[RoSM: Arcona - Smol Tol & Pew]

Team Roster

• Eilen Jath
• Leeadra Halcyon
• Qyreia Arronen

Objective Selected: Sabotage

Phase I objectives

‘‘Phase I begins on October 14th and ends on October 28th (two (2) weeks)’’

After intercepting a transmission from the now destroyed Brotherhood Listener ship, the Psi Termina I, your team has been hand-picked and sent on a mission. You are already boarded on the Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser Akan, arriving in an Imperial boarding craft through the auxiliary starboard hangar, only several decks below your target. The Akan’s hyperdrives and major systems have been disabled by ion cannons from escorting ships and a battle still rages outside.

The ship’s power fluctuates with every blow from turbo lasers and ion cannons and you have limited time to complete your mission. The Collective regiment typically onboard is currently deployed, but ship security is fully staffed and some elements of the regiment may still be onboard. Intel expects Soldiers and Partisans onboard.

Your team has been tasked to complete one of the following objectives in limited time (you may complete only one (1) objective):

• Revenge path: Reach the main bridge, face and eliminate Captain Brith Kayle and extract valuable information from the computer core before the fleet destroys the ship.

• Sabotage path: Reach the primary computer core behind the main bridge, extract the information and set the ship to self-destruct before extracting.

• Pacifist path: Reach the primary environmental controls on the main bridge, pacify the whole ship with Stun gas before extracting data from the computer core and calling in the cavalry.

Caution: the Captain is accompanied by an unknown number of enemy combatants.

The Phase must end with the bridge secured and the ship either pacified or destroyed. In all but the Revenge path, the Captain’s fate is up to you.

The world was a blur, and its only sound was that of ringing.

Eilen’s head swayed as she dizzily tried to right herself, though her initial attempts were met with varying degrees of failure. The half-breed Selenobothan could feel heat though, and that was enough cause for concern in her already unnerving state. It took a moment for her to stop flailing blindly before she paused and merely lay back down on the ground. Covering her eyes, she felt a calming collness pass over her eyelids and into her ears. It wouldn’t do much for medical recovery, but her Force training would at least get her back on her feet.

As her vision recovered, the orange-and-white haze began to coalesce into distinct shapes, and the ringing sound turned to the muffled noise of battle. Things had almost entirely cleared when a red energy bolt snapped past just beyond her nose.

“Eep!”

“Get down, fuzzball!” That was the sound of Qyreia, the Zeltron’s voice. Eilen could see the mercenary blind-firing over the top of a supply crate, clutching at one ear with her free hand. She couldn’t see their third compatriot anywhere.

“Where is Leeadra?!”

“What?!” Qyreia screamed back. “One sec.”

Lurching to one side of the crate, the merc let loose with her rifle. The screeching pitch of the rounds leaving the barrel were clearly causing auditory pain, but she grit her teeth with every trigger pull. Even low to the ground, Eilen could see the proficient, deadly effect that her companion could muster just by looking down the sights. Careful not to expose herself, she crawled on her belly toward the safety of the crate. Furry, bony elbows pushed against the hard surface of the hangar floor as she hurriedly slithered forward. Qyreia was still in the midst of engaging the enemy, changing her firing position so that she was crouched behind the crate and shooting over the top again.

When Eilen’s hands cupped the mercenary’s ears, she nearly knocked the poor Selenian’s teeth out with her rifle butt, stopping just in time when she saw who it was. When the head-wracking pain in her ears seemed to stop like magic, Qyreia knew what was going on and resumed her fusilade. Eilen continued her healing while the merc fired, a dichotomous picture of life and death.

It wasn’t until the last Collective trooper was dead that the world seemed to come back to normal. Almost in unison, they slumped against the crate and slid to the floor.

“W-where’s Leeadra?” Eilen asked, her breath heavy with relief and the adrenaline backlash.

The Zeltron’s eyes widened before she simply yelled out. “LEE!”

“I’m over here!” came the muffled reply from under a large pile of metal debris. Cautious of any other enemy forces, the able-bodied pair slunk over to the wreckage, seemingly shaking on its own. “There’s a bit of a fire,” she mentioned as the other two took note of the encroaching blaze, “so if you could help quickly?!”

Qyreia was about to try shoving the metal sheets aside, but Eilen just held out an arm before drawing out her hands and focusing. Getting the trapped Pantoran’s limbs free only made it easier for their combined efforts to invisibly lift the weighty detritus and toss it aside like a wet rag. Other than some dirt, Leeadra Halcyon seemed otherwise none the worse for wear.

The Zeltron only shook her head. “Space wizards.” She cracked her neck and motioned for the others to follow. “C’mon,” she said as the floor rumbled from a turbolaser hit, “we need to get going.”

Whiiir bee dootbeep!

From a pile of wreckage, Qyreia’s R3 droid sped forth, letting the random detritus fall aside. “Have you been there this whole time?”

The droid gave an affirmative Wooo.

“Hiding from the action again. Well, come along.”

“What even happened?” Eilen asked as they made their way through the dilapidated hangar toward a nearby blast door.

