Vagrant Hearts (Season 1: Complete), The Smuggler's War (Writing: Episode VII)

[masshysteria]

Episode I: Scum & Villainy

Captain Tam Voren leads his crew back to the Vagrant Heart. An air of excitement surrounds the group. They just closed one of the biggest deals of their careers, filling their cargo bay with Mandolorian ore, and already have a buyer lined up back on Raxus VI. Now to get back to the docking bay and off this mynock infested planet.

Voren’s first indication of trouble is when Toth slings his blaster carbine around to a firing position. Tam follows the Bothan’s gaze to see a squad of stormtroopers interrogating the dock workers. One of the workers sees Tam and points weekly in his direction.

“You there, halt! Are you the captain of this vessel?” The lead stormtrooper gestures at the docked YT-2000. “I don’t see the appropriate license or declaration for this ore.”

“Ah, simple misunderstanding.” Tam says, thinking fast. “If you’ll just let me aboard the ship, we can sort this all out.”

The trooper doesn’t buy it. “You’ll stop right there.”

“But the documents are onboard, in my quarters.”

The squad leader thinks for a moment and then splits his squad. “You two, escort the captain aboard. The rest of you”—indicating the Bothan, Wookie, and Duros that walked in with the Human—“up against the wall, hands where I can see ‘em.”

Under the watch of two of the Empire’s finest, Tam walks into his quarters and grabs a handful of the most obscure documents he can find: a tech manual in Huttesse, a Jawa droid auction notice, some Rodian datacards that even he’s not sure what’s on them. He just hopes this is going to work.

Kaldo watches the stormtrooper trying to make heads or tails of the documents the captain just gave him. He also realizes he’s the only one that can make it to the ship and get it prepped for takeoff. The Duros takes a deep breath and soundlessly rushes across the docking bay floor, taking cover behind some crates. Half way there. He waits a beat, no reaction from the stormtroopers, and gets up and starts running again.

Crossing the gap to Vagrant Heart’s ramp, the red tracer of a blaster bolt scorches past his head.

“You there, halt!”

"Great," mumbles Kaldo, "Shoot first, talk later." At the base of the ramp, the Duros pulls his blaster and see his companions have already burst into action.

Toth lives for these moments. The Bothan draws his carbine up to a firing position, his finger moves off the frame onto the trigger. He exhales, bead on his target, applies even pressure to the trigger. Stormtrooper down.

The squad leader is at a tactical disadvantage. He is holding a drive manual with a poor Huttesse translation upside-down instead of his weapon. Tam pulls his blaster and drops him at point blank range only to get tagged from behind.

Rowintha howls. The female Wookie sees the captain get shot and draws her force pike. She covers the gap in quick powerful strides and with a snap of the wrist and crackle of the pike, another trooper is down.

The final stormtrooper is little more than an exercise in clean up to the group of smugglers. Tam pads out the burning hole in his coat as he runs aboard and slumps into the copilot chair.

“Let’s make star lines.” He says to Kaldo as the Vagrant Heart reaches for the sky.

 

[masshysteria]

GM Commentary

This post is for those of you who like to listen to the commentary tracks on DVDs, for everyone else the story posts will return shortly.

I've always liked reading the story hours here on ENWorld and have cribbed way too many adventure ideas from them to count. So, this is my way of saying thanks, tracking what happened in my campaign, and hopefully becoming a better writer and GM in the process.

What I've managed to record here is in the spirit of the game and not necessarily a direct translation. I've tried to use direct quotes where possible, but my memory isn't all that great. I'll also be narrating the important events in combat rather than a round by round analysis. I hope this makes the narrative much more enjoyable.

As always comments and questions are more than welcome. Now back to the show!

 

[masshysteria]

Raylee’s Den is like a thousand different cantinas in a thousand different systems. The food is greasy and the drinks are cheap. It’s here that the scoundrels of the galaxy drink, gamble, and boast of how many systems they have the death sentence on. Toth seems to fit right in. He goes to the bar with the captain to order drinks while letting Kaldo and Rowintha find a booth.

It was a bar probably not much unlike this one that Tam and Toth and bottle of whiskey decided the best thing in the galaxy to do would be to borrow a bunch of money from a loan shark and buy a state of the art light freighter, making their own way in the galaxy. It wasn’t too long before they brought on Kaldo and Rowintha. The Duros was a hot shot pilot and already knew the ins and outs of the criminal underworld. And the Wookie? Well, who doesn’t want a Wookie on their side of the table during negotiations?

