UMI ROM: Deconstructivist Extraordinaire! Want something blown up? She's your girl! 
History:
Umi Rom was raised on Etti IV. Her father, Jakmon Rom, was a well-trained Epicanthix warrior who met her mother, Dalfni, while travelling via Etti IV. Jakmon was overcome at the sight of Dalfni, and spontaneously decided he must have her for himself. He was oblivious to the fact that she saw him as an opportunity to make money for her to spend. He saw her as a way to elevate his own status, as well, and certainly didn't mind working to keep up with all the trappings of the proud, rich cultures they both enjoyed.Both of Umi’s parents had many relatives working for the Empire, since collectively they all preferred paid labour to slave labour. A survival with dignity was foremost on their minds. Jakmon worked for pay as a mercenary and bounty hunter, Dalfni as “an horticultural consultant” (you don’t pronounce the 'h' in horticultural). Jakmon would be away for weeks, and sometimes months. The longer he was away, usually the more credits he brought back with him. He was always entertaining at her parties by telling his amazing "three straight days in the rain on a platform 100 meters on a cliffside waiting to ambush a bounty" story, or the account of when he thought he was a goner when his target had a deadly trap set for him. "Most of the Rainforest Section in my wife's garden was paid for by the time I was hired to track an elusive band of Rebels on the planet of Fest."Although at first Jakmon enjoyed the attention at the gatherings and tried everything to please his wife, Jakmon’s resentment to Dalfni’s greed eventually grew. It soon came to the point that, no matter how much money he brought in, or how many successful bounty hunting missions were accomplished, she always needed more money. There was the extensive “garden acreage” she had to maintain (or pay to maintain: she directed several hundreds of "non-union labourors" on duties and care to keep her complicated, somewhat crowded, sprawling lanscape lush and well-groomed). "After all, it would be impossible to look after and nurture all of my strange and rare species of plants - some of which I acquired from clear across the other side of the galaxy - all by myself," she has been heard saying. "I have a rare semi-sentient strangle plants; I have plants that need to be fed plasma or they'll eat the gardeners; I have some plants that require planting into the ground on a very precise slope, on a very precise angle in relation to the sun... Did you know that I have a few plants in the Deciduous Section that I managed to order from Aldaran? Not too many of those are around anymore, you know." Then there were all of her lavish parties she threw to impress new clients and companies regarding her skills with the plants and landscaping. She would invite travellers, high-ranking individuals, royalty and Imperial dignitaries and show them her rare flowers and beautiful arrangements. "I would recommend, for you Admiral, since the climate you live in is very dry, and the terrain rather rocky, to take some of these plants from the Desert Section of my garden. Of course I have a few gardeners that I could throw in with the deal, who are also suited for the terrain and conditions and know exactly how to look after them. You have my guarantee on that or you can do as you will with them. They are specialists in their field, however, and you understand there will be the extra cost of replacing them for me. However, I am sure you wouldn't want to waste time and expense on training someone yourself. Of course I would be more than willing to drop by for the first month or so to see how the plants and gardeners are getting on, for a little extra fee of course..."The arguments about the money continued to escalate as the years went by; and when Umi was born, the two rarely agreed on how their daughter should be raised. Jakmon believed she was destined for “the profitable and honourable status of bounty hunter,” whereas Dalfni pushed her toward furthering her education to prepare her way for the ways of “transforming the sector.” Her mother was much abashed at her daughter. She felt Umi took after her father more than her mother, in the way that she “stomped around,” and was mortified at how she looked so openly bored to tears during the many social events held at their expansive mansion. Her father, on the other hand, was frequently dismayed with how she was “soft on people,” treating absolutely everyone and every race with respect and kindness. Neither parent took responsibility for her generosity, either (you don’t give things away!), and were quite embarrassed when she questioned the ways of the Empire. Umi went with her father on several of his “missions,” learning about astrogation and other technical skills aboard their rented freighters and other transports. Despite the fact that her mother felt young ladies should subject themselves to finer things in life, and not “get their hands dirty - unless