Calendar Date: Tenth Month, First Day (CD 10-01) at the beginning of the week on Onesday.
It’s been a more relaxing that usual weekend with the previous day having been a rare fifth Lightday of the month.
Wrasp had been called to report to the Special Operations Group office (Rachel Starrunner’s office) but about an hour later Break Out and Slider are summoned to the SOG office.
GM’s note: The player running Wrasp had texted that he was running late and asked me to “start the game without him.” Since Wrasp is the commander of DC-01 this meant that I needed to get the usual Mission Briefing to the subordinates. Normally when I present a mission briefing I hand a copy of the Mission Briefing to that player and since that player (wisely) suspects that there are enemy spies on his crew, he disseminates only as much as he has to to various members of the crew.
Disconcerted by the request to the SOG office, both Break Out and Slider rush to meet with Rachel.
Rachel greets the two and broaches the delicate subject of who the second in command is for the team.
She informs the two that Wrasp fell ill on his way en-route to her office and she needs them to get the ship prepared and ready for departure.
“So who is in command?”
The Duros and the Bothan pause for a brief moment.
Simultaneously, Break Out raises his hand and announces, “I’m the pilot?” while Slider points at Break Out.
That resolved, Rachel briefs the two on Mission 36: "Fascinating Acquisition."
Break Out decides that the best ship to take for this mission is the Starbound Wayfinder because they are hoping to extract up to nine operatives.
Other than that, they’ll leave the team X-Wing and Y-Wings behind. With the ship stores topped up, Break Out believes that the ship is otherwise ready for this mission.
When the two exit Rachel’s office, they find Duster (Celeste Devereaux) and Shiny (Sern) waiting for them in the hall. Duster is the acting engineer and Sern are there, guessing (correctly) that there’s a mission in the brew.
Break Out and the three discuss the need to depart shortly. Sern will gather the crew and Duster heads out to prepare their ship for pre-flight.
Break Out also receives the good news that Wrasp is expected to recover and he is transferred onto the Starbound Wayfinder and he should be able to recover en-route.
The team mobilizes quickly and the Starbound Wayfinder takes off later that day.
Break Out and Slider let the crew know that they are headed to Woostri and that the crew will “mostly” need to look like tourists.
The crew break out into celebration!
Time to reign them in again.
Break Out and Slider caution the crew that they are still on a dangerous mission and they need to be ready to bug out quickly. The leave will only last one day and then the crew need to be ready to depart at a moments notice.
Wrasp does recover just as the ship arrives in system. The crew picks the identity Azure Duster on their Ghost transponder.
The Azure Duster easily gets a berth at the Woostri Starport and are greeted by a C3 series protocol droid.
With the five days that the crew had to prepare for this trip they are now very ready and eager to go get some relaxation and recreation in. However Ghost and Sern offer to stay on the ship in case the team needs support.
The C3 droid directs the “tourists” to the general concourse and the crew need no encouragement.
Now that Wrasp is back on his feet, he takes charge of the mission.
They make arrangements to stay on Woostri for three days for 15,000 credits. They also get directions to advertise for passengers and advert for 5 passengers on a luxury ship charging 5,000 credits (each) for travel to Naboo in three days.
Next they head off to establish contact with the rebel team that they’ve come to extract.
As much as Woostri can claim to have a run down section of town, the Rebel Alliance was able to find it.
When knocking on the door, the occupants demand that they “Leave it at the door!”
Wrasp then asks (through the door) to speak with Driz Poll.
Driz hesitantly answers the door and the two exchange pass codes.
Once assured that he can “Trust” Wrasp, Break Out, and Slider he lets them enter the apartment.
They are greeted by “Filipe” who in turn is introduced as the team commander.
Wrasp lets Filipe know that he is there to extract Filipe’s team immediately because the Empire has deployed a task force to capture or kill his team mates. The force is en-route and expected to arrive on Twosday in about three days.
