clearance?”

“Arani, Arani,” the Bothan sighed. “I don’t see you in, what, two standard? And the first thing out of your mouth is an insult?” 

“Thanks, Thune. You were always a stand-up guy,” she smiled. 

“I’ll transmit the codes.” His canine grin glimmered.

“See you in a bit.” The pilot sat back with a groan of relief. 

“Old friend?” Sia-Lann asked, stepping into the cockpit. 

“Thune Markle is one of the best...ah...shipping agents I’ve ever worked with,” Arani said. “When he was freelance, he got me my first few runs. Helped me secure a down payment on this tub. He’s been dedicated to the cartels on Benelli Prime for a while, though.”

“He seems...eager,” Sia-Lann said, taking the second jump seat.

“He takes a 50% cut,” Arani said, looking over her shoulder. “He’s a friend. Not family.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The immaculately dressed Bothan stood at the gangway as the group disembarked. He turned to greet them, and Sia-Lann saw that half his face was disfigured, seemingly by fire. More likely a dissatisfied customer, she thought.

“My dear,” Thune said, his arms held out. “You only grow more beautiful.”

“Cut the sales pitch,” Arani said, though she barely kept a smile from her face. “You got any place to get a drink around here?” 

“Of course, of course,” Thune said. “But first.” He turned to the others. “I am Viscount Thune Alyafesh du’Markle, at your service. If there is anything, anything at all, that you need, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am your humble host for your stay here, and all of my resources are at your disposal.” 

“Can you be gettin’ parts for da ship?” Toba asked, stepping back and crossing his arms as the Bothan approached in what looked like an impending hug. 

“Arani!” Thune said, feigning surprise. “You have damaged the illustrious Polestar?”

“A little trouble leaving Naboo,” she said, dragging a plastic shipping crate down the gangway. “Perhaps you’ve heard?”

“I have heard some rumblings out there on the Rim,” he said, turning to the Jedi. “Pleased to make your acquaintances, young Padawans.” 

“The pleasure is mine, sir,” Sia-Lann said, bowing reflexively. 

“My dear,” the Bothan said to Arani. “You have taken up with the most polite denizens of the Galaxy.” Then, to the two Jedi, “It is refreshing compared to her past companions.”

“Rann-I Kanu,” the other said, holding out his hand. “We ran into some trouble with the Trade Federation. We need a comm system strong enough to reach Coruscant.”

“Ah, they were always trigger happy, those Nemodians,” Thune said, taking Rann’s hand in a double-handed shake. “I heard about the blockade. Of course, we shall find you what you need.” 

He glanced at the serrated and blackened scars across most of the Polestar’s 
superstructure as he turned and gestured to the travel weary group. Rann and Sia-Lann hefted storage containers and followed. 

“Toba,” Arani said quietly. 

The Gungan walked back toward her, grinning. 

She stuck a finger in his face. “You owe me, you got it?” 

Toba’s face fell. 

“That stunt with the hyperdrive cost me a week,” she continued. “If you co- for me, you watch the darn scope and let me know when I’m about to run into a blazing starship, you understand?”

“Doin’ better, next time,” Toba said. 

“There may not be a next time, if you don’t come up with some cash to pay for this.” She gestured over her shoulder to her damaged ship. “This is the real world, Gungan. You’re not in the swamp anymore.”

“Sorry. I fix most everything. Your weapon system bein’...old.”

“You got a knack with tools, I’ll give you that. And you were pretty handy in that firefight,” she said, turning her back to slide a crate onto a droid dolly. “If you can help me make up the difference on the lost time and the repairs, I figure we can go in half. But, I can’t afford mistakes like this.”

“We bein’ partners!?” Toba exclaimed. “Oh boyo! Toba Fi a starship captain?”

“I’m captain,” Arani said, her mood obviously lightened. “You’re first mate and ship engineer, get it? Now, help me with these crates.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


----------



## ledded (Jul 27, 2004)

Very nice, I like it quite a bit.  Consider me subscribed.

While I normally would object to their not being any Gungans harmed during the course of a story hour  , I have to admit a certain... fondness... for the one in this story  .

Also sounds like it is well-played, considering the age of the players.  Your writing is very concise and well-descriptive at the same time;  quite refreshing and fun to read.

Keep up the good work.


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## ragboy (Jul 28, 2004)

ledded said:
			
		

> Very nice, I like it quite a bit.  Consider me subscribed.
> 
> While I normally would object to their not being any Gungans harmed during the course of a story hour  , I have to admit a certain... fondness... for the one in this story  .




Yea. I'm usually opposed to living Gungans, as well, but you have to make SOME concessions as a parent. 



> Also sounds like it is well-played, considering the age of the players.  Your writing is very concise and well-descriptive at the same time;  quite refreshing and fun to read.
> 
> Keep up the good work.




They're pretty fun to play with. Thanks for the compliment! I just finished your WWII SH last week. Great stuff! Been trying to get mine off the ground (not a Supers...more of a Spycraft w/ more combat and less pretty people). Yours has been an inspiration.


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## ledded (Aug 2, 2004)

ragboy said:
			
		

> Yea. I'm usually opposed to living Gungans, as well, but you have to make SOME concessions as a parent.



Oh, I can sympathize.  I have 3 little ones, and after having played Thumbelina with my 3 1/2 year old twin girls for over an hour this last weekend, and if that's not a roleplaying challenge I don't know what is 




> They're pretty fun to play with. Thanks for the compliment! I just finished your WWII SH last week. Great stuff! Been trying to get mine off the ground (not a Supers...more of a Spycraft w/ more combat and less pretty people). Yours has been an inspiration.



Thanks.  We have talked about doing a more realistic/less fantastic "straight" WWII adventure (commando type stuff) as a one-off sometime soon, and I'd like to get around to it.  I had originally wanted to do it that way, but in order to get them to go for it I added the Supers as a teaser, and it worked.

But the supers WW2 campaign, while very comic-bookish and sometimes a touch campy (and other times quite gritty) has been a *lot* of fun not only to play but to write, and it gave me a chance to do a little game design stuff coming up with my own WW2 supplemental stuff, though much of it was borrowed.

Good luck with yours, and make sure to write it up if you get it off the ground; folks love a WW2 story.


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## LostSoul (Aug 3, 2004)

Just caught up again... that was a nice combat!  Very Star Wars.  Good role-playing, too.

What level are the PCs?


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## linnorm (Aug 3, 2004)

Good story so far.  I like how it started with some action and then moved into more character development after the reader has a quick general impression to hang the details on.  I'm looking forward to more!


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## ragboy (Aug 3, 2004)

LostSoul said:
			
		

> Just caught up again... that was a nice combat!  Very Star Wars.  Good role-playing, too.
> 
> What level are the PCs?




Thanks! I'll get some more up tonight. Been busy with a d20 Modern project. 

At this point they were 3rd level. We played through the Invasion of Theed boxed set and then went into homegrown. The game mechanics may not be absolutely correct, nor the specific role-playing, but these are really the personalities they brought to the table for their characters. My oldest son (Rann) plays 'fast and loose' especially for a Jedi. I'm setting him up to make some serious Dark Side choices when we continue the game. My daughter (Sia-Lann) is very calculating and calm and she rolls high every darn time she touches the dice. I've thought about bringing her to sessions just to be my dice roller. (The Dark Jedi losing an arm actually happened in the session due to her rolling two criticals in a row). My middle son (Toba) plays very industriously. If there's a situation to which he might apply his technical skills, he's on it before anyone else can do anything. Arani is an NPC and dies quite often.  

Anyway... don't want to give the impression that they spoke these words or necessarily did exactly what's portrayed (this part of the session was a little over a year ago.


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## ragboy (Aug 3, 2004)

ledded said:
			
		

> Oh, I can sympathize.  I have 3 little ones, and after having played Thumbelina with my 3 1/2 year old twin girls for over an hour this last weekend, and if that's not a roleplaying challenge I don't know what is




Ha! That's true. I haven't braved including my 3 year old in role-playing, though we do plenty of lightsaber fighting, running around the house. 




			
				ledded said:
			
		

> Thanks.  We have talked about doing a more realistic/less fantastic "straight" WWII adventure (commando type stuff) as a one-off sometime soon, and I'd like to get around to it.




If you want to trade notes, I'm REALLY interested in the Supers side, but I'd like to see some example game mechanics in action. I have Mutants and Masterminds but don't have time to dig through it at the moment. I've got a massive campaign about half developed that's realistic WWII commando slanted (Jedburghs in occupied France). Locations, missions, threats, storylines, characters, the whole bit, including stats on the actual equipment they used (stats either stolen or homegrown). It's based mostly off of V for Victory with some Weird Wars (stats, no magic) and Spycraft mechanics as well. Anyway, not to stray too far off topic. If you're interested, contact me offline (remove the REMOVEME): ragboyREMOVEME@caffeine.net. 




			
				ledded said:
			
		

> Good luck with yours, and make sure to write it up if you get it off the ground; folks love a WW2 story.




Thanks. I will. I have a Dark*Spycraft thing inspired by jonrog and Heap that I'll probably write up next. Should be just as fun.


