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

[masshysteria]

The common area is full. The two women sit at the table along with Toth. Kaldo leans against the wall watching the Jawa tinker with a compressor coil. Rowintha checks on a few vegetables she is growing in the room when Captain Tam Voren storms in.

“What is this about, Captain?” The blue skinned woman askes.

Tam ignores her and begins, “Kaldo! Do you have any reasons for bounty hunters to be after you?”

The Duros emphatically shakes his head no.

“Rowintha?”

The Wookie growls a no.

“Toth?”

“No.” Replies the Bothan.

“And you, Jawa—what is your name anyway?”

Jawa makes a sound and the threepio unit elaborates, “My masters, name is Set. In Jawa is means—“

“Do you have any reason for bounty hunters to be after you?”

The Jawa folds his arms across his chest and stamps his feet, apparently is upset to be torn from his work, and launches into a string of Jawa, “My master says there are no hunters after him, but he with an attitude like that he can see why hunters would be after you.”

The answer seems to put Tam on his heels, cooling him off a little. He lets out a deep breath and then continues, “And what about you two?”

The blue woman lowers he head and speaks for the two, “No, Captain, there aren’t any bounty hunters after us.”

Tam looks at her. He can tell there is something in her past, but she’s not lying to him.

He composes himself and begins again, “This ship is our home, and if anyone has reason to send bounty hunters after us, I’ll—. This is our home, we look out for one another. Our home is our refuge from all the problems of the galaxy. We take care of our home.”

He notices everyone’s eyes are still on him; smiles on some of the crews' faces. “This ship is our home.” He repeats quietly and heads back to the cockpit.

There illuminated by the mottled sky of hyperspace his face turns hard and he grimly intones, “I think I need to have a talk with Selene.”

End Episode I: Scum & Villainy

 

[masshysteria]

GM Commentary

And so Episode I: Scum & Villainy come to a close. I have to admit, this was probably some of the most fun I've ever had at the gaming table. Much of the credit goes to the players. They all eased right into their characters, despite rolling them up just moments before, and the Star Wars universe.

The RP was excellent, I thought for sure we'd have a shoot out in the Silo with the Hutt's gang. I even had some interesting plans for the bald man. But some great deception and persuasion rolls by Tam's player kept the situation from exploding. I have to admit I was surprised he accepted 13000. I kept pushing for conflict. I'm guessing he did the math like I did and figured with the 2000 from the Jawa he hit the magic number.

I'm also happy with how the NPC's came off. Selene is hated. The Jawa is liked, but mistrusted. They have a good underworld contact with Nakko. And they know nothing about the two women, not even their names, but seem to have absolutely no problems with them.

I'm really looking forward to the next session (in a week and a half). Stay tuned for Episode II: Big Damn Heroes.

 

[Sabriel]

... It's going to be a loooong week and a half, is all I can say!

 

[masshysteria]

GM Commentary

... It's going to be a loooong week and a half, is all I can say!

I'm glad you are enjoying the story hour enough to wait around and comment. We'll be playing again on Saturday and I hope to post the results throughout the next week.

In the meantime, the Vagrant Heart's rogue's gallery:

Tam - Noble 2
Kaldo - Scout 2
Rowintha - Soldier 2
Toth - Soldier 2

Oddly enough not one of them is a scoundrel. It just goes to show how the saga edition classes can be bent into a variety of concepts. I have a feeling we'll probably see some multiclassing in the near future.

 

[masshysteria]

Episode II: Big Damn Heroes

45 hours 27 minutes.

Captain Tam Voren knocks on the door to Selene’s hideout. It took staring down a Hutt, but he had the money and he wasn’t about to be late. A slot in the door opens and the three eyestalks of a Gran peer through.

“Oochi wa lulu?” The Gran asks.

Tam shrugs his shoulders. He doesn’t speak Gran. He looks to his crew makes. Kaldo jumps in.

“We’re here to see Selene.”

The slot slides shut. Kaldo and Tam exchange a look. Kaldo shrugs. The door opens. A couple of Trandoshans guard the entryway, blaster rifles slung across their chests. The Gran lets the group and closes the door behind him.

“No blasters.” He says and points to a lockbox to put all the weapons into.

Tam and Toth try to joke with the Gran, but it seem the Gran is oddly missing any sense of humor. Eventually, all the crew members drop their weapons into the lock box. Looking at the impressive pile of weapons, it could make for a good promotional picture for the BlasTech corporation.