they are gardening,” her daughter was extremely skilled at demolitions, a little trick she learned from her father. She enjoyed demolishing things, and to her mother's horror, Umi once blew up a nice-size crater right in the middle of a flowerbed. "Well, I was planning to fill that area in with something better anyway," was what her mother's response was. Although she never shared her dreams with her parents, Umi felt that this early education with ships would help her get a job in engineering, or some kind of position as a mechanic - some means to escape the ever-present pressures of her parents’ disapproving eyes. Her mother had plenty of time to teach her how to associate and affiliate with other rich socialites when she got home and cleaned herself up. Jakmon soon learned that his daughter was not impressed with his abilities of hunting down “dissidents of the Empire,” and was horrified to learn that she had spoken to several of his prisoners on different occasions. She constantly asked questions about why this prisoner was wanted, or why this one was worth more bounty than that one. Soon Jakmon saw the admiration for in Umi’s eyes turn to disgust and repulsion at her father’s work. And no matter how he tried to explain how much money was involved, soon nothing placated her anymore. On their last mission together, a prisoner escaped. Jakmon suspected Umi, although never openly accused her, of sabotaging the ship. Jakmon noted that the wiring in the alarm system had been fused together somehow, allowing the escape. And his daughter couldn’t quite meet his gaze thereafter. Jakmon expressed his disappointment at losing such a valuable bounty, "and probably to some other hunter who could track him down again."“Is that all that’s important to you?” Umi asked. “The money? Isn’t the life you are turning over for torture - or worse - worth more than the money?” She would accuse her mother about things as well. “You support the Empire by creating these stupid flowerbeds and landscapes, of all the petty things, “ Umi would shout. “What you don’t seem to realize is that you are being controlled by the Empire! Both of you! You work with them, under their control, because you are afraid of them. And you give people over to the Empire as though they were just a non-sentient piece of sod. You are no better than they are. Where is the dignity in that?!” Eventually, Umi couldn’t stand the lifestyle her parents had bought into. And her parents were slowly drifting apart. Jakmon’s missions pulled him further away for longer amounts of time, and Dalfni seemed content with her lavish social events and continued her ever-flourishing career as a landscape consultant. One day, Jakmon turned to Umi and looked into his daughter’s eyes. “Umi, you’re twenty years old, and we’ve raised as best we know how,” he said. “This is a decision you must make yourself. You choose. Stay here with us or go and seek your path elsewhere.” Umi chose to leave that night. She didn’t tell her parents about her idea to join the Rebel Alliance, but they had a feeling she wouldn’t come back for a very long time, if ever. The evening she had packed and was waiting for a transport to the docking bay, Jakmon came to see her off. Her father smiled, ruffled her hair and said sadly, “Maybe we’ll see each other again someday.” He removed his identification tags. “Here,” he said. He handed the chain to Umi. “You can give them back to me someday. May you find an honourable path that carries well in your heart.” Her mother, who had stayed at home, was quite stoic about the entire event of Umi’s departure. “Do come and visit once you’ve gotten settled,” were the last words Dalfni spoke to her as her daughter had left. Umi took her time in a few odd jobs, and thought about her future. After a while she decided on a compromise. She continued her education with ships and technology, recruiting herself to the tutelage of the Empire. She would find out for herself if her parents’ ideas about the great fleet had been based in fact. Soon enough, she realized that she chaffed under the conformist and authoritarian nature of the Empire, just as she had with her parents’ ideals. Umi strengthened her convictions out about how cruel and deceitful the Empire was, since she had been on some minor missions and seen for herself. She left with knowledge about TIE fighters and other mechanical weaponry. And she freed several of the prisoners her own father had captured. As she had planned, she eventually joined the Rebel Alliance, who had been hearing about her for quite some time (mostly from her father's escaped "acquisitions"). She wondered how high the price on her head would have to be before she saw her father again. ***************** BELOW IS TAKEN FROM MY NOTES FROM A ROLE PLAYING: David was GM, Keith played D'Kullia, Ikcin (pronounce Ix-sin), Sabrina; Leah played Aun'A & Velexa, I played Umi and Aria. David played several characters including Jakmon Rom, Karnic & Bruiser (Crovax) as NPCs.
