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[SWAW] Iyuta (16)
At the Iyuta spaceport, Imperial Customs officers search the Profit Margin thoroughly for contraband. Of course, none is found, and your cover story is taken at face value. Amarath gets a few extra questions, but she shows her bounty hunter guild idents and claims she's on a ride-along with "her dear beloved and incompetent cousin", which she indicates is you. They buy it.
Mediocre docking facilities come steep, and you're warned to stay within the city. Otherwise, you're allowed into Takari without further incident. As your intel suggested, Takari is a small city on an undeveloped planet.
As you're walking along clean streets under the noonday suns, Hosk looks at the datasheet he picked up for Takari, griping, "Like all resort towns, the food and board prices are outrageous. I can't get back on the Profit soon enough, Lad."
"Awwww," Amarath says in a condescending tone. "Is um homesick already? Maybe Little Fuzzy should've packed a lunch?" Hosk snarls, but doesn't fire back a reply.
Checking on the coordinates for the Rusty Bucket, you're coming up on it to your left. However, there is a temporary fence erected around what was once a building. It's now a burned out husk. There are signs erected that the site is closed for repairs.
Hosk is first to speak, pointing at the fence, "Is that the Rusty Bucket?"
Amarath quips, "I guess they served some high grain. I can still smell the smoke." She taps her comm, "Hey there, lil Miss Onondb. Can you spool up any news on a recent fire?"
Squall comes on the comms, you can hear the smile in zir voice, "Well, Amy. Looks like some dining establishment was reported as burned down a week ago."
Mediocre docking facilities come steep, and you're warned to stay within the city. Otherwise, you're allowed into Takari without further incident. As your intel suggested, Takari is a small city on an undeveloped planet.
As you're walking along clean streets under the noonday suns, Hosk looks at the datasheet he picked up for Takari, griping, "Like all resort towns, the food and board prices are outrageous. I can't get back on the Profit soon enough, Lad."
"Awwww," Amarath says in a condescending tone. "Is um homesick already? Maybe Little Fuzzy should've packed a lunch?" Hosk snarls, but doesn't fire back a reply.
Checking on the coordinates for the Rusty Bucket, you're coming up on it to your left. However, there is a temporary fence erected around what was once a building. It's now a burned out husk. There are signs erected that the site is closed for repairs.
Hosk is first to speak, pointing at the fence, "Is that the Rusty Bucket?"
Amarath quips, "I guess they served some high grain. I can still smell the smoke." She taps her comm, "Hey there, lil Miss Onondb. Can you spool up any news on a recent fire?"
Squall comes on the comms, you can hear the smile in zir voice, "Well, Amy. Looks like some dining establishment was reported as burned down a week ago."
Comments
Over the comm, "Squall, any reports of fatalities or serious injuries? Also, can you find us a local address for Chilla?"
Squall comes on the comms, you can hear the smile in zir voice, "No fatalities reported, no. Public reports are really sparse, Captain. I can dig, but this is high security poodoo. It's risky. As for Chilla, looks like she is employed at another bar called The Giant Step. It's on Vark Street."
"No need to dig further, Squall. We'll head to The Giant Step and see what we find."
...and we do. A few wrong turns in the unfamiliar city, but we get there and head in.
You push open the door and there are maybe forty people here, customer and servers together. Only two female servers in the place, one's a Rodian, the other a human brunette in her late thirties.
I walk up to the human. "Excuse me. I'm looking to find Chilla? Can you point her out?"
"I'm Ladro. I understand we have a mutual friend."
She nods, once. "Why don't you and your girlfriend grab a table? I'll get you menus right away."
After she moves on to help some other customers, Amarath slips her flesh arm into the crook of yours, "Hear that, Ladro? I'm your girlfriend. It's my cover."
"Yes, dear." I look for a table in a less-crowded part of the establishment and take a seat. I'll take the moment before Chilla arrives with the menu to get a quick assessment of the room.
(Rolled: 2d6+1. Rolls: 3, 3. Total: 7)
I whisper. "Time to focus down, Amy. Something's not right with 'Chilla'." I see that Hosk has eyes on us, of course, and the door as well.
