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[Edge of the Empire pbp] Allegiance IC/OOC
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Now that the Empire has virtually retreated into the Core Worlds, Mal is more determined than ever to maintain the status quo- he knows his family's fortune is directly tied to the Empire, and that if the system falls into Rebel hands his family fortunes would take a drastic turn for the worse.
Financial depression, piracy, and Rebel attacks plague the fearful citizens of the Minos Cluster. For many loyal Imperial subjects, life seems hopeless. But in a spaceport bar on the remote world of Eliad, the future is about to change…
ELIAD.
The Minos Cluster.
A world of dusty grasslands and dry deserts. One of the few major worlds of the backwater Sector that sits at the tail-end of the Rimma Trade Route, past the last trade hub of Tantra a full two sectors Coreward. No one comes out this far unless they're on the run or desperate. The Minos Cluster isn't known for holiday destinations.
You sit at a table in He's Not Here, an artificially seedy spaceport cantina with overpriced drinks and bored staff. It's been made to look like the typical den of low-rent violence and iniquity from the holovids but a suspicious second glance at the blaster marks on the walls reveals they've been burned in with a blowtorch. In other words perfect for its usual clientele- young brats of exiled Imperial nobility.
A heavily-cybernetic man in a mohawk strolls in, ignoring the kids playing smuggler in their thousand-credit Corellian jackets. He sits down at your table and holds up a metal hand for a drink, then turns to you.
"Two weeks. I can't believe I met you all only two weeks ago. Sure, we were drunk, but it was still a surprise to find out that others felt as I did. Thank God we're on Eliad, right? The Empire doesn't have agents here, or else they'd be overwhelmed with the petty schemes and revenge plans of these rich idiots."
He jerks a chrome thumb at the scions of nobility behind him, some of whom are loudly boasting about how intoxicated they are.
"Nobles. Always fuckin' hated nobles. Their bickering made the Republic soft, and their influence ensures that the top ranks are filled with incompetents instead of the Empire's best and brightest. Sure as hell explains Sector Moff Tiran. Three years on and already most of the Cluster's gone down the tubes. Piracy, corruption, Rebel attacks, you name it."
He takes a drink.
"But you're going to change that. Here." He plunks down a small piece of machinery with wires coming out of it. "This is an Imperial Holonet access chip. Attach it to your ship's comm array control board and you'll have all the distress calls the Imperial Navy can't handle. I've listened to the damn thing for a week and had to shut it off because it got too depressing. Farmers under siege by wildlife, colonies groaning under the weight of taxes, traders screaming into the void under pirate attack, hell you name it, it's here in the Cluster."
"I'm getting ahead of myself. First, you need a ship. Now I've made some inquiries and pulled a few of what little favors remain to me and I've found two options for you."
"One, there's an impounded bulk hauler sitting in the spaceport's third landing bay. Captain got caught leaving with messages from a few of the nobles. Now you can bring in almost anything you like here but the Emperor doesn't like these assholes making revenge plans so Customs checks the holostorage of anyone leaving. You have even so much as a birthday card and you're looking at five years.
It's not the best ship, and it doesn't handle that well, but it flies and it's still got a hold full of cargo. You could break into the dockmaster's office and check the manifest, maybe make a few extra credits out there in the Rim."
"And two, there's an old last-generation Lambda shuttle on one of the nobles' estates. That's a step up from the freighter and it'll let you finagle your way past the Navy and impress local yokels but getting it won't be easy. Guy likes to play militia and has hired more than a few mercenaries to protect his estate."
"Let me know which one you want to go after. I can make some arrangments to smooth things out for you but it'll cost you later. At the very least I'll throw in a ride out to the estate for free, if that's the one you want to go after. And feel free to ask me any questions."
He takes another drink, draining it and none-too-gently putting it down.
"After all, I was a Moff."
Warming. Clarity and focus increased. Reactions damped. Hands still steady. Acrid taste leaving, mouth now feels clean. Focus is at expense of other matters...
Eyes refocusing on the Moff, Xket strains to recall the man's name before abandoning the effort altogether.
All he remembers from that night is that when he woke up, he was less one stolen shuttle, and flush with credits.
Or at least more flush he was on his home world.
