# Star Wars - Echoes of Power



## humble minion (Aug 1, 2003)

*                             STAR WARS

                        Echoes of Power

The greedy Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo
 has been defeated, but the price was very high.  
The once-peaceful planet has been devastated by 
war, and Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn lies dead, slain 
by a mysterious, evil Sith warrior.  Yet even as the
Naboo begin to rebuild, the Senate has despatched 
a committee to investigate events leading up to 
the war.  Accompanying the Senators is a delegation
of Jedi Knights, seeking to discover whether the
dreaded Lords of the Sith are rising again...*


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## humble minion (Aug 1, 2003)

Sidara Lylin

It has now been nearly three months since you left your home planet, Loratha, to take up a position as an aide to Senator Lur Oped, who represents the Dupa Cluster on Coruscant.  

It has been a difficult time.  You have not previously been off Loratha for any significant period of time, so the huge, crowded towers of Coruscant, the hundreds of different alien species, and the sheer number of people were a significant culture shock.  Since your exile (politely described as an 'interstellar fact-finding and liaison mission' by the now-ruling Kresan family back on Loratha) you have been mostly engaged in finding your feet on this strange planet, and trying to learn more about the places and people who you find yourself with.  

Your ultimate superior, the Senator, is a cunning old beggar with a ruthless streak and a crotchety manner.  Like most aqualish, he has a short temper, but he seems to have learnt to control it, at least for long enough to avoid giving offense.  He is deeply familiar with Senate affairs in general, and trade matters in particular.  His staff are mostly other aqualish, though there are a couple of humans, a twilek, and an insectoid verpine as well.  You get the impression that these are his trusted advisors, most likely hailing from the Outer Rim merchant fleet he still owns and partially runs.  He seems to see you as an unwelcome distraction at best, or a spy for one of his political rivals at worst.  You find yourself taking a lot of notes, making a lot of kaf, and doing a lot of mind-numbingly routine research and paperwork.

The whole Naboo situation has been a bit of a shock to all concerned.  While the ex-Chancellor Valorum?s insistence on a ?committee of inquiry? proved to be his political downfall, it seems that nothing in the republic changes that much.  A committee there is to be, and Senator Oped pulled every string and burnt every favour he had to get a seat on it.  The Trade Federation have been his major competitor on the Outer Rim trade routes for years now, and he would dearly love to be in a position to squeeze concessions out of them behind the scenes, or to pull them down a peg or two should they prove uncooperative.  Unfortunately for him, the other two members of the committee, Senator Aks Moe from Malastare and Senator Passel Argente of Kooriva, are both strongly linked to Trade Federation and other Corporate interests.  Ever since the committee arrived on Naboo hard on the heels of the successful rebellion against the occupying droid armies, they have been stonewalling, nitpicking and tying the investigation up in bureaucratic red tape.  Senator Oped is getting increasingly annoyed.

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Sidara started the game as a Noble 2/Force Adept 5, from Loratha, a small, little-known planet ruled by Force-strong noble families.   She is a near-human, generations of subterranean existence have made her people pale blue in skin tone and with sensitive eyes that are vulnerable to bright light.  She wears a light-attentuation visor around almost all the time.


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## humble minion (Aug 1, 2003)

Kael Sloan

Things are tough.  You knew that life away from Pax Tharkas[1] would be hard, but you?e still not used to being unable to afford a place to stay and decent food, especially once you've paid upkeep on the Phoenix.  Starfighters are very, very expensive pieces of kit.  

It?s been nearly a year now, since your world came crashing down around your ears and you left Pax Tharkas behind.  In that time, you?ve had exactly one big job - a contract to land a freelance computer slicer in the grounds of a heavily secured mansion, and to give him enough time to crack the system and grab all the financial records he could, for evidence in a corruption case.  That was pretty hairy, especially when the wealthy occupant called in the (bribed, obviously) local security forces.  You got out, but you left a smoking trail of wreckage behind you and are in absolutely no hurry to go back to Adoola Prime any time soon.  The pay was good, though.  But other than that, it's been bit jobs.  Flying escort for nervous local dignitaries or rich travellers who are paranoid enough about life towards the Rim that they will shell out the credits for a bit of extra security.  Assisting in pirate-hunting missions commissioned by victims.  Taxi for rich idiots who think that touching down in an unmarked starfighter will make them look more important than they really are.  Nothing much.  

Your main problem is your reputation.  Your one big success story has been at least partially on the side of law and order, which definitely wasn't a big help in getting the lucrative contracts offered by the more shady elements in the mercenary marketplace.  In fact, your entire background as a Pax Tharkan, a citizen of a planet known for its harsh dealings with smugglers and the like, have made things very difficult.  You?ve had cause to use your fists and blaster more than once, in grimy little bars on out-of-the-way planets.

You do have some advantages.  There are few mercenaries around who both own and operate single starfighters.  Small freighters are much more versatile, and comfortable for long trips, so many minor operators prefer them.  A couple of the bigger outfits, like the Red Hands, and Khooramash, do use fighters, but some clients like to restrict word of their activities to as few people as possible.  You, with your single, powerful ship and low profile in the freelance community, do have something to offer.

