Anathracite was an
ugly little world, diamond mountains non-withstanding. Streaks of petrochemical ocean reflected under smog clouds where water might be on other worlds. It seemed a rocky cyst against the familiar starfield of the Galaxy. A giant hand reached around Anathracite and crushed it out of existence.
It was really a matter of perspective, really. Captain Gravann of the
Blackthorn was simply closing his hand over the tiny speck of Anathracite as if he could blot out this annoyance on a whim. He brought his hand down. The tiny moonlet still seemed threatened, surrounded by the grim frame of the Star Destroyer's viewport.
"If only it were that easy. But we are stuck at this miserable spot until we find what we are looking for." Gravann mused aloud. Major Verlaa was not quite sure if the Captain was actually speaking to her as she approached. She was not used to being on the giant walkway rather than the parrallel pits below. She cleared her throat and spoke.
"Captain, our...guest has felt a tremor in the Force but cannot narrow it down further than the planet as a whole."
"How convenient."
"In the meantime, we are continuing with random searches."
"I thought random stabs in the dark were the Sith's province."
The Captain
dared to chuckle. Verlaa simply caught her breath and looked around nervously. Her hunch had been correct. The air seemed to take on a sudden chill and fog. Her skin itched and was tickled as if by the crawling of countless insects. She gasped and looked around in shock. The entire bridge crew seemed to be just as fearful and uncomfortable as herself but no one dared to turn from their duties. Though physically humanoid, their emissary of the Emperor had at times a terrible
aspect. Now that aspect seemed to be a rasping mocking summoned from a choir of countless buzzing insect swarms.
~No, Captain, we are quite close. We only need to wait for our quarry to fail.~
I have a bad feeling about this Ali spoke aloud, talking to herself. Fortunately, she was speaking with her lekku and there was no stranger nearby who could have overheard. This was a blessing given their current situation. The
Fabled Star was, for
once, not up to any mischief. Anathracite was merely a supply stop between legitimate missions.
Perfectly routine, but then
'Star had been flagged by an Imperial Customs Frigate for a random search. These searches had increased in frequency of late as the Empire frantically seeked out any trace of the Rebellion.
'Star and her crew had been through many of these searches before. This one would be easier than most. Currently, there was no physical contraband or incriminating data onboard
'Star. And no Imperial scanner could pick up the presence of the living Force. The only real danger was that the rare perceptive shellhead might actually notice a disguised lightsaber. But no one was able to hand-wave away a convincing reason like Jedi, quite
literally.
Aboard 'Star were a few deliberate lapses in the quite extensive Imperial Customs Code; a mistuned
this, an unlicensed
that and so on. This would explain any evasiveness in the crew's demeanor or actions. There would be a few fines, a sufficiently scary warning and an equally feigned scared response on the faces of
'Star's crew.
'Star would then jump to another system, alias and transponder code. Business as usual.
And this annoyance seemed to be wrapping up. The sole Imperial officer ("
That's LIEUTENANT Snive to you, tramper scum!") had lined up all of
'Star's crew to face his dozen or so stormtroopers on the floating platform that also held
'Star. There were several of these ship-sized floating platforms, common enough for a core world like Coruscant, but pricey for a oilsoaked eyesore like Antharcite. They were economical due to the low gravity of this wannabe moon and necessary to float above the flammable atmosphere not too far below.
There were other platforms with other ships and their glum crew also being searched only a good Jedi leap away. Ali's attention was suddenly brought back to Snive's impressive tirade.
"I'm afraid it seems your papers are not in order, Captain." Snive had directed his fury towards Zekk, currently the 'Captain' this alias out. Ali, the nominal Captain (until voted out), would never have been convincing to Snive. To the Empire, her kind was listed as 'decoration' and 'entertainment'. There were other words that had a darker connotation.
'your papers are not in order' was a phrase almost as old as literal paper which Ali had rarely seen in her lifetime. Practically every questionable customs search ended with 'your papers are not in order'. Only the most naïve ship crew would be cowed and
'Star's crew was anything but innocent. Snive shoved the datapad at Zekk's face, expecting a nervous backpedaling.
Just another day. Ali thought and secretly hoped so. There was some undefined menace in the air, like a droning insect just outside of perception. To be safe, the crew was minimizing any use of the Force save to extend their own perceptions. Ali shivered. It was time to done and gone with this place.
Just a few moments more, she hoped.
But it was not to be. Across the gap in platforms, a stormtrooper rifle-butted the back of a young human girl who wasn't moving fast enough to line up with her fellow ferry passengers. The impact revealed the reason for the girl's slowness; she had been trying to move a small object from a backpack to a pouch on her belt. But the
thump of the rifle had caused her to lose her grip and a tiny cubic object fell from her grasp, bounced once and then over the edge of the platform to the carbonized fog below.
Ali only had a glimpse at the tiny polyhedron but it was enough for
'Star's crew to recognize an relic of legend. The spinning holocron glittered in the red sunlight before falling out of view. The girl screamed,
"No!" She then seemed to grab for the faraway artifact with her hand, an impossibly clumsy gesture. The holocron fluttered for a moment and then fell. A few coins, Snive's datapad, and some loose tools impossibly leapt towards the holocron and the air. Compared to these impossibilities, it was almost too much to notice the slight crackling and tang of ozone as a tiny bit of circuitry broke loose from the grav generator on
'Star's landing platform. Slight licks of blue lightning began to play along the circuitry...