"Ssso. I asssume the freighter hass worsse weaponss than the sshuttle?"
Like most Rodians, every 's' he pronounces has a rather too long build-up, due to the nature of the Rodian's mouth and reptilian tongue.
The Rodian's natural language is built up of hard consonants to try and get around this.
It is starting to dawn on Xket that he may have to do the same here for expediency.
"I rather.. don't want to be lefft with a.. sship that can't hold itsss own."
"If you want 'support' I can pull in a few favors. There's a small group of mercenaries from Sorocco on the planet that owe me, and I've sometimes made use of a local slicer from time to time. They might be able to shut off alarms, turn off defenses, that sort of thing. But these people don't come cheap and that means you owe me a favor in return."
In return for Obligation you have access to one of two resources- a small group of hired muscle or a slicer. He doesn't have enough clout to call in both, but you're free to use them to acquire either ship and are encouraged to be creative in asking them for help.
Like am I going to be unable to do things that they can do, or will they just be better at things as they are trained?
The mercenaries are just five dudes with guns and you can order them (for example) to stage a diversionary attack somewhere else or attack head-on with you etc.
@El Skid @Saint Justice @Reynolds
"If you could point us at your slicer friend I'm sure we could persuade him to help us out without costing you a favour. Would you be willing to do that much for us?"
"Yes. There is no need to resort to violence. Or attempt to deceive citizens and/or servants of the Empire by improper usage of a military-grade shuttle. We wish to aid the Empire. Not impersonate its soldiers.
I am sure Mr. Templeton and myself could convince your compatriot to aid us in return for a percentage of profits from the sale of the hauler's cargo. With another percentage going to the local dockmaster. And yourself. Of course. Not that you require financial encouragement to aid us. Which will aid the Empire. And its citizens."
The droid spoke with almost no obvious emotion, his artificial voice loud and monotone. XP10-C obviously picked his words carefully, though, and somehow seemed genuinely concerned for the well-being of his companions and other law abiding citizens of the Empire.
"The dockmaster will likely be happy to have the responsibility taken off of his hands. And replaced with a handful of credits. With the promise of more. I always keep my promises. That is good business.
There will be no need to resort to violence."
Slicers, he after a moment recalled, were people who could get you into where you needed to go.
They could easily interact with computers and get around electronic locks and such.
Or at least that's what the elders taught him.
Perhaps they simply did not want the warriors bogged down with electronic know-how.
Similarly, Xket was hard pressed to think why there was no need for violence.
He could think of several situations where violence was not used to solve a problem, but in those circumstances the threat of violence was used instead.
And that did not seem to be what the droid was implying.
After a moment, another thought dawned on Xket:
"You talk about owing you for the sssliccer. I don't quite... get it though.
What is your ssstake in helping uss get a ssship?"
A veteran of the Clone Wars, he was former Grand Moff of the Imperial Center Oversector but was forced out due to political jockeying and betrayal by incompetent yet ambitious underlings. He is incredibly dangerous in the way that only a combination of ruthlessness and genius can be, would really like to be in a position of power again, and hates the Jedi after the thermal detonator explosion that maimed him twenty-three years ago.
"Blueprints? You really think I'd bring blueprints to a bar. Sure, let me unroll them in front of everyone and spread them out on the tabl- NO I DID NOT BRING BLUEPRINTS!"
He sighs.
"If you want blueprints, library computers are connected to the central datanet by a rather weak firewall. If you've any slicing skill among you it should be easy to break in and find out what you need to know."
He turns to the XP10-C.
"Droid, I have no need of credits. If you want to try and bribe the dockmaster that's fine by me, but since this is the one world in fifty light-years the Empire actually cares about Imperial Center usually chooses honest officials. If it were me I'd steal it, but if you want to try your luck I could set up a meeting that doesn't involve you shooting your way into his office."
He looks at the Rodian.
"Finally. You're the first one to ask a decent question, and out here it's the only question you always, always need to ask. 'What's in it for them? What's their angle?' My 'stake' as you call it is that this little slice of the Empire doesn't fall to the Rebellion or anarchy and I get to keep my head."