Kaldo slips into a booth in a back corner and waits for Nakko to buzz in. As he waits, he over hears the conversation in the booth next to him; two ore processors in the middle of a debate.

"Well, I heard someone is fighting against the Empire." Proclaims the first.

"Yeah, right." Rebuffs the second, "Who's suicidal enough to do that?"

"I don't know. Darrius was telling me about. He's got this cousin that was working at a TIE factory. Apparently it was attacked."

"Darrius ish an idiot. And his cousin ish a bigger idiot." The second is slurring his words, he's obviously had too much to drink. "Besides, who'd want to do that? All these Imp contracts mean work."

"Yeah. Work with lousy pay."

"Whoa. Somebody got a grudge against the Empire?" The second says a little too loudly.

"Watch your voice," whispers the first. And even quieter, "I hear they pay people money to inform on others."

"I think you've had too much to drink." The second says ironically.

"If that isn't the Jedi calling the Sith Dark." Responds the first and he goes back to his drink.

As Rowintha’s patience is running thin, Nakko buzzes into the bar. She is puzzled by how his little wings can keep up his ever growing belly, but lets the captain do the talking.

“Nakko.” Begins Tam.

“I didn’t expect to see you guys here.” Nakko responds.

“What do you mean?” Tam asks, knowing the deal is going south even before its begun.

Nakko wrinkles his brow and looks at Tam. “Oh, so you haven't heard? Sorry, kid,” he says, “I don't have ten thousand credits. I spent it already. Some hot shot and his Wookie friend already sold me enough ore to last the next two cycles. You got beat. It happens. Thought you'd know and go elsewhere.”

Rowintha growls. Tam puts up a hand to keep her calm, while starting to lose his cool himself. “Wait a minute, Nakko, we had a deal.”

“I pulled the request from the holonet. How’d I know you'd have the goods and be in the middle of hyperspace.” Before Tam can reply, Nakko continues. “Look, look. I like you kid. You're a good guy. I know that. You know that. She knows that. I'll make you a deal. Go see Ming in the Ellium System. He runs a mine outta there. Crazy place. Really close to the sun. Need to be ferried in and out by a shield ship. Seems he's run into a bad batch of ore. Set his processing back like crazy. He's missing contracts left and right and its costing him a fortune. He needs to get some product out the door. I'm not sure how much you can squeeze out of the Hutt. He'll act like he doesn't need the ore, but I know he's in a jam. You'll be able to milk him for all he's got. Just do me a favor and don't mention my name, okay?”

Tam gets up to leave. “You better not be lying to me, Nakko.”

Rowintha punctuates the threat with a growl as the group departs.

 

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As the group heads back to the ship, Toth mulls over more ways to make money.

“We could take on passengers; maybe even sell some spare parts from the ship's inventory. What do we know about Ellium? Hutt world right? Maybe we could run some spice? I might be able to collect on a few bounties.”

The conversation is interrupted when the group is greeted by their loan shark, Haji. He sails through the air and lands in a crumpled heap at Tam’s feet.

Haji smiles weakly and says, “Heh, hi guys. I don’t suppose you have that payment?”

Tam leans over and grabs Haji by the collar, “Look, Haji-- ”

A number of thugs of a variety of species close in around Haji and block the crew from the ship. They start yelling at him.

“Your poor business sense has caught up with you, Haji. You said you’d have the money.” One sneers.

“It isn’t good to owe the lady money, Quarren.” Another adds.

As if on queue, a Twi’lek walks through the crowd of thugs. Her head tails wrapped suggestively around her body. She glances at Haji before settling he gaze on Kaldo.

Kaldo swallows hard. Selene. He knows her. He used to run with her crew. Kaldo and Selene made a pretty good team. Of course, she had a thing for him. And while most men salivate at Selene’s appearance, Kaldo always kept his distance. Something in the back of his head told him she was like a mantis and would kill her mate. When Kaldo left to crew the Vagrant Heart, he left a woman scorned. And well, he knows the saying all too well.

“Ah, if it isn’t dear sweet Kaldo? It seems fate has brought us together again.” She smiles broadly. “It seems poor Haji here made a few bad business decisions and now owes me money. And now what’s this? You owe this nerf herder money?”

Her smile quickly fades and she glares at Haji.

“You know her?” Tam asks.

“Yeah.” Kaldo spits out the name. “Selene.”

