Jack looked up.

Before any of you have a chance to do anything, a slender woman with black hair wearing a greasy blue mechanic's uniform stumbles onto the Promenade.  Though she is trying to hide it, she is clutching her midsection and has clearly been wounded and she looks disheveled.


The woman seems to see and recognize Jack and Connus and staggers toward them.  "Please help me," she calls out.  She turns to Connus and adds "There are credits in it for you, just help me!"

Then two Naval troopers burst into the area.  They raise their blasters, aiming at the woman and shout: "Step away from that woman.  She is under arrest in the name of the Emperor!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:31, Wed 28 Apr 2010.

Jack sprung into action, drawing his blaster and placing himself in between the Naval troopers and everyone else.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:47, Thu 29 Apr 2010.

Jack's military training made him the first to react.  His move put him closer to the troopers than anyone else.  His shot at the naval trooper (NT1) blasted a hole right through him, killing him instantly.

One of the men you saw with the comlinks, took cover behind some boxes stacked in the Promenade .  He then pulled out his hold-out blaster and aimed it at Maya.  But before he could fire, you saw a blur near the north entrance to the Promenade and then the man went flying through the stack of supplies he was hiding behind and landed his jaw and neck clearly broken.  He was dead.

Connus wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but he fired at the remaining naval trooper, but missed.

Maya scrambled behind the public computer access terminal, staying on the ground so as to take greatest advantage of the cover.

The remaining naval trooper fired at Jack, but Jack's armor saved him from taking any damage.

Talamon (the young man Jack had been talking to) snapped out of his melancholy.  Seeing that Jack could handle himself, he moved towards the other man with the hidden comlink and drew and activated his lightsaber.

The man with the hidden comlink was clearly worried about this, and drew his hold-out blaster and haphazardly fired at Talamon, but his shot went wide.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:06, Fri 30 Apr 2010.

When Jack realized that Connus and Maya were safe he aimed at the remaining Naval Trooper, hoping Talamon would be able to handle himself.

Jack blasted this naval trooper as well, nearly taking his head off and certainly killing him.

Connus fired at the only remaining opponent (at whom he had already been firing any way).  He shot around Talamon, who was in his way, and totally sniped the man with the hidden comlink.

Before Jack and the others knew it, they saw another blur and Talamon was suddenly hoisted off his feet and into the north hallway.  It was then that you finally saw the cause of the blur...Ikis was holding Talamon against the wall with two fists.  "Are you crazy?" he scolded him.  "What are you thinking igniting a lightsaber during these times, in a public place like this on an Imperial controlled station in the Core?"

"I, I don't..." Talamon started.  "Someone was in trouble, I was trying to help her," he said more confidently, but still defensively.

"Well you need to learn to be more subtle," Ikis cautioned.

Maya staggered over to the two of them.  "Now is not the time Ikis, we need to continue with the mission, now that you've found your disturbance in the Force."

"You're not finishing anything in your condition," Ikis admonished.

"We all need to leave *now*," Jack replied, leaning his rifle over his shoulder.  "They'll be sending reinforcements any moment."

"Jack is right," Maya said.  "We need to get off the Promenade and somewhere safe."

"Back to the ship?" Ikis suggested.

"No, it's surely being watched by now," Maya replied.  "Does anyone know anywhere else we could safely discuss a few things?"

"I might know someone," Jack said.  "Back to the Casino."

"Of course, Cecil Vane," Maya said.  "Our original contact here."

On your way there, Talamon approached Ikis.  "Were you the one following me earlier?"

"Yes," Ikis replied.  "I was watching you to see if you were a Jedi or something more sinister.  Apparently you are the former."

"Not exactly," Talamon said.  "Just a Padawan.  And what about you?  Are you a Jedi?" he asked hopefully.

"No," Ikis replied.  "I am a Warden of the Sky.  We don't usually flaunt our Force powers anyway, so it's pretty easy to stay hidden.  But Jedi were always more for the dramatic flair.  That used to be okay, but not in these times."

"Jedi were symbols, that's why they were more blatant," Jack explained.

"And if I remember correctly," Ikis pointed out, "they were a symbol you fought against."

"I didn't say I liked them, I was merely pointing out their purpose." Jack responded.

"Well, you're all going to need to work together now," Maya said confidently.

"Just as long as we get payed," Connus said.

"Don't worry about that," Maya replied.  "Our benefactor can afford to pay help when we need to."  She then had a wheezing fit and doubled over.  Ikis went over to steady her, but she pushed him away and straightened back up.  "I'm fine."

Soon you were at the casino.

"You guys know how to get to Cecil?" Jack asked.  "Last time I had to win at the cards."

"From what I understand," Maya said, "once you've made contact with him once, it's pretty easy to do so afterwards.  But..." she paused for another coughing attack.  "We do happen to have a way to contact him."  She pulled out a comlink and tapped it in a certain rhythm.

Soon Cecil Vane was before you.  "What are you doing here?" Vane said.  "I thought our meeting was compromised."

"It was," Maya explained by briefly flashing her wound.

"I see." Vane said slowly, clearly upset by the sight of the injury.  "Well I can't keep risking myself for this." He explained.

"All we want now is a private place to talk," Ikis stepped in.  "And then somewhere for Maya to recuperate."

"I suppose I can do that," Vane replied.  He led you to a private room, and before leaving said "I'll call in some favors with Dr. Fenn, the chief doctor at Delgas Medical Supplies.  She should be able to tend to Maya discreetly."

"I know you think Ikis should be able to tell you what you need to know to continue, but the truth is, the mission is so secret, only I've been entrusted with the information.  I now have to trust you."  She paused and coughed up some blood before continuing.