45 hours 31 minutes.

Tam, Toth, Kaldo, and Rowintha follow their escort to the inner chambers of the hideout. Selene sits at a large desk, her office well appointed. She stand up to greet the crew and motions for everyone to take a seat in one of the many plush chairs. This kind of luxury is rarely see outside the core. Selene must be doing well for herself. She moves around to the front of the desk, moving with a dances grace. She sits on the edge of her desk, crossing her long athletic legs.

45 hours 37 minutes.

“You’re late.” She begins.

Tam ignores the falsehood, “I’ve got your money right here.” He holds out a cred stick and just as Selene is about to retrieve it, pulls it back.

“But we have something else we need to discuss.” Tam continues, “I have three bars of cold hard Imperial currency. Stamped 1000 each. I’ll sell them to you.”

Selene thinks for a moment. “I am interested. I’ll get you a fifteen percent increase. 3450.” She does the math faster than Tam can.

“Whoa. I know these are worth way more than that.”

“True. 3600.”

“Oh, you can do better than that.”

Selene scowls, “I’m sorry, did you think this was a negotiation? 3600.”

Toth runs the numbers in his head. “Twenty percent,” he whispers to Tam, “Not bad and no use making her mad.”

As Tam and Selene make the transaction, Kaldo can’t keep quiet anymore.

He’s a racer and a pilot. He’s not slow. “What do you mean late?”

Selene looks at him. “Let me rephrase that: you’re later that I would have liked. But you’ve paid in full and on time. Not many people could pull in that amount of money that quickly. Maybe I should have asked for more,” Selene muses to herself, “Oh well, too late now. However, that tells me you can perform. I might have more uses for you.”

Selene changes the subject, “So tell me Kaldo, where are you off to next?”

Kaldo looks a bit uncomfortable, “We’re heading into the core.”

“That’s a long trip.”

“Yup.”

“Perhaps you’d like to stay here for the night, instead of a cramped ship’s cabin? I’m sure it would be more comfortable.”

Kaldo shutters. “No, I like my cabin just fine.”

“Fine.” Selene loses her friendly demeanor. “I expect 20000 every two weeks until your debt is paid.”

“Selene, look,” Tam replies, “Isn’t that a bit much. You own our ship and if you—“

Tam is cut off. “No, Captain, I don’t own your ship. I own you. If you miss a payment, I cannot take it our of a ship’s hide. I take it out of yours. Twenty thousand every two weeks. My assistant will give you the account number on your way out. You may go now.”

 

[masshysteria]

Tam tries to keep his head up, but he’s starting to get the feeling every time he’s walking back to his ship on Raxus VI he ends up holding the short end of the stick.

Toth’s mind is still on credits. “What do they need on Alderaan? It’s a core world, there’s gotta be something good we can take from here and sell there.”

Kaldo searches his memory, “Electronics and manufactured goods are always in high demand there.”

Toth’s knows just where to go. A visit to the backroom of Bruck’s Bargain Basement and an hour later he shows up with a repulsor cart loaded with a crate of electronics.

“Make sure you secure that crate.” Tam says, “I don’t want it to be like last time.”

Toth looks at him. “Come on, I cleaned it up.” He says as he cinches the straps holding the load tight.

“I was picking circuits out of my hair for the next two weeks, last time.” Tam responds.

With no other delays the Vagrant Heart leaves Raxus VI and makes the jump to hyperspace.

The trip from the outer rim to the core is long. Toth runs through a systems check on the weapons system. Everything is in order. He leans back in the gunners chair watches the mottled sky of hyperspace. He closes his eyes, just for a moment. When opens them, he’s back aboard the Outbound Bounty. His old Rodian partner sitting in the pilot’s chair looks at him. Toth hasn’t seen him since that fateful day.

“Well good morning sunshine. Welcome to the ass end of space. Think our payday is out here?”

Toth looks out the view screen, another unexplored sector of space. They really all are starting to look the same.

All at once, the ships console lights up with a hundred different warning lights. Alarm klaxons fill the tiny cockpit with noise. The ship shutters and the Bothan catches a piece of the ship being torn off in his peripheral vision. Ahead, a green moon grows larger in the viewport. Toth closes his eyes and braces for impact.