“Oh, Kaldo” Selene puts on an air of being hurt.

“Look lady,” Tam says, “whatever this is about it has nothing to do with me or my crew.”

Remarks Selene. “And who is this man and these other people you are with Kaldo?”

Kaldo introduces Tam, Toth, and Rowintha to Selene.

“Look--” Tam starts again.

But Haji is the first to voice the politics of crime. “Heh, why not just cut out the middle man?”

Selene looks at him, “What do you mean?”

“Heh, well these guys owe me more than I owe you. So, tell ya what. I’ll sell you the debt for the price of my debt. Heh, these guys even pay on time. It’s a good business decision.”

Kaldo and Tam exchange a look, but it is too late.

“Get up, Haji” Selene says, “Okay, you have a deal. I don’t want to ever see you again.”

At these words, Kaldo puts a boot in Haji's ribs. Haji gets up and brushes himself off. As he scurries away, he catches Tam's eye and sheepishly mouths “Sorry.”

“Well now, Captain Tam Voren, it seems you owe me money. For my payment terms, let’s start with a good-faith payment of fifteen thousand credits in 48 hours. You make that and you’ll find my future terms are quite reasonable.”

Tam responds the only way he can. He bursts out laughing.

“What makes you think I could possibly come up with that amount of money in that amount of time?”

Selene doesn’t look amused, “I know you have a hull full of Mandolorian ore. And I know just how valuable that is.”

Suddenly, Tam finds the galaxy a lot less funny.

Selene turns and starts walking through the docking bay door.

“The clock is ticking.” She calls over her shoulder.

 

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“I hate that witch.” Mutters Kaldo for a second time. He couldn’t be happier to leave Raxus VI behind. Even the normally comforting drone of the Vagrant Heart’s drives do little to improve his mode.

Tam enters the cockpit and plops down in the copilot's seat. “It won’t be much longer until we’re in the Ellium system; time to compare notes on what we know.”

Kaldo starts, “Ellium’s a stopping point for many smugglers. Good black market there. Also plenty of refugees pass through there. They hope to find a transport heading in their direction, work the mines ‘til they can afford passage somewhere else, or just use the place to pick up new passage and shake any tails they might have.”

“Excellent, we could use the money from the fares.” Tam replies.

“What do you know about this place?” Kaldo prompts.

“It was the Separatists’ deep pockets that funded the mining operation on Ellium during the Clone Wars. Their demand for raw materials made them explore a great many different options. Later, the mining was taken over by the DRK Mining Corporation, a Hutt puppet corporation. The odd thing is DRK is a legitimate business with a number of legitimate contracts. It seems the Hutts are keeping up the ruse to keep the Empire off their backs.”

The conversation is cut short as the nav computer beeps and indicates their journey as at an end.

There are five other light freighters using the shadow of the shield ship Bertha for a ride into Ellium. Tam gives them a sensors sweep before pigging backing onto Bertha’s comm array. After a little finagling with planet side operators, Tam is able to get a secure line to Ming’s office.

The holonet transmitter shows the slug like shape of a Hutt and standing next to him, a bald man with a cybernetic implant wrapped around his head.

“I was told you have something I might be interesting in buying.” Ming booms in Huttesse. “So, what do you have that you think I’ll want to buy?”

“Mandolorian ore.” Tam answers matter of factly.

“Hah! You are either brave or stupid to bring ore to planet where it is mined.” The Hutt replies.

“I know you need it, Ming. You’ve run into some bad ore and now you are falling behind on your contracts.”

Ming scowls the transmission. His booming voice lowers and takes on a more measured pace. “I see you are well informed. I’ll take the ore, but for seventy-five hundred. No more.”

Under normal circumstances it's a poor idea to laugh at a Hutt, but to Tam this is most definitely a laughable sum.

Tam pulls it back together and counters, “I know you need this, Ming.”

“Fine. Ten thousand.”

“Ming…”

“Twelve thousand.”

“I can always take this ore elsewhere.”

Ming slams his fist on the table. “Fifteen. And don’t ask for more!”

“Deal.” Tam smirks. “Ming, you wouldn’t happen to need any spice moved, now would— “

The holonet transmission cuts off. The ghost image of a beaten Hutt lingers for a moment before fading out. Tam starts to stand up, the smirk still on his face, when the Vagrant Heart lurches forward and nearly knocks him back into his chair.

Kaldo’s voice comes over the ship wide comm, “Toth get in the engine room! Captain, Rowintha, you better get up here!”