“Transport got hit almost as soon as we stepped off. We’re lucky we’re still in one frackin’ piece. The crew weren’t so lucky.”

Lee and Eilen both looked back to see the scattered bodies of what were most definitely the crew of their TIE/br shuttle. There was only the one wreck, so the wingman had apparently been able to withdraw in time. The other bodies were Collective ship crewmembers. Between the fuel fires and the scattered pieces of shrapnel, it was hard to tell how many had been part of the firefight with the Zeltron Quaestor. As it was though, there were none left to tell them.

They all collectively paused at the large blast door that led into the ship proper and listened to the blaring klaxon. “Think they know we’re here?” Qyreia joked.

The Selonian looked about studiously. “Well, uh, there’s a good chance they think the boarding attempt was a, erm, botched attack, or just part of the current bombardment.”

“Ladies,” Leeadra added politely but not without impatience, “I know what Q’s getting at. Buncha dudes on the other side of the door. I don’t see any vents or anything to crawl through, though.”

“No infiltration then…”

“Oh, um,” Eilen added quickly, “I-I might actually be able to help.”

Red and Blue both watched as Eilen closed her eyes and focused, outstretching her arms toward the door as if to narrow the field of view. In her mind’s eye, the tall befurred woman could feel the echoes of the Force, seeing what the others could not. Apprehension. Courage. Guarding. She could sense the emotions of those on the other side of the door and, bit by bit, pieced together the total picture. It seemed an eternity of concentration, but only a dozen or so seconds passed for the curious pair of onlookers.

“Three of them,” she said, finally opening her eyes. “Two by the door and one walking around. …Yeah.” She looked at Qyreia, not familiar with her expressions, and so unsure of what she was thinking. “I-I don’t think they’re watching the door so much as just, uh, guarding it.”

“How did they not hear all that?!”

The Zeltron tapped the door with a knuckle. “Thick stuff. You’d need to hit this thing directly and hard to even make a peep.” She looked over it. “Remee, I want you on door controls. If you two would take the near targets, I’ll get the far one.”

They all nodded, save for the droid, and took their positions according to Eilen’s description. With a Force user to either side and the mercenary in the middle, Qyreia nodded to R3-M3 to get the party started. In short order, the droid interfaced with the door controls and opened them, managing a little expedience in the process thereof. While the door did not open as silently as they might have hoped, it had all the same desired effect.

The two guarding the door turned around to see the three women neatly arrayed, and the ignition of the flanking lightsabers only furthered the dramatic effect. Qyreia started the party by shooting the roving guard in the back, breaking the attention of the two nearby. Eilen moved in on her opponent, only to be targeted by the opposing guard. Leeadra quashed his aim, and everything else, with a flick of her hand, lifting and tossing him bodily into the closest wall before finishing the job with her golden blade.

“Quickly now,” the Zeltron said, quieter than before. “Remee, disconnect your probe and let’s go!”

In short order, they abandoned the scene and headed deeper into the beast.

The three women sprinted down the hallway in search of a turbolift. They were only a few decks below their target and they didn’t want to overstay their welcome.

As Eilen and Qyreia rounded a corner the Selonian pulled her saber, just in time to deflect the first of several blaster bolts fired in their direction. Two guards were stationed at the end of the hallway before them and, just beyond the guards, the turbolift. With a bit more flourish than was necessary, the Zeltron fired two shots and took down both of the guards. No sooner than the second body hit the floor, Leeadra came running around the corner, her breathing a bit more labored than usual.

“I wish you guys would wait for me. I’ve got little legs! Even Remee got here before I did,” the Pantoran quipped, pouting at the total lack of action. The droid hummed in a mocking tone, and Leeadra stuck her tongue out in defiance. “I see you guys found the turbolift. Let’s go.”

“Alright, Remee, your turn again,” Qyreia instructed the R3 unit, “We need to go up three decks, got it?” R3-M3 let out an angry whistle and beeped a few times. “No, it was not an insult to your programming,” the Zeltron defended.

R3 brought the turbolift to a stop at their current deck. Without a word, Eilen stepped forward and once more concentrated to strengthen her connection with the Force. After a few seconds, she turned back to her compatriots and held up a single furry finger. A moment later, both the Zeltron and Selonian heard Leeadra’s voice in their heads. I’ll take care of this one

As the door slid open, the Pantoran lifted her hand and concentrated her will on her connection with the Force. “You will escort us to the main bridge,” she stated confidently. The man standing in the turbolift blinked twice as though he was confused before repeating the command back. After allowing the women to enter the now rather claustrophobic space with him, he pressed the button to take them to the appropriate level. An airy jizz tune wafted through the turbolift as it ascended.

“So, Q. How’s the lady?” the Pantoran asked, trying to rid the room of the awkward silence that seemed to always accompany turbolift rides. Thankfully, they were spared more small talk as the door slid open and their escort began to make his way down the empty hallway.

A few turns later, the women were grateful they had someone guiding them. The layout of the ship was not as intuitive as one might think and it would have inevitably taken much longer on their own. They turned one last corner and the bridge was obviously just ahead.