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## ragboy (Aug 4, 2004)

_rgb - Thanks, linnorm and any lurkers! _ 

-=-=-=-=-
“Well, he’ll have some contracts drawn up in the morning, but there aren’t any runs out for a week or more,” Arani said, reclining on a chaise lounge. Like the rest of the furniture in their room, it looked to be made for another species. “I talked to my creditors, and Thune vouched for me, so that bought me a little time.”

“What do we do until then?” Rann said pacing the room like a caged blistmok lizard. 

“Patience, Rann,” Sia-Lann said. “We can contact the Council and relax for a while. 

“The good news, for you anyway, is that the run is to Coruscant,” Arani said. “Thune said he’d have us a comm connection in the morning.”

“Perfect,” Rann said as he perched on a piece of furniture that looked like a broken-backed shaak. “So we just sit around?”

Arani flipped a Piranell City credit chip across the floating stone disk that they used as a table. 

“Live it up, Padawan,” she drawled, trying to get comfortable. “You ain’t never been to a real city before.”

“I’ve been to cities...plenty of them.”

“I’m not talking about the dreamy little burgs on Naboo.” Arani said, closing her eyes. 

Sia-Lann laughed. 

“Theed’s a city,” Rann said, snatching the credit chip. “A big one.”

“Where’s Toba?” Sia-Lann asked, as she stood and stretched.

“He’s doing something for me,” Arani grumbled, her head under a pillow striped with some alien predator’s fur. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Bartela casino on the outskirts of Piranell City lit the desolate Benelli Prime landscape like a lantern in a graveyard. Jumpcabs darted around the place, entering and leaving various landing ports and platforms that dotted the massive structure.

	“Looks like a fortress,” Sia-Lann said as they approached. 

	“Used to be, little lady,” the Balosar jumpcabbie said over his shoulder. “Back before the cartels, this was a junta world. One of the last of the hold-outs before the Republic smashed them!” His hands were off the controls gesticulating wildly. 

	Both Jedi fought to remain calm as the Balosar’s antenna quivered. The cab dipped at a dangerous angle and coasted to a smooth stop on the fiftieth level landing platform. 

	“Twenty creds, folks,” the cabby said. 

	“We have this,” Rann said, holding up the credit chip. 

	“Good enough,” he piped. “Just run it through back there.” 

	Rann pushed the credit chip into the slot set in the back of the driver’s seat, and gestured to Sia-Lann to go.

	“Tip him,” she said, quietly.

	“What?”

	“Give him a little extra,” she mouthed.

	“Why?” Rann said a little too loudly. “He said twenty.”

	The cabby glared over his shoulder.

	Sia-Lann gently took the chip and keyed in a modest tip. 

	“Sorry, sir,” she said, sticking her head back in the cab. “We’re not from around here.” She pulled her protesting companion from the cab.

	“You coulda fooled me.” The Balosar grinned and sped away.

	“You paid him more than he asked? Who’s the yokel, now?”

	“Rann. We’re in the city. Did you spend all your study time buried in Master Weu-Lun’s ancient texts?”

	The Jedi stood on the landing platform, his hands held wide, as Sia-Lann walked into the casino, shaking her head.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

	“_Pashka_ to the lady!” the table man exclaimed amid the cheers of the spectators.

	Sia-Lann allowed a pleased smile, but held her hands beside her lest she clap like a fool. 

	The blue-skinned table man scooped up the strange glowing devices, and then slid a handful of chips her way. Rann caught an almost imperceptible gesture from the man. He nudged Sia-Lann.

	He’s done something to those...things, Rann thought to her.

	Guess our time is up, she thought back.

	“Another go, missy?” the table man said, holding out the devices again. 

	“I think we are done, sir,” she said with a wink and flipped a 100 credit chip his way. 

	The man bowed, but she could see his mouth was a straight line. 

	“He was about to win back his money,” Rann said.

	“Very perceptive, young Padawan,” Sia-Lann said. 

	“Funny. Weu-Lun would have scolded you for being high-handed.”

	“Weu-Lun would have never allowed us within a parsec of this place.”

	“True.”

Rann went rigid. "We have to go now, Sia," he said close to her ear. 

"I wanted to try another game," she murmured.

"Look." He grabbed her shoulders and pivoted her toward the front door to the casino room. 

A bat-eared humanoid stood with the room boss, gesticulating at a datapad. 

"How do you know he's looking for us?" Sia said, frustrated. "I'm up like 2000 credits here." 

"Use the Force, _Padawan_," Rann growled. 

"Very funny."

The room boss _is_ looking our way, she thought. 

"Blast," she said, shoveling the coin sized datachips into her pocket.

The Jedi moved quickly behind a group of towering Wookies roaring at the Flume tables by the side door. In the hallway, several unsavory looking characters slouched by the turbolift. Rann pulled Sia behind him and walked toward them confidently. A massively fat Quarren swung his tentacled visage toward them. 

"It's them," he burbled. "Get V'lick." 

"V'lick doesn't want us," Rann said, stopping just out of reach and raising his hand before the Quarren's face. 

"Of course he does," the Quarren growled, pulling his heavy blaster. "Dern, Slig, get the girl." 

"You were never any good at that," Sia said, sliding up beside her companion. 

Rann MOVED, igniting his lightsaber and slashing out at the Quarren's blaster. It exploded, and the creature went down, wailing at his missing fingers. 

"Rann! You could have let me try!" Sia-Lann fired her blade, holding off the two Aqualish assailants. "Drop your weapons." 

Both of the spider-faced thugs dropped their blasters and backed away. The hallway suddenly erupted with blaster fire, exploding on the walls around the two young Jedi. 

"Come on, come on," Rann yelled. He thumbed the lift button again then deflected a blaster bolt into the floor. 

The doors slid open behind him. 

"Go, go!" Sia-Lann called, pushing him into the turbolift.

Rann jammed a random floor and the door-close button at the same time. The door slammed shut and the turbolift dropped. He heard Sia-Lann gasp and her lightsaber deactivate. A startled group of Bish musicians clustered in the back of the lift clutching their instruments.

"Sorry for the trouble," Sia-Lann said, sweetly. "Where are you guys playing, tonight?"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Thanking you, come again!" Toba said without looking up from the protocol droid head he was repairing. 

He increased the datascope’s magnification, scanning the obvious patches of discoloration on the voice transfer circuits. 

"This droid be fried," the Gungan said. 

"You!" a gruff, digitized voice said close to his face.

Toba started, throwing droid parts and tools across the counter.

"You scarin' me..." He looked at the customer and froze. The humanoid was covered in shiny battle armor, its face concealed behind a scarred helmet.

"Does this shop do computer repair?" the man said, ignoring Toba's small talk. 

Something about his posture gave Toba an uneasy feeling. He flipped the datascope off and slid it away from his eye, examining the soldier more closely. 

"Speak up!" the man barked.

"Sure, but we fixing droids mostly," the Gungan said. 

There. The soldier's blaster was of the same manufacture as the Trade Fed battle droids.

The man slapped a datapad on the counter. Well, most of a datapad. The central screen had a hole melted through it and the input interface was gone.

"I need the data off of this," the soldier continued. "Today. And no questions asked." 

"What bein' on it?" Toba asked, scooping up the computer.

"I said, no questions asked." The man's voice dropped into an annoyed growl. 

"Sorry. I just needing to know if you want everything off or just some of the data," Toba said, cringing. "Sometimes can't getting everything off." 

"Get as much as you can." The soldier flipped a credit chip to the Gungan and walked out the door.

Tliz Fan, the shop owner, called from the back room. "What was that, Toba?"

"Don't know." He returned to the protocol droid. "Wanting data off a datapad." 

Fan, a hunched older man in a shabby smock, struggled out of the stock room dragging a heavy case. 

"Your working out real nice," Fan said, heaving the case onto the counter with a grunt. "When you say you and your friends are leaving?"

"Not knowing, really," Toba said, distractedly. "Soon, though." 

"Well, I could use you around here," the man said, untangling phalangal units from a mass of wiring. "I don't think I've made this much money in a day for the last twenty years." 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The Jedi rushed out of the elevator on the twentieth floor and ducked through the milling crowd. Sia-Lann glanced at her datapad. 

"There's a walkway down into the city over there," she said. 

Rann looked over his shoulder and still saw no pursuit. They pushed through the glass exit doors and ran down the mobile walkway. Hundreds of aircars crisscrossed the sky in evenly spaced lanes while the lights of Piranell's entertainment district flashed below them. After a few minutes of worry, they relaxed. 

"It just doesn't make sense," Sia said. "Why would anyone care about you and me?" 

"Everyone seems to be after you," Rann said, keeping an eye on the casino, now receding in the distance. "Never knew you were so popular, galaxy-wide."

"It's more than that, though," she said. "When those soldiers and Jedi struck our house, they didn't seem to be looking for anything. They just blew the place and moved on. Why are they looking for us now? And with dark Jedi and common criminals? Two different systems." 

"Do we have something they want?" Rann asked, shrugging for his own answer. 

"All we have is us," she answered, eyes widening as the lower levels of Piranell City came into view. 