 

[masshysteria]

GM Commentary

First half of session 1 posted. Time for some more behind the scenes musings.

Knowing that this was to be our first ever excursion into Star Wars and Saga Edition rules, I created a short seven question questionnaire for the players to fill out prior to character creation. The questions are:

1. What is your level of Star Wars knowledge?

2. What is one thing you want to accomplish in the Star Wars universe?

3. What is your character's role on the ship?

4. What strange quirk or hidden talent do you posses, something that does not show up on as a statistic on your character sheet?

5. What is one interesting thing that has happened to your character before joining up with the rest of the crew?

6. What is your character's name?

7. Which ship do you want?
T-1250, YT-1300, YT-2000, Ghtroc 720, HWK-290*

*actual list included pictures and ship statistics.

The my goal with the questionnaire was to get the players "raw" feelings toward the campaign, universe, and their character before any discussion or creation. I also hoped to mine it for adventure inspiration.

No sooner do I hand it out when Toth's player, my brother, starts giggling and announces he has the "correct answer" for number 2. His one thing he wants to accomplish in Star Wars?

"Kill an Ewok."

 

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Kaldo has a racing heritage. He grew up around pod racing and was manipulating stabilizers and steering veins soon after he could walk. When he saw the other freighters gun their engines and make a bee line planet side, the moment the shield ship passed into the shadow of the planet, instincts took over.

“Toth, are you in the engine room?”

“Yeah!” Comes the reply over the comm.

“Let’s run ‘em hot!” Kaldo shouts back.

Toth works to bypass the safeties on the engines as they reach red line and beyond, as Kaldo keeps control of the situation, “Captain, I’m going to need landing clearance.”

“I’m already on it. Port control this Vagrant Heart requesting landing clearance…”

“Rowintha, I’m passing these guys left and right. Where’s the finish line—docking bay?”

The Wookie works the sensors and gives a hoot of success. A new coordinate flashes on Kaldo’s display and he puts the Vagrant Heart into a spiraling hard bank. The grav generators struggle to keep up and Kaldo feels his stomach rise in his chest. The feeling makes him smile as he pulls into an easy lead.

“Nice work everyone. Toth, let’s cool down the engines.”

The Vagrant Heart easily takes first, coasting through the force field into the open air docking bay. Kaldo can see now why there was such a race to be first in. The docking bay is more of an open market than a space station. The first ships in get prime locations to sell their ware and unload cargo. The more looks, the more buyers, the higher the selling price.

Kaldo puts the Vagrant Heart down on a patch of dirt and rock and begins running through the shut down procedure. The docking bay force field keeps the harsh ray of the red giant in check, but keeps the market in an afternoon glow and open at all hours of the day.

Toth joins the rest of the crew in the cockpit. “I took a quick inventory while back in the engine bay. It looks like we have a number of spare and old parts we could off load here for a profit.”

“Good. You and Kaldo watch the ship and sell what you can. Keep an eye out for passengers. Rowintha and I will make arrangements for the ore.” Tam replies.

The moment the Vagrant Heart’s ramp lowers, Tam and Rowintha are assaulted by a number of junk vendors. They push carts and have poles with scrap and trinkets dangling from them, hawking their wares in a variety of dialects. They close in around the ramp making passage nearly impossible without touching them. Because, as they shout between prices and offers, “You touch it. You buy it.”

But high pressure sales and Wookies don’t mix. Rowintha roars and swings her force pike around menacingly. The ramp is now surprisingly quiet and most importantly empty.

Tam arranges to have the ore off-loaded and put into a secure storage unit. He’s a bit wary of dealing with a Hutt, but is optimistic everything will work out.

Meanwhile, Toth and Kaldo set up their shop. A Jawa approaches the duo. Kaldo keeps an eye on him, not trusting the Jawa around a bunch of shiny metal bits. The Jawa points at the ship and launches into a string of unintelligible Jawa, when the distinct voice of a threepio unit squawks to life.

“Excuse me, my master wishes to know if you will be leaving ‘this rock’ in the near future?” The sound comes from a voice modulator and small logic unit attached to the strap of the Jawa’s satchel.

“That’s the idea.” Responds Kaldo, “Where are you headed?”

More Jawa. More threepio voice. “My master wishes to visit a core world.”

“For the right price we can do that.”