“This is it, ladies. The bridge is just ahead,” their escort stated rather flatly. After a moment of silence, Leeadra’s voice once again entered their heads. There are two guarding the bridge. Q and I will handle those. Eilen, you take care of this one. With a nod of acknowledgment, Eilen ignited her sapphire blade and struck the still rather confused man that had escorted them. That commotion drew the attention of the two guards at the bridge door and they drew their blasters. The Zeltron and Selonian immediately took cover around the corner while the Pantoran merely engaged her golden blade. Every shot aimed at the blue woman was expertly deflected, each finding other targets; walls, floor, or ceiling. At last, Leeadra was able to deflect one blaster bolt and use it to strike the nearer of the two. This gave enough of a distraction for Qyreia to effectively target the other guard and with one shot, the fight was over.

“Oh damn! That was… kind of awesome, eheh,” Eilen marveled as she and Qyreia rejoined the Pantoran and approached the main bridge.

“Focus, ladies. No flirting here,” the red woman scolded, “save it for the ship-ride home.” Eilen felt her face growing warm and saw Leeadra’s visibly pinken. “Alright, so all of our intel shows that the primary computer core is behind the main bridge, so it should be around here somewhere. We just need to figure out where, extract the data we need, and make sure this thing isn’t going to be around very long after we leave,” the Zeltron woman instructed. “Once we find it, that’s where you come in again, Eilen. Lee and I will stand guard outside and ensure that you are able to work uninterrupted. Your mission is the priority. No matter what is happening outside the door, you have to keep going, understand?” Eilen gave a curt nod and the three set off to find their target.

“Just a mop closet!”

“They should really label these doors, how does anyone find anything around here?”

“Still nothing.”

“AHA! This looks like a fancy computer!” The Pantoran’s apparent discovery drew her other companions back. Eilen poked her head around the corner of the doorway. “Yep, this is definitely it.” The Selonian interlaced her fingers and extended her hands out in front of her as though to crack her knuckles, though to no effect. “Right. Time for me to get to work,” she mumbled as she ducked inside the door, which promptly closed behind her.

The woman’s nimble fingers slid along the exterior of the computer mainframe and she sighed, finally back in her element Eilen could relax a little. In no time, she was through the security protocols and was able to access the information the Brotherhood requested. As she was finishing the extraction process, she heard through the door the ignition of a lightsaber and the sound of blaster fire. Panic began to overtake her and her heart rate jumped.

Mission first. Gotta get it done Can’t… get… distracted.

After taking a moment to calm her nerves, Eilen set out on the more difficult of the two tasks, to engage the self-destruct mechanism on the ship. She hoped she could do it without alerting the crew, though, at this point, she wasn’t sure it mattered. The floor beneath her shook, reminding her that a battle still raged outside the ship and she once more found a sense of urgency coursing through her. After what seemed like several hours of listening to the agonizing battle taking place just beyond the door, she was able to trigger the self-destruct mechanism, giving them ten minutes to retrace their steps and find a way off the ship. Eilen gathered her things and headed to the door.

As the door slid open, the Selonian drew her saber once more, just in time to deflect a stray shot. “Alright, we gotta get outta here,” she shouted over the intense noise of battle filling the hallway. Without another word the three took off in the direction they came from, sprinting down the corridors, Leeadra in the rear with her lightsaber still drawn, deflecting any shots that came too close to her companions. Qyreia opened her comms and instructed Remee to meet the party in the hangar as the three of them entered the turbolift.

The quiet ride down was more tense than awkward this time around and, as soon as the door opened, the Pantoran and her master worked their way out into the corridor, clearing their path of enemy combatants as quickly as they could muster, Eilen tailing behind to make sure they weren’t being followed. As they made their way into the hangar, Qyreia spotted R3-M3 near one of the only ships that still appeared functional thanks to their spectacular entrance.

“Over there! That one,” the Zeltron woman shouted, pointing out the TIE/sh shuttle to her crew. Without hesitation, they all sprinted toward the craft and clambered in as quickly as they could, allowing Remee to seal the boarding ramp and begin takeoff procedures before Qyreia took the controls. The ship rose a few feet off the hangar floor before an audible crack resounded through the hull and the ship once more sunk to the ground.

“Any idea what it might be Q,” Eilen questioned, already diving into the maintenance shaft, “because we have about two minutes to get this thing functional and get the kark out of here.”

“Check the fuel driver. And please make it quick.”

About thirty seconds and one clamped fuel hose later, the ship was off the ground again, this time, functional enough to get out the hangar door and into the space beyond. Not a minute after Qyreia had successfully piloted her three companions out of harm’s way, the Akan’s self-destruct mechanism detonated, leaving nothing behind but a few bits of scrap.

“Nice work, ladies,” the red woman offered, “Now let’s go home.”

This Phase lasts from October 29th until November the 11th (two (2) weeks)

Request from the organizers: Please add a note to the top of the next post which path your team will choose in this Phase. Thank you.