She nods, "That hitch when you called her name, right? I thought maybe she might be scared she was caught. You think something else?"
I shake my head. "Took her a second to realize I was talking about her. Saw it in her eyes." I look toward the bar and 'absently' tug on one of the dreadlocks on the right side of my head, one of the signals Hosk and I have stumbled into over the years. Loosely translated, "Something's off here."
I shake my head as if responding to something Amy said. "Not yet."
Chilla arrives moments later, handing a datapad with the menu on it. "This has the menu. It's yours to keep." She slides into the seat beside Amarath, like she's being friendly. "There is also a copy of an old surveyor's map of the sewers. You'll need to travel outside the city to get to an access point. Do you have any questions?"
"Yes. Just one. I don't believe I caught your name? I'm pretty sure it's not Chilla."
Her mouth tightens for a moment. She answers, "Chilla's my cover. Trying to lay low. They, uh, burned down the Rusty Bucket trying to get me. My name's Hanna, but please. I could get sentenced to the spice mines of Kessel for my work. Okay?" She glances around once, trying to keep herself calm, but you see this is making her sweat.
(Rolled: 2d6+1. Rolls: 4, 4. Total: 9)
"Great, Chilla. I'll take the... nerfburger, medium rare." I look at Amy, gambling on a connection we may not have yet. "Darling? What do you think?"
Amarath reaches over to run her flesh fingers over your hand, gently taking the datapad from you, glancing at it, "Bantha steak, charred. And Durosian Brandy. Please." She smirks at Chilla.
Chilla gets up and heads out to get the order moving.
I look at Amarath. "So, what do you think? Setup or no? I'm thinking she's not our contact, but maybe she's a proxy Chilla set up to pass on the information after her cover was blown. That kind of risk, if I'm right, there's got to be a personal connection. Question is... trust the map or not?"
"This one's twisty. I don't trust any of them, lots of boys in white around, can't afford to kark it up." She muses for a second, "But the mission sounds kinda fun. And we did know it was in the sewers. So the dots connect there."
I nod, then continue at regular volume. "So, sweetie, where do you want to go for the honeymoon?" Keeping an eye out, but might as well wait for the food. I signal 'Chilla'. "Do you mind making that order to go? Amy's feeling frisky."
"Sure, sure." Chilla says and heads back to the kitchen.
"Oh lover! I want you to do everything to me! I can't wait to get you back to the hotel!" Amarath says as she continues kissing you.
Hosk shakes his head in disbelief. But he's laughing a little, too. Chilla comes back with your food, in containers. You pay and you can go.
I play along a little. "Sweetie! We're in public... let's not make a scene. I can ravage you once we get back." Once we have the food, I'll thank Chilla/Hanna and head out.
Amy and I will wait for Hosk's arrival. "Okay, thoughts? I'm inclined to go ahead, with extra caution."
Just before you make it out of the Giant Leap, Amarath pinches your space heinie and giggles. Once you get outside and ask for input, "Yeah. Let's do this."
Hosk gets caught up on what happened with Chilla, then says, "It's risky. We should be careful."
"If you want to hide in the ship, I'm sure Ladro and I can take care of it.."
With a bit of sudden anger, Hosk growls, "Stop goading me! I said my piece, do what you will, Ladro."
"Enough! I'm going back to the Margin. I'll expect the two of you in my quarters to review the plans of the sewer and discuss your specific impressions of our friend 'Chilla.' When you get there, I expect you to have worked out your poodoo for at least long enough to get through this karking one-day job. Take your time, as long as it's not more than 20 minutes."
I start walking, fast, toward the ship.
As you walk away, Amarath calls after you, "I was just kidding! I've got my game face on now! .... sithspit."
I keep walking. Straight to the ship. A few minutes after I get there, I've got the Communications Center plans laid over the map of the ancient sewer, Squall and Jojee standing by to join us, and three bites taken out of my nerfburger, which isn't bad, all things considering.
Squall is standing close behind, a hand on your back, "That's a karking big sewer, Ladro."