Further, after Filipe notified his handler that the Empire had installed mining and a refinery facility on the world and that the all of the materials were being shipped to Kinyen, the Alliance requested (recently) that the facility be attacked and disrupted.
Wrasp agrees that the mission to disrupt the facility is a good cause.
Filipe also lets the group know that the attack is planned for tomorrow (Lightday).
Filipe brings up the multi stage attack plan. On the next day, Filipe was planning on taking a stolen Imperial Shuttle and to extract his operatives as they were setting up explosives. Shortly afterward, the various facilities would be damaged or destroyed.
Felipe’s plan was then to fly his team off world in the stolen Imperial shuttle . . .
The other issue with extracting the team immediately is that Felipe does not have communications with the team. They can contact the members locally if on site, but otherwise the teams are incommunicado.
Wrasp decides that with the Imperial forces arriving later than the current extraction plan, they’ll keep the current plan in place. However, they’ll have Break Out fly the shuttle and instead of loading up Felipe’s gear on the shuttle, they’ll load it onto the Azure Duster.
In the meantime, Wrasp will purchase or rent a party boat and anchor it north of the Imperial facility. And instead of trying to escape Woostri on the stolen shuttle, they’ll transfer the personnel onto the party boat and then drive back to starport. Once back to the Azure Duster, they should be able to escape undetected.
Slider, Break Out, and Poll get to work on transferring the luggage, while Wrasp works on securing a rental (purchasing turns out to be too expensive).
Wrasp get’s lucky and is able to secure a rental, but the rental broker won’t be able to turn over and clean the ship, if Wrasp is willing to pick up the ship the next morning.
Deal!
It’s late at night, when Wrasp wraps up and he heads back to the Azure Duster arriving back to the ship when the rest of his crew returns.
He briefs the crew, letting them know that he’s rented out a party ship and that they should plan on heading out first thing in their vacation clothes.
And there was much rejoicing!
Wrasp and Slider try to cut through the enthusiasm and eventually rein in the celebration. This is going to be mission related! But be ready to party responsibly . . . .
The next morning, and with the party boat being unready, Sern assembles the crew and ensures that the crew has cleaning supplies.
All ready to go, Wrasp realizes that he probably ought to leave a couple of crew behind.
Ghost, the communications specialist volunteers.
Hesitantly, Sern also volunteers and Wrasp concurs. That should do it. (Right)?
As soon as Sern turns her back, the rest of the crew ditch their cleaning supplies.
The plan starts off easily enough.
Wrasp takes his team to the party boat and secures it as promised. Slider, takes the helm and pilots the ship to the designated rendezvous point. (No issues).
Break Out shows up early and hangs out with Felipe and Driz. Being so early, the three head out for a breakfast at a local greasy diner.
Break Out is able to get the Shuttle airborne and pilots this stolen Lambda shuttle along Filipe’s planned course.
Late that morning, Ghost contacts Wrasp and informs him that the local Traffic Control tower was in communications with a Star Destroyer that had just arrived in system.
Much to the protestation of the system controllers, the Star Destroyer takes control of the traffic control for the system as it races toward Woostri.
Ghost identifies the Imperial ship as the “VSD Malady.”
Wrasp urges Slider to take the boat to their destination with greater haste . . . and then notifies Break Out.
Undaunted, Break Out proceeds with his plan.
The Imperial Shuttle is detected by the command center for the Refinery and is interrogated.
Break Out explains that he’s on a routine security patrol, to which he is informed that there is a security issue taking place right now and that they need to coordinate their efforts with the “Malady.” Break Out promises to ‘get right on that.’
The mining facilities are huge rings embedded into the ocean and reaching down 150 to 200 feet down to the ocean floor.
Break Out is able to continue his track and picks up his first two teams from two of the mining rings with little incident.
On the way to the third pick up Break Out detects an explosion adjacent to the Refinery. The plan was to breach the sub oceanic dome and to flood out the refinery, contained in the dome. Based on the anemic explosion, it would appear that the explosives went off too early and were insufficient for the job.