Limited to mundane senses, the vast majority of souls simply beheld the miraculous without any explanation. But to those with the Force, the girl's attempt had been a cacophony of power not control. The Force ripples were like nails on glass to humanoid ears, echoing and echoing...
Even with an entire planet between hunter and prey, the child was heard. A powerful presence cried out
~There!~ and those sensitives of 'Star's crew had the fleeting impression of a Star Destroyer now awakened and moving. There was also a smell of chitin and the hexagonal glitter of countless segemented eyes. For everyone else, they could see the stormtroopers and Snive touching their earpieces and receiving new orders. The troopers snapped their rifles to STUN and took aim at the freightened girl...
OOC:
1. Sorry this took so long to get out. But we have begun. Don't take this encounter too seriously. Don't worry about correct text color this time out. This is us getting to know each other in the official game. Think of this as the teaser open like in a Bond film. We all know Bond doesn't die in the first five minutes; it just sets a mood.
2. Let me set the scene a little. Anathracite is a
carbon world. This is a theorectially possible planet type, an earth built up of primarily carbon compounds rather than silicates like on our Earth. We can do more than City, Pretty, Desert and Forest planets because our budget is only limited by imagination. Anathracite is a small, low-gravity world with a thick atmosphere (the closest analog in our solar system would be Titan, Saturn's moon). As you get closer to the ground and further from the platforms, the atmosphere becomes more flammable, making blaster fire and lightsaber combat much more
fun.
Given the weird properties of this world, falling off the platforms is not necessarily a death sentence but still something to be avoided.
3. The ISS Blackthorn happens to be on the other side of Anathracite as this encounter begins. It speaks of your mysterious opponent's power to sense this youngling's clumsiness from such a distance. Given their distance, it should be possible to escape the Blackthorn this encounter. The crew should realize that this single Sith is more powerful than any single PC and possibly all of them. Escape should be your thoughts. A closer encounter with the Blackthorn would be a very dangerous encounter. Why are we starting out with a Star Destroyer? Because most of the movies did.
4. The floating platforms are, essentially, giant discs with a grav generator and a few decameters of extra space around the ships they are supporting. 'Star has been emptied of crew, which are now lined up near the edge of the platform, each facing at least one stormtrooper.
Snive was walking and strutting between the rows of crew and stormtroopers. The troopers themselves seemed rather bored and careless about yet another customs inspection. This particular batch may have had the clone batter even more watered down as one nearly slipped off the platform, stormtrooper armor is too clumsy for these bobbing platforms.
The crew is not obviously armed so as to pass customs inspection. Characters may have one small, hidden weapon such as a vibrodagger or holdout blaster they can draw all of a sudden. The Force-users may have a disguised lightsaber (looks like a recording rod, commlink, cane tip, etc.). As 'Star is your ship, you all have spent time modifying it for just such an occasion. Your lightsabers may be stuck onto the side of 'Star, disguised as just another bit of ship circuitry (magnetically adhered through secret panels just before landing). The lightsabers can be 'called' to hand if you have the power. Activating a lightsaber here would be amongst the most provocative acts in the Empire. However, it could be said that this is a moot point now.
5. The holocron is falling but a good telekinesis roll might catch it. Otherwise, it will fall and a Jedi would likely have to get to the edge of the platform to track and catch it again. Past that, it will slip into a smogbank and things become more problematic.
6. The slight sparking and flickering of your platform's grav system doesn't seem to have had any effect...yet.
7. It is possible for any character to leap between platforms. Jedi with the right powers will have an easier time of it. The girl is a youngling with some power but little control over her potential or emotions. She will resist being rescued until she sees some true heroism or actual Force powers, at which point she will trust her new saviors. She is at that dangerous place where she can feel the Force but not control it. A literal world away, the hunter might have some influence over her. She would be a great prize for the Dark Side.
8. I want you to win this encounter. Later encounters will be tough enough. Each character has one stormtrooper focused on them, probably the one facing them but a moment ago. Any player can play their stormtrooper. For example, Akiri's player can play Akiri's stormtrooper. These stormtroopers are your only immediate threat. Snive just now wants to hide and then take credit later. He will fight defensively while insisting his troopers fight on.
If you want to run a combat with you and/or your stormtrooper, have at it. Don't worry about ranges or movement this time out. You are all so close anyway. If you don't want to be bothered by rules, you can simply write what happens to your character or stormtrooper.
If you wish, you may simply add extra stormtroopers for 'fluff'. If you want to add five extra stormtroopers that you carve up with your lightsaber (or just 'push' off of the platform, go for it).
Type: Typical Stormtooper
Dexterity 2D
Blaster 4D*, Brawling 4D, Dodge 3D*
◾Ranged attacks against targets moving faster than 10 meters per round - Blaster 5D
Knowledge 2D
Mechanical 2D
Perception 2D
Strength 2D
Brawling 3D
Technical 2D
Character Points: 0 to 5
Move: 10
Equipment: Stormtrooper Armour (+2D Physical, +1D Energy, -1D to DEX related skills), Blaster Pistol (4D), Storm II Blaster Rifle (5D)
9. The crew and passengers of the other ship will try and get away in the ensuing chaos. They are the kind of people already trying to avoid Imperial entanglements. They have a good chance of escape as all opposition is focused on the girl and likely you. The girl will likely want to go with you and they would understand why.
10. Ask me questions if you wish. Otherwise, just write mopping up these stormtroopers. This is just the first minute of the movie. Next up is likely the TIE gauntlet before hyperspace.