Hosk and Amarath come into the room. Hosk's ears are drooping a little with shame, but Amarath is not about to apologize, you know that.
"Sorry for earlier, Lad. I'm ready to go on this mission. I think we should go at night."
"Why wait? If they're onto this Hanna girl already, the longer we wait, the longer we give them to prep. Let's do this!"
"We were warned to stay within the city limits, but it looks like all the possible entrances to the sewer complex are outside the current boundaries. Let's pick our top three entry points, then Hosk, Amy and I will split up, check the perimeter security at the point closest to each. We'll regroup here two hours before sunset. If the Rusty Bucket burned down a week ago, a few more hours shouldn't be too great a factor."
(Rolled: 2d6+1. Rolls: 2, 2. Total: 5)
What do you do?
I contact her comm. Just a single ping to let her know I'm checking in, no voice traffic.
After a moment, Amarath comes back over comms, audio only. Her voice is quiet, muffled like she's huddled over it, "Sithspit, Ladro. That ping scared the poodoo out of me! Ran into some boys in white while I was scoping the entrance. They're using it as a vent port, so about every two minutes, a blast of heat and exhaust blast through. I talked my way past the Troopers a couple minutes ago and just took off. I can catch up in ten minutes."
"I guess we know where we're going in, then. Go to the entrance I was assigned, find an out of the way spot, and keep eyes on until Hosk and I get there with the equipment. Good work, Amy."
Why don't you make a Methodical roll here?
(Rolled: 2d6+2. Rolls: 1, 1. Total: 4)
"Alright, Lad. Once she has a head start, I'm ready to go."
It takes about 20 minutes to load the gear Alanna provided in satchels, then leave for the entrance to the ancient sewers.
Getting past the fence is easy enough. Did you snip some of the wires and walk through or jump over, Ladro?
Over. No need to leave any suspicious damage. We get past and wait for Amarath to join us.
Amarath comes down the side of the half-built building quickly. Turns out, she has a thin line spooled in her cyberarm and uses her thumb like an anchor, just drops down the line like some spider. Hosk stands up in time to catch the last bit, and before she walks up, he grunts a little in surprise, maybe he's a bit impressed. Amarath janders up with a cocky little grin, but doesn't say anything.
The three of you head for the recently uncovered sewer entrance. It is about a forty foot climb down rubble and chunks of concrete, not impossible, but slow going. It's almost dark when you start walking down the long, dank and wet corridor that is filled with centuries old muck and mire from generations long dead.
The corridors here are round, packed clay. It looks more like giant wormholes than anything hand-made. It is rather twisty as well, but luckily the map looks accurate.
"I'm not picking up any Imp traffic down here. No monitors, no droids, nothing."
"Great. Keep monitoring, Amy. Everyone keep your eyes peeled, and not just for Imps. Who knows what could be down in these old tunnels." My blaster's out, but down. Just in case.
The smells down here are something you don't soon want to repeat. The light causes little vermin to scurry away. You pass a group of hand-sized sightless lizards that freeze up.
Suddenly, there's the quick light of blaster fire. Amarath opens up on something ahead of you. Hosk rushes forward, putting his glowrod right beside his blaster pistol's barrel so he sees what he's about to shoot.
What do you do?
I do the same, moving left a bit because Hosk took right. Amy hasn't reported any Imp signal traffic, so I'm truthfully expecting something stranger than a Storm Trooper.
The creature is as big around as a man and three times as long. It is moving quick, and you see a tentacle shoot out to grab Amarath's left leg. She shoots the tentacle, but then a second one snatches her hand. She screams in pain and tries to pull away.
What do you do?
What else? Doesn't look like it's up for negotiation, so I shoot it.
Seize by Force
(Rolled: 2d6+1. Rolls: 3, 1. Total: 5)
Doing terrible harm.
And here's the thing. There's the force of the blow. You see that. But some slime on that kriffer, it is a numbing agent. Your hand feels, well, nothing.
(take 1-Harm after armor)
(Rolled: 2d6+1. Rolls: 6, 1. Total: 8)
Well, this is going well. No sense in picking up the blaster, but I can use knives in my off-hand just fine, so one appears in my left hand from my sleeve. I back up.