Streets crowded with all manner of tourists, beggars, traders, and layabouts stretched before them in a frenzy of flashing signs and advertisements. In just a few moments, the two provincials saw more than they'd ever seen on Naboo. Bar fights spilled into the street, various species engaged in various strange rituals on every street corner, and through all of this zipped aircars, jumpcabs, swoop bikes and even a few winged species. 

"This is not good," Sia-Lann said, trying to look everywhere at once. "We should find a cab, fast." 

As they stepped off of the walkway, several heads turned their way, making both Jedi even more nervous. Cabs zipped by, ignoring Rann's raised hand. As nonchalantly as possible, they threaded their way through the crowd trying to watch everyone. Suddenly a greasy arm emerged from what looked like a trash heap at Sia-Lann's feet and snatched her hand in a powerful grip. Barely maintaining her composure, Sia-Lann stepped back, holding her other hand across Rann's arm as he reached for his lightsaber. 

"Not a good idea," she whispered. 

A dirty, wrinkled face emerged from the pile of ragged clothes. The old woman's frizzy wild hair rocked in the fetid breeze. 

"Jedi," she rasped, her piggy eyes opening. "You hold a great pain in your heart."

"What do you know about it?" Sia-Lann said, shrilly, pulling at her hand. 

The woman drew her nearer; her breath reeking of stale deathsticks and fried Glern liver. 

"Not so loud, young one," she said, seemingly staring at nothing. "There are forces on your trail that cannot be stopped."

Sia-Lann realized that the woman was blind.

"Give her a couple of credits and let's keep moving, Sia," Rann said, returning to his nervous survey of the milling crowd. 

"I do not require your money, Jedi," the woman said sharply, then continued in a distracted tone. "Sia-Lann Wezz is the one that needs help." 

"Oh, poodou," Rann said, both at the woman’s pronouncement and the head of a Quarren just coming into view on the mobile walkway above them.


----------



## ragboy (Aug 9, 2004)

_Short post...more tonight -- RgB_
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"What do you mean?" Sia said, barely keeping her voice from quavering.

The woman had touched a nerve and the young Jedi was suddenly very nervous. 

"Must go!" Rann said, drawing his blaster. "These are our guys."

"Your master," the woman said, a thin ribbon of drool dripping from the corner of her lip. "He is the pain you hold close." 

Rann whirled, clicking the safety off his blaster and placing it to the woman's temple. 

"Start talking, old woman," Rann growled. 

Sia opened her mouth to protest, but suddenly the pistol flew out of the young Jedi's hand and into the woman's. Her sightless leer turned mischievous. 

"He is a firebrand," she said. "Have no fear. Reach out with the Force and you shall know what I know." 

Rann looked from the woman to the quickly approaching thugs and placed his hand on his lightsaber. 

"Rann," Sia-Lann said. "Listen to her." 

Both Jedi let the Force flow through them. 

###

Rann could clearly see the faces of the two Jedi, standing in the ruins of his guardian's house. A man with pale skin and short dark hair. An artificial eye gleamed with a yellow light in his right socket. Beside him stood a green-skinned Twi-Lek woman. He could almost hear her voice, soft like it came through miles of water. The two soldiers were less distinct, but he could see one was human, armored, and the other was a Besalisk, two of his four arms gesturing down into the city. 

"So, what do we do now?" the soldier said, his voice ringing in the battle helmet. 

"It's coming in on the comm," the Besalisk grunted. "The Trade Federation has invaded. We should probably get back to the ship." 

"We didn't find him," the soldier said. "Does that mean we don't get paid?"

"You'll get your money when we find him," came lilting voice of the Twi-lek Jedi. "First we should find his Padawans. They shall need protection." 

###

Sia-Lann only had eyes for her uncle. He lay on the floor in his private workroom, limbs askew. His face was a mottle of bruises, but -- she gasped -- the light of the Force flickered inside of him. He lived. A dark presence, like the void to life and light, moved across the scene.

"Get him." The voice was the icy cold of deep space. "Our Master awaits on Rori." 

Weu-Lun groaned as a short bulky man scooped him onto a shoulder. 

"We should kill him, you know," hissed a woman's voice, radiating heat and hatred like the scorching passions of a star.

"He wants the Jedi alive," the cold one answered. "His knowledge concerning Oros is too valuable." Then, in a commanding voice, "Men, blow the house. Leave nothing." 

###

As their respective reveries faded from the Jedis' minds, their assailants wandered by, scanning the crowd. One of the Aqualish actually brushed against Sia-Lann as he passed. The old woman giggled, shifting her stinking ratty clothing and patting her mound of hair. 

"What did you do to us?" Rann said. "Where my pistol?"

"Your weapon is where it belongs, young one," she said, a hint of steel in her voice. "You should learn to better control your anger, lest the..." She made chopping motions with both her hands. "..Dark side gets you." 

"What does it mean, Missus..." Sia-Lann said, pausing when she realized she didn't know the woman's name. 

The woman stared past her then started. "Oh! Ah..." She tapped a grimy finger to her lips. "...well...my name is not important. So unimportant, that I've forgotten it myself." 

"Where do we find him? The...dark one said that his master was on the Naboo moon of Rori, but surely they have left there by now." Sia-Lann felt a sudden pang of loss. They had been so eager to flee Naboo. So accepting that Weu-Lun was dead, when really he lay so close and trapped. 

"I do not know." The woman retreated into her pile of rags, but continued, her voice muffled. "The one that knows, its name older even than mine, is nearby. The Uduz. It that Sees. Seek the Uduz." 

The woman went silent.

"That's it?" Rann said. "Hello!" 

The padawan poked impatiently at the rag mound. 

"She's gone," Rann said, pulling apart the layers of rags. 

"What in the blazes is the Uduz," Sia said, staring out into the sea of scum and villany that teemed below Piranell City's flashing lights.


----------



## ragboy (Aug 10, 2004)

*The Mysterious Uduz*

"So, you were _working_?" Sia-Lann asked, as the group moved down a mobile walkway toward the landing fields and their meeting with Arani's customer. 

Neither Jedi had related their adventures from the previous night. 

"I'm...ah... needing some credits for..a business opportunity," Toba said with a sidelong glance at Arani. 

"You're making him work?" Rann asked Arani, lagging behind the group and keeping an eye over his shoulder. "That doesn't exactly seem fair to me. Your ship wasn't in that great a shape to start with... " 

"No, no, I am liking to work," Toba said, raising his hands to prevent the argument before it came. "Arani making me ship engineer and first mate." 

The group fell silent as the landing fields came into view. A checkpoint loomed and behind it the group could barely see their ship in a sea of hundreds of other vessels. Benelli Prime's blasted landscape surrounded the field was stripped-mined of every available resource. A plump man in a tight-fitting brown business wrap manned the checkpoint. 

"Arani Korden," she said, handing the man a digital chit. "I'm here for a meeting and to conduct some routine repairs." 

"Ms. Korden," the man said reflexively as he took the chit and scanned it through his datapad. "It'll be just a moment." 

The group stood around awkwardly as the official whistled an inane popular tune. The Force flared in Rann's mind, and he realized the man was looking anywhere but at the group. He nudged Sia-Lann. 

*Something's not right,* he projected to her. 

*I feel nothing,* she returned. *Are you sure?*

*That man is acting very strange*

*We should remain vigilant* Sia-Lann unconsciously fiddled with her lightsaber. 

"That sure is ugly," Arani murmured.

"What's that?" The official started, flushing suddenly. 

She gestured beyond the landing field where the landscape seemed to shimmer with caustic heat. 

"Well," the man fussed. "Our planet has been a great supporter to the Republic, you know. There are some that feel that Benelli has outlived its resources, but, as you know..." 

A positive tone emitted from his datapad. 

"I'm sorry," the man said. "Your party has requested that you meet in one of our conference rooms. If you follow the red marker around to the side of Maintenance Bay 4, you can't miss it." 

He handed the chit back to Arani. Rann saw the sweat beading on his forehead. 

"Thanks," Arani said and started off toward a cluster of low metal buidlings. 

When they were out of earshot, Rann said, "Something about that guy wasn't right, Arani." 

"Probably not. One thing you have to realize about Benellians: They'll sell out their mothers to their fathers if they think they can make a dime. It's no problem. I trust Thune." 

Entering the conference room, even Arani felt that something was not right. A shabbily dressed older man stood with an IG-117 heavy maintenance droid and two equally shabby looking assistants, both human. The droid stood three meters tall, a blocky, tracked, utilitarian thing. Its heavy-duty lifting arms hung inert at its side. 

"Where's Thune?" she asked, pausing just inside the doorway.

"Mr. Markle will be along. He informed me this morning that he would be a little late," the man said. "I'm Rek Yern, and I require the services of your ship, Ms. Korden. I am prepared to execute contracts to that effect." 

Both Rann and Sia-Lann felt a tremor in the Force as the tone on Arani's communicator sounded. Arani ignored the communicator and moved toward the conference table. 

"Well," she said. "Let's have a seat and get this hammered out, then." 

Toba acknowledged the man's assistants with a slight wave and studied the droid as he sat down. Rann and Sia-Lann hovered at the doorway. 

"Are your...friends joining us?" Rek asked, as he took a chair. 