Phase II objectives

Your team left the dreadnought Akan with information that, together with the data analysed by Clans and the Inquisitorius, has lead your to the Meridian Prime space station, a fortress, correctional facility and space dock floating in interstellar space just off the Wild Space boundary. Already under attack by Clan and Dark Council forces, dogfights light up the blackness around the behemoth, and intel suggests the shields and defenses have not yet been weakened enough for a full-scale naval assault. The station is on full alert and firefights have already started as skirmishes between Collective troops and Brotherhood assault teams pepper its three massive hangar bays.

The station houses civilian and enemy personnel, including a correctional facility that holds hundreds of Brotherhood prisoners of war, both Non-Force users and Force users alike. The prison has an isolated security system, its own power generator and life-support. Intel suggests that the prison is managed by a powerful AI (artificial intelligence) controlling the Dioxis security system, many defense blaster turrets, ray shields and a large complement of Imperial Sentry Droids acting as guards, controlled by the prison warden. The interior of the prison itself is pumped with a thin mist of Dioxis gas, preventing escape and anarchy.

You have been dropped off on the lower decks via boarding pod.

Breath masks are provided for this mission, should your team require them. Any Possessions item that prevents inhaling of poisonous gas will be effective as well.

Your team has been tasked to complete one of the following objectives in limited time (you may complete only one (1) objective):

• Revenge path: Reach the correctional facility and eliminate prison warden Rutgar-4. Caution is advised as there are Imperial Sentry Droids defending him.

• Sabotage path: Reach the prison’s AI core to recycle the life support and free the prisoners. Prepare for a riot as many prisoners are powerful Force Users and Non-Force Users.

• Pacifist path: Reach the prison’s AI core and disable the security systems to allow incoming Brotherhood troops to secure the facility.

The phase must end with the prison facility secured, one way or another. In all but the Revenge path, the prison warden’s fate is up to you.

Relevant character sheets:

• CS: Rutgar-4
• Since there are no character sheets for droids, participants will use the Possessions i9tem page as reference: Imperial Sentry Droids
• See the station wiki for other possible adversaries

CLUNK.

Eilen cringed as the paneling cut out by their boarding pod clattered loudly onto the floor. Qyreia and Leeadra seemed unfazed by the noise, but the Zeltron was still careful to not poke her head out for long as she checked their surroundings.

While she looked around, Eilen piped up. “Uh, y-you know I could just–”

“Shh,” Qyreia silenced the furred girl as she pulled back. “We’re clear for now, but that’s gonna draw some schuttas quick,” she suggested, pointing to the paneling. “Let’s move it, double-time. And check your masks.”

With a low flick of her ears, Eilen’s jittery fingers tapped and prodded all along her breath mask, making sure her fur hadn’t left any gaps. Lee gave her own mask a quick nudge, then offered a thumbs-up. Qyreia nodded to them and turned forward, ready to go.

All three girls hurried out and down the corridor they’d emerged from, and rounded a corner just before they heard the sound of guards’ chatter coming from the other end. Right away, it was apparent they were investigating the loud noise, and were relaying information to other guardsmen. The ladies didn’t stay close long enough to catch the details.

“Alright,” Qyreia whispered once they’d found an isolated corner, “they’re gonna have more guards looking for us, so stay sharp, and keep a low profile until we get this place’s defenses shut down. Eilen, give us a lookout for a minute.”

The furred girl nodded, then closed her eyes and felt the air for movement around them. Beside her, Leeadra pulled out her datapad, and tapped through it to find their copy of the station’s schematics. Once open, the Pantoran gestured to their supposed location, and traced her finger along a few possible routes to their destination.

“We need to get up a few floors, and it looks like we’ll have to get past some security doors,” she whispered back. “Hmm… No telling the patrols, though.”

Qyreia looked in closer, then pointed to a space between the floors and walkways. “Ventilation. It’s gassed up and down, but that’s not a problem for us.”

“What if it’s rigged to watch for intruders?”

“That’s why we send in the fuzzball first.”

Lee shot her a disapproving look.

“What? You said she turns invisible, right? If she run into any traps, guns, giant unshielded fans, or whatever, then she backtracks, we kick out the nearest exit, and work–”

“Uh, um-- guys?” Eilen interrupted, her ears twitching. “Someone’s coming. Uhh, that way!” Her twitching hand gestured leftward from their corner.

“Then we go the other way, now.” The Zeltron moved quickly, with Lee not far behind as she re-packed her datapad. Eilen scrambled to follow.

Carrying on down their ad hoc path choice, the place seemed conveniently quiet. For several turns they didn’t see a single guard — attributed to the ongoing skirmishes in the hangar areas. It wasn’t until they turned a corner on the path Leeadra indicated that they saw the real reason: a big, scary door. More specifically, it was a sizeable blast door with a pair of automated blaster turrets flanking either side.

Leaving only a sliver of her face to be seen, the guns didn’t bother to shoot at Eilen before she slipped back into cover with her compatriots. “Well, um, t-this just got harder,” she said, describing the scene ahead.

“Could you cloak yourself,” Leeadra injected before Qyreia could put her foot in her mouth again, “and blow the door?”

“Eheh, b-better than that,” the Selonian replied with meek confidence and an awkward grin.