"By the way, if I hear about any of you rolling into starports throwing my name around like it's Life Day candies I'm not going to be happy. This whole thing, my involvement, off the books, understand? I get to live so long as I'm not a 'nuisance' as that idiot of a Moff termed it when I arrived and I like living."
"I appreciate the offer of support, but I'd rather not owe anyone a favor before we're even squared away. It's nice to have options, though. I'll keep those contacts in mind in case they're needed later.
Now, as far as the ships in question. . .The shuttle should serve our purposes better. The freighter sounds like it'd be a flying bulls-eye for pirates. Free cargo is tempting, but if we get spaced then we don't get to keep any of those creds. If we can sneak past the mercs, all the better. If it comes down to blasters. . .well, it's not my first time leading a squad. Those babysitters won't know what hit'em."
Roland glances about his companions, Delilah and Xket seem to be on board with the shuttle option. He wonders if Mal and XP10-C will come around. He chuckles to himself, internally. Did the droid really think that we could avoid violence for long in the Outer Rim? If so, that silver-tongued rust bucket better wise up.
Alright, let's vote on it. You know my vote; that Lambda shuttle is calling my name.
"Well, that's two votes for the shuttle, and if I'm not mistaken the droid was in favor of the freighter. Rodian? Malleous?"
@El Skid @discrider
Not the mercenaries though. That would amount to cheating.
Xket shook his head.
But is it though?
It would at the very least be messier.
"Oh, I'm all for travelling in style, and making our entrances a bit easier in the future." says Malleous, smiling broadly. "So we are decided, then. Fabulous."
I too want 'tability in the 'ector, and recompensse fffrom thossse who would disssrupt it."
Xket grimaced as dropping the s and f sounds mid-word also didn't seem feasible.
Galactic speech sucks.
(To the casual observer, a Rodian grimacing has the same effect as if you had stuffed a cut lemon into their snout.
Their mouth shortens and puckers involuntarily)
He takes out a datapad and reads.
"My network tells me security's going to be relatively light at that part of the estate, but if and when things kick off it's in your best interest to get the ship and get out. Don't bother trying your hand at looting- you're simply not going to have enough time, and his kind of noble likes valuables that are large, heavy, and awkward to carry."
He takes an unused drink napkin and makes a quick sketch with two tiny Xs.
"But if you want to hit the Cluster with some credits there's a back entrance here into the Customs lockup here. Customs auctions seized goods off to the nobility every month so don't feel bad about lifting something easily-carried. Whatever it is, it's better in your hands than theirs."
"In one hour, there will be a cargo speeder waiting for you outside this bar. Make sure you're on it."
Trachta drains another drink and stands up.
"You already are indebted to me, or do you think you'd have found this information all by yourself? Don't worry, though. I'm not a "breaks appendages" kinda guy. For now, learning of your exploits on the newsvids will be reward enough. For now."
He strides out, blending in expertly in the sea of drunken, dancing space-hipsters.
This is now the time for all those slicing, knowledge, charm, streetwise etc. checks you want to make. Feel free to split the party.
"Not sssure if you all want to hire the sssslicccer, but in the meantime I'll go get that map."
Xket then heads off in the direction of the library.
So Xket is off to the library to get the map, what's everyone else doing? If you don't want to do anything until the speeder arrives, say so. Otherwise I'll handle it via PM and make one big post summarizing everything when it's time to go steal the ship.
@El Skid @Saint Justice @Reynolds @cj iwakura
Geth roll 1eA+1eB+1eP+1eD+1eS
I've forgotten the red die code, but you roll your relevant skill, consisting of yellow Proficiency dice for each level of Skill training and underlying stat, and green Advantage? Dice for each remaining level of unpaired Skill training or underlying stat.
You roll this against the difficulty dice pool Marcus gives you. Simple:0eD, Easy:1eD, Average:2eD, Hard:3eD, ...
Successes/failures let you do what you want to do. Advantage/Threat determine how well you do it and if there's any additional positives/negatives.
The blue/black Boost/Setback dice get added when there are situational bonuses/negatives.
Often advantage/threat is spent adding Boost/Setback dice to later checks.