Arani looked over her shoulder at the two jumpy Jedi and winked. "I believe they'll be outside. Perhaps they can show your men the Polestar and get some specifics about the cargo." 

Rek motioning his two men outside. The Padawans followed them, and the door slid shut. 

"This is Toba Fin, ship's engineer and first mate," she continued, cooly. "What do you need transported?"

"Droid parts and tools for factories on Coruscant," Rek said. "I have to say, I'm a little nervous about not using the Transit Guild." 

"Well," Arani said, pulling up a standard contract on her datapad. "With the Trade Fed problems and Benelli's problems, you may not have much of a choice. The Transit Guild no longer offers transport services from the Benelli system. Don't you love commerce?"

Rek grinned, and fired up his datapad to review the contracts. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

*I still have a bad feeling about this* Rann thought to his companion as they escorted Rek's men toward the checkpoint. 

*Patience*

They walked in silence, passed through the checkpoint and boarded a skimmer toward landing pad B-222F. The skimmer zipped past massive transport starships, larger than any Rann had seen, even compared to the Trade Fed droid ships. He glanced at Rek's men. They seemed ill at ease, if a little bored, but the nagging tremor he'd felt in the room faded. 

"What does your master want us to haul to Coruscant," Rann asked, idly. 

"Crates and crates of droid parts," the taller of the two men said. 

"Lots of droid parts," the other said. 

The droid skimmer came to a halt in front of the Polestar, and the group disembarked. 

"So, are you kids from around here?" the taller of the two men drawled. 

"No," Sia-Lann said, keying the gangway security system on the ship. "We just arrived, actually." 

A high pitched whine, barely audible, echoed across the landing field. 

"Where you from?" the smaller man said. 

"Coruscant," the two Jedi said, simultaneously. 

Rann spotted a large red aircar heading toward the field from the stark surrounding hills. The open top vehicle seemed crowded with occupants, though he couldn't tell from this distance.

"Funny, Mirek," the taller one said. "I heard they were from Naboo." 

Sia and Rann froze, hearing the steel edge to the man's voice. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"Well, it's hard to find good help," Rek said, sitting back with a sigh. "You don't know how please I am with this. I would have paid double...triple with the Guilds. That combined with the credits I had to outlay for my two employees and their droid..."

"And, I always make my deliveries on time, Mr. Yern, unlike the Transit Guild. They can't really be bothered with small cargo like yours," Arani said, trying to mask her own excitement. The fee from this contract would catch her up with her creditors leaving enough for some much needed upgrades.

"Well, I'm very pleased," Rek said. "I've done business with Mr. Markle in the past. It's a pleasure to see there are still some trustworthy businessmen...and women, left in the galaxy." 

Though he had been daydreaming, Toba suddenly came awake. A strange noise emitted from the droid. As Arani and Rek chatted, Toba watched in horror as the ballistics-grade plastics covering the droid's lifting arms separated and retracted revealing two integrated heavy blaster rifles. 

"Arani!" Toba yelled, diving to the floor and drawing his blaster. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The man called Mirek fired into Sia-Lann’s back, as Rann spun, igniting his lightsaber. Sia crumpled to the ground, and the aircar streaked overhead unleashing precise and withering fire on the Polestar. Rann forced both men to retreat, glancing two shots off his lightsaber into the plascrete landing field. 

“Sia!” Rann called, swiping at the men and sparing a glance over his shoulder. 

His Padawan companion lay unmoving. 

“Blast!” Rann growled, and then charged. 

Both men fired wildly, attempting to backpedal, and Rann took the one called Mirek’s hands off at the wrists. As Mirek collapsed, wailing, the man’s companion only grinned firing to cover his move.

“That’s them!” he yelled, falling behind the Polestar’s landing strut. 

Rann whirled at the low droning sound to see two heavily armored soldiers floating down on repulsor packs. In the blasts of rifle fire peppering the area, the Jedi crouched and ran, snatching Sia by the belt and dragged her to cover behind a low maintenance shed. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Arani’s first shot was so quick and so effortless, that Rek hardly had time to react. The super-heated bolt of energy passed his left ear and slammed into the IG-117’s front control panel. Almost before the burst of sparks and smoke, she leapt and swiped the merchant down to the floor. Toba popped up and fired, sliding around the edge of the table before the droid’s rifles barked a stream of death toward him. The table and the flimsy conference room wall disintegrated, the Gungan going down with a wail.

“Up! Up!” Arani yelled to the merchant, as she darted across the room, snatched Toba by his utility bandoliers and dragged him through the smoking hole into Maintenance Bay 4.


----------



## ragboy (Aug 19, 2004)

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Is this your doing, Rek!?” Arani yelled while taking double-fisted blaster shots at the maintenance droid. 

“Nah…no,” the merchant looked genuinely confused and shaken. A nasty burn across his forehead wept dark blood. “The droid belongs to the men I hired. I hope your friends are okay.”

“I hope for those thugs’ sakes that they are, too,” she growled, firing two blasts into the droid and shifting to another position. “Keep your head down and see what you can do with Toba.”

She pitched the man a blaster and a medpac, ducking behind the wrecked wall instinctively as the droid began firing its dual blaster rifles in her direction. Arani popped up and fired, then rushed forward with a thermal detonator. Two blaster bolts slammed into her as she arced the grenade at the droid. Ignoring her wounds, she dove back behind cover as the conference room exploded into a ball of searing flame. 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“Sia!” Rann shook his Jedi companion. “Are you okay?” 

The girl’s eyes rolled back in their sockets and Rann felt a cold void of fear open in his gut. Visions of Wei-Lun’s house imploding in flame, of friends left scorched on battlefields in Naboo and of the near-constant hounding by unnamed assailants since they’d left rushed into the void exploding into bright, clear anger.

Rann roared as he surged around the side of the maintenance shed, surprising the soldiers as they approached. His lightsaber cleaved one nearly in half and threw the other off-balance. Rann sent the man sprawling with a kick, barely recoiled as the man's wild shot creased his cheek with searing pain and, spinning his lightsaber, impaled the screaming soldier in the armored faceplate. A blaster bolt exploded on the maintenance shed over Rann’s head, and he whirled to face Mirek’s companion, the thug's blaster smoking and mouth agape. The young Jedi dissolved into a blur of motion and suddenly stood over the cringing thug. 

“No, nononono! Don’t…no..don’t kill me,” the man cried, pitching away his blaster and covering his face. 

His eyes flashing, Rann raised his blade. “Who are you working for? Tell me, and your death will be a quick one.” 

The man’s face fell and he tried to scramble back in a panic. Rann’s blade slashed at the plastcrete landing pad near the thug's head and he froze. 

“Alright, alright,” he said. “I’ll tell you. Descant. He’s local. A petty crime boss. Said he’d give me 200 credits for your heads and the girl. Alive.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As the smoke cleared in the ruined conference room, Arani painfully raised her head to peer over cover. Melted lighting fixtures flickered revealing the smoking chassis of the maintenance droid. She slumped back with a sigh, looking over to her companions. Rek, the merchant, had just finished patching up Toba. In the distance she could hear the whine of Piranell City security sirens. 

A barked command and the shuffle of boots alerted her, and she popped over the barricade, pistols at the ready. A security team fanned out into the ruined room, their blaster rifles coming up as they spotted her. 

“Freeze!” one of the security soldiers barked. “Put your weapon on the deck and stand up!”

“I don’t think that will be necessary, gentleman,” a cultured voice said. 

Thune Markle stepped lightly into the devastation, peering through the smoke and flickering lights. At a gesture the security troops filed out of the room. 

“Arani? Are you there?” 

“Late as always, aren’t you?” Arani said with a grimaced smirk. 

“I must apologize for this, my friend,” The Bothan glided across the room, attempting to keep his rich robes from the ashes and debris. “I alerted security as soon as I heard.”

“How could you have heard?” Arani asked, standing and holstering her pistols. “It _just_ happened.” 

“It is worse than a random attack, I’m afraid,” Thune said. “A local crime boss, Descant, organized this at the behest of an offworlder. A bounty hunter named Boors.” 
“Great,” Arani sighed, looking into the startled eyes of her customer. “It’s not what you think, Mr. Yern. I’m legit. We just ran into some trouble on Naboo.”

“I…I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry to have caused you this trouble,” the man stammered. “I believe you. Of course, you still have my business.”

“I am afraid it is even more serious than that, Arani,” Thune said, pulling her aside and lowering his voice. “This…Boors… he has a small army and he’s heading to Benelli Prime right now. My sources tell me he’s due in system within the day.” 

“Who’s he working for? The Trade Feds? Surely they don’t care about me and a couple of yokel Jedi.” 

“I do not know,” the Bothan said as if not knowing pained him more than almost losing his friend. “But, I shall find out. In the meantime, we have to get your ship loaded and on its way. I have already arranged for exit visas and a friend here at the spaceport will make sure that all records of your stay here are purged.” 

Rann appeared at the shattered conference room door, Sia-Lann leaning heavily on his shoulder. 

“What happened?” he barked, easing Sia-Lann to the ground. “We were attacked on the landing pad. Is this guy in on it?”