Why don't you Act Under Fire here, Ladro?
(Rolled: 2d6+2. Rolls: 6, 1. Total: 9)
Hosk and I have instincts and experience on our side.
Spending 1-Bond for a 10
Amarath fires her blaster over your head, hitting it in the right eye. Finally, with a rattling roar, the thing falls to the ground. Hosk and Amarath fire a couple extra shots, just to make sure.
With disgust in her voice, Amarath grumbles, "That karking monster kriffed up my arm."
"And my hand. How are you, otherwise? Is the arm damaged, or is it just the numbness? You, Hosk? All your little furry bits intact?" Does the numbness seem to be getting better at all? Any pins and needles, or too soon?
Amarath flexes her left elbow, "Good thing I'm a rightie. It's cut and bleeding, but I don't feel it." She reaches over to a belt pouch and pulls out a gluestik and applies it to her wounds.
Hosk stands up, brushing much off the knee of his pants, "Gonna take a quarter my pay to clean my kriffing pants! But... I'm alright, Lad."
"Good work taking care of that... whatever it was. Let's head on toward the objective, since no one's too damaged to proceed. I'm not a shooter until this numbness wears off, so you two need to be extra alert. Sorry to be dead weight."
Amarath gives you a smart aleck smile, "Hey. Now you're a real captain, Ladro."
I nod to Hosk. "Good to go. Everything as we expected?"
After checking signals, "Yes, Lad. Checks out." He hands it you.
I'll take the listening device and work through the installation process, trusting Hosk and Amy to warn me if any Imps or tentacled monsters are coming our way. "Strange life," I say to no one in particular.
"Captain! Glad we're back in touch, I've been trying to hail you. You need to find another way out, there are Imps in the construction site right now. Two squads came in fifteen minutes ago, walked around the site, then an officer showed up with a speeder."
"Okay, all eyes on the map. Looking for an exit not near known high concentrations of Imps. It's not going to be one of our top three, but make sure we have at least half a chance." I take a step back, make sure the camouflage is reasonably effective, in case we get followed through this labyrinth by chance.
Hosk reminds you, "The east passage comes out to a set of barracks."
"I don't see any other entrances or exits that line up. We could maybe blow a hole in a weak spot..."
Amarath cuts in with, "We could take the north one. Sure, there's a vent exhaust, but if we time it right, we can make it. Well, I don't know about stumpy, but maybe if he hauls it." Hosk grunts with annoyance.
"We could sit tight, wait for the troopers to move on."
"We can't count on them moving on, and if they come in, they're going to see that thing we killed and know something's up. North it is."
That's when you come across something unexpected. With Hosk bringing up the rear and Amy walking beside you, you're the first to spot it. It's the remains of a human. You move up closer to see it's a woman, she died several days ago, but she certainly isn't ancient.
Amarath observes, "Sithspit, Ladro. That girl looks alot like "Hanna."
What do you do?
"No time to look for another exit. If the other Hanna had the Comm Center plans and gave the Imps the three most-likely entrances, so be it. They'll still be expecting us to come back out the way we came because of the problems with the other two. Mission's burned in that case, though, we're just looking to escape with our skins whole and unincarcerated. So, let's get out. Start timing, Amy." On the comm, "Get ready for us to come in hot, Squall and Jo."
Over the comms, Jojee replies, "She's warmed up and ready to go, Cap. We'll get her off the ground shortly. Give the word when you want a pickup."
Hosk checks over the corpse, "She was shot, then bled out down here.". He pulls up a commlink recorder from the mud beside her body, "Looks like it's encoded. I think I know this one, though..."
The recorder audio kicks in. "Cover blown Imps on my trail Wounded Hiding in sewers Double agent Long live the Roughnecks - Hill..." The recording ends suddenly.
"Doesn't matter now. Bad luck for her, but we did the job, let's haul tail."
Ladro, if you want to try and time the vent exhaust to avoid getting caught in heat blasts, I'm calling that an Act Under Fire.
(Rolled: 2d6+2. Rolls: 5, 1. Total: 8)
It's me. I zig when Hosk and Amy zag and suddenly they're nowhere to be seen.