Toth opens his eyes and lets them adjust to the darkness. He’s been stranded on this forest moon for sixteen days now. Each night the fusion lantern puts out less light, each night the noises at the edge of the light get closer. Like the last few nights, the noises have changed. The normal croaks and chirps have been silenced, replaced with sounds of something moving through the underbrush.

It must be some sort of alpha predator. Why else would all the other creatures be silent?

Whatever it is, it has been stalking Toth. For the last three nights, he’s woken to the same eerie silence. Toth crawls deeper into his lean-to and tries to will himself back to sleep. And that’s when he see it.

Dark beady soulless eye stare at the Bothan. It wears the hide of a recent kill draped around its head, a warning sign. It walks forward, a teeter-tottering walk meant to hypnotizes its prey like a snake charmer’s flute. It opens its mount showing a row of teeth capable of tearing flesh from bone.

Then with a feral intelligence, the creature hops forward brandishing a stick with a sharpened bone end. It pokes Toth in a meaty spot near the knee.
Toth grabs his blaster and fires. The shot going wide in his haste, but it put fear into the creature and it begins running away. Toth, angrily follows it. As soon as he steps out of his lean-to arrows goes whizzing by his head, one sticking him in the arm.

Toth fires again and the smell of burning hair comes from the miniature feral bear. Wounded it runs to the edge of the light and tries diving deeper into the forest. Toth knows the danger of a wounded animal. He draws his blaster up to a firing position, trying to draw a bead on the venomous predator, when three more arrow come flying past him. He ignores them squeezing the trigger again.

THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP. Toth jostles awake, the laser cannons of the Vagrant Heart firing wildly into hyperspace, his finger pulling the trigger.

 

[masshysteria]

Elsewhere on the ship Kaldo checks the navi-computer one more time. It will still be awhile before they will drop out of hyperspace. Time to get something to eat.

In the common room, he sees the pale blue skinned woman trying to operate the Auto-Chef. She’s biting her bottom lip squinting at all the options, trying to decide what is good. From down the hallway, comes the shouts of Tam, Rowintha, and Set. It seems their philosophies on starship mechanics differ quite severely.

“No, no, no, no, no! That’s not how it goes.” Tam is in the middle of saying.

Rowintha roars in reply and tools are heard falling to the floor. An angry string of Jawa quickly follows.

“I’m sorry master, but my programming prevents me from translating that kind of language.”

Kaldo takes a moment to appreciate the scene before closing the hallway door. Isolating himself with the mysterious woman.

The woman notices Kaldo and asks, “Is there anything good to eat here?”

“Here.” Kaldo offers, “My favorite, something my mom used to make back home.” He operates the Auto-Chef and a short time later a traditional Durese dish is ready to eat. Kaldo punches up another one for himself.

“It smells wonderful.” The woman says, truly admiring the dish. “Can you fix another one for my friend?”

“Sure.” Kaldo replies and goes to work. He pauses and then asks, “Why don’t you and your friend join me here for dinner?”

“That’s alright, we’ll eat in our quarters.”

“Are you sure? I mean it must get awful boring in there on such a long trip.”

“Oh, we keep ourselves occupied.”

Kaldo’s eyes get a little bigger and his mind takes him to a different place. He doesn’t see the woman take the other dish.

“Um, Kaldo isn’t it? Thanks.” She says as she walks away.

The Duros almost doesn’t get the next sentence out. “Ah, ah, what’s your name?”

“Nali.” The woman with the pale blue skin and long white hair replies as she walks out of the room.

 

[masshysteria]

A light flashes and a beep sounds, the long journey to Alderaan is coming to an end. Nali meets Tam at the entrance to the cockpit.

“May I join you captain, there is a private docking bay I can get you access to.”

“Of course.” Replies Tam. And then to Kaldo as the two enter the cockpit, “Take us out of hyperspace.”

The swirling colors of hyperspace give way, the lines turning into points, filling the viewscreen with stars, but that isn’t what Kaldo is looking at; the unmistakable white triangular shapes of Imperial Star Destroyers.

To the starboard, three star destroyer in formation move at a parallel vector. Another is on an intersect course with the Vagrant Heart, TIE fighters surrounding it in a tight defensive formation. Beyond, at least two dozen are in orbit around the planet.

Nali lets out a gasp, “We’re too late.”

 

[masshysteria]

GM Commentary

Sorry for the long delay in getting the full version of Episode II posted, but I have a good excuse. Well, one good one and one lame one.