While maneuvering to his third pick up, Break Out is approached and buzzed by a new type of TIE Fighter. Something his IFF computer recognizes as a “TIE Advanced.”
Shadowing the new fighter is a brightly painted TIE Interceptor that mostly keeps the new TIE Advanced between itself and Break Out’s Lambda.
There is a quick conversation between Break Out and a woman calling herself “Felicity” but she permits the Duros to continue with his mission.
Once the two TIE’s fly beyond range, Break out then maneuvers to pick up the third Rebel Team, which is a sole Quarren who had piloted a submersible from the refinery dome.
Break Out is able to retrieve the Quarren and shortly after Break Out banks the Shuttle away, the submersible explodes from scuttling charges (set as planned, by the Quarren).
At the fourth pick up, no one is waiting at that mining ring as planned. Felipe radios his teammates and they report that they are in a fight with local security forces and need some help to fight their way out. They’re close to the extraction point!
Filipe grabs his team and they all descend into the mining facility. The water sopped Quarren stays aboard and continues to recover from his physically demanding ordeal.
They don’t have to wait long for the rescue team to return . . .
Moments later a pale skinned human woman wearing gray robes emerges from the hatch leading down into the mine. She also has distinct glowing yellow eyes and once clear of the hatch, she ignites an unmistakable red bladed light saber.
This familiar looking woman is soon flanked by a handful of Mandelorians two of whom are readying anti ship missile launchers!
It’s a dilemma for Break Out. He want’s to conduct a strafing run on the obvious Inquisitress and her Mandalorian escort, but his shields were dropped, while facilitating the extraction of the Rebels.
And his aft sensors also report the arrival of his two previous playmates. The TIE Advanced and the other Interceptor, no doubt in tow!
Facing that much firepower, Break Out opts for a defensive profile, while punching his Lambda to full throttle.
And a good thing too! Due to his evasive maneuvers, the two missiles shot at his unshielded shuttle corkscrew to either side of the Lambda, both missing!
But the TIE Fighters continue to close the distance behind him.
Break Out updates Wrasp and informs his commander that things just got interesting*.
Serenity: Malcolm Reynolds, “Define ‘Interesting.'” Walsh, “Oh God, Oh God, we’re all going to die!”
Meanwhile, Felicity is comming to him and encourages him to turn back and to surrender.
When Break Out refuses to surrender, the Quarren puts the barrel of a blaster to the back of his neck and insists that’s the best option available!
Break Out gets out of his immediate pickle by using the Force power Misdirect to make the Quarren think that Break Out stays in the cockpit chair, when Break Out actually slips out and behind the Quarren.
Once ‘safe’ Break Out lightsabers the traitor in two, killing him instantly.
And before the Lambda can pitch down into the ocean, Break Out scrambles back into the pilot’s chair to regain control of the ship!
”The Force is strong in this one . . .”
Break Out raises his shields and vectors toward the preplanned rendezvous point. He know’s that he probably wont get there, but if he can get as close as possible that, makes a possible pick up by Wrasp that much more likely.
Break Out and Wrasp consult privately while the TIE’s close in. The two change their destination slightly. Break Out plots a course that will take him east of the party boat. He will try to ditch the shuttle and then wait for Wrasp (et al) to pick him up.
The TIE’s settle into close range and Break Out angles his deflectors to double Aft and tries (unsuccessfully) to boost his Deflector Shields.
And sure enough that red TIE Interceptor is flying closely behind the well shielded TIE Advanced. It twirls erratically from behind the TIE Advance, unleashing a volley of blaster fire into the Lambda shuttle and then deftly returns to cover behind the TIE Advanced.
The attack doesn’t damage the Lambda but it did wipe out the shielding!