FIELD REPORT MISSION: MUSHROOMED
Filed by LT. UMI ROM
Major Crevally briefed me (Lt. Umi Rom), Velexa Namoon, Ikcin Mokab, & D’Ukullia D’Ushane: On the planet Arzid in the Outer Rim Territories, there exists a kind of giant mushroom in the Macaab Forest that, once extracted, can be used by the Alliance as an antidote against the sadistic tortures of the one of the Imperial’s mind-altering drugs. Our job was to land the gutted YT-1300 freighter in the city, take a skiff loaded with supplies and drums to store this liquid, and go out on the 1-2 day journey to the Macaab Forest. We were told the wildlife by the mushrooms was nothing to worry about and that we should avoid as much as possible the mining facility north of the city, as the wildlife there was much more ferocious. We were told a scientist would be there as a contact if we had questions or needed assistance.
MACAAB MUSHROOM MISSION: Upon our arrival in the city, we docked OSKAR in docking bay 4. We mulled around in the market area and purchased a few items, trying to find out some information about the city and it’s inhabitants before we headed to the bar to find our scientist, Pal Vester. We were told to come back later that day if we wanted to meet him at the bar, but were given his address and therefore sought him out.
When we came to the door of his bungalow, there was a note indicating that he would meet us at the “place we had planned” which we assumed was the forest. So we embarked on the journey after unloading the skiff. Despite the assurances that the largest predators were feline-sized mammals, we encountered some much larger, ill-tempered creatures I could only describe as Tree Goblins - huge, snarly apish beings who seemed to know what our weapons were, and took steps to confiscate them from us.
The older, more menacing ones were mottled brown with green and yellow spots, whereas the slightly less brave adolescents were a forest green shade. We never encountered any of their younger offspring, but it’s probably best avoided anyway! We had rescued a smaller sapient-like mammal from a trap in which the adult Tree Goblins were using it as bait to capture larger prey.
This creature seemed to take a liking to Velexa, who had rescued it, and it seemed to possess a certain intelligence, including speech and comprehension. When we got to the site, we couldn’t see the scientist, or any evidence of his being there, so we decided to climb a mushroom. We also noticed that the Tree Goblins were not following us into the circle of mushrooms, which suited us just fine, but made me somewhat wary.
Just as we were spreading out in pairs (Ikcin was with me, D’Ukullia was with Velexa), a huge spider, I believe it was an Aracnor, almost smothered us to death. If we hadn’t shot it to death, it would have been a slow, horrible death by asphyxiation or worse. So much for harmless creatures in the forest.
We finally ascended to the top of the mushroom we were under (Velexa and D’Ukullia were at another site), when something happened. I looked around for Ikcin - she had been right behind me. When she didn’t arrive directly I became concerned and looked over the edge of the mushroom. She was lying unconscious on the ground!
I was just about to descend to help her when I saw Stormtroopers on speeder bikes. I didn’t hear anything, but Velexa heard them say that they were done for the day, and saw them taking several people off in binders, one of which looked like our contact. We immediately decided to abandon the mission for now - or at least Velexa thought it was a good idea - so we could get back Ikcin as soon as possible. D’Ukullia was reluctant to abandon the first mission, but at least she had the foresight to suggest we at least fill the syringes.
RESCUE MISSION I: When we returned to the city, we almost had to change into fresh underwear, because we saw Darth Vader. He was leaving just as we got there. I only hoped that Ikcin was spared his wrath. The place was crawling with people, surprisingly enough besides the vastly visible presence of Imp officers and Stormtroopers, we saw Tarc and Vorn (we had some nasty dealings with them in a previous adventure).
We saw Brezzic Mar - a high commanding stormtrooper of the 105th squadron speaking briefly with Vader. We saw the ‘troopers questioning people, and I had thought we ought to get out of there as soon as possible, and we would have if I hadn’t heard someone calling my name in the crowd. As soon as I saw who it was, I whispered to my colleagues to take the skiff and deal with it.
I hadn’t seen this person in 12 years - my father, Jakmon Rom. No doubt you must have heard of him. He used to collect bounties from the Empire. I say “used to,” but I can’t confirm that yet.