The lame one first, I had to travel for work last week. And now for the good one. This 4th of July weekend, I found out two of my nieces and a nephew had never seen the Star Wars movies (blasphemy!) so like any good uncle doing his best to mold then next generation we had a Star Wars movie marathon. We watched the original trilogy, one movie a day, over the three day weekend.

It was funny listening to them talk: "Who's Luke's father?" "Is R2 going to die?" "Luke has a sister?" "Another bounty hunter wants Han." "Don't go to the Emperor, Luke." "Yoda can't die."

Now my sister has to decide if it is worth showing them the prequel trilogy. It will probably depend if the local library has them on dvd.

 

[masshysteria]

“What do you mean ‘we’re too late’?” Tam shouts back.

“Captain?” Kaldo asks.

Nali is frozen in place.

“Orders?” Kaldo prompts again.

Tam stares at Nali. Not sure what to do himself.

“Guys?” The anxiety creeping into Kaldo’s voice. “Uh, Rowintha you better get up here!”

Rowintha punches a few buttons on the sensors and growls out a warning. A flight of TIE fighter have broken off from the defensive swarm and are on a hard burn towards the Vagrant Heart.

“What do you mean ‘we are too late’?” Tam repeats.

Nali is still frozen in her spot looking past Tam at the Star Destroyers arrayed around the planet.

“Uh, we need to do something.” The anxiety is definitely in Kaldo voice.

Tam raises his hand to cuff Nali.

“Stand down, Captain.” Comes a new voice. “An honor guard is appropriate escort for a princess. Tell the flight leader Princess Xule of the Falleen House Thoreen has arrived.”

Seeing no other option, Tam punches the comms. “This is Captain Tam Voren of the Vagrant Heart. I am transporting Princess Xule of House Thoreen.”

He nervously waits for a reply.

“This is Captain Soontir Fel of the 37th Imperial Fighter Wing, Sixth Squadron.” Comes the reply. “Welcome to the Grand Imperial Navy ball, Princess. It is our utmost honor to escort your transport to atmosphere.”

A collective sigh of relief is heard around the cockpit. Tam slumps into the copilot chair and slaps Kaldo on the back, “The Navy ball! Ha, the Imperial Navy ball!”

Sixth squadron forms around the Vagrant Heart. They fly with spectacular precision, as if only one man is at the controls of the entire squadron.

Kaldo keeps his cool and the Vagrant Heart on course. Upon reaching atmosphere, the lead starfighter shakes his craft side to side in a salute, before peeling off and burning back into space.

Nali hands over the coordinates, “Put us down here.”

The coordinates lead to a private docking bay on the far side of the planet. The bay is probably the cleanest, most organized bay Rowintha’s ever seen. She watches a number of techs work on a variety of transports and yachts, installing new equipment and sensor arrays.

Toth grabs his crate of electronics and prepares his best pitch for the techs. Meanwhile, Tam and Kaldo bicker with a stubborn Jawa.

Tam looks at Kaldo, “What do you mean he’s not leaving?”

Kaldo shrugs.

“My master regrets to inform you that there is nothing of interest for a Jawa to do or see here. He will remain aboard the ship until you arrive at somewhere of interest, like Cloud City.”

“We had a deal, Jawa. I want to get paid.” Tam growls.

After a few more negotiations Tam walks away with two thousand credits and the Jawa gets a ride to the next place the Vagrant Heart ends up.

With that done, Tam meets Rowintha and the two women at the bottom of the Vagrant Heart’s ramp. A voice calls out from across the bay, “Nali!”

Nali doesn’t hesitate, she runs to the voice, jumping into the open arms of a swarthy human male. They embrace and share a kiss and a few words before returning to meet everyone.

The man offers his hand to Tam, “My name is Hull and I can’t thank you enough for getting my girl back to me in one piece.” Hull has a big grin on his face.

Nali explains, “Hull promised to marry me when I returned.”

Tam congratulates the two and starts to get impatience, wondering when he’s going to get paid. The conversation just doesn’t end.

“You’re safe enough with those here,” Hull say pointing at Tam’s blaster, “But Alderaan doesn’t let people walk around with weapons if you go site-seeing. They are in the process of a disarmament. Some deal between the planetary government and the Empire; the Empire won’t have a presence here and Alderaan won’t have any blasters. But enough chit-chat, I’m sure Jurasco want to meet you and you’ll want to get paid.”

Finally, the magic words.