While the fading image of the Force user did not perturb the Pantoran in any way, it managed to unnerve the Zeltron somewhat, reminding her that other less trustworthy Force-wielders could do the same. There was hardly a shimmer as the fuzzy woman slipped away toward the obstacle. Each step was slow and methodical, hardly a whisper to be heard, even without the ambient noise of the station.

Only Leeadra was even aware of it when she finally reached the door’s control panel. Eilen opened the touchpad cover and narrowed her invisible eyes. Alright, let’s see what makes you tick.

Between her probe and decoder, slicing the prison’s security programming was like pushing a lightsaber through butter. The two ladies of color watched as the turrets drooped and a satisfied Eilen appeared from the ether, her pleased grin twitching nervously when she saw the two sets of eyes watching.

Qyreia took a final cautious glance around before moving forward with Leeadra close behind. “You do good work, Fuzz.”

“Fuzz?” the Pantoran quipped.

“Yeah. You’re Blue, I’m Red, and now she’s Fuzz.” Their stares did little to settle the mood. “It’s a work in progress.”

Leeadra shook her head and stepped by, patting the tall Selonian appreciatively on the arm. “Good job, Eilen.”

The furred girl fidgeted amiably, taking her cue to open the blast door. Its movements were loud and slow, giving clear warning to the two droids on the other side that were standing guard. Before they had time to fully turn about though, the Zeltron sent a burst of blaster bolts into one of their chassis while Leeadra picked one up and crushed it against the wall.

With the door fully opened, they were all able to appreciate the deactivated blaster turrets on the opposite side of the door as they passed through. The presence of only two guard droids was somewhat unsettling.

“I’m waiting for the droid army to come crashing through,” Qyreia said hesitantly.

“I’d think the droids would be stationary.” Leeadra looked around curiously. “Prisons don’t just rush all their guards to deal with a break-in. You still need to control the prisoners.”

“Fair.”

They only passed a few dozen meters of ground before a duo of ray shields went up to the group’s front and rear. Only a moment later came the faint hissing sound of vents expelling their contents.

“Gas!” Qyreia yelled. Almost reflexively, the trio checked the seals they had on the masks they were already wearing. “Frackin’ hell. When it rains, it pours. Eilen, is there a way to hack these schuttas?” she asked, pointing at the barriers.

“O-one sec.”

Only slightly reassured by the clean air flowing through the breath mask, Eilen found a maintenance access panel near the floor and got to work. It seemed whatever AI was overseeing the prison was getting increasingly annoyed by their presence. That, or they were just unlucky about the defenses going off. Soon enough though, the gas stopped hissing into the enclosed space, followed by the shields dissipating entirely.

“I’m liking you more and more, Fuzz.”

“Um, is there, uh, something else you can call me?”

Qyreia pursed her lips. “Fine. We’ll come up with nicknames later. We’ve still got an AI core to shut down.”

Eilen’s skills, it would turn out, proved invaluable. With each successive blockage to their progress, the Selonian’s skill set brought down each and every one. As they moved from the fringes of the prison sector of the station to the inner workings, the guard resistance quickly grew. Not far from the main control hub, while the befurred woman was busy hacking through yet another secured blast door, Leeadra was busy deflecting blaster bolts while her former master sent some back at their Collective counterparts that had flanked them from an adjacent hall.

“Seems we hit the rough patch,” Qyreia yelled above the firefight’s din. “Should be close to the mainframe.”

“The ugh…” Lee grunted as she deflected yet another of the Sentry Droids’ powerful shots, “the AI core.”

“Whatever!”

“There is a, um, s-slight difference,” Eilen added almost without even thinking about it, focused as she was on hacking the door. “There! All set!”

“Great!” Qyreia yelled. “Let’s go then!”

The final blast door creaked and slid apart. Eilen leapt through the multi-layered barrier as soon as there was a gap, while her compatriots finished off the last of the guards facing them down. The repeatedly blasted droids broke down onto the floor, but no doubt more would come. As soon as Leeadra and Qyreia were through the doorway, Eilen set it to shut.

As the furred girl turned around, she gazed upon a complex, shielded system that must have been the prison’s AI core. Access panels were open on standing control boards at either side of the room. Plenty of space for assumedly commanding droids - or a pesky half-bothan girl - to interface with the AI and the systems in its control. Eilen rubbed her hands in anticipation as she approached the right-side panels.

“More are gonna show up before too long,” Qyreia pointed out. “Blue and I will keep the door covered, but try to be quick, Fluffy.”

Leeadra gave the Zeltron a quirky look and lightly shook her head at the new nickname. “That’s never gonna stick.”

With her mind already set on plugging her gear into the access paneling, Eilen hardly noticed the banter. Alright, here we go… Her probe and decoder began relaying information for her to dig through and process. She briefly considered shutting down cameras and sensors in the area, but there wouldn’t be much point with the noise they’d already made. Straight to the defenses, then.

Unsurprisingly, the AI’s direct control over the security systems left a lot more barriers the hybrid would need to bypass. Eilen merely scoffed to herself, and pulled one of her computer spikes from her toolkit. Once it was plugged in, a plethora of digital walls granted her entry, and then the real fun began. All systems were in her grasp.