He says that my mother is still up to her old tricks - allegedly sharing a bed and bedtime stories with some High Moffs.
He claims he works for justice now, and his loyalties to the Empire has been extinguished. He now works for the House of Bennelex on the planet of the same name. Jakmon knows of a Triag Yarwarrigan and believes him to be on planet, and actually has a personal vendetta against him for killing his eight-yr-old son (my half-brother, it turns out).
Triag is wanted for murder charges, and Jakmon says he wants to take him before justice. Like I said, though, it has been 12 years since I knew my father, and what I knew of him then, I did not like.
I waited in the bar for Velexa and D’Ukullia after Jakmon left, still absorbing the information he had given me. He left me a secure comm in case I decided I wanted to see him again. I was quite prepared to see him again, but only after I checked at the base to see if this comm really was secure and was not also some sort of beacon or similar booby trap. Velexa came in and sat down with me, and I explained to her about my father and about his bounty on Triag, and her eyes told me that she already knew who this Triag was. This mission we took is certainly taking some intriguing turns. I wonder what will come of it.
We two went and sat near a table that held many people, including Vorn, Brezzic and Tarc in order to eavesdrop. Velexa picked up that there was some sort of meeting being held by the group at the mining facility in two days time. Velexa and I schemed that, once we rescued Ikcin, we could go and see what this secretive meeting was all about.
However, it looked like we didn’t need to rescue Ikcin, for lo and behold, she just wandered into the bar. I couldn’t really tell exactly what at first, but there was something very un-Ikcin like about her. She seemed to think she was safe, in a room full of ‘troopers and Imps even though she purported to have “escaped” (her words) with the aid of a Lt. Phon, an Imperial....
So the very fact that she just wandered into the bar without anyone attacking or recognizing her, and her not seeming to feel any pain from “interrogation” or panic at being surrounded by the enemy sat really strange with me. It was just weird how calm she was but I thought that we had somehow made an ally with this Lt. Phon, so I let it slide (but anticipating that, if anything was really wrong, it would show itself eventually).
It was evening by then. So none of us could see her in full light. We explained to her what had transpired during her absence and then we waited for D’Ukullia. Eventually she showed up and we all decided, upon hearing D’Ukullia’s observations, that we ought to leave the city as soon as possible. Stormtroopers were scanning the freighters and were looking for the owners. We all headed out to Mendicar Mine.
Here is when Ikcin really started acting strangely, asking questions about our commanding officer, who my father was, etc. It was as though she wanted us to repeat the information we had given her at the bar, as though she may have been wearing surveillance equipment. And when the sun came up, she rather hurriedly put on some sunglasses. All these strange events really made my skin crawl, and I discreetly told these feelings and observations to my other two comrades.
Then we encountered a huge creature that seemed to be made of rock. Well, D’Ukullia suggested we ram it with our skiff, and it seemed like a good split-second decision to make, so I did. Twice. And between us all shooting and ramming the thing, we managed to just scare it off. It seemed to have amazing regenerative abilities, because as soon as we had put a dent in it, it started to heal. We were glad it didn’t try to stick around.
The impact of the second collision sent Ikcin flying out of the skiff. And it turned out she wasn’t really Ikcin to begin with. It was a Sh’Iadu. A shapeshifter! We threatened her and what little information we could get from her was important enough. After being horribly tortured for information, Ikcin had been sold by Lt. Phon to a cyborged Sibarra the Hutt on Kluistar. I don’t know about any of my colleagues, but the thought of anyone getting hurt on MY mission left me feeling nauseated.
At this point, I called Jakmon Rom, who I figured had a ship that wouldn’t be suspicious under Imperial scrutiny. We had gone to a ruined city - an ancient city of Sh’iadu - to seek shelter, and we met up with an unusual gentlebeing by the name of Gentry. He is the only one left of his kind that he knows of, since the Imperials wiped out his world. We hoped to convince him to help us find Ikcin, but he seemed quite tied to the place. He also has an unusual “pet,” or at least another creature that he seems to have some kind of arrangement with.