More Jawa and more disembodied translations, “My master says he is willing to work for passage, he can fix pretty much everything. Of course, if that won’t work he has Imperial credits that—“

The threepio voice is cut off by sting of angry Jawa. It appears the Jawa is mad as this threepio ‘unit’.

“Well, master, how was I supposed to know you didn’t want to let on just how much money you have? Most of these smuggler types—no offense—prefer to deal in credits.”

Kaldo and Toth exchange a glance.

 

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Tam and Rowintha return to a Toth and Kaldo two thousand credits richer; with the promise of five thousand more and a mechanic for the duration of the journey. But an even bigger deal awaits and the group charters a speeder to take them to the industrial side of town.

The rendezvous site isn’t much to behold, but it’s out of the way and the noise from the nearby foundry covers any delicate conversations. It’s more or less a squat silo with one big door on the northern side.

Toth made sure the group left plenty early. He wanted to secure the site before the Hutt and his men had a chance to do anything. He sends Kaldo in first, watching the Duros from across the street.

Kaldo reaches the large door with the utmost stealth. He looks over his shoulder, there are some workers a few blocks down, but none of them have spotted him. He pops the panel to the door control and has little trouble overriding it. Kaldo flattens his back against the wall, holding his breath, as the door begins its ponderous opening.

CREAK, CRACK, GRRRR, BANG, POP. Each sound makes him close his eyes tighter and grit his teeth. When he opens them, the rest of his group is standing around him; the racket of the door covering their approach.

“I’ll go in first.” Kaldo volunteers.

Kaldo sneaks forward. He lets his eyes adjust to the dark and draws his blaster. He doesn’t see anyone, but one doesn’t make it this long as a smuggler walking blindly into abandoned buildings. As he reaches the middle of the silo, the lights turn on.

 

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Rowintha lets out a hoot. That’s the fastest she’s ever hacked a DuraTech model 77. She turns on the lights and surveys her surroundings. The walls are aged and dirty, but in good enough shape; thick enough to prevent a blaster from penetrating too.

Toth begins moving crates from the pile on the southern wall. From the weight, he can tell they are empty, but that doesn’t stop them from making good cover. He creates a wall for himself and then scatters a few more about making the whole thing look a bit less suspicious. He goes prone behind the boxes and looks over to see Kaldo, pulling a tarp over himself while laying on top of a stack of boxes, gaining the high ground. The Captain and Rowintha wait in the open.

If there is one redeeming quality to Ming, it’s that he’s punctual. Six henchmen walk in first, creating a semi circle around Ming and the bald man with the cybernetics.

“So did you bring the ore?” Ming asks.

Rowintha produces a small bag of the ore and tosses it to Ming. Ming catches the bag and hands it to the bald man. The bald man takes a piece of the ore from the bag and seems to study it. After a moment, he nods to the Hutt.

“So where’s the rest of it?” Ming asks.

“Storage container.” Tam answers and produces a code cylinder, waving it above his head for all to see, before return it to his jacket pocket. “Where the money?”

Ming scowls. “Deal’s changed. I don’t really like to pay for what I can get for free. Why don’t you just give me the code and then my men won’t have to beat it out of you.”

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you Ming. I have four blaster trained on you this very moment.” Tam replies smoothly.

“What?!” Booms the Hutt, “You, ambush me?!”

“Now, give us the money and everyone can just walk out of here in the same condition they arrived.”

The Hutt simmers a moment on the verge of rage. He says quietly, “Ten thousand.”

“That isn’t what we agreed on. My Wookie’s claws are getting itchy.”

Rowintha growls to punctuate the point.

“Thirteen.”

“Deal.”

At those words, the bald man pulls out a credit chip and hands it the lead thug. Tam and the thug walk forward to each other in deliberate, measured steps. They exchange code cylinder and credit chip and then carefully back away.

Ming growls and then leaves. The bald man and his thugs following him.

Tam gets on his comm link and calls for their waiting speeder. Toth is the first out the door. He reaches the door and pulls it open with his left hand, covering the street with the carbine in his right. Tam, Kaldo, and Rowintha pile in. Toth takes one look back at his boxes in the silo, but it was such a good ambush position.

 

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The crew of the Vagrant Heart stops the speeder a few blocks before the market. They are being extra cautious after angering a Hutt. Kaldo scouts ahead. He sees two women approach the Vagrant Heart. When they notice no one around, they go to the next ship and start talking to the captain there.

“We’re clear.” Kaldo says into his comm link. He closes the gap to the ship, opens the boarding ramp and races to the cockpit. He begins the start up procedure when he hears voices coming from the base of the ramp.

