Edge of the Empire - Session 2

STAR WARS

EDGE OF THE EMPIRE

CHAPTER II:

EVERY DAY I'M SMUG-G-LIN'

In the days of the empire, an honest cargo-hauler finds himself on the wrong end of Imperial tariffs.  Labeled a smuggler, Cedric Valeran and first mate Amelia Crane are forced into the Outer Rim to earn a living.  As their jobs become more dangerous, they hire a shistavanen named Tagg Rosk to provide some much needed muscle to their crew.  During their travels, Amelia meets a twi'lek named Shala Kinsa who had fallen on hard times and was addicted to the spice ryll.  Taking interest in her life, Amelia brings her aboard to give her companionship and aid her in her attempt to break her addiction.

Now on Toethen after a successful rescue job, the crew enjoys some R&R as Cedric searches for more work.  Toethen is a planet with poisonous atmosphere, with docks above ground in controlled spheres.  Enjoying a few drinks at a local cantina, Amelia, Shala, and Tagg witness an angry mob storm the cantina and take a man and his lady-of-the-evening outside, shouting that he brought the Empire to them, and threatening to kill them both.

Tagg, no fan of the Empire, seems to join the mob, but his motives are unclear.  Amelia and Shala decide to follow behind and Cedric sees the mob on his way to find his crew.  When he tries to learn what is happening, the lady-of-the-evening throws herself at him and slips a data chip into his pocket.

The crew follows the mob as they bring the pair to a garbage ejection port, where garbage is thrown into the toxic outdoors.  Cedric, afraid of letting this mob kill innocent people, tries to calm the crowd.  Once more the woman throws herself onto him, and tells him she will reward him if he saves her.

Cedric stands between the mob and the pair, joined by Tagg who sees an opportunity for profit.  He learns that the man, Wes Sturm, head of Sturm Fuel Industries, brought the Empire to Toethen for a tax cut while his competitors suffer the normal rate.  Using his smooth social skills, Cedric convinces the crowd to let the girl free, and hold the man for trial instead of killing him on the spot.

The woman runs off as the crowd takes Wes Sturm away.  Cedric sends Amelia and Shala after her, and he and Tagg are approached by a bothan.  The bothan introduces himself as Bol Darran, and expressed that he was so impressed by how Cedric diffused the situation that he is willing to offer Cedric a job.  Bol Darran has cargo he wants smuggled into Imperial space and delivered to an Imperial Officer looking to acquire the contraband.  Needing the work, Cedric agrees to 1000 credits now and 4000 on delivery.

Amelia and Shala follow the woman to an escort service.  The lady at the front lobby is not willing to give the girl up, but she herself emerges and agrees to be taken to Cedric, whom she remembers as the man she gave the data chip to.  The crew meets up, and the woman introduces herself as Julie Jastrinas.  She explains that she is working for a bothan clan that was using Wes Sturm to spy on Imperial activity.  The information on her data chip is what she needs to deliver to them.  After establishing that Bol Darran was in no way involved, the crew exchanges the chip to her, and she asks if they'd be willing to transport her to Bothawui.  After offering credits, they accept.

They travel to Imperial space and avoid Imperial patrols.  The system for their delivery is Soorta.  Through deception and cunning, they manage to land on the planet and make the drop, however the Imperial security forces are alerted to their presence.  Cedric Valeran has a warrant for his arrest, so the ship is locked down. Shala and Tagg surrender to the stormtroopers, and when Amelia tries to convince them that she owned the ship, hse is also arrested.  Cedric demands that the Imperial Officer he delivered the cargo to, Saran, get him and his crew free of the planet.  He threatens to expose the goods, which happened to be Jedi paintings, to the authorities.  The stormtroopers receive a valid proof-of-ownership that says Amelia is the rightful owner of the ship, and the crew are set loose.

They then set a course for Bothawui to drop off Julie, whom had hid the entire time on Soorta.  They drop her off and decide to head for Tatooine, which was quite close to Bothawui.  They arrive in the system and are immediately attacked by bounty hunters.  They disable the Firespray and board.  They incapacite the two crew members, a human and a trandoshan, and tow the Firespray to Tatooine.  Their ship took heavy damage against the bounty hunters, and they pay a repair team to fix both ships.  Cedric searches the city, Mos Carta, for someone who would be willing to buy the Firespray.  He approaches a junkyard owner's shop and finds the owner, a rodian, outside his shop speaking with a weequay, rodian, and a duros.  He is pleading with them to rescue his daughter from the local hutt boss, Jazeen.  They refuse him, even though it seems the rodian is his nephew.  Cedric inquires about the Firespray, and the rodian, Aelruino, doesn't seem interested.  Cedric then asks about his conversation, and learns that the young hutt Jazeen had kidnapped may people and was starting to claim Mos Carta as his own.  Cedric recognized the name, and knew that he had begun to acquire smugglers and bounty hunters under his control.

Meanwhile, Tagg also searched for a buyer.  He found a young, fresh bounty hunter willing to buy it.  He returned to the ship along with Cedric.  They questioned the bounty hunters and learned that Saran had put a hit on them.  They decide to execute the bounty hunters, and Tagg takes them to the outskirts of the city and gives them a quick death at the hands of his vibroaxe.  They sell the Firespray and plan their next move.