"Cap! Where are you? I've got Hosk and Amy, they said you were right with them! Please tell me you're out there!"
"Right outside the vent. Tell me which direction to run."
"Head up! Squally says you're at one of the vents, she's looking. Climb up, and I'll get you."
The area where you are is a patch of concrete in the side of a hill. Above and behind you is the main electricity factory for the settlement.
Jojee says up. I go up, trying to stay away from the perimeter of the power plant. "Moving up. I'm close to the power plant."
Where do you go on the ship and what do you do?
Heading for the Captain's chair. "Hosk, get to the turret, just in case." Once I'm in the chair, ready to copilot for Jojee, "Jo, get us out of here. I don't care where right now. Cheapest jump to the least likely spot, so we can regroup. Don't care if it's the middle of nowhere."
"What's gone wrong? We got clearance to go, everything looked fine up top."
Amarath comes over the ship's comms, "Hey Squall, let's keep eyes out for trackers or anyone tailing us, yeah? I don't want to lead them where they want to go, if that's their karking plan."
Over the comm. "Jojee, Squall, mission was blown before we got here. Double agent." Or is that an agent that was a double? "Evade, hide, obfuscate, but get us off this rock." I flip the switch to turn off Amy's access to ship's comms.
Jojee nods, focusing on flying, "I'm going to play it cool as long as they do, Cap. The moment I feel a noose, I'll rabbit."
Hosk checks in from the turret.
Over the comms, "There are no trackers on us, but I'm doing another sweep."
In moments, you're breaking atmo and getting off Iyuta and into space. That's when you pick up a pair of blips on the radar. Two ships, about the size of the Margin. They're not closing fast, but following behind.
What do you do?
"Jo, you're clocking our friends? Let me know what you need to get us clear." Over the comm. "Squall, Hosk, company behind us, but not close. Be ready."
Jojee checks the radar, "Yeah. We can pick a fight now with a couple of sucker punches in, or see if they try to follow our hyperspace coordinates."
From the turret, Hosk says, "I've got a bead on the leader. They aren't TIEs, they don't even look Imperial."
Interesting that they're not Imp vessels, but they're in pursuit. "We're going to jump. Stand ready if they manage to follow."
Jojee glances over, "I'm going to plot in a dummy course, don't want to lead them back to Devaron or Gristone, right?"
"Right. Lead 'em astray, Jo."
"We're headed to Yag'Dhul. It's only a few hours away."
Squall interrupts with, "The Givin are amazing mathematicians, Captain. Most of my hyperspace calcs are cribbed from their work! Hey Captain, shouldn't you come to the infirmary and let me take a look at you? Amy said you were hit by that tentacled monster, too." That gets a curious look from Jojee.
I give Jojee a shrug, like "Hey, tentacled monsters are just part of the job." "Soon, Squall." Over ship's comm. "Hosk, Squall, Amarath, please join Jojee and me in the cockpit soonest."
"Thanks. And Amy, I'm sorry you got hurt. So, it looks to me from the evidence that the mission was over before it started. Our intel was compromised by an Imperial double agent who took the place of our contact. I take the blame for not seeing that. I was so focused on the plan that I failed to take into account the discrepancies, to pay attention to the intangibles on the ground instead of just the practical angles. If there's a financial hit, I'll shoulder it myself, somehow."
I clear my throat. "However, we all need to be better. Hosk, instead of general 'I don't like this' caution, I need specifics. Don't just tell me I'm missing something, help me figure out what I'm missing." I turn to Amy. "Amy, as long as you're with us, you need to do the same, but in the other direction. Don't just tell me you're ready to go. Tell my why you're confident."
"Squall and Jojee, thank you for pulling us out. You did your jobs. Quite well. I'm sure that you'll be on the other end of this speech at some point, though, so might as well assume I just said something like that to each of you and get mad at me now, if you're going to."
I turn back to Amarath. "And Amy, if you want to make tactical suggestions, make them to me unless we're taking fire or I'm out of commission. You sounded suspiciously like you were telling my engineer what to do."