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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jodo Kast" data-source="post: 207084" data-attributes="member: 4810">HEAD TRIP - PART IA long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ..."If there's a bright center of the universe, this must be the planet farthest from," groaned Jirair Gann.  The young man lay in a hammock, his hands crossed behind his head, staring up wistfully at the late afternoon sky.  Stars were already becoming faintly visible through the canopy of thick foliage overhead.  The ocean breeze rustled through his shaggy, sandy blonde hair."Yup.  This is the ass-end of space," muttered Biqua distractedly.  The Mon Calamari was studiously eyeballing some unidentifiable component, holding it out from his face at a distance by its frayed power cord as if it might bite him.  The part was from a real hunk of junk, a YT-1300 tramp freighter that Biqua would not trust if it was the last ship on the planet and the sun was about to go nova.  And he certainly didn't trust the shady Rodian who owned the ship.  "It's just not fair.  Jaros got offworld over a year ago, and he's three years younger than I am.  Meanwhile, I'm stuck here taking care of the family."The Mon Cal sighed.  "You, my friend, are a whiny loser.  You have passed up every opportunity to leave ..."The Mon Cal's voice trailed off as a loud humming broke the silence of the jungle.  He eyed the strange component dubiously, then realized the sound was coming from elsewhere.  Crashing through the dense foliage was a speeder bike, recklessly hurtling at top speed directly at them!  Biqua threw himself to the ground and covered his head.  Jirair bolted upright, then fell off to the side and became hopelessly entangled in the hammock.  The speeder bike skidded to a halt less than a meter away."Woo hoo!" yelled the speeder bike's rider as he dismounted.  The human's wide smile was infectious.  Even as Jirair cursed the rider, his face broke into a grin of its own.  He hung there in the hammock, staring upside down at his best friend.  Biqua brushed dust and grime from his overalls and began looking around for the strange part, his annoyance obvious. "Dev Novo, give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you?"The younger man bent down, hands on his knees, and tilted his head until it was on a plane with Jirair's.  "Because killing an Imperial officer is a capital offense!"Jirair's eyes widened and he squirmed.  The hammock responded, dumping him unceremoniously onto the jungle floor.  "You were accepted?!  That's ... that's great!""Yeah, Imperial Navy Flight School.  This time next year I'll be flying TIE fighters out there."  Dev pointed up with one hand, extending the other to help Jirair to his feet.  Biqua tried his best to appear put out, but eventually he broke into a smile as well and congratulated his friend.  "I just hope you fly better than you ride that thing," he said, nodding towards the speeder bike.The friends were interrupted by a gravelly voice calling impatiently from the nearby thatched shop.  "Biqua, Jirair, get in here!  Lazy fools!"  Jirair rolled his eyes and waved his arm at Dev, indicating he should follow.  The three ducked into the low backdoor of the dingy shop.  Junk of every description lie heaped about, crowding the backroom such that they had to follow a narrow, precarious path through the shop.  Near the front, a fat Toydarian hovered above a work bench, poking at the head of a droid with a servowrench.  This was Bobbo, Jirair and Biqua's disreputable employer."Why you bring that no good friend?"  Bobbo wrinkled his hooked nose at Dev Novo and spat upon the ground.  Dev shrugged his shoulders and looked behind him, then back at Bobbo as if to ask, "Who, me?"  The Toydarian growled and redirected his attention to Biqua."Look at this head.  It's an old L80 model.  Bobbo find it going through that salvage shipped from the droid moon.  Bobbo is surprised to find it.  Those droids recycle everything useful.  Anyway, Bobbo find the memory not wiped.  Maybe something useful in this droid's head, no?  Maybe something worth ... money."  The Toydarian grinned slyly, but then scowled and kicked the head off the workbench into a wall.  "But Bobbo cannot access memory of stupid droid.  So Bobbo say, you two do it!  What does Bobbo pay you for anyway, to lay in stupid hammock and talk to no good friend?"Jirair picked up the head.  Bobbo huffed and buzzed away, his undersized wings straining to propel his girth through the hanging curtain that separated the front of the shop from the workroom.  Dev Novo began a chant that all the inhabitants of Ganlo Island learned as children."Old Bobbo is a dirty birdHot peggats in his purseHis flippers stink like bantha curdHis breath smells even worse"Jirair had joined in, but Biqua held up a hand to stop the two humans.  A very serious voice could be heard from the front of the shop.  "-cuse me, we are investigating a theft.  We think you have something that does not belong to you.  If you are smart, you will turn it over and no one will get hurt."To be continued ...</blockquote>

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