For example you'd like to help a moisture farmer fix one of his droids. You ask for the difficulty, and remind me that since you picked up some droid tools earlier at the market you should get a bonus. The droid is not damaged very badly so I say it's an Average check. The moisture farmer has tried to do some home repairs and failed miserably so let's throw in a setback die to represent that the burnt-out panels and crisscrossed wiring his attempts have left.
It's a Mechanics check, and you've got 3 Intelligence and 1 skill rank. That gives you 3 Ability dice with 1 upgraded to a Proficiency die. If you had 1 Int and 3 it's the same- Green are always the most dice you'll roll and you upgrade them to Yellow.
So in practice it'd look something like this:
"After reassuring the droid that no harm will come to it, Mara Jade puts it into temporary shutdown mode and starts work on its damaged primary motor circuits."
Geth, roll 2eA+1eP+1eB+2eD+1eS
edit- at which point you can edit your post (Geth won't roll again) and type up what happened.
"After replacing several key actuators that had been burned out by the desert heat and giving it a good shake to remove loose sand, Mara stood the droid back up and flipped the activation switch. The repair was a success! She'd even managed to re-activate some secondary agricultural functions that decades of age and neglect had rendered useless. 'This will surely help me win the farmer's trust so I can find the Rebel base,' she thought."
More Successes than Failures means you succeed (and you can spend them to make the result better. 3 extra successes basically means that droid is as good as new). Advantages means that something good happens, even if you fail- perhaps you noticed something that wasn't there before, or even though you didn't managed to wheel and deal something out of a greedy merchant you found out that he'd be amenable to a trade. Same thing with Threat- although you managed to fix that droid, perhaps a capacitor discharged into your hand. Ouch! Take 1 Strain.
There's a table in each of the rulebooks for spending dice results and it's well worth it to take a screenshot of the page.
The droid crossed his arms as he was outvoted, metal clunking on metal...although there were thick pads attached to his arms and chest as well, to limit this sort of noise and collision. He stayed quiet, contemplating the way the others had decided, until the former Moff had departed.
"He was a great leader. Fallen on hard times. The current situation would be improved if he were returned to his former position."
XP10-C uncrossed his arms and turned his glowing gaze toward Roland.
"I am not a distraction. However. I believe I may have determined the existence of another individual who may prove very distracting to our target."
The droid sat up straight, emitting a brief mechanical whir before an entirely different voice spoke.
There was a click as the recording switched off, the droid's voice returning to normal.
"His child may frequent this very establishment. Or be otherwise known to one of its current occupants. I believe convincing one of these adolescents to inconvenience their father would be a relatively simple endeavor."
He slowly began to stand, causing a short burst of mechanical grinding and clicking. XP10-C rose to his full height, looking between Roland, Delilah and Malleous.
"Your input and assistance would be appreciated."
He's basically suggesting we find the noble's kid and convince them to help us either to piss off their dad or through threat of violence. By the others with him, XP10-C is a nice guy who'd rather just talk the kid into it, but he won't get in the way if the others step in to rough the kid up. I'll be happy to make any rolls that will help with this, if you can tell me what to roll. What happened to the dice showing up as little pictures next to the roll? That was neat.
Geth roll 4eA+2eD
Geth roll 4eA+3eD+1eB
Delilah kept the droid's suggestion in mind, but had her own means of gathering information to undertake. Once away from the cantina, she headed out to see what the word on the street was about the nobles and their residences... though she seemed to have no luck with that, she did at least manage some information about the shuttle, which she'd commit to memory as she'd head back to the Cantina.
"Phew! Just got back from that shuttle job. Those underground hangars sure are a pain when it comes to propa lighting."
"I hear ya. Good to keep out the rain, though."
"Rain schmain. We get paid double for bad weather, and besides with the way that guy fusses over that old Navy shuttle you'd think Tarkin himself had sat in it. He even keeps it parked away from the house just so 'the help' don't put their grubby mitts all over it."
"That's rich people for you."
She could only assume the rest of the group would return there once they were ready. Maybe she would have better luck following the droid's lead.
@cj ikawura You only get one action so right now you and Xket are waiting by the landspeeder.
@Reynolds, what exactly are you trying to do with the noble's kid?
@El Skid @Saint Justice what are Roland and Malleous going to do?