"You need to get to deep storage bay V14 <cough>.  There, a droid named Switch can provide you with the location of some very valuable cargo <cough>.  Switch was responsible for receiving and storing this cargo <cough> which was shipped all the way from the Deep Core.  Ikis and I were supposed to contact Switch, recover the cargo, and deliver it to <cough> Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan.  I am a member of Alderaanian Security and part of Organa's personal security detail.  Apparently the fact that I work for a vocal opponent of the Emperor <cough> is enough to flag me as a troublemaker, because I don't believe they found out what my mission was here <cough, cough>...I assure you that Senator Organa will be happy to reward you for your efforts," she said looking at Connus.  Then she moved her eyes to Jack and Talamon.  "If you help, you could save the lives of many innocent beings <cough>.    What do you say, will you help?"

"I say there's got to be something someone can do about that wound," Jack responded.  "No one has medical skills?  I thought Jedi were supposed to be able to heal this kind of stuff."

"I might be able to help a little," Talamon offered.  "But I can't relieve the fatigue she has from the wound, and it could wear me out."

Talamon touched Maya's forehead. 

Maya's bleeding stopped and her cough went away but she still looked worn , though Talamon seemed fine.

"You're still in no shape to continue with the mission," Ikis insisted, "and Vane has already sent for a doctor to give you long term care."

"I quite agree," Maya said.  "Which is why the offer still stands.  Who among you will help complete the mission?"

"I will, no charge."

Nearly everyone stared at Jack for making his generous offer.  That is until Talamon also stepped forward: "As will I.  The Jedi never take money for fighting for a good cause."

"Well I guess I'm going to be treasurer then," Connus said, "because I'll take their shares too."  There was a short pause.  "Just to make sure we have enough resources to complete the mission," Connus added as an afterthought.

"And now for some technical problems," Ikis chimed in.  "Even once we get the cargo from Switch, how do we get it off the station if the Dreamer is being watched?"

"I've arranged for other means of transportation," Maya explained.  "Just contact me when you've procured the cargo and I'll direct your ride to you.  You'll have to keep a low profile because of your recent confrontation on the Promenade.  I'm afraid I'll have to stay here until I'm fully healed.  If there are no more questions, I can upload the location of bay V14 to your datapad Connus."

No one had any questions, so Maya uploaded the directions to Connus' datapad.  As you left, a middle-aged Human woman with long brown hair, wearing a doctor's robe entered.

"Let's get going to this deep storage bay then," Talamon said eagerly.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:34, Wed 05 May 2010.

"Hmmm."

Jack explains that they needed to know more about the site they were getting into.

"Well, I could see what the station's computer system has on it," Ikis offered.  "And I could snoop around," Connus said.  "See what the scuttlebutt is."

"That'd be for the best," Jack replied.  "We shouldn't go anywhere until we know more."

"I'll go with Connus," Talamon said.  "I'm a little better at gathering info face to face than through a computer."

After one minute of typing on the nearest public access terminal, and with some suggestions from Jack of search terms and places to look, Ikis starting reporting the information:  "Well, it's definitely on a level that is off limits to non-Imperial personnel.  But look at this," he said pointing to the screen.  "That section has been quarantined for over a year and a half, yet no maintenance requests have been made for repairs to that section," he continued.  "And look at the building schematics," he said pulling up a blueprint.  "According to this, deep storage bay V14 is located along one of the station’s primary exhaust systems.  So there are exhaust conduits running right through the storage bay," he shook his head.  "This Switch is going to be an interesting character.  I mean a droid information broker?!"

"Maybe the droid is setting us up," Jack observed.  "Or someone is setting us up."

"Unfortunately, there's only one way to find out," Ikis said.  "Let's go see what the others have found out."

You had to wait around for quite a while before you the other two were done with their information gathering (nearly 3 hours actually).  "Well I hope you boys were more successful than we were," Connus said.

"I'm afraid I wasn't much help," Talamon said, disappointed in himself.

"Do you want to tell them, or should I?" Ikis asked.

"You go ahead," Jack responded.

Ikis told them what they'd find out.

"Well," Connus reported, "even though it is quarantined, the word on the street is that a large number of aliens are often seen going into that zone. Rumor has it that the aliens operate some kind of criminal organization out of that section of the station, and that a contingent of Gamorreans is always on guard near the deep storage bay."

"Going in?" Jack asked.  "Do they come back out?"

"Oh, yes," Connus answered.  "They come and go as they please."

"Well, I guess we can go then," Jack said.  "Luck favors the daring."

"Yes, but with Gamorreans guarding it, we may have to fight our way in," Connus said.

"There are alternatives to fighting," Talamon spoke, waving his hand mysteriously.

"Deep," Jack replied.  "Aren't we *supposed* to be there?"

"No, Maya is 'supposed' to be there," Ikis corrected.  "Not even I was going to accompany her to make contact with Switch."

"Besides which, Gamorreans aren't that bright," Connus said.  "Whether or not we're supposed to be there, they may pick a fight with us just because they're in the mood."

"Fine.  Just don't get us into any worse trouble."  Jack trusted Jedi about as far as he could throw them.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:55, Sat 08 May 2010.

When you finally arrived in the vicinity of deep storage bay V14, you found that you had entered a very neglected part of the station. Many of the lights had burned out, and blaster marks and carbon scoring marred the walls, ceiling, and floor. The area reeked of ozone and electrical fires, and pools of coolant littered the hallways at regular intervals. After winding your way through a near-labyrinth of decrepit corridors, you came upon bay V14, which was guarded by a pair of Gamorreans wielding vibro-axes.

"So how do we want to approach them?" Ikis asked.  "I could take one out before the other one even knew what was going on.  Then we could jump the other one."

"Or..." Connus interrupted.  "We could try to talk our way in."