Gentry, being quite a large, scaley rhino-type fellow (he towers over Velexa), has a large dragon-worm living with him (in the ruined city) that he is friendly with - and guards himself and the city. I had initially planned to leave planet immediately, but Velexa and D’Ukullia persuaded me that we could find Ikcin after we see what this secretive meeting was. Then we could take off in Jakmon’s ship. Hopefully we could stop at Tatooine and get some extra help from a few friends, then swing by headquarters and drop off our chemical samples before heading for Kluistar. Not necessarily in that order.
Shortly after we called Jakmon, he helped me repair the skiff we trashed defending ourselves from the Rock Creature. He also divulged more information about his dealings with the House of Bennelex. It seems that he was actually trying to flee FROM the House of Bennelex because there was a bounty on his head.
So, if that is true, he is also a fugitive and would be safer if he leagued himself with the Alliance. Although I wanted to tell him this, I could only vaguely assure him that our group knew associates who could protect him. He didn’t really know how large and established our “association” is, however, so he still liked the idea of staying on his own. He wanted to find his wife and go into hiding.
The next morning, our large friend mentioned some ancient ruins he knew about and suggested we have a look. We entered a crypt of some kind and found some Jedi-imbued items, which you now have in your possession, including a book detailing the events of the imbuement. I had an amazing staff that, according to the book, can knock people over without even touching them. D’Ukullia put on some armour that protected her from energy weapons and a helm that allowed her some charged-up sensory ability, insofar as the five senses. Velexa had the book and Gentry gave her a necklace that had no more power in it, but it seems to have been imbued at one time as well.
MENDICAR MINES: We headed off to the mines, Jakmon, myself, D’Ukullia, and Velexa. We hid the skiff well away from the entrance of the mine in heavy shrubs & bushes, and continued the rest of the way on foot. Unfortunately we met up with some ‘Troopers before long. We all tried out our new equipment. I managed to blow over several of them with my staff, by striking one end of it on the ground; D’Ukullia absorbed a blast... Unfortunately everyone was caught off guard so our reflexes seemed pretty sluggish.
Jakmon peeled off a few rounds and so did I, and between the four of us we managed to get eliminate the enemy before they really did some damage. I guess D’Ukullia was hoping that her armour would hold out for one last blast, or else she tried to bluff them, because at some point she got shot in the chest at point blank range! She was patched up well enough to continue, but I wasn’t sure how long the dressings and so forth would last to keep down infection or complications.
We encountered some thugs looting the mine, but Velexa managed to convince them that there were stormtroopers coming (and for all we knew, it was true, because there were several of them dead and unable to check in for duty call). We searched around for what might be a room big enough for a meeting. D’Ukullia found a room with a small door. Jakmon and D’Ukullia set up watch down the hall while we looked around this large old room with an extremely creaky floor. We went in and immediately fell through the floor. Well, it turned out things were okay - in fact we found an air duct that led to the meeting room (a much newer room, no dust!). Things almost got messy when a group of creatures picked up D’Ukullia’s scent and she blew them up with a container of the mushroom juice (apparently it's got multiple uses)!
There were more coming so she and Jakmon hurried down to the little door and ran into the room, where we had fallen through the floor and repelled down with their repel-guns. At this point, the great meeting had begun to assemble and so did we spies.
Brezzic, the leader of the 105th stormtrooper squad, was there with 5 of his men. Triag Yarrwarrigan was there, as well as Vorn & Tarc, an older fellow named Mazzori Calto, and a young woman called Alarra Vsar. Apparently this woman is a member or has connections to the Klandestuan Senate. Triag shocked all of us when he “changed” into Pal Vestor, our scientist... Apparently Triag was no Nemoidian, but a Sh’Iadu like the one who had impersonated Ikcin. He was using the funds and research from the former Pal Vestor, whom he had murdered himself, and had continued doing research on the mushroom.
