Zavi, the Squib, well aware of the true nature of the "security patrol", whispered to the others that these were bad men and not to pull any punches. They were in fact part of a protection racket, working for the crime lord and slaver, Madon Ani. Zavi had particular reason to despise Madon and any of his followers. Ymira was more than glad to force the fight as well. No one was talking cash out of her proverbial pocket!
Zavi fired first and blasted the sergeant. It did not take him out entirely as the man's armor protected him somewhat, but the force of the attack drove him to his knee. As the three closest guards grabbed Renci and pulled her out of the cantina booth, Ymira sized them up and deftly took two of them out and forced the other to let Renci go. The corporate explorer quickly scampered past Zavi for any sort of cover, as she was still unarmed.
Roona, meanwhile, took advantage of the trigger upgrade which Zavi had modified for her and stepped onto the gambling table and fired at the 4 guards standing cover in the center of the cantina. She dropped two of them, although she was an open target. Kel took out one more guard with his own blaster pistol, but was unable to avoid the incoming shots back at him. One blaster caught him in the right cheek and he dropped behind the booth table.
But despite the counter fire, the battle went quickly to the protagonists. Zavi rifle butted the sergeant to the ground and Roona and Xander shot down the remaining two guards at a distance. That left just one who fired into the group and missed but slipped back into the next nearby booth for cover. Ymira boldly stepped out into the center of the room to gain a better angle, and shot the last security troop at close range. She had given up her back completely, but there was no one left to take advantage. Zavi seeing that all the other guards were dead or nearly so, blasted the stunned sergeant in the back of the head, leaving a bit of a mess. Despite the body clean-up, only two tables had been damaged. Stripping the enemy of gear and credits, Zavi gave 20 credits to the barkeep and thanked him for his trouble. Roona collected her winnings from the gambling session.
Ymira asked Renci just what sort of trouble she had gotten into and Renci explained that she had been captured by thugs working for these guys on the way from the crash site to Mos Espa but then escaped. So they were after her and she suggested they leave as soon as possible.
Xander took Kel off to look for a med doc, while the others discussed the situation at hand and what equipment they might need. Renci explained to Roona where she thought the crash was and Roona said it would be at least two days walk, in the area of Beggar's Canyon. It was decided that a speeder truck and two bikes would be needed to scout out the area and have enough carrying capacity to bring any repairs needed. Roona suggested that her and Ymira go to rent the vehicles and use the pretext that they were renting at the behest of Bargos the Hutt and therefore get a reduced price. Ymira was a bit worried that this is the sort of thing that got Roona into trouble before. Roona was sure it would be fine. "Jee tinka foonta," she said dismissively.
The owner of the rental business they found was slightly unsure. "How do I know you really work for Bargos?"
"Would we risk Bargos' wrath if we didn't work for him? We just inspected one of his mining operations for him," Roona responded in Huttese.
"Of course we work for Bargos," Ymira chimed in hopefully. The proprietor still carried a hesitant look on his face.
Roona put her arm around Ymira's shoulders. "This is Bargos' pilot! Do you want to risk Bargos' wrath when we tell him you won't rent to us?"
A few moments later, Roona and Ymira departed and collected 216 credits from each of the team. They had successfully negotiated for 1070 for a week's use of the truck and bikes. The best part of the negotiation is that they could be used for this mission and also the one for Tebora, Xander's financier. The team decided that Ymira, Xander and Kel would stay behind to hopefully collect the parts that the crashed ship would need for repairs. Meanwhile, Zavi as the mechanic and Roona as the scout would accompany Renci to the crash site to inspect and determine the true extent of the damage.
This was not the only trouble of the day however. As they were loading up the bikes, the team was accosted by two Rodians, backed up by the muscle of two large (and ugly) Aqualish. They demanded Roona go with them. When Zavi and Ymira questioned them, the lead Rodian said that Roona owed Teemo the Hutt money and was supposed to be doing jobs for him. Working for another Hutt was almost akin to treason and they were taking her in to explain herself and face the consequences. Zavi and Ymira then countered the offer with the threat of gunfire, Zavi especially pointing out the frag grenade that was loaded in the underslung launcher of his carbine. While the ruffians were confident in the 4-3 odds, they were not willing to risk the frag explosion and so decided to retreat behind a number of not so veiled threats.