Game Mechanic explanation: I’ve added ray shields to some of the Star Wars ships (including the Lambda shuttle) but have ruled that the shields only regenerate 5 points of damage deflection per turn. At this point the Lambda shuttle only had 10 out of it’s max 20 points of shielding and the Interceptor’s attack was enough to zap the shields but there wasn’t enough damage to get through the Attack Shuttle’s armor.
As a Sabaac player, Break Out realizes that he isn’t holding a great hand . . .
Wrasp gives Slider the update and the Bothan boat pilot sets a course to approach the shuttle as soon as possible, bringing the engines up to full speed as quickly as possible.
Wrasp updates his crew and asks them to get their weapons ready in case of trouble.
They all return blank stares at him except for Fox who produces her blaster carbine.
Wrasp asks the crew to check the rented party boat to see if there is anything that can be used as a weapon . . .
They end up with a broom handle painted black.
The two TIE Fighters behind Break Out continue to attack him and in spite of the shield generators and his evasive maneuvers, the two fighters are slowly damaging his stolen ship.
Its a prolonged fight. Give them one thing, the Empire built their Lambda’s well.
And then the Lambda’s sensors report to Break Out that two more fighters are approaching from his starboard flank (from the direction of the Refinery). The IFF indicates that these two craft are Alpha class fighters. And based on the threat sensor, both of these fighters are attempting a target lock to attack the Lambda with missiles!
Break Out’s shuttle is beginning to fall apart, but his evasive maneuvers break the target lock from the two Alphas.
But that blasted red TIE Interceptor’s attacks are relentless and that pilot is a master at landing blaster bolts into his target.
With all of the damage sensors screaming at him, Break Out begins to cycle for a landing and he attempts to soften the landing into the ocean.
He’s successful enough that Break Out isn’t injured by the crash, but the shuttle won’t ever fly again.
The shuttle quickly begins to sink and Break Out scrambles to find a safe exit.
He needs air and in the cargo compartment, Break Out grabs a space suit. He partially dons the suit and then uses one of the escape hatches to propel himself into the water.
Break Out scrambles to regulate his air so that he doesn’t suffocate.
He’s floating in the Woostri ocean and finds that he has a burning oil slick above him and he watches as the Lambda crumples and breaks up below him. The shuttle settles to the bottom of the ocean a mere 100 feet below Break Out.
It is midday on Lightday circa CD 10-07.
Lightday DC 10-07 . . .
It’s noon on Woostri and Wrasp and Slider have lost contact with Break Out.
Wrasp orders Slider to pilot the ship toward the last know location of Break Out’s stolen Lambda shuttle.
Behind them, Aliz’Fama (Spice) enters the flying bridge on the Mustafar Parrot (The party boat that they rented) and addresses the “Captain.”
Wrasp and Slider both ask for clarification. Slider is technically the captain of the boat and Wrasp is captain of the team . . .
She reports that she is looking for Wrasp and that “her one true love” has found some useful things and he (Devo) wants to show them to the Captain. She continues to explain; below decks they have found some ‘water sleds?’ and also ‘tanks for air?’ Duster and Fox are also below decks with Devo. The Twi’lek woman seems confused and is acting a bit abnormally. She’s hugging herself, just now and her leku are draped in front of her body.
As Wrasp begins to move to the ladder from the bridge, Aliz begins to rush towards Josus’ back! The Twi’lek woman has shown a disturbing interest towards the Bothan and his “soft warm fur.” Before she can reach the pilot, Wrasp intercepts her and envelops her into a dancing hold and begins leading her in a dance, in tune with the music coming from the party below.
Aliz doesn’t resist and buries her head into the Kel-Dor’s shoulder, letting him lead her in the dance, while desperately clinging to the Kel-Dor.
Josus, catch a a wiff of Aliz’ scent (overshadowed by the strong aroma of coconut oil) turns and watches as Wrasp directs the Twi’lek off of the bridge.
She complains at being blocked out, but Wrasp firmly orders the woman to go to Devo and let him know that Wrasp will be there shortly. The team Commander watches Aliz gingerly slowly descend the ladder, while gripping both rails. She quickly races to the next ladder leading to below decks and she hesitates as she makes that decent.
