Keep Your Distance But Don't Look Like You're Trying to Keep Your Distance

STAR WARS VISIONS - HEROES

PRESENTS...

The Adventures of Bani and Easy!

now with Gilikak!

Before making the jump to lightspeed, the team of Bani, Easy, and Gilikak collectively decided to re-enter normal space far out from 363-Grek III so they'd have time to find  the optimal approach and prepare themselves for dealing with the Imperial Forces. They based their jump coordinates on Bani and Easy's scans of system, with Easy assisting Gilikak on the final calculations.

Mechanically, Bani spent an Action Point to roll her Spaceship Navigation of 3 plus her Intellect of 1 and of course, her Exploding Die. Easy and Gilikak also spent one Action Point each to assist Bani, so she gets 2 bonus Advantage Dice. 

Normally this wouldn't be too difficult - it's just a normal Hyperspace jump and they're been there before - but they're trying to be very precise and avoid Imperial sensor scans. I'd say it's Difficult, a 10. My rolls on the 3D6 were 6, 6, and 4. That first 6 explodes so I rolled again and got a 2. My Action Check total was 12. Success! Not by much but good enough.

Shortly after entering Hyperspace, Bani and Gilikak sat down to go over Bani's survey data in greater detail. Even with a Class 3 Survey by a pro, there were only so many areas on an entire planet a single person could explore and scan. The two scouts focused on the regions Bani didn't get to look at in depth, surmissing that whatever the Galactic Empire was doing on 363-Grek III, their attention might be concentrated in one of those places. 

This is where I ran into my first snag of the campaign. I wanted to randomly roll the locations, terrain, and possible points of interest of three areas on the planet but Sci-Fi Random Tables are generally really lame for this sort of thing. It's one of the reasons I don't use random tables very much (hardly ever really). I can also always create something cooler than I'd generate with random rolls. 

That said, I want to be surprised/inspired - it is a Solo game after all. I decided to combine the results of rolls using Planets of the Galaxy Volume One, a 1991 supplement for West End Games' Star Wars Roleplaying Game with some general ideas I had about the planet.

The results were:

The duo narrowed it down to three likely planetary features.

Feature #1 - The Trench Canyons: In the Northeastern hemisphere was were three massive trenches that all met at their Southern most points. Bani had found them fascinating and if she hadn't been on a job with a schedule she would've spent more time checking them out. It was an especially warm water region thanks to numerous thermal vents and a host of unusual creatures were living there. What would the Imperial want with that? It was too deep and too far from land to provide power to an outpost. 

Feature #2 - The Long Archipelago: There were a string of small islands that crossed the equator North to South, an archipelago where Bani had detected radioactive minerals. There wasn't a large quantity but maybe the Empire wanted to mine them because the minerals had specific properties they needed. 

Feature #3 - The Shallow Sea Wreckage: Set centrally in the Southern hemisphere. there exists a shallow sea with higher than normal salt content. Sitting in this shallow sea is a crashed starship, possibly a Corvette or other small military vessel. A passing scan revealed it to be very old, with little structural integrity left. Could it have carried some cargo the Empire thought to be of value? 

Gilikak spends an Action Point so he can make a Check against his Intellect 3 and Science: Archeolgy 2. He's focusing on the data and images of Feature #3 - The Shallow Sea Wreckage. Hmm. Archeology isn't exactly the right Skill but its close enough for what we are trying to determine, the age of the wreck. I'll set the Difficulty at Difficult 10. I roll 1D6 and get...Holy Moly! A 6, another 6, and a 1. Gilikak's total is 18! That's an Effective Success, +5 points more than the Target Number. Gilikak gain 1 Situation Benefit. 

Gilikak stared silently at the images and information for what felt like forever. Bani was staring at him nearly as long, neither moving in the slightest. RB-EZ1 entered the room, looked at the two of them and got caught up in the effect as well. 

Bani's nose twitched. Her ears wiggled. She closed her eyes, held her breath, but just couldn't take it any longer, "WELL?!?" Gilikak and Easy were so startled they jumped. "Did you figure out anything?", Bani asked with a smidgen of exasperation. 

"Sort of", Gilikak began, "I think we can rule out the shipwreck. Based on the data you obtained, the ship and any cargo it may have had have all but disintegrated. The age seems extreme, salt corosion is high, and a coral growth appears to have formed over everything. There is nothing salvageable there." Gilikak tapped a button a few times that changed the screen image from scans of the Shallow Sea Wreckage to scans of the Long Archipelago.

 

Spending his Situation Benefit, he gains insight into Feature #2. Radioactivity from the minerals there a not particularly strong or unique. 

"Take a look at this", Gilikak said while pointing to the scans on the Datapad. "I don't think their target is the Long Archipelago either. It just isn't worth it. These readings don't warrant a Victory Class Star Destroyer protecting that site. That is a lot of firepower for very little payoff."

Bani nodded. Easy gave a low whistle of agreement. 

Bani stood up, stretched her arms over her head, and then rested her hands on her hips. "OK, I have some idea but its probably best to take a quick nap first. We'll take turns just in case. Do you need to recharge, Easy?" Easy gave a simple, sharp beep. Nope, he was good. 

Gilikak gave Bani the top bunk and pointed out the charging station to EZ1 should he need it. Once she laid herself down and seemed comfortable, Gilikak headed back to the cockpit to make sure everything was going smoothly. About three hours or so later, they switched, though Gilikak used the bottom bunk. Time passed, snacks were eaten, a few adjustments were made on the Sea Skimmer in the cargo area, and after a while the NavComputer alerted the group they were approaching re-entry to normal space. 

Gilikak got into the pilot seat, Bani sat at Navigation, and Easy plugged in behind them. 

ZHHHH-POOM! The Always Searching dropped out of Hyperspace pretty much exactly where they wanted to be. Out the front viewports, which were large by comparison to the overall size of the vessel, a massive green and yellow gas giant with rings and a dozen small moons spun ever so slowly before them.

 

"363-Grek V", Bani said absentmindedly. 

Gilikak and Easy immediately starting scanning, doing everything they could to get as accurate a picture of their surroundings as possible. It seemed the 'coast was clear' for now. This told Gilikak that whatever was happening in the system, it was very much focused on the third planet. There were large fleet movements, no system wide patrols, nothing but the distant blip of a Victory Class Star Destroyer and, hmm, a few other smaller vessels. Considerably smaller in fact. Gilikak pointed this out to Bani, whose familiarity with starship classes was considerably greater than his own.

"Gozantis would be my guess. Fairly standard to bring them in as transports for personnel, fighters, ground vehicles, or whathaveyou. They're classified as cruisers even though they're used as transports. Gozantis let you move a lot of people and stuff quickly", Bani said, not realizing she was speaking very quietly, as if the Imperials might hear her.

Gilikak leaned back in his pilot seat and took a deep, slow breath. They needed to get closer but very, very carefully. With the flick of his thumb, Gilikak activated his vessel's 'Stealth Mode'; not an actually cloaking device of course but a shield that deflects the vast majority of sensors. At best - for the Empire - the Always Searching might show as a sensor ghost or shadow; an inconsistent blur that they'd find extremely difficult to lock onto. It wasn't so great against fighters, whose pilots could simply look out the window and see the A-24 Sleuth Class Scout Ship zipping by. Still, better to have it than not. 

"Alright Bani...Easy...I'm taking us further into the inner system. Stealth Mode is on and that should help a lot but...just be ready for anything", Gilikak said, his voice serious and even. Bani nodded and Easy did the droid equivalent. 

With that, they were off...

To be continued...

AD

Barking Alien