His face set, he stormed across the room toward Rek Yern, waving his deactivated lightsaber.

“Rann, settle down,” Arani said, interposing herself between the merchant and the Jedi. “He had no idea. They were a couple of day laborers he hired.” 

“Some… Descant… he set this up?” Rann said. He touched the wound on his face and looked at his hand, confused suddenly, drained. “I…ah… I think I did something really bad.” 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sia-Lann Wezz sat on her bed, her knees clasped to her chin. The pain of the blaster's stun bolt still radiated across her back. 

What have we done? she wondered, thinking back over the last few weeks. 

War and Wei-Lun's death and flight across the galaxy...in all that time she hadn't had time to think. To consider what they actually should do. It seemed logical to go to Coruscant. To seek guidance and report the loss of their master. Now nothing seemed logical. Fallen Jedi and bounty hunters harrowing them at every turn. She felt that Rann was slipping away without the guidance of a true Jedi. And the strange woman's message in a dirty alley. Could Wei-Lun still be alive, somehow? Did this...Uduz...hold the answers? She often tried to hold the Force to use it for knowledge and understanding, but the questions and the chaos that seemed to live inside kept her occluded. Though she had more doubts than ever before, she calmed her mind now, reaching out with the Force for an answer...a path that her and her friends should trod. 
***
A searing wind whipped pale green sand into a dust devil, whipping across a barren dusty plain. Around this plain crouched massive green basalt hills, their visages scoured and shaped like dour old men huddling over a fire. In the center stood a pinnacle of the strange stone, not one carved by the wind, but by intelligent hands. The spire seemed long enough to pierce the orange sun of the Benelli system. 

Below the spire, a small adobe chapel sat, and before it a creature, indistinct in the growing sand storm. 

"You are called, young one." The creature's voice felt like sweet soft music. "A darkness gathers and you are called." 

"Why?" Sia-Lann felt the question pulled from her. "Why me?"

"You are called," the creature repeated and the scene faded to a greenish blur and hissing sand.


----------



## linnorm (Aug 19, 2004)

ragboy said:
			
		

> “Some… Descant… he set this up?” Rann said. He touched the wound on his face and looked at his hand, confused suddenly, drained. “I…ah… I think I did something really bad.”




+1 Darkside Point!

Keep it coming!


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## Hatchling Dragon (Aug 20, 2004)

Going to be interesting to see more 'straight from the session' dialoge once you get more caught up.  I'm always keen to see just how players react, especialy in this case where munchkins are involved (size, not style )

Hatchling Dragon


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## ledded (Aug 20, 2004)

Niiiiice.

Great stuff ragboy... you are making me want to pummel my group into another Star Wars campaign.  I really enjoy how you build tension and the break it wide open.  Very good.  Daddy likey, daddy likey very much.


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## Hatchling Dragon (Oct 5, 2004)

Going on nearly two months am I'm getting worried.  Is this a 'dead' game/thread now?

Give us a sign oh Star Wars story teller!

Hatchling Dragon


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## ragboy (Oct 11, 2004)

Hatchling Dragon said:
			
		

> Going on nearly two months am I'm getting worried. Is this a 'dead' game/thread now?
> 
> Give us a sign oh Star Wars story teller!
> 
> Hatchling Dragon



I'll get some more this week. I've been writing other junk fer money, so it kinda takes away my playtime...


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## ragboy (Oct 11, 2004)

_ragboy: I should be able to keep up a weekly schedule now...ug. Thanks for the push! _
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"The atmosphere is breathable," Toba said, keying information into the ship's computer. "But, it looking like the dust could cause problems." 
"I can't believe I agreed to this," Arani muttered, then keyed her intercom. "Everything's clear, but we'll need to wear breathers."

"Alright Arani," came Sia-Lann's calm voice. 

"'Alright,' she says," the pilot grumbled. "I have bounty hunters and Trade Fed after me, and a load to get to market and she wants to wander around a deserted planet looking for her dead master." 

"Sia-Lann knowing what she doing," Toba said, reading maintenance data from his screen. "Thune getting a good astrogate computer. Seems to be working. Weapons online, too." 

"Well they cost enough." 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

"This is the place, but I don't see anyone," Sia-Lann said, her voice muffled by the breather mask. 

Before them sat a squat adobe building with a massive spire that disappeared into the green swirling dust above them. 

"Maybe this Uduz is dead," Rann said, keeping watch on the building's entrance. 

Toba stumbled over a protruding stone and yelped. The dust felt like acid on his skin and his senses were confused by the constant hissing. 

"Quiet," Arani said. "We don't want to alert whatever's here to eat us." 

"This being a dead planet," Toba said, irritated. "Nothing living here." 

"We might as well go in," Sia-Lann said. 

The companions moved up to the chapel and Sia-Lann stuck her head in the open door. The cool interior was lit with a strange greenish light, brighter than the outside. The spire was hollow all the way to its pinnacle she realized, and was composed of a translucent material with a fine etched design running halfway up its base. 

"Looks clear," she said, and the group moved inside. 

The cool air seemed humid, much more so than the outside, as they shuffled toward the center. A man-sized crystalline sculpture sat in the center of the room and the light from the spire twinkled on its crazed surface and reflected  a dappling pattern on the plain white walls. 

"What is it?" Arani asked, nervously sweeping her eyes across the shadowy edges of the room. 

"Some kind of symbol," Rann said. He felt a tremor in the Force, but could not place its origin or meaning.

A drop of water from the spire struck the sculpture and it rang with a strange tone. Another struck Toba on the back of the neck and he yelped, whirling, and brought his pistol to bear. 

"The spire must collect moisture from the atmosphere," Rann said, looking up. 

"No," Arani said, looking at a series of fist-sized holes that surrounded the sculpture. She place her hand over one and felt an ice cold breeze. "There's a well under here. Planet's not so dead after all." 

"I wonder what happened," Sia-Lann said. Her mind suddenly recoiled with the bright stab of the Force. 

"Toba! Watch out!" 

A thick ropy appendage lanced down from above them, whipped around the Toba's middle and began dragging the wailing Gungan into the air. To their horror, they could see it now. What appeared to be an etched design on one portion of the spire was actually a semi-transparent creature. Its multitude of skittering legs and tentacles writhed, striking blindly down into the room. 

Rann dodged a strike and fired a blast into the tentacle that held his friend. A grating screech erupted from the creature, and Toba fell to the dusty floor. Sia and Arani fired indiscriminately into the point where all the appendages seemed to converge. 

"Is this your contact!?" Arani yelled, dodging another strike and taking up a position on the other side of the sculpture. 

"No," Sia said, dropping her pistol and drawing her lightsaber. 

She slashed a tentacle in half as it whipped toward her. The severed limb continued to writhe and strike. She realized that Toba hadn't moved since he fell. 

"Rann!" she called, taking another swipe. "Check Toba!"

Arani unleashed a barrage of fire from her position, and Rann scrambled to check the downed Gungan. 

"Whaa?" Toba said, dazed. "What happened?"

"Come on!" Rann said, dragging him up. "And start shooting!"

Rann drew his own lightsaber to cover the Gungan's retreat and received a jab from a razor sharp tentacle. Another slammed into him and coiled around his leg. The leg was suddenly afire with needlesharp pains and then went cold and dead. The padawan yelled and slashed at the tentacle. 

"These things are poisoned!" he yelled to the others. 

Arani's second barrage of fire was greeted with another grating shriek and the creature uncoiled itself from the spire and began 'walking' down on its multitude arms. 

"Ah poodou," she murmured, changing powerpacks. "It's coming down!" 

Rann hobbled forward, the severed end of a whipping tentacle still locked on his lower leg and Sia joined him, slashing left and right. Toba's rifleshot took the creature in its writhing center and he was knocked across the room. Even with a dead leg, Rann held his own, severing the appendages that sliced toward him and edging ever closer to the creature's body. Sia-Lann went down, a heavy coiled tentacle knocking her lightsaber out of her grasp. She screamed an oath and backflipped out of a nest of the spiny arms, her saber flying to her in mid arc. She slashed out at those scrabbling arms that tried to encircle her as she landed. 

Arani blasted another stream of burning bolts and the creature seemed to falter. Rann impaled what looked like a group of vital organs and the thing went into a spastic death throe, seeming to shrivel before their eyes. 

"It's a blasted plant!" Arani breathed, as she stepped out and kicked one of the tremoring tentacles out of the way.

The pale green appendage was etched with darker green veins and seemingly turned to mulch under her touch.

"Meanest plant I ever saw." Rann breathed heavily. 

"I am the Uduz!" a booming voice filled the interior of the chapel, startling the group. They whipped around to see a shimmering holograph projected from the crystalline structure. 

"Ages ago, I came to this planet with a group of adherents intent on making a community of those that rejected the idea of the Light and the Dark," the holograph said in a rasping accented form of Basic. 

Though its hazy form was difficult to discern, it appeared to be a creature not unlike the one they'd just destroyed. 

"I was naive," the Uduz said. "Today, this world, called Benelli IV by those that inhabit the region, has been overtaken with the Dark side of the Force. My followers, believers, are slain or warped beyond their control. And I am in hiding." 

