Realizing they would never be able to control Mandalore and wanting to make sure no other faction did, the Empire launched the so-called "Great Purge" against the Mandalorians. Some attempted to fight the Imperial effort, but the purge nevertheless led to the near-total genocide of the Mandalorian people. Some Mandalorians, survived the Purge and fled Mandalore, though they scattered across the galaxy.
Along the way, Alrich shows Resyr an image of Tristan Wren. The image shows a middle aged human, around thirty, with black hair, brown eyes, and tan skin. His armor appears a golden color with silver lines complete with various scratches and dents. The shape of his armor looks modern, much like what Countess Ursa Wren was wearing and the colors match the robes worn by Alrich.
Left to Right: Alrich, Ursa, and Tristan (photo is several years old)
Once they are within the hanger, Alrich Wren presents the group with the Shriek-hawk. The Lancer-class pursuit craft is crewed by a pilot and co-pilot along with bunks for four passengers. While the speed is above average, the handling isn't as great. The firepower is what one might expect from a MandalMotors manufactured ship with a dorsal turret mounted triple laser canon and a forward-mounted twin light laser canon. The ship also has a ventral-mounted light tractor beam projector. The hyperdrive is a class 2 with a class 12 backup. There's been no customizations done to the ship and it appears pristine compared to other ships that you've been on.
"The Lancer-class pursuit craft blurs the line between a civilian freighter and warship. Most of these ships were used as interdiction and patrol vessels rather than workaday cargo hauler. The design, and the majority of the ones built, were created on special commission for Black Sun by MandalMotors. It was designed to chase down fleeing cargo vessels and outrun other patrol ships."
Alrich puts his hand on the landing ramp's struts, "This class is well known for being fast, tough, and able to withstand hard use without much maintenance. They can fly, fight, and survive in the most dangerous and remote parts of the galaxy."
Looking at the others, he mentions, "This one hasn't seen much action, but it'll be there when you need her."
The astronavigation computer has been keyed to Saleucami and the Mandalorians sit back for nearly a whole day journey to their destination. Once they arrive, they've been told to contact "HN4-768A via secure comm" to receive instructions if they wanted to meet the contact.
An hour or more after departing Ravenclaw, the Shriek-Hawk enters hyperspace which gives the crew some time to explore their new ship. They find a large pilot cabin, a medium sized co-pilot cabin, and a four person passenger cabin which has four bunks (two by two). The passenger cabin is a bit cramped and there's not much room to do much other than sleep.
In true Mandalorian fashion, they discovered a Cubikahd, the traditional Mandalorian game played using holograms, table in the lounge. The galley contained a small barrel of Ne'tra gal (black ale), a bottle of Mandallian Narcole, and three bottles of Mandalorian wine. Dry foodstuff include Cassius tree florets used for tea, behot root which was a citrus-flavored herb used for making shig, and some dehydrated spiced leathermeat.
Likewise in Mandalorian fashion, the secondary cargo hold had been refitted as an armory. Most of the armory's stock was empty. A workbench was available along with a box of energy cells, two blaster pistols, and two blaster rifles. Along with the weapons, a larger crate was found in the armory....
When they opened the crate, they found five jetpacks. The packs were solid white and they immediately realized these were the ones used by "Imperial Super Commandos" who were the Mandalorians loyal to the Galactic Empire lead by Gar Saxon of Clan Saxon of House Vizsla. Notedly, Clan Wren also filled the ranks of Imperial Super Commandos alongside their fellow clans of House Vizsla until Clan Wren turned against the Empire.
With no trouble, the Shriek-Hawk arrives in the Saleucami system and sets their course towards the Saleucami planet.
Okay, here's where the last (~10 years ago) Mando game started going awry... Those Mandos (my char too) were more neutral, chaotic, and slightly evil aligned alongside Sith Lords of the Old Republic, so I feel this team should make better choices than we did back then.
There's a large captain's room and a medium size co-pilot's room. The passenger cabin has four bunks (2 x 2), as shown on the deck plan. So you need to sort out the pecking order a bit... You can also just bypass this for now, but eventually someone needs to be the "pilot" and/or "captain" of the ship.
You can customize the interior a bit (if needed and when you have a week or so), like converting one of the engine control rooms into a third crew member cabin or converting the passenger cabin into a single person cabin and just moving the bunks into the secondary cargo hold (or engine room, but I'm not sure you'd want passengers living in or having access to the engine room). Also, you could probably make the passenger cabin larger by just moving that door down the hall closer to the refresher.
The jetpacks aren't like Boba's. No rocket launcher, etc. just flying. Here's what they looked like:
Once you're ready, I figure you can make contact via that secure comm channel. I suggest one person do the talking. Or you can land the ship and go on foot.
Lorn starts walking around the ship to inspect it. He can be heard muttering to himself, sometimes in appreciation and sometimes in distain. After completing his circuit, he returns to the group. "Solid paramilitary craft. Armor and shields will need some boosting, of course. An engine ring stabilizer would go a long way as well. I'd certainly like to add some sort of ordnance in the future. Concussion missiles, or perhaps even proton torpedoes, time and credits permitting. The tractor beam is a nice inclusion though."