Wrasp: “She’s drunk!”
Slider nods in agreement and gratitude for Wrasp intercepting the troublesome Twi’lek.
The Duros tries to get his bearings and fails.
He’s still underwater and spends a couple of minutes buttoning up his space suit and figures that he probably has about an hour of air left?
Directly, thirty feet above him there is a burning patch of oil, while the wreckage of the Lambda has both imploded and settled onto the ocean bottom just a hundred feet below.
Once his air is secured, Break Out swims (awkwardly in the bulky suit) to get out from below the patch of oil.
Break Out also wants to head in the direction of his team and takes off in what he thinks is the direction that he was flying.
And then the sharks come into view.
Normally that’s not an issue, but while he was on the Lambda, Break Out lightsabered a Quarren in half and definitely got some of the calamari scented blood on his clothes!
And based on how eagerly the sharks are approaching, it looks like some of it is on the exterior of the flight suit!
Three of the sharks close in and begin nudging him, trying to coordinate for a series of sneak attacks to tear apart the calamari flavored snack that has dropped in on them from the sky above!
Using the Force, Break Out readies himself to fight off the attacking sharks and to fight them off when they come in to do real damage!
Break Out’s mastery is sufficient that he is able to get in a first blow and he is able to pummel the first shark sufficiently to drive it off.
Once he has taught this pack of predators that he won’t be easy prey they back off . . . for now!
On the main deck, Wrasp leaves Magnum, Doll, & Horns, as Magnum instructs the other two on the finer art of playing with a limbo stick.
The rest of the crew are below decks. Fox is checking out a SCUBA air tank and the compartment also contains six recreational water sleds. Further back Celeste and Devo are checking with the rest of the SCUBA gear.
(Aliz is still hugging herself quietly, but is hovering next to Devo).
Fox begins her explanation but Wrasp stops her. He points out that he remembers his orders to her but he would prefer if his team prepare for underwater operations.
Fox nods her ascent and reports that most of the SCUBA tanks are empty but two of the tanks had bad regulators, so they’re full. They just need fifteen to twenty minutes for Duster and Devo to swap out working regulators.
Wrasp asks Fox if she knows how to use the equipment. She affirms that she does and when she learns that Wrasp doesn’t, the team Medic begins a crash course in how to survive underwater.
Wrasp, casually asks Fox where she was keeping her blaster carbine (as all of the rest of the crew aboard are wearing swim suits). She replies that she keeps her A320-C in her med kit (it’s a small back pack). And she always brings the med kit with her because she’s a medic and needs to be ready to render emergency aid wherever she goes).
Break Out realizes that he has a Force power that will help him find his friends. Reaching out to the Force and focusing to find the direction that his friends are in, he realizes that he’s actually swimming away from them . . .
So he turns around and keeps on swimming.
On the Bridge, Slider notices a distinctive black pillar of smoke rising into the sky pointing to his destination. Via close range comms, Slider notifies Wrasp of the new development.
Shortly after that, Slider receives a radio call from “Theta Flight” addressing the “Mustafar Parrot.”
It takes Slider a couple of seconds to realize that’s the ship that he’s on, but affecting the characteristics of a lost tourist, he replies, “Oh! That’s me! Yeah? What do you want?”
Theta Flight, informs Slider that the “emergency” that he’s headed toward is under control and that he doesn’t need to attempt to render aid. Further his course is taking him into a “hazardous area” and that he needs to stop traveling south. He needs to change course by at least 90 degrees . . .
Slider tries to explain that his radio doesn’t seem to be working all that well and . . . Slider turns the radio off while continuing his course . . .
“Wrasp! They know we’re coming!”
Wrasp and Fox take their training up to the Bridge.
Shortly, two Alpha Fighters (flying in formation) begin flying around and circling the Mustafar Parrot.