Due to her lack of a proper passcode entry, the AI certainly knew something was up, and began dispatching disruptive functions. You know what, screw you too. Eilen slid to a second panel nearby and put in a second computer spike, this time aimed at the AI itself. While it initiated a systematic break-in, the furred girl paid Lee a quick visit to pull the datapad out of her pack, and set it up with her second spike. A few minutes of low-level tampering yielded the AI’s connection permissions, which Eilen promptly deleted. Ha.

Apart from a series of programmatic alerts, little more stood in her way as she turned off all defenses. The furred girl stood back and let out a deep, satisfied breath. “I think I got it.”

“All of it?” Qyreia asked, turning to her.

Eilen opened her mouth, then stopped, her ears twitching. She looked back down at her collection of devices, quickly reviewing each of them once more, then nodded. “Yeah. For sure.”

“Perfect.” The Zeltron opened her communicator and set its frequency to match their ships outside. “Arcona, this is the infiltration squad. I have confirmation that the station’s security systems are down. Repeat, the station’s security systems are down. Bring our boys in.”

“Sweet,” Lee chimed in. “Let’s get out of here while the coast is still clear.”

As Eilen collected her gear, her ears shot up at a sudden feeling. A sense of unease flowed through her. “Uh-- guys?”

Before she could make anything out for sure, Lee winced as she sensed it coming, too. The blast door creaked, and began to slide open. Through the gap between the door’s layers, the trio made out a singular droid, familiar from their intel: Rutgar-4, the prison warden himself. As soon as the door made enough of an entryway to walk through, a low, mechanical statement left its voice modulator. “Targets acquired.”

Qyreia didn’t hesitate to turn and unload her blaster on the access panels in front of Eilen. The control ports sparked and blew out just as the droid flung a heavy arm into both the Zeltron and the Pantoran, throwing them back. Eilen barely leapt aside before being flattened, but all three clearly heard the ignition sound of electro-plasma filaments as Rutgar drew a bladed staff. Qyreia and Lee quickly rolled and scrambled on their hands and knees behind the shot-up control stand, while their furry friend bolted over the stand on the opposite side of the room.

“What did you shoot that thing for?!” the blue girl asked frantically as she activated her lightsaber.

“We don’t have time to risk him fixing whatever the fuzzball did!” With that thought in mind, the Zeltron quickly pointed her gun around half-blindly and shot up the access panels across the room. A quick yelp from Eilen was audible from the far stand’s other side as it blew sparks. From what Qyreia could see from her point, the warden was approaching with haste. “Look out!”

The electric whirr of Rutgar’s swinging blade came overhead, where Lee quickly brought her lightsaber up to a clash with it. The Pantoran shoved the droid’s weapon aside and quickly stood to face it, their blades clashing over the control stand and sparking its remains further with every deflected blow.

Across the room, Eilen drew her own lightsaber, and leapt out to take on Rutgar from behind. In an anticipating maneuver, the droid pushed a hard strike against Leeadra, knocking her back, then arced its arms back to block the furred girl’s strike as if it already knew her movements. The warden twisted around to mount a direct offense against her, while Lee pulled herself back up.

“Lee wait!” Qyreia quickly ushered. The Zeltron’s rifle lay across her legs as she pulled a frag grenade from her belt. “Give us come cover, quick!”

Eilen’s defensive lightsaber training kept the droid from cleaving her lanky figure, but the droid’s physical prowess was clear. She only deflected so many blows before Rutgar managed to throw her blade aside and deliver a breath-stealing kick to her chest. Eilen and all of her gear fell cluttered on the floor on the other side of the doorway, the furred girl left gasping for air. A few denton charges rolled loose from her bag.

Rutgar took one step toward her, when Qyreia’s voice shouted out, “Hey bolt-brain, catch!” The warden turned back to see a Force barrier building over the red and blue girls, as the latter chucked her grenade through the last closing gap in the shield. Before the device actually exploded though, Rutgar released one hand from its blade to literally catch it, and threw it back with a lightning reflex.

Lee’s freshly formed barrier dissipated at the grenade’s explosion, staggering the Force-user. Though hardly damaged through its plating, the force of the explosion disoriented the droid for a few moments, giving Qyreia a chance to slip across the room to its flank. The Zeltron took cover behind the opposite control stand and let out a few more shots at the warden.

While she had the chance, Leeadra shook off her mildly jarred state and tried to message her furred friend. Eilen? Eilen, if you can, I need the biggest freakin’ distraction you can manage right now!

On the floor outside of the room, Eilen’s twitching ears were ringing from the bang, but she heard the voice in her mind clearly enough. With her breath slowly coming back to her, she spotted one of her explosive charges on the floor, and an idea came to mind.

The warden stepped closer to Qyreia and swung its blade over the side of the control stand. It scraped along the paneling and barely avoided the Zeltron as she tumbled to the side. Quickly hopping back to her feet, she backpedaled and fired continuously at the droid, most of her shots building burns against Rutgar’s plating, but the warden approached with haste. Her gun quickly became a blunt tool to block Rutgar’s swings by the shaft of his weapon, saving her skin for the moment.