"Great," Arani said, wiping sweat from her forehead and scanning the area for more enemies.

"You have come seeking the wisdom of the Uduz, but I cannot appear until the Dark is cleansed from this world. Over the years the power of both Dark and Light have waned, but a node of evil remains," it said. "Seek the mountain sunward in the morning and the shadow will reveal itself. With this guardian's demise, I can again seek the balance of the Force."

"Sia-Lann," Arani said, patiently. "I'm going to get in my ship and fly to Coruscant. You can do whatever you think is necessary."

"Arani," Rann replied. "We'll be here until we find out what this thing knows. And what it knows will probably prevent you from getting your head taken by one of those bounty hunters. You're in this with us, whether you like it or not." 

Sia-Lann was surprised at Rann's sudden insight. She glanced from him to Arani. 

"Let's have a look at your leg," she said to her padawan companion.

Toba stared out into the growing darkness and the pale green dust storm that never seemed to end.


----------



## linnorm (Oct 11, 2004)

Yay!!


----------



## ragboy (Oct 12, 2004)

Lots of action in this part...things'll slow down in the wrap up. 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The group roused as the swirling darkness outside the ship's porthole began to lighten. During the long night, Toba, too restless to sleep, had configured one of the ship's scanners to create a map of the local area. Coupled with some planetary data he was able to bring down on a spotty holonet connection, they had a rough idea of the area they were to find this 'guardian.' 

"Sounds like you've been busy," Arani, her eyes bleary and hair in disarray, said after the Gungan had briefed them.

"Wanting to get this over with," Toba said, eyeing the caustic storm outside. "We probably needing to take the ship there." 

"Strange that I feel nothing," Sia-Lann said, distractedly. "This...node. It should give us something, shouldn't it?"

"I feel it," Rann said. "Like a void out there." 

"Are you okay?" she asked. "We can't let fear guide our actions." 

Rann nodded. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The two padawan were already on the ground before the Polestar's engines had wound down. 

Rann limped slightly; the effects of the creature's poison still plagued him. He sucked hard on the breather, trying to calm his raging thoughts. The void out there seemed to call to him. To mock his ineffectual grasp on the Force.

"Toba and I will set up a perimeter at the base of the hill," Arani said over the comlink.

"If we can sneak up and draw this...whatever it is...out, we may be able to surround it," Sia-Lann said. "Keep your eyes open." 

Rann put a hand to his chest as if to calm his heart, which suddenly began to race. A feeling of dread gripped him and even through the raging marbled dust storm, he could see a pocket of black appear. 

"Too late," he said simply. 

The dust storm seemed to flee away from the creature, a tall humanoid in thick fluttering robes. Beneath its cowl, twin green points flared, and then it MOVED.

Rann dimly heard Sia-Lann's cry, but all other sounds seemed to fade into the background. Pure raging hatred rumbled in his head, an almost physical wave of it that rolled off of the creature as it descended the hillside in a flash. It held a massive blade, jagged and glowing a sickly purple. The padawan barely brought his lightsaber to bear before the thing was on him, slashing quickly from the left. Their weapons met in a flash and boom of arced energy, and Rann flew back, stumbling slightly on the loose gravel. 

"This is not good," he said aloud, preparing for the thing's next attack. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sia-Lann was in the middle of her instructions when she felt the full force of the Dark Side slam into her senses. Reeling, she called out to Rann who seemed to disappear in a sphere of black energy. Before she could move to help him, two canine horrors seemingly appeared before her. Their arched and spiny backs towered over her, and slavering jaws whipped at her legs in blood frenzy. Jumping into the air, half-blinded by the dust, she flipped over their backs, igniting her lightsaber. 

"Arani!" she called over the comlink. "Now would be a good time." 

Laser blasts immediately lanced from the direction of the ship, crackling through the green wall of sand with an almost arcane energy. One of the creatures took the bait and charged off toward its attackers. The other whirled and snapped at its padawan foe. 

Sia-Lan's overhand slash seemed to glance off the creature's hide. Dodging a quick slash from the monster's claws, she double backflipped and took a position on a more defensible point. Trying to control her gasps in the confining breather, she checked her balance and watched as the creature moved steadily toward her. 

-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=

"They bouncing off!" Toba yelled as the stream of bolts from his rifle careened off of the charging creature. 

"This won't. Down Gungan!" Arani called over the comlink. She heaved a thermal detonator and dove for cover.

The creature howled as it flew into the air above a billowing fireball. It landed heavily, but scrambled to its feet, shaking off the effects. Toba followed up with another burst of blaster fire and the creature bellowed, its thick hide streaked with smoldering patches. 

-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The thing spoke no discernable language, but on its waves of hatred, images formed in Rann's mind. The very ground where they stood became black and lifeless, hovering in a starless void. Its flashing blade snaked around his lightsaber and he felt a painful chill as it pierced his stomach. His flinch backwards prevented the thing from eviscerating him.

Images assailed him, breaking his concentration. 

_....Wei-Lun standing in the corner of a close darkened room as the young padawan struggled with his meditation. _

_"If you grab for it, it will slip through your grasp," his master said. "You must not seek the Force, padawan. Let it grasp you."_

_He felt the frustration growing in him as he attempted for the millionth time to sink into a reverie with the Force. In that instant, he wished to drop his training. To walk away from Wei-Lun, the man that had taken him in as an orphan. The Jedi Master that had believed in him, but now seemed to berate him with mindless prattle._

_I can find power without this old fool, he thought._

Rann cringed at the remembrance and guilt washed over him. He could almost feel the creature laughing as it struck again and again. He evaded its blows, backpedaling and reaching out for the calm that would keep him alive. The thing was on him before he could recover, and the cold purple blade opened a deep wound across his chest.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Sia-Lan's lightsaber finally bit through the creature's defenses, and it howled and lashed out at her, as she again leapt over its back. So far, her expedient strategy had been successful. She cut across its flanks and dodged to avoid a vicious back kick, surprised at her own calm. With a quick glance toward the coursing void that Rann had entered, she whirled the lightsaber in her hands and impaled the creature’s head as it spun to attack her. She kicked its twitching form and then raced off to help her fellow Jedi. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

The growling monstrosity charged toward Toba, and he stood his ground firing bolt after bolt into its tough hide. At the last moment, a blaze of fire lanced from Arani’s position, striking the side of the massive tusked head. In moaning death, the horror slammed into Toba, knocking him back into the dust.

Arani raced up, firing into the still creature, just to be sure. 

“Toba!” she called, eyeing the swirling storm. 

“I'm okay,” he called weakly. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Another bone-numbing chill pierced the young Jedi, and he actually cried out. Rann felt his life draining from him. Inside the cowl, the twin green points flared, and Rann knew true fear. His sabre arm drooping and breath coming in crying gasps, Rann prepared for the end. There at the edge of his mortality, a peace settled over him and the Force filled him to near bursting. In this haze of calm, he glanced off the creature’s raining blows. The lightsaber slid up the blade of his foe in a shrieking explosion of energy, slashing into the sleeve of the apparition’s robes. The creature struck low, and Rann leapt over the blade, his sabre sizzling into the hand that held it. It dropped its weapon casually, backpedaling as Rann advanced. The padawan felt a change in his opponent and dove under a flashing, double-handed attack; short jagged blades had appeared out of creature’s sleeves. Rann snapped the creature’s head back with a high kick and tried to take its arm with an uppercut slash, but it seemed to flow around the attack, slashing down and through back of the Jedi’s ankle. 

Rann screamed and collapsed, his lower leg dead below him. Narrowly glancing away another quick strike meant to take his eyes, Rann rolled to a kneeling position. The creature slashed him again, and kicked the padawan hard in the chest. Rann sprawled, his lightsaber flying away.

He heard its laugh, this time. It was the cry of a thousand souls. A chorus of rage, fear and pain. He knew then that he would soon join those souls, but he still held onto that peace.

The creature stepped on his wrist and dug it into the ground. It crossed its crackling blades, and then raised one for the kill. 

Out of the void, Rann saw a bright light flash across his vision. 

Sia-Lan Wezz let out a wild yell as she left her feet and slammed into the creature. The combatants rolled together, the padawan jamming her fists into its tough hide and creature attempted to slash her with its wrist blades. Sia flipped off of the thing’s chest and ignited her lightsaber, glancing off one snaking blade and slashing its other hand off at the wrist. Never pausing, the thing gashed Sia-Lan across the thigh and kicked her in the stomach, knocking her flat. Bringing its good arm around for a killing blow, its head left its shoulders. Rann jammed the sizzling blade into the robed back to be sure, and kicked the body away.

“What in the blazes was that?” Sia-Lann murmured as she painfully rolled onto her back and pulled herself to sitting position.

“Hopefully it’s the node that Uduz was gibbering about,” Rann moaned, sprawling on the marbled green sand. “Otherwise, just kill me now.”


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## ledded (Oct 12, 2004)

Loved the last updates, Ragboy.  You seem to be stretching your wings and really taking off in your writing, you've captured the Star Wars essence here while owning the Story as something wholly your own; it's nice to see someone putting out a story in a Star Wars world that succinctly captures the feel of it without kowtowing to the many tired conventions that writing in SW can bring.  Good work.