Step 2 is using Charm and/or Negotiate to convince them to help us steal from their father. With their reward possibly just that they get to see their father get really pissed at losing his shuttle, either with or without knowing the kid was involved. We could possibly offer them a ride off-planet as well, if they're the 'get me away from this dumb place' kinda kid.
If that fails, he will step aside and hopefully let one of the others try Coercion to intimidate them. Failing that, just kidnapping them. Might have a key or something on them, or could try to use them as a hostage or distraction.
The Moff Tarkin Memorial Library is a short walk down a few immaculately-kept side streets of the nobles' district. Xket steps into the cool shade of the arched entrance and strolls inside. It'd be nicer if it didn't smell of fresh paint.
Inside, Xket ignores the voluminous Fiction section and heads straight back to the somewhat neglected Reference area. Long rows of bookshelves (with real paper! Only the best for nobles.) line either side of a small row of computers, and an elderly Human librarian is fast asleep at the circulation desk.
Sliding up to the reference terminal, Xket quickly types in a literature search for "Human Biology".
While in the library, he may as well do some quick research after all, and it provides some method of cover as he brings up the local planning authority's website.
Now, for those plans....
Quickly pulling up the local search directory, Xket quickly narrows down a likely location.
The library apparently has a direct link to the Imperial council, or at least the branch of it in this sector.
Nothing particularly exciting goes through there. Mostly procedural things such as spacecraft registration, planning permissions and so on.
Of course, the planning registry was precisely what Xket was looking for at the moment.
Fingers flying, he located the property that they were intending on assailing.
The plans were however locked behind a relatively weak paywall.
First roll above; successful with advantage
A few fudged identity fields, and some misdirection of a couple of key variables later, and Xket was in.
A full structural layout of the noble's mansion lay out in front of him.
Quickly, Xket fired the plans off to the printer, where they would be printed out on a fine layer of versiplex. It really wasn't worth the cost to print them out on paper, and it always bemused Xket why you'd want to print vital information on something so susceptible to water damage.
Eyes flicking back to the screen, Xket noticed that there was another link here, to a secure map.
It looked like some further alterations had been made to the mansion, but these ones were restricted for official eyes only.
Looking back over the page, Xket was fairly confident that the modifications he had made to his session were watertight.
Crossing his digits, he clicked the link.
Second roll above; unsuccessful with advantage; boost from previous advantage
An overlay opened up over the existing map, detailing secure entrances and the specific hardware used at each one.
But only for a second.
In the time it took for Xket to burn a fraction of this information into his head, the Imperial database verified his identity, or more accurately rejected it.
The site locked Xket out, taking map and alterations with it.
Xket hissed in soft frustration, as a quick scan of the recent history didn't retrieve any of the information that was just stolen from him.
Quickly grabbing a marker and his print-outs, Xket made some rough notes capturing what little he remembered.
It wasn't much. A couple of mismatched codes. Some access panel locations.
Hopefully things that would make more sense once he was on the ground.
Settling back down, Xket turned back to the terminal.
And now for pleasure... he mouthed, as he started pulling up the locations of the medical manuals he'd searched for earlier.
A quick delve into the used copy bin later, and Xket was presenting ten credits to the old Librarian in return for a functional text book.
Some time later, Xket returns to the rest of the group, engrossed with his new purchase.
@Reynolds That's a bit too involved for the time span you've got to work with. You've only got an hour until your ride leaves with or without you, and that kind of search would take at least three hours and be Daunting as well (since you have absolutely no idea what the kid looks like). What I'd intended with this was each player does one kind of check- Xket did Security to break into the computer networks and Delilah eavesdropped for info with Streetwise.
What you do doesn't necessarily have to involve stealing the shuttle- for example, the nobles on this world are rich and bored in the way that nobles usually are and I'm sure there's a pile of credits to be made in the future by making a few contacts to sell luxury goods to. Or you could go after the stuff in the customs lockup, or keep an eye out for Rebel activity, whatever you like, just as long as it's one kind of check and is relatively simple.
@Saint Justice is Roland staying with Malleous, or is he doing something?
Man, splitting the party in PBP is a bad idea. Sorry it's taking so long. Next time it'll be teams!