Once the group is ready to depart, the pilot wastes no time in running a preflight checklist and getting them into the air and then to space. He is clearly enjoying himself. "Whichever one of you is good at gunnery gets the co-pilot's chair."
When the group finds the jetpacks, Lorn's elation is trebled. "Now we're talking! Death from above indeed, wouldn't you say?" he suggests to the others. "I think I'm going to enjoy this excursion."
I'll be our pilot. I've built for it, and I'm going through the Modder tree. ^_^
Upon arrival, Lorn flips the shipe-wide comm. "Coming up on our destination. If anyone wants the honor of making contact, speak now or forever hold your peace."
Rayne would expect to be captain, since she's trained for command--that is, she has the Commander career, though her specialization is Tactician (ground command).
Rayne is impressed and pleased as she checks out the ship. "Maybe others would think we got the short straw in terms of mission, but I don't think anyone would be able to argue that about the ship."
When they discover the jetpacks, she nods in agreement with Lorn. "Having jetpacks will certainly make some things easier--though our mission may call for more stealth than they always allow."
"I can act as the gunner."
Rayne has Agility 3/ Gunnery 1.
When they reach the planet, Rayne says, "I was trained to bark commands at people, not engage in delicate negotiations. I can do the talking if no one else is up for it though."
"I think we're just making contact, not handling a negotiation," Lorn comments. "You'll be fiiiine."
I'm OK with that arrangement. Rayne as captain and gunner, Lorn as primary pilot. I'll just yank the co-pilot's room and we'll re-label the doors to "Captain" and "Pilot."
Resyr examines the jet packs and the gear provided to them. Not bad, given that many would probably consider them untested in the fight to reclaim Mandalore. He tries to remember what he knows about their first destination for this mission. He takes one of the bunks in the passenger room, not really caring about the sleeping arrangements.
As the ship approaches the planet, the question of who will make contact surfaces. "I've dealt with questionable sorts before, if everyone else is not fond of it," Resyr says. "Just don't try to make me join any rhetoric teams." The Mandalorian looks around to see if anyone else on the team has any special desire to speak with the contact.
Between the three of you, you are actually pretty well balanced. Everyone is decent in agility for shooting and you have decent coverage of most everything else.
We'll go forward and whoever speaks up will talk.
Before approaching the planet, the group performed some information gathering. Their research on the planet revealed:
Astronavigation Data: Salecami system, Suolriep sector, Outer Rim Territories
Population: 1.4 billion (Pantoran 36%, Weequay 8%, Gran 8%, Human 6%, Twi’lek 4%, Other 38%)
Major Cities: Taleucema (capital and the main starport)
Major Exports: Botanicals, finished goods, medicines, technology
Major Imports: Foodstuffs, raw materials
Trade Routes: Talcene Transit (connects to the Perlemian Trade Route)
Special Conditions: Frequent meteor showers
When the crew keys up the HN4-768A secure comm channel, their viewscreen flashes, revealing a poised Pantoran woman with blue skin and purple hair. Her voice is melodic, and she speaks with confidence and authority.
"Greetings. My name is Lassa, and I am contacting
you on behalf of the Blood Bone Order. We are
experiencing shipping losses that exceed our
projections. These challenges to our bottom line
are due to a one particular competitor and
we would like to contract you as part of
our program of loss prevention. Should you
be interested, please meet with me on the
planet of Saleucami, in the city of Taleucema."
Lassa smiles, her white teeth highlighted by her blue skin, and waits for your reply.
Lorn
skill = 1y 3g
diff = 3p
result: 1 threat
Lorn == You haven't heard of Blood Bone Order before.
Rayne replies, "We'll gladly hear your offer. This might be the sort of thing we were hoping to find." When she turns the comm off, she tells the others, "This might give us some valuable cover on the planet below as we carry out our actual mission. If worst comes to worst, we can always turn her contract down."
Their ship descends towards Taleucema, the capital city, primary trading hub, and the world's primary spaceport. The Taleucema spaceport dominates the northeastern sector of the city with constant traffic from local populations and cargo and trading vessels from offworld. As they land, they notice the areas around the docking bays are brightly illuminated, in order to counter Saleucami's dim natural lighting. They also notice the spaceport is patrolled by a security force of droids and living guards.
After landing, a message included in their docking orders includes the instructions of "Meet at Paradise." The instructions along with a geolocation reference, indicates that Paradise is a cantina close to the starport.
I'm not a fan of getting too detailed in minutia like docking paperwork and fees, so I normally skip over those sections so we can get into (what I think is) the more fun/rp/game parts.
So when you exit the ship, please include what/if any gear you're taking with you. Anything not included will be on the ship, so you can later return to collect it. More gear = more attention, but also more protection, etc. As you know, attention can be both good and bad.
Rayne says, "We might as well load up on our gear. We're posing as mercenaries--we'll want to look like mercenaries. Unless someone has a better plan?"