With no response from the party boat, the two Alpha class fighters begin making passes perpendicular to the southerly course of the ship and then waving their wings as they just get in front of the ship.
Wrasp asks Slider what the Alpha fighters are up to and Slider explains the situation.
Wrasp is really tempted to get on the radio. After a small debate and one more fly-by Wrasp turns the radio back on.
And the fighter pilots are in mid warning letting the crew know that they are about to open fire if the ship doesn’t change course NOW!
Wrasp explains that they are having engine trouble (please don’t shoot us) and nods for Slider to kill the engines.
Theta Flight, lets the Mustafar Parrot know to prepare to be boarded as they’ll vector a technical team to their boat to aid them with their repairs . . .
Wrasp tries to backtrack and lets them know that he has a good mechanic working on it and they don’t need assistance with the repairs.
And then the southern sky turns a blinding shade of white.
As the blinding light dims to normal levels, the southern skyline is back-dropped with a nuclear sized mushroom cloud.
Wrasp suggests that the fighter pilots tend to the real emergency going on behind them.
Theta informs Wrasp that they’re task with perimeter security and right now the Mustafar Parrot is their job.
Keep on swimming . . .
Suddenly, the water above Unsien Mos roils and churns violently for a couple of minutes.
Fortunately he’s staying well below the surface so he is otherwise not affected by the passing tsunami.
Slider warns the passengers about the impending shock-wave that is bound to be headed their way, and he steers the ship into the oncoming wave.
It’s a rough ride, but Slider gets them through the wave of water unscathed.
Right after the turmoil, Wrasp and Fox, with the fighters still circling, sneak into the water and begin their trip to try to rescue Break Out.
Meanwhile, Slider keeps his ship at station.
Using the recreational sleds, Wrasp and Fox head South. Wrasp uses his Sense Force power to locate Unsien Mos.
Break Out has been in the water for a bit and decides to head to the surface and see if there’s anyone around.
Unsien is surprised to find one of the TIE Advanced Fighters hovering close by. And facing him!
Quickly, Break Out ducks back down and quickly tries to get as much distance between him and the lingering fighter!
A couple of minutes later, an object is dropped into the water not too far from him.
It’s big and though it stays below the surface, it has a certain buoyancy and doesn’t sink to the bottom.
Curiosity compels Break Out to check out this odd object, but as he gets close enough to see details, Mos realizes that this is a sonar buoy and based on the Imperial markings, its been dropped to help his pursuers to locate him!
Break Out grabs his lightsaber and uses it to destroy this sensor suite!
And then he swims as fast as he can with an added sense of urgency.
Unfortunately, unwanted guests drop in for a visit.
Six Mandalorian’s drop into the ocean into a circle around him. Once they get their bearings, they begin to slowly close in on the lone Duros.
Each Mando has the traditional armor, but instead of wearing jet packs, they seem to have underwater maneuver thrusters that are expediting their movement. They are also all wielding nine foot long electro-spears.
But the Force is strong with this one . . .
Using his Misdirect Force Power, Unsien makes himself invisible to all of the Mandalorians except for the one immediately behind him. (Mos can mask himself from up to five people).
Testing his powers, Mos continues to swim up to the Mandalorian in front of him and his intent is to wrestle the spear from that Mando.
But in spite of their inability to ‘see’ Break Out, all of the Mandelorians are still moving in concert to intercept the fleeing Duros.
However as Break Out closes in on his first victim, that Mandalorian is frantically trying to visually see him. Break Out is able to grapple the spear successfully from it’s owner.
But he’s fighting a Mandelorian and the Mando lashes out and hits Break Out hard.
Break Out needs to end this fight fast! He won’t be able to trade blows with this guy alone!
Mos opts for his lightsaber, in spite of the fact that the energy weapon has a tendency to heat up when ignited underwater.
His attack is decisive and he kills the Mandalorian opponent with a single attack.
And in the distance, Mos notices the approach of vehicular lights. They’re the water sleds propelling Wrasp and Fox!