At least that's what Erran Jor seems to think.  You were drifting toward Naboo, where you had heard that the local starfighter force had been wiped out and there might be openings for some good pilots in the short term.  Erran met up with you one hyperspace jump out, at Grumo's place on the asteroid station in the Kargol Sag belt.  His proposal was simple.  A Trade Federation battleship had gone down during the battle of Naboo, and crashed into shallow water.  Due to the chaos on the planet in the wake of the invasion, nobody had even thought about beginning salvage operations yet.  What Erran wanted to do was to infiltrate the wreck and download the computer core.  The information on trade routes and marketing strategies would be priceless to the right bidder.  He showed you a shadily-acquired decryption key that would allow him to bypass what was less of the ship's data security.  Your job - get him in, back him up while he did the job, then get him out.  Your cut: 10% of the sale price of the memory core. 

That is enough to run the Phoenix for a long, long time.  You didn?t have to be asked twice.

[1]  The name of this planet is not my fault!  Blame Kael's player, not me!  He came up with it!
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Kael started as a Soldier 7, with emphasis on starship piloting.  He started with a starfighter - the Kyrillian Phoenix - an experimental model from his home planet that he was trialling at the time of his somewhat abrupt departure.  Pax Tharkas is a lush world way out on the Rim, a Republic member that is run by a relatively enlightened military autocracy, although beneath the orderly surface there is a considerable organised criminal element.


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## humble minion (Aug 1, 2003)

Randal Kain

It was a good plan.  Really it was.  It's a crying shame that one or two unfortunate little matters have interfered and left you in a position that some would describe as, well, _problematic_...

Orders from Dravin Lancaster were to investigate the reasons behind Trade Federation's blockade of Naboo.  It was too risky and emphatically militaristic a stroke for the cautious, paranoid Nemoidians.  The objective too, seemed hardly worth the trouble - Naboo was just another backwater world, really.  A simple enough investigation, in theory, if one that was aimed at a powerful target, and that carried very high stakes.  Unfortunately, when you reached Naboo, the blockade was absolutely water-tight - it seemed that an inbound ship had evaded the Trade Federation's battleships and landed on the occupied planet not hours before, and readiness levels had been raised as a result.  Your ship is most definitely not equipped to be a blockade runner, nor can you hope to punch your way through clouds of droid starfighters to make a landing on the planet.  So, as usual, you trusted to your quick wits and silver tongue to bring success where force would not do the job.

The Trade Federation, despite Naboo, blockades and battle droids, are first and foremost concerned with, well, _trade_.  Even their battleships are partially converted freighters - lightly armoured shells with weapon batteries and fighter bays installed in some of the cavernous cargo holds.  Trade Federation representatives argue that this is just a necessary precaution for ships full of valuable merchandise that will have to operate in the more lawless regions of the Outer Rim.  Be that as it may, the important fact is that Trade Federation ships, even those engaged in the Naboo blockade, are as much merchant vessels as warships.  So it was simplicity itself to dump your cargo on an asteroid in the outer system, then coast unmolested into the teeth of the blockade simply by proclaiming yourself a dealer in electronic and communication devices who was looking to replenish his stocks.  

Leaving Tennerley (10-LE, your rather morose LE repair droid) to oversee routine system checks and maintenance, you went on the standard trip to the command deck to receive the cursory greetings of the Nemoidian captain.  He spoke about two sentences to you, before heading back to his sensors and military advisers, but it was enough.  For you had managed to surreptitiously plant tiny listening devices through the passageways of the ship, and in the bridge, using a concealed dart gun designed for the purpose.

For the next few days, you and Tennerley concentrated on finalising your purchase order and dealing with an 'unanticipated hyperdrive problem' with your ship, while monitoring the communications of the bridge officers and crew.  Unfortunately the Trade Federation's crews are largely composed of droids, so there wasn't much in the way of gossip to collect, but you did glean a few minor bits of interesting information.  Notable was that the Federation was co-ordinating its efforts with unnamed allies ? probably in the Senate, you guessed, and also that the young Queen of the Naboo had evaded the blockade, and was back on the planet, presumably plotting resistance.

Despite this last little snippet, you were not prepared when the planet erupted in rebellion against the occupying droid armies.  By monitoring the bridge communications frequencies you were able to keep up to date on events almost as they happened.  An army of weird aliens emerged from the swamps and headed toward the capital, were they were engaged by the main Federation ground forces.  A ragged flock of fighters swarmed out of the supposedly secure Theed Palace and attacked the flagship ferociously.  Somewhat concerned at this, since the droid control ship was the next ship over in the battle line from the one you were on, you asked permission to take off, but were denied launch clearance.  When the droid control ship abruptly exploded, the ship you were docked upon was hit hard amidships by a chunk of wreckage the size of an apartment block.  The Nemoidian officers, typically, abandoned ship immediately, leaving the ship to spiral to the planet under the rather incompetent control of its droid crew, taking you, Tennerley, and your ship with it.  It came down hard, smashing down in a shallow sea.  You and Tennerley were unharmed, having strapped yourselves securely into a padded escape pod on your ship.  Your ship itself sustained minor damage, but was saved from much worse by the heavy docking clamps it was being held in at the time of the crash.  