Their stalemate was brief, as the droid exchanged its tactics for old-fashioned brute force. Its next attack brought all of its mechanical might to knock aside Qyreia’s gun. With the red woman briefly exposed, Rutgar grabbed her by the neck and pulled her up, rearing back its blade for a finishing strike.

Just then, about a hundred rapid beeping noises became apparent as something clunked against the warden’s foot. Looking down, Eilen’s bag had slid into it and broken open, letting loose twelve engaged denton charges, all rolling across the floor. Given there was enough firepower around its feet to destroy a bunker - or in this case, an AI core and the three floors above and blow it - Rutgar threw Qyreia back and moved quickly to scoop up the bag.

Qyreia hit the door frame hard and landed ungracefully on the floor, but maintained enough of a survival instinct to drag herself through the doorway and away from the armed batch of explosives. Not far away, Leeadra felt the same rush of adrenaline, but had a plan to follow through. “Eilen, throw him!”

In unison, Lee and Eilen shifted their hands toward Rutgar, hurling an invisible force against the droid that tossed it across the room and knocked the weapon from its grasp. The denton charges around the floor scattered further apart, but continued beeping in their primed states. With a quick gasp, Eilen rushed to the outer door controls and set the blast door to shut while Lee ran out to join them. The warden had barely gotten back onto its feet when the numerous metal barriers sealed the room shut once more.

“Oh crap, t-that worked!” Eilen stuttered out shakily.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Lee ushered her. “Nuke that guy!”

“Wait, what?! No! That’s like, enough firepower t-to, to… to blow this whole place–”

The girls were interrupted as Qyreia shot the door controls with her pistol. Her other hand rubbed her head with a heavy groan. “Urgh… He won’t be leaving for a while. Let him panic while he’s there. We’ve got troops about to land anyway, so just…” The Zeltron rubbed her head again, and whipped her pistol forward in a commanding gesture. “Find someplace we can hole up before anyone else tries to kick our asses.”

A loud clunk resounded from the other side of the blast door, like a metal fist pounding against it, and the girls hurried away.

This Phase lasts from November 12th until November the 19th (one (1) week)

Request from the organizers: Please add a note to the top of the next post which path your team will choose in this Phase. Thank you.

Phase III objectives

The Brotherhood advances. What started as sporadic fighting in the major hangar bays of Meridian has turned into an all-out battle on all decks. Spurred by your team’s success in the prison, your Clan forces have come to support you and issue new orders for your team.

Daggo Mouk, one of the leaders of the Collective and the Guildmaster of the Technocratic Guild, has been confirmed on the station. With him he has a potent Technocratic Artifact that, if whisked away, would threaten the position of the Brotherhood in future engagements.

Daggo’s last known position was in the command center, however we have been having trouble following his movements. Wherever he is on the station, he would not leave the artifact unattended. The return of the artifact to Brotherhood hands is of absolute strategic value.

Your team has been tasked to complete one of the following objectives in limited time (you may complete only one (1) objective):

• Revenge path: Confront and eliminate Daggo Mouk. Have no mercy.

• Sabotage path: Sabotage the Collective’s future plans by stealing the artifact by any means necessary.

• Pacifist path: Capture Daggo Mouk for interrogation and trial.

The phase must end with the artifact retrieved. Daggo’s fate is open-ended and up to you.

Relevant character sheets:

• CS: Daggo Mouk.

Objective selected: Sabotage path.

The sound of blaster fire and the whirring of lightsabers filled the hangar bay of the Meridian. Having taken cover behind a large durasteel crate, Leeadra and Eilen used the moment of relative peace to catch their breath. A few meters ahead, most of her body hidden behind a support beam was Qyreia, eagerly returning fire in the general direction of the enemy. Despite her relative lack of aim, the Zeltron was able to at least disable, if not outright destroy, the majority of the combatants in the general direction she was firing.

“Geez. Leave some fun for the rest of us, Qybbles,” mocked the Pantoran, igniting her own weapon and deflecting a few shots back at the assailants who fired them. Noting the distraction in the assault, Eilen used the opportunity to advance her position, leaving her just a few meters from the access panel for the door separating the three of them from the rest of the station.

“Hey! Uhhh… If you guys could distract them again real quick, that’d be great,” the half-Bothan woman shouted to her teammates, shooting finger guns in their general direction. Without a second thought, Leeadra jumped into action, throwing herself into the open, lightsaber at the ready.

“HEY! OVER HERE YOU BUNCH OF UGLY, PALE, CHOOBIE LICKERS!”

Qyreia rolled her eyes as she watched her former apprentice, deep in concentration, deflecting every shot that came her way. ‘Wow,’ she thought, ‘I really did manage to teach the blueberry a thing or two.’ Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden outburst from the furrier of her two teammates announcing her success in opening the bulkhead.

The Pantoran dashed back behind the crate, taking cover once more as her former master began a suppressive fire maneuver, allowing the both of them to escape through the open door which was then swiftly shut behind the three women thanks, once again, to Eilen. Though she wanted nothing more than to collapse on the floor in relief, Leeadra pulled out her datapad and summoned a schematic of the station to the screen.