One of the Mando soldiers swims over toward Break Out, but swims above the Duros. At the last moment the soldier drops a grenade! Clearly the intent is to let it drop toward Break Out and then explode once it gets into close proximity to the ‘invisible’ soldier.
Mos uses the Force to move the grenade away from him and toward the other Mandalorians!
However he’s clipped in the explosion (as well as nearly all of the other Mandelorans)!
A third Mandalorian moves into melee range with the Duros as Wrasp and Fox arrive to help Break Out fight off that Mandelorian.
Break Out is able to fight off the grappling attempt by the Mandalorian, but the trick was that this Mando was trying to attach one of the concussion grenades to the Duros! Having failed to wrestle the grenade onto his opponent, the Mando retreats and just leaves the grenade there!
Break Out propels the grenade away from himself again! But not far enough to shield himself and his two friends from the shockwave.
Wrasp swoops in, using the sled to close the distance and swipes at the latest Mando attacker with his lightsaber. Wrasp severely wounds the Mando, who continues to flee back to the surface.
Unable to achieve their intended attacks, the Mandos back off and that allows, Wrasp and Fox to grab Break Out.
The three flee on their scooters and return to the Mustafar Parrot.
By the time Wrasp, Fox, and Break Out return to the party ship, the Alpha fighters have departed the area.
Fox starts tending to any wounds that Break Out might have, especially since he’s pretty bloody under his stolen space suit. Fortunately, its all someone else’s blood. Break Out’s wounds are mostly bruises.
Fox weighs down and pitches the Imperial flight suit over the side of the boat.
Slider gets his ship underway headed East back to civilization and reports to the local Imperial controllers that his mechanic was able to restore power to the ship. No assistance is required.
The team checks in with Ghost and let her know that they’re headed back. Ghost reports to Wrasp (now that she is able to reach his communicator) that the Empire sent a message ‘in the clear’ about arrangements to transfer prisoners onto the Malady.
The ship returns as the sun is setting at the end of a very long day.
Wrasp asks the crew to not all return to the *Azure Duster in one group and asks his crew to stagger their return, so that their association with the ‘accident’ at the Imperial mining facility doesn’t look as coincidental.
The crew ask Wrasp how much time they have before they need to return!
Wrasp asks that they return by morning and before he can finish that thought, the crew heads out for another night on the town!
Fox joins Wrasp, Slider, and Break Out as they return to the ship. All four are exhausted and eager to get some shut eye.
Fortunately, when Wrasp, Slider, and Break Out awaken the next morning everyone seems to have returned to the ship by breakfast time.
Wrasp asks Ghost to summon everyone to the Galley and orders Cop to sound the collision alarm.
Reluctantly, Ghost sounds the alarm (even though the ship is still berthed on the planet) and then announces the assembly.
Wrasp asks for a roll call to ensure that everyone is aboard and Sern confirms that everyone is aboard and accounted for.
The next order of business; Wrasp asks if anyone showed up for passage to Naboo and Sern reports that there have been no inquiries.
Mash (Magnum) asks about the other passengers that they were expecting and Wrasp reports that they’re either dead or captured. Long story short, this mission has been compromised. In part there was a traitor working on the other team.
Wrasp voices some of the options that he’s considering, but ultimately they decide to bug out as soon as possible. There is also unfinnished business on Geonosis that they need to take care of and Slider has unfinnished personal affairs to handle on Bothawui. He asks Ghost to see if they can get clearance to take off.
She heads to the bridge and moments later reports that they’ll be clear to take off in one hour.
Wrasp asks Break Out to prepare for flight to Bothawui.
That solved, Wrasp asks his crew to prepare for take off and they disperse to handle those arrangements: (Celeste and Devo head to the aft Engineering section to pre-flight the engines, Unsien takes left seat on the bridge, while Cop takes her position at the comms/sensor section. Aliz and Sern check the various hatches and double check that the hull is space worthy). The Trip to Bothawui will take six days and that will ultimately have the ship and crew arrive to the Bothan system early on Lightday CD 10-14.