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## ragboy (Oct 15, 2004)

_thanks ledded! This part's a little mumbo-jumbo, but relevant... My kids were a bit more frustrated than the characters at the lack of information...which is always fun... _ 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Toba stayed on the ship to get some work done. The cool, damp interior of the chapel made Toba wish for home, somehow. He remembered his days in the swamps on Naboo, hunting for gig-frogs and swimming through cool, shaded waters. The past few weeks of constant running and fighting had the Gungan frazzled and in need of rest. 
 
“Aha!” Toba exclaimed, his voice echoing in the deserted cargo bay. A tangled pile of cast off parts littered his workbench as he tinkered with a battle droid’s head. 

The photoreceptors he’d installed, once part of a smashed protocol droid, came to life and the head emitted a series of diagnostic beeps. 

He powered down the head and began installing a set of micro-repulsors he’d built from a melted blaster. 

“Now I’m just needing a talker box, and I’m all set,” he murmured, staring into the receptors of his new droid.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Sia-Lann paced the interior of the chapel, stretching out her mind, seeking their mysterious charge. She felt nothing. The place was dead. 

Rann sat propped against a cool brick wall trying to block the pain of his wounds from his thoughts. He felt the Force strong within him; stronger than it had ever been. It was like a well of cool sweet water just waiting for him to drink. He brooded over what he had learned during the fight with the strange dark creature. Its physical body, as well as its weapons had dissolved away, as if composed of the strange green sand of this place. 

There was something left, though. Something he hadn’t told the others. A steel chain with a strange pink gem pendant lay on the sand where the creature fell. Rann had pocketed it without thinking. Now that he thought about it, he reached out with the Force, examining it. He felt something distant and hard to grasp. Not dark, but hidden. 

“I think we’ve been had,” Arani said, sweeping her eyes across the hollow spire warily. “This thing is gone.” 

“Maybe we stood somewhere, or did something that triggered the hologram,” Sia-Lann pondered aloud. She walked around the strange sculpture and reached out and touched it. It was frigid to the touch, like ice, but dry. 

“I’m sure it’s waiting for something,” Rann said. 

“The Uduz has waited long enough.” The watery voice echoed through the chamber. 

Arani drew her blaster as she jumped in surprise. The two Jedi turned to look at the creature now standing in the doorway of the chapel. 

It defied any anatomy that they had seen, even from the rich mix of races in the Galaxy. The green almost gelatinous body seemed to move of its own accord, gliding quickly across the dusty floor toward the statue. Though it seemed to hover, they noticed that it actually ‘walked’ on clusters of almost invisible cilia that also sprouted from all surfaces of the amorphous body. A single bristling stalk angled up from the thing holding a cluster of eyes and a small mouth. 

Arani shivered slightly when the thing came near her and it smiled, grotesque on such a creature, but somehow allaying her fears. She holstered her pistol. 

“We come seeking answers,” Sia-Lann said, formally. “A woman on Benelli Prime sent us.” 

“Answers,” the Uduz said, gliding to a stop and pivoting its eyestalk toward the young Jedi. “Answers are everywhere. It is questions that you seek.” 

Taken aback, Sia-Lann opened her mouth to speak, and then shut it. She realized that the Uduz was not physically speaking, though its voice rang in her ears. 

“I don’t understand,” she said, finally. 

“The questions you hold do not lead to answers,” it said. “Only to deeper questions. These questions, I hold.” 

The young Jedi looked to her companions and shrugged. Rann pushed himself painfully to his feet and hobbled toward the Uduz, a look of determination on his face. 

“Our master, Wei-Lun,” Rann began, grimacing as he stopped and tried to maintain his composure. “We believed he was killed on our planet by agents of the Dark Side. Now we believe he’s alive. Where can we find the killers?”

“There are killers everywhere. You yourself are a killer,” the Uduz said, its eyestalk pivoting again. “Why would you seek one over the other, when you stand before me and yourself?”

Arani sighed. This is going to take a while, she thought.

“We don’t think he’s dead, Master Uduz,” Sia-Lann put in, struggling to understand how this creature could help them. “The woman on Benelli…she said that he lives, and that you can tell us where he is.”

“Where.” The Uduz seemed to chew on the word. “There.” It seemed to gesture toward Sia-Lann with its stalk. “And there.” It pointed to Rann. “Your master is the Force. And within you, the Force resides.” 

Sia-Lann sighed heavily and began to walk away. Rann put a hand on her shoulder and caught her eye. 

*Patience.*

She was surprised at this and suddenly saw her companion anew after the fight with the dark creature. Rann settled painfully to the floor and turned his eyes toward the Uduz. 

“Tell me of the Force,” he said, calmly.

The Uduz seemed to settle, too, its eyestalk retracted to just inches above its undulating body. Rann felt waves of…pleasure…interest from the thing. 

“You have known the light and the dark,” the Uduz began. “Let me tell you of a Force without these attachments.

“Ages ago, before galaxies, in the first days of the Universe, the Force is, as it is, not a tool for shapers or a religion for the sentient. The Force _is_. As pinholes in a very sheer fabric, the Force bleeds into our Universe. It is not as you are. It is not as I am. It is. Does it darken by the hand of one that would wield it in anger? No. Does it lighten by the mind of one that would serve a greater purpose? NO! The Force is. The darkness and the light are you. The Force is you. But these do not mix, any more than the weapon at your side mixes with a book that you read or a thought that you discover. These things are wisdom. The Force is not wisdom. The Force is not strength. The Force is.” 

“What about the creature we found and destroyed?” Rann asked, his head trying to catch up. “It wielded the Force. You said it was ‘of the Dark side.’” 

“The darkness is not the Force,” the Uduz maintained. “These are words. The Force is not words. I use words that you understand. Do you see? But these words are not the Force. The Force is.”

“I understand,” Rann said. 

“So do I,” Arani drawled from the back of the room. “This thing conned us to take out that thing and his pets. Now he’s going to weasel out of telling us anything.” 

“Wait, Arani,” Sia-Lann said, sitting beside Rann. “Why did we have to defeat the creature to speak to you? If the Force cannot be Dark or Light, then couldn’t you have defeated it yourself?”

“Defeat, victory,” the Uduz mulled. “These are not the Force anymore than darkness or light are the Force. The Force is. As your body, so mine. I wield not the Force, but my body only. The Force is. The creature was of this world and the pinhole through which the others peek. The creature you sought was not the Force. The creature was not dark or light. These are words. The Force is not words.” 

“The Force is,” Rann finished for him. “You said that we could seek wisdom after this creature was destroyed. I have here evidence of our deed. Can you help us?”

Rann withdrew the creature’s necklace and the pink gem glittered in the dappling light from the statue. 

“This is not the Force,” the Uduz intoned. “This is stone and stone. The Force is not stone and stone. The Force is.” 

A long pause seemed to echo in the chamber as the two young Jedi stared at the strange creature. 

“I can help you,” the Uduz said, finally. 

“Where can we find Master Wei-Lun?” Sia-Lann said in a rush. 

“Your master is not the Force. Your master is as your body. The Force is not as your body. The Force is,” the Uduz said. “Your master resides in the place where he was born. This place is not the Force. This place is stone and vacuum. The Force is not stone and vacuum. The Force is.” 

“Where is this place? The place where he was born?” Sia-Lann asked. 

“Where,” the Uduz considered. “There. And there.” Again it pointed to the two Jedi in turn. 

“He doesn’t know,” Arani said. 

“The Force is not knowledge. The Force is. The Uduz knows nothing,” the Uduz replied.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Sia-Lann said, standing.

Rann turned to look at Sia. “He can tell us,” he said. “We just have to try and understand.” 

He turned back to the Uduz to see only empty air.

“Well,” Rann sighed. “I guess we have more than we came with.”

“More questions,” Sia-Lann said, irritated. 

“I need to get this load to Coruscant,” Arani said. “Can we head on out, now? Maybe save the Galaxy after my bills are paid?”


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## DethStryke (Jun 29, 2005)

*BUMP* to show some Star Wars love and see if there is more interest! Where'd ya go Rag Boy?


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## skullsmurfer (Jun 29, 2005)

Ragboy, I am hooked.  I like the way you write and I look forward to more.


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## ragboy (Jun 29, 2005)

skullsmurfer said:
			
		

> Ragboy, I am hooked. I like the way you write and I look forward to more.





			
				DethStryke said:
			
		

> *BUMP* to show some Star Wars love and see if there is more interest! Where'd ya go Rag Boy?




Well heck... If I have fans, then I guess I'll have to dust off what I have left of this campaign story. We never actually finished the campaign, but there are a handful of sessions that I didn't document here...


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## DethStryke (Jun 29, 2005)

ragboy said:
			
		

> Well heck... If I have fans, then I guess I'll have to dust off what I have left of this campaign story. We never actually finished the campaign, but there are a handful of sessions that I didn't document here...




This should be a lesson to all you lurkers. I've had this subscribed since he started, and never said anything! You don't know someone is enjoying it unless you say something! 

Sorry for not chiming in previously.