“Alright ladies, we’re after this artifact,” she said, gesturing a blue hand to bring up an image of an emerald green crystal. “It is guarded by one Daggo Mouk.” With another flick of her wrist, an image of the Ithorian was brought to the surface. “Now he isn’t likely to just leave the thing lying around somewhere, so we’re going to have to get creative. All the intel we have suggests that the most likely place to find our friend will be the command center.” One final swipe returned the station’s layout to the screen, a path highlighted from their position to the command center. “We are to retrieve the artifact by any means necessary. The route I have outlined here should be the path of least resistance, though we should be ready to fight regardless. Are there any questions? No. Alright. Let’s move.”

Without another word, the trio advanced down the hallway before them. It wasn’t long before they were met with resistance. Four enforcer droids blocked their path, firing upon the women without hesitation. Eilen and Leeadra ignited their lightsabers, successfully deflecting the first round of fire aimed in their direction, effectively shielding Qyreia from the onslaught. Leeadra managed to take down one of the droids with relative ease by redirecting a blaster bolt and sending it back in the direction it came, singing a small hole through the droid’s silver chestplate. Eilen, however, was a little less lucky. A stray blaster bolt clipped her left shoulder, causing the smell of burning hair and singed flesh to permeate the hallway. Clutching at her injured arm, Eilen dashed back around the corner of the hallway, where Qyreia was providing suppressive fire.

“Here you go, Fuzz, get that arm patched up,” Qyreia shouted over the sound of blaster fire, tossing her medpac in the direction of the half-Bothan woman. As Eilen dug through the pack, the Zeltron woman took a moment to steady her aim and fired two shots, cleanly taking two of the remaining KX-series droids out of the fight. Trusting her former apprentice to handle the remaining combatant, the mercenary went to assist her companion in applying the bandage that the furred woman had managed to unroll onto the floor. As soon as Qyreia finished securing the last knot, the hall fell quiet. There was a metallic clank as the last droid hit the floor, signaling that it was time to move on. The red woman quickly returned the unused supplies back to her medpac before sprinting off in the direction Leeadra and Eilen had gone.

Several minutes and a handful of other small fights later, the women turned the final corner before approaching the doors to the command center. “Eilen, do you think you can get us in here,” Leeadra queried of her friend. “Ummm…. Probably. I think… Hopefully. It’ll take a little longer, but I can do it.” Without further hesitation, Eilen dropped her pack and began to work. Occasionally, she called out to one of her companions when an extra hand was needed for a bit of the more intricate work, but for the most part, she was able to handle things quite well.

“Ok. Last bit. I… I could use your help with this, Lee.”

Eilen felt her face getting warmer as the Pantoran woman approached. ’Gotta stay focused. I have a job to do. Must… focus…’ the half-Bothan gave a small wave with her injured arm before the sharp pain made her refocus on the task at hand. “I just need you to take this,” Eilen instructed, handing the blue woman her probe, “and hold it right there. Perfect. Now to reroute the power to the door…” But before the task could be completed, a gravelly voice pierced the near silence that had fallen.

“What exactly do you three think you’re doing?”

Having approached from the direction Leeadra had previously been guarding, Daggo Mouk now stood before them, blaster held firmly in his one natural arm. Without hesitation, Leeadra ignited her lightsaber and Qyreia drew her DL-44, aiming it carefully at the space between his cybernetic eye and the real one.

“We’re here for the crystal, Mouk,” Qyreia announced, “Give it to us and we might consider letting you live.” The Ithorian seemed to consider the possibility before turning and sprinting away in the direction he appeared from, a robotic arm clutching the crystal desperately to his chest. Eilen and Qyreia took off without hesitation, following the man down the hallway. The Zeltron, still holding her pistol, took aim and fired two shots at Daggo. The first of the two flew just centimeters above the Ithorian’s head, but the second landed squarely in the middle of the harness strapped to his back, causing a short in the mechanism. Mouk seemed unphased and continued to dash down the hallway, only a few meters ahead of his tailing party. With one more shot, the two women watched their would-be escapee tumble to the ground, his good hand immediately going to his left leg near the hip joint, desperately grasping at it.

The two women approached him cautiously, Qyreia’s weapon still trained on his rather large head. While the Zeltron kept him in place, Eilen searched his person for the artifact.

“Uhhhhhhhhh…”

“What’s wrong, Fuzz?”

“It’s… uhhhhh… not here.”

“What? What do you mean it’s not there?”

Just as the words left Qyreia’s mouth, Leeadra caught up to them, dangling the emerald-colored crystal from a delicate chain.

“You guys looking for this? I’m pretty sure he dropped it when you shot his harness thing, Q.”

The three of them gathered around the treasure of their hunt, gawking, and wondering why this little crystal was worth causing such a ruckus. Suddenly, Qyreia reached away from the group, and without so much as looking at her target, fired a single shot that landed between Daggo’s outstretched left arm and the pistol he had been reaching for. Eilen quickly moved in and removed the weapon from their prisoner’s arm reach.

“The Brotherhood can decide what they want to do with you, Mouk,” Leeadra taunted before picking up her comlink to radio their success to the Clan summit. “Don’t you worry now, they’ll be here soon.”