Your ship still has power, but nothing else does after the power generators of the battleship were destroyed during the crash.  All the lights, powered doors, and non-emergency systems are nonfunctional.  Unfortunately, 'non-emergency systems' includes docking clamp controls, so you can't get your ship loose, and the power discharge from the ruined drive and the insulating effect of the water are combining to block communications both in and out quite effectively.  So you have no idea what happened after the destruction of the droid control ship, and it seems that you're stuck here...

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Randal started as a Scoundrel 7.  I let the player swap Balance and Tumble (and lose the Illicit Barter ability) for Diplomacy and Sense Motive as class skills, to suit his character concept better.  He is the party skill-monster - very good at all social, repair and tech skills.  At all times, Randal introduces himself as a communications tech and trader, concealing his true profession - spy for the ruling family of an insignificant Core world.  Randal starts play with a Nesst class light freighter and an LE droid.


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## humble minion (Aug 1, 2003)

Tai-San Kwai

Jedi Knight Tai-San Kwai.  Your training was long, and at times you felt it would never end, but at a ceremony in the Jedi Temple a mere month ago the full Jedi Council granted you the title of Knight.  Your master Chow-Kar, oddly, did not attend.  Perhaps he has been sent on a new mission, although the confusing, ambiguous conclusion to your final practise duel with him still concerns you.  There is something else that has been in his thoughts.  You do not have the skill to sense his feelings throught the Force as you have seen Master Yoda and the other senior Jedi do, but you have seen it in his body language, in the ferocity of the lightsaber style that was once cool and clinical, and in his fits of silent distraction and contemplation.  Perhaps he had seen in the Force some inkling of the death of Qui-Gonn Jinn, an event that shocked the entire Order.  Master Qui-Gon was known for his strength in battle, and to hear that he has been defeated in combat by a lightsaber-armed warrior, steeped in the Dark Side, was to many an ominous sign.  Qui-Gon's slayer was cut in half by Padawan Kenobi and cast down a plasma shaft in Theed Palace's generator room, yet there is still much unease.  You too, feel it.  You never had much to do with Obi-Wan Kenobi during your training, but you were somewhat more familiar with Master Qui-Gon.  His previous Padawan, Xanatos, had been assigned to your class in the occasional training in which the more senior Padawans, under the watchful eyes of their Masters, would instruct the child students who had not yet attained the status of Padawan learner.  You still remember the tall, imposing master with the flowing brown hair and his intense, aristocratic Padawan.  It seems strange to you, to think now that both are dead, not before one had embraced the Dark Side.  

So it was that when you heard of events on Naboo, you volunteered to accompany the Jedi dispatched to investigate the death of Master Jinn, and to try to identify his savage, tattooed killer.  The Council accepted your offer gladly, perhaps glad that your first mission as a full Jedi would be under the watchful eyes of respected Masters and Knights such as Yoda and Mace Windu, who were to accompany the mission in its early stages to attend the memorial service for Qui-Gon.  On the same Republic heavy cruiser heading to Naboo were also the Senatorial Committee formed to investigate the blockade, invasion and brief war.  None of the three Senators (Lur Oped of the Dupa Cluster, Aks Moe of Malastare and Passel Argente of Kooriva) are particularly familiar to you, but they have spent much of the time arguing over terms of reference for the inquiry, diplomatic protocols and so on.  From the tone of their bickering, you have no particular hope that the inquiry will table a united, decisive report any time soon.

Yet you have bigger problems, or so you are beginning to suspect.  For you have been dreaming.  Xanatos has been appearing to you as you sleep, midnight hair, dark blue eyes and noble, pale features marred only by a livid, semi-circular scar below his left eye.  In life, you never saw Xanatos with this scar.  From the records, you have learnt that he inflicted it upon himself, burning the mark into his flesh with half of his father's royal ring of office, cut through and heated red-hot by the lightsaber of Qui-Gon Jinn during the civil war on Telos in which family loyalties pitted Padawan against Master.  Only after he had chosen the Dark Side, did Xanatos bear this scar - but thus does he appear in your dream.  And for some reason that lies beyond your comprehension, when in your dreams, Xanatos wears your Master's distinctive geometrically embroidered robes.  You checked Chow-Kar's quarters before leaving, and all his travelling gear was gone.  Nobody has seen him for weeks.  Jedi Knight Tai-San Kwai has not been sleeping well at all, on the ship to Naboo?

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Tai-San started out as a Jedi Guardian 7, with almost all his skills and abilites combat-related.  He makes it absolute hell trying to balance combat encounters...


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## ForceUser (Aug 1, 2003)

humble minion said:
			
		

> *Tai-San started out as a Jedi Guardian 7, with almost all his skills and abilites combat-related.  He makes it absolute hell trying to balance combat encounters... *



Yeah, that's my problem with Star Wars d20. There's Jedi and then there's everyone else.


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