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## ragboy (Jun 30, 2005)

Alright...I haven't even proofed this fully, but I'll just edit in place... This was the official end of our Episode I. We completed about half of Episode II, and I'll write that up shortly. Thanks for the push to get this done. I felt kinda guilty not finishing at least what I promised. There's one more wrap-up scene, then it's on to II. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As the _Polestar_ breached the upper atmosphere of Benelli IV, lights began flashing
across the main control panels. 

"We having incoming!" Toba yelled, swiveling to the targeting computer. "Two
fighters and a small transport." 

"Can we catch a break, here?" Arani moaned, her maneuver sending the ship bouncing
across the thermosphere. "Rann, Sia! Man fire control!"

"I'm on it," Rann said calmly over the intercom. 

"I have them," Sia said. 

Two missiles streaked from the bottom of the ship, and then a loud clanking sound echoed through the ship. Toba cringed and checked the maintenance system. 

"My launcher's dead," Sia said, frantically. 

Arani looked at the Gungan with fire in her eyes. 

"I using your friend's parts," Toba said, sheepishly. "Everything checking out. I
told you the dust would..."

"Save it," she growled. 

"Locked on," Rann interrupted and a chain of missiles fired. 

One of the fighters dissolved in a haze of superheated metal that the second fighter
split as it came in firing fast. The cockpit lights dimmed with every precision
strike. Overlapping alert klaxons followed. Arani barely avoided a collision with
the craft, as she cut the ship planetward in a sharp maneuver. 

"We can't stand against this with one launcher," she said. "We'll have to hide
somewhere on the planet." 

Suddenly a massive concussion rocked the ship and the shield alarm wailed. 

"Sheilds down!" Toba called. "Ion blast taking out the generator." 

A handful of concussions followed, and the entire cockpit went black. Sia was at the
cockpit portal instantly.

"The blasts came from that transport," she said, breathless.

"No kidding," Arani shouted, slamming her headset into the dead control panel. 

The sleek little fighter glided by the disabled ship, the Quarren pilot gesturing at
them derisively. They could only watch as the transport moved into a docking
position. 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The docking hatch popped open and the pressure between the two ships equalized
violently. Toba shook his head, crouched inside the half-closed door of the lounge,
his blaster rifle pointed up at the gaping hatch. 

"All aboard this ship stand where you can be seen and drop your weapons," an
amplified, metallic voice said. 

"Hold steady," Toba heard Arani say from across the hall. "Wait until they come down."

"I surrender," she called, throwing a blaster pistol to where it could be seen from
the open hatch. She walked out into the hallway with her arms raised.

A helmeted head poked into the disabled ship, the pressure mask concealing the
creature inside. 

"Where are the others?" the creature asked. 

"I left them planetside," Arani said, lightly. "Couldn't pay for their passage out."

"Descant," the other said into his mic. "We only have one occupant....No, the pilot." 

There was a long pause. The creature dropped into the ship with a heavy blaster
trained on Arani. He was followed by four companions, all Quarrens, by the shape of
their helmets. 

The leader approached, snickering over his amplified communicator. 

"You're going to take us back down and show us where you left them," he said. 

"You can rot in the Core," Arani yelled jerking the blaster from her back holster
and firing into the creature's faceplate. 

Behind the assailants, Rann and Sia leapt out into the cramped hallway, their
lightsabers swinging, as Toba popped out and fired. The leader of the thugs went
down with a wail, as his companions dove into open hatchways, returning fire. 

Rann sliced one weapon apart and slashed the Quarren across the thigh, dodging wild
shots from his companions. Sia blocked a bolt into the deck and stepped under the
open hatch, preparing to do the same. Bright blue energy shot out from the open
hatch and she dropped, unconscious, as four more Quarrens leaped into the disabled
ship, cutting the downed Jedi off from here companions.

Rann charged them, but they were ready with long-handled stun batons. Two of the creatures slapped their batons on Rann's chest and he collapsed, a soundless scream on his lips. 

"No!" Arani yelled. "Toba, light up those four!"

Toba stood and braced his heavy blaster against the wall, unleashing a hail of fire. Two of the Quarrens went down. Three others returned fire, while the last hoisted Sia-Lann's limp form over his shoulder and began climbing a rope ladder back to his ship. Without thinking, Toba charged, blasting two of the Quarrens, and smashing the third back with his shoulder. Wounds already scorched his glistening skin, oozing a thick orangish blood. Realizing that Arani was right behind him, he fired into the downed Quarren's chest and scampered up the ladder. 

Something warned him, and he ducked back into the hatch as a massive plasteel axe slammed into the docking ring. Standing over the opening was the largest creature Toba had ever seen. Its thick matted hair wafted a foul stench and its massive wolf-like head leered. The Gungan swallowed hard and fired a blast into the thing's face, charging up the ladder and inside its long reach. The Yuzzem backhanded him across the docking bay and heaved the axe as he approached for the final stroke. 

Toba crouched against a set of shipping containers, his ears still ringing from the strike. He pressed the firing stud on his blaster and heard the shrill tone of an empty energy cartridge. Throwing away the useless weapon, he struggled to rise, his vision goggling. The Yuzzem's grin was full of jagged teeth as he raised the axe, its blade humming certain death. 

The blast was almost entirely absorbed by the massive creature, so that Toba did not even know the Yuzzem was dead until he collapsed, a blackened crater smoking in its hairy back. Arani stood with her head and shoulders out of the docking ring, her blasters already training into the hallway beyond. 

"Come on, Gungan!" she snapped. "We got at least two more of these spitsnakes to take down." 

The tink, tink, tink of an incoming grenade seemed to freeze both heroes, and then all was heat and movement. Toba, trying to slide between the heavy shipping crates, flew over them with the force of the blast, shrapnel peppering his mottled skin. Arani had disappeared in the explosion, and Toba, just regaining his senses, feared she was dead. A strained-metal creaking suddenly began and grew louder. The Gungan sat up, shaking off the effects of the grenade and the Yuzzem's attentions, realizing what was occuring. Already he could see the tell-tale signs of gas escaping around the blackened and twisted docking ring. 

He leaped up and ran for the hallway where he'd seen Sia-Lann's captor disappear, only to run into the Quarren as he rushed to close and detach the docking hatch. The heavy Quarren scrambled to regain his feet, but Toba smashed him in the knee with a nearby hydrospanner, then brought the heavy metal tool down on the thug's head. 

"Now to getting Sia," he said aloud. 

"That won't be necessary, Gungan," a deep voice said from the end of the hallway. 

A Duros, clad in a heavy armored space suit stood in the shadows, Sia-Lann clasped before him. His blaster lay against her temple. 

"You being Descant?" Toba said, eyeing the docking bay with a sidelong glance. The Quarren's blaster pistol lay almost within reach. 

"That's right little swamp frog," Descant said, his broad red eyes glowing. "You and your little crew are worth a lot. The rest of you are worth the same, dead or not, but this one..." He pressed the pistol against the unconscious Jedi's head. "She's worth ten times that alive." 

"We having money, you know," Toba said, stepping forward. 

"Not another step!" the Duros yelled, and Toba realized that not only was he not going to shoot Sia-Lann, Descant was also shaking with fear. 

"You not shooting her, methinking," Toba said, giving one last look at the blaster. 

"I can shoot you though!" 

Toba's frog-like tongue shot out and stuck to the blaster pistol. Descant's shot went high, exploding on the roof above the Gungan's head, and he caught the pistol and fired. 

The Duros dropped like a dead gundark. The strained metal behind him shrieking anew, Toba rushed to his fallen friend and slung her over his back. The hissing of the docking ring intensified, and as he reached it, he saw the first major breach. Calmly lowering Sia-Lan before him, he climbed down the ladder. He thumbed the docking hatch to the closed position, but all he heard was the strained sounds of broken machinery. 

"No problemo," he said, rushing into the Polestar's docking bay. 

He raked a mountain of junk off of a ladened worktable and lay the Jedi upon it, then began frantically searching through his junk boxes. 

"Know it being here somewhere, and knowing I needed it," he mumbled. 

The creaking and hissing of the two ships as they came apart intensified. 

"Aha!" He held up a folded tarpualin. The light glimmered on its fine skein of plasteel fibers. 

A dull whump sounded and Toba felt his ears pop. Rushing into the hallway, he unfolded the tarp, his ears already lifting into the air as the atmosphere in the Polestar rushed into space. He flung the tarp against the jagged edge of the docking ring and fitted the material into the hole, pushing it into the edges. The material became rigid where its surface met the void of space. As if on cue, Descant's ship broke away. Toba heard the superstructure drag against the top of the Polestar with a maddening scream of metal on metal. He cringed, hoping no other hull breaches occured. Satisfied with the sealer tarp, he sprayed the edges with additional sealant, and backed out of the docking tube. 

He turned to see Arani, her face blackened and hair burned away, pushing herself up to a sitting position. 

"What in the name of..." She ran her hands over her head. "Where's Sia?"

"She being in the cargo bay," Toba said. "I go seeing about power." 

"Where's that freighter?" she said as he stepped over her. 

He waved his hand vaguely in response, stomping toward the front of the ship.  

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-


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