Slider takes Wrasp aside and has a favor. He’d like to get his fur dyed black. Back on his home world he’s considered dead and he’d like to keep it that way. Unfortunately, among his family, his appearance is quite distinctive.
Pa Pooga calls Aliz to his office where the three can discuss their plans in private.
Aliz and Sern show up and Pooga informs Aliz of their plans to recolor Josus’ fur so that he can walk around Bothawui incognito. Pooga needs Aliz to head into town and to purchase the needed supplies and to take care of the arrangements of recoloring Josus.
Aliz’ immediate reaction is to point at her leku and ask why Pooga thinks she would know anything about hair, let alone changing it’s color!
Sern steps in and assures the Captain that she can get with some of the other women on the crew and that she’ll return as soon as possible.
Sern and Celeste secure the needed supplies and the ship takes off and exits the system without incident. The VSD Malady seems to take no notice of their cargo ship as it makes its departure.
Once in hyperspace, the women on the crew start making their arrangements for Slider’s transformation, laying out plastic and preparing one of the chairs for his ordeal.
They bring him into the corner of the galley prepared and ask him to undress down to his skivvies.
Aliz, interjects and suggests that he remove those too, but her intentions seem less than innocent.
Josus orders the overly inquisitive Twi’lek out of the galley, much to her disappointment but to the amusement of the rest of the crew.
It takes several hours, but the women transform Josus Laorl for his new identity. For the next phase of this mission he’ll be going by the name Cree Sendesu with the call sign of “Razor.”
Wrasp summons Aliz and Sern to his office. He wants a dedicated quartermaster for his crew and is assigning that task to Aliz.
To help offset her new duties, he asks Sern to take the assignment of Loadmaster, but to still report to Aliz as her immediate supervisor.
Both women accept the change easily.
Devo calls on the Captain with a concern.
Hesitantly Devo lays out that he would like to get more serious in his relationship with Aliz and that he’d like to . . .
“Get Married? That’s great!” Wrasp interrupts, “Do you want me to officiate?”
Not quite yet. Sure Devo is moving into that direction, but first he needs to take care of something else.
Pa Pooga has Aliz dottir (often mistaken for the English word ‘daughter’) and Devo needs to purchase that before the two can be married . . .
Since the topic of Aliz dottir has been a topic of considerable confusion, Pooga ask Devo if he actually knows what he’s actually talking about.
Devo assures Pooga that Aliz has explained the whole thing to him and that he’d like to try to open negotiations.
Pooga has no problem just giving the dottir to Devo, but that makes Devo more uncomfortable. In Aliz society that would devalue her. Pooga paid her father 10,000 credits for her and Devo should pay more so that her value won’t be diminished.
But Devo has only saved up 3,000 credits so far . . .
Wrasp comes up with an immediate solution and opens up the ships purse where he retrieves 10,000 credits and hands it to Devo. That way Devo can pay Wrasp 13,000 for Aliz ‘dottir’ to satisfy the Twi’lek’s sensibilities.
To complete the ritual, Devo will return the next day with Aliz so that they can conduct the deal.
So the next morning (Foursday 10-11) Pooga calls his pilot, Unsien Mos, without letting the Duros in on the deal to witness the transference of Aliz dottir.
In part Mos is also the acting bookkeeper for the ship so he also needs to ‘record’ the transaction for the purse . . .
There isn’t much to the transaction. Devo hands the 13,000 credits to Wrasp and with that the dottir transfers to Devo. Aliz squeals in delight and leaps upon her one true love in an enthusiastic embrace.
The two love birds leave and Mos asks what that was all about!
Pooga lets Mos know that they just netted 3,000 credits to the ships purse and if any one ASKS, Devo got the 10,000 from Mos.
. . . uh. Sure? . . .
The Azure Duster continues its journey to Bothawui and should arrive in three days . . .