“Are you going to Alderaan? If you are we can pay for passage.”

The voice stops Tam in his tracks and keeps him from closing the ramp. He turns and sees a human looking woman but with pale blue skin and nearly white hair.

“That could be arranged. When do you need to be there? We have to make a stop, but it really isn’t out of the way.”

The blue skinned woman is accompanied by another younger woman. She wears a flowing but worn cloak with a hood that hides most of her face.

“We must get to Alderaan with all haste and no Imperial entanglements.” The blue woman explains.

“Good we don’t much like Imperial entanglements.” Tam replies.

“And we can pay you with this.” The woman steps close to Tam. He balks for a moment and then regains his composure. She pulls out a bar of Imperial stamped hard currency; cold hard cash. These are prized among the underworld, despite all the secure communications, multiple hops, and bogus accounts that obscure and protect electronic transactions, cash is impossible to track. The bar is worth 1000 credits, but in the right situation, a buyer will pay much more. “Three in advance, ten more on arrival.”

“Welcome aboard the Vagrant Heart.”

Toth hops off the ramp and retrieves the ladies’ luggage. As he reaches down to pick up the cases, he glances upward at the woman in the cloak. Her skin is covered in minute scales, giving it a green almost reptilian look, but at the same time very alluring.

Kaldo meets the captain in the passageway as Toth and Rowintha escort the ladies to their quarters, “Can I see ‘em?”

Tam knows exactly what Kaldo means. He produces the three bars and sees the glistening reflection in Kaldo’s eyes. Kaldo lets out a low whistle. “Beautiful.”

Tam stows the bars in the ship’s safe. “Are we ready to depart?”

“Yeah—oh blast, the Jawa!”

Kaldo sprints through the passageways to the ramp and nearly runs over the Jawa. It seems the Jawa has invited himself on board when no one was there to greet him. Kaldo slaps the ramp close button.

“Your quarters are just over—“

The disembodied threepio voice comes to life, “My master says this will do just fine.”

Kaldo traces the line to where the Jawa is pointing. “In there?”

Tam joins Kaldo and sees a Jawa crawling into one of the ventilation shafts. He shrugs and then gets on the ship wide comms, “This is Captain Tam Voren. Please prepare for departure.”

The departure from Ellium goes off without a hitch. Kaldo is able to hook up with Bertha on her outbound journey, saving a little time. Between the sale of the ore and fares of the passengers, enough has been made to make payment to Selene. Tam slumps into the copilot chair and is checking the chrono, they’ll be in Selene office with time to spare, when Rowintha walks in. She growls to inform that the women are in their room and sits down at the sensor operations chair. She is in the process of going through her normal routine when something makes her hair stand on end.

Two Z-95 headhunters are on an intercept course with the Bertha. It’s possible that they are just trying to be first in line for the planet side ride in, but she isn’t having it. She alerts Kaldo and the captain with a growl.

Kaldo casually breaks in the opposite direction of most of the other freighters, trying to put the Bertha between the Vagrant Heart and the headhunters. The captain starts running the astronavigation numbers.

Toth is already in the gunners chair watching the Z-95’s drop onto the Vagrant Heart’s tails. He lines one up with the double laser cannons and patches into the cockpit comms.

Back in the cockpit, first contact is made, “This is the bounty hunter Modok. Power down your engines and prepare to be boarded under Bounty Hunter Guild statute 16-G.43. You have 10 seconds to comply.”

Tam looks around, “Does anyone even know that statute?” And then into the comm, “Uh, listen Modok—“

“Power down your engines or we will open fire. You have 5 seconds to reply.”

Tam slaps off the comms, “Boring conversation anyway. Kaldo!”

Kaldo puts the ship into a barrel roll and pulls out into an arcing turn; the bounty hunter’s concussion missile streaks wide. The ship rumbles as Toth answers with a volley of laser fire.

Tam furiously works at the astronav computer. “That’s not right.” He mumbles under his breath and starts the calculation again.

More blaster fire streaks past the Vagrant Heart. Kaldo’s doing everything he can to keep the headhunters at bay. Toth answers with another volley, throwing the lead Z-95 off his attack run.

“Got it!” Shouts a triumphant Tam.

Kaldo kicks in the hyperdrive leaving the bounty hunters light years behind.

But Tam’s not satisfied, “This is the captain speaking. All crew and passengers meet in the common area immediately.”