Now on the way to the crash site, about two hours into the approximate three hour trip, a blaster shot rang out and just missed Zavi and Renci as they sped along behind Roona who led the way. Zavi pulled his rifle and tried to return fire but he only had a rough idea of where the shot came from and didn't think he hit anything . The two bikes sped on through the twisting canyon walls and through natural arches and around spires. Fortunately there were no other sniper shots.
Stopping short of the end of the canyon, Roona went out to scout and found a surprise. The ship was not there! After scouting around they determined that there was not another sniper in the area and they investigated the crash site. Roona was able to ascertain the drag marks even in the hard ground here near the canyon. So they had a direction to work with. With further inspection, it appeared that two large creatures, perhaps banthas had pulled the ship away and that there were at least 4 distinctive humanoid booted footprints. Communicating with the remaining team back in Mos Espa, it was decided to link up now and this brought the other three out to them, unfortunately still not knowing what would be needed to recover the crashed ship. But being split up at this point seemed like a bad idea. That would prove to be a correct assumption.
About half an hour before Ymira, Xander and the wounded Kel arrived, Zavi and Roona were ambushed. The Rodian was on guard at the time and the bounty hunter was proficient enough to sneak up and get a shot off. The blast caught Roona in the shoulder and she yelped in pain. Zavi sent a frag grenade at the sniper, but it bounced on the other side of a rock outcropping and the explosion harmlessly sent rock and dust flying. Roona let out a curse and squeezed off her rigged trigger, catching the bounty hunter in the upper body. She quickly scampered further up the canyon wall to get a better angle and hit him a second time. If they were unsure if the shot ended his life, the 5 meter fall to the canyon floor made sure of that. Zavi, ever the opportunist, scavenged his weapons and equipment and the found a small number of credits to add to those found on the guards earlier.
With everyone now through the canyon, the team set off following the tracks. The direction headed towards the open mesa lands just to the northeast of the Mospic High Range and toward the Northern Dune Sea. This was an area of mostly flat land, dotted with mesas and ravines. It was becoming late in the day when they came to a larger mesa where the tracks didn't look like they diverted around. Roona was once more sent ahead to scope out the situation. She got a preliminary view of the area without getting too close to give herself away. It looked like a rough set of hand-holds and stairs went up the least steep face of the mesa, which raised above the surrounding ground by over 20 meters. A crude crane could be seen at the top of the mesa.
It was then decided to camp and let Roona scout one more time at late dusk to see if anything else could be ascertained. She said that the crane silhouette was clear but no buildings and no ship could be seen at the top of the mesa. There appeared to be no cave along the rim of the mesa as well. However as night settled in further, Roona explained that she saw a light that was on top of the mesa, but strangely was not on top of the mesa and not above it or coming from the sides. Eventually Zavi suggested that perhaps it was hollowed out and Roona confirmed that it was possible for a mesa to collapse and cause a large natural crater to form.
The group decided to camp for the night in a secluded area out of the view of the mesa, behind some escarpments, and decide on a plan come morning. The night passes quietly and without incident. As the group is assembling for the morning, Tebora contacts Xander with information. He says that the information and supplies they need will be deposited into a locked storage box tomorrow at a warehouse (you get the location in Mos Espa). He gives the digital code to open the locker and you will need to establish a rendezvous point with the smuggler contact. The planned time of the transfer is three days from now. Everything needed, except transportation, will be provided in the storage locker, including the landing beacon, commlink channel info and credit chip for payment. Don't be late!
Unused XP-
Kel 10 (◆◆critical wound)
Xander 10
Zavi 5
Group spoils
103 credits
2x Blaster Rifle
7x Laser Pistol
Brass knuckles
Commlink - given to Xander
Rendezvous on Tatooine (Session 3)
Moderator: GM Fang