Apparently, on most humanoids, the juice behaves as an antidote for Bavo- 6, one of the mind-altering drugs of the Imperials. However, for the Sh’Iadu, the antidote becomes a complete memory wipe and eradicates their willpower. Every time I think of how he tortured and experimented on his own species, my skin crawls. Triag (or the Sh’Iadu that was pretending to be Triag) further explained that the Sh’Iadu that were exposed to treatments were empty shells, easily controllable and capable assassins that could be used as tools for the highest bidders (like the Empire).
Microchips were implanted in the inner ears and a small camera recorded, so the Sh’Iadu could be controlled as a puppet, with verbal commands. Three Sh’Iadu came in and stood like statues, faces blank as a screen. They just stood there, apparently unaware that they were waiting to be poisoned with more of the Macaab chemical. These potential clients had to be stopped before anyone else was hurt. So I signalled for my comrades to attack.
Jakmon took out Triag with one shot - blew his head clean off! Then it got complicated. Several grenades went off and our group was hit hard. Fortunately we managed to stay conscious and emerged from the mess more or less intact, although D’Ukullia and Velexa weren’t in the best of shape. Velexa’s little animal companion took quite a beating as well. We all picked up data pads from several bodies which were handed in upon our return for processing. The only one who managed to escape was Tarc, and we managed to barely capture Vorn with Jakmon’s help.
We were planning to throw Vorn in Jakmon’s brig when we were surprised by Tarc. Turns out this fellow was the boss all the time, not Vorn. Tarcon Z’Adia killed Vorn right under Velexa’s nose - because Tarc is a Dark Jedi. He collapsed Vorn’s trachea, and left a data pad in a bag for Velexa that stated “Bounty Delivered” along with the necklace Velexa had lost on a shipwreck. Well, after killing some Macaab Chem Slaves left by Tarc to hinder us from chasing him, we headed back to the ancient ruins to get Jakmon’s ship and take off.
We said goodbye to Gentry and left. D’Ukullia’s wounds could no longer be ignored, she needed medical attention. The girl is sure tough. She must have been running on pure adrenaline! She and Vishna both needed intense treatment and recovery. Upon our return, a lot happened all at once. I had to issue a field report. After that, we contacted Aria and she informed us that Karnic was missing. Velexa met up with her long-lost friend Uan’Arusia Ki. We had to tell Sabrina that Ikcin was missing. CT had a code to break concerning Karnic’s whereabouts. And my father had to be interrogated. QUITE a busy day.
It ended up with poor D’Ukullia staying behind with the Bacta. I was really worried about D’Ukullia, with the beating she endured. I wasn’t sure what felt worse, knowing she was in such bad shape or knowing I had to tell Sabrina about her friend Ikcin.
As it was, Sabrina took it pretty well and signed herself up to come with us to look for her. We explained we were going to get someone from Tatooine to help us - someone she remembered: Crovax. Although he and Ikcin weren’t the best of friends, we all had a feeling he would join in the fray, if not for any other reason than for old time’s sake.
Velexa had to have a dressing on her nasty wounds that she’d have to change everyday for five days. Jakmon was OK’d by the Alliance, and in fact was going off with someone to retrieve his wife who he had tucked away in hiding somewhere. Aria was ready to explode when we explained that we were going to find Ikcin first. She’s pretty close to that Lizard, I guess. She’s always been a little hotheaded though... Which is another reason she should probably take a little more time off from doing missions.
From what I heard, she was still suffering some guilt from a fellow comrade’s death on a recent mission. I read her field report and it seems she let her anger cloud her thinking and it literally blew up in everyone’s face. I really feel bad for her. Hope it doesn’t completely eat her away. I know it’s hard to keep a clear head all the time, especially when things get frustrating. So Sabrina, myself and Velexa (and her little simian friend) all left for Tatooine with our target being Crovax, our large blue Riaget friend. D’Ukullia was sent to rehab to recover from her injuries.
RECRUITING CROVAX and RESCUING IKCIN: We took the SunTiger and landed on Tatooine. Aria lived here for most of her life, and what she had described to me was accurate. A big dusty ball of sand. I felt the heat as soon as the hatch opened.
We immediately headed down to Chulum’s bar, the Mos Eisley Cantina. There were two stormtroopers at the door, but they didn’t cause us any hassle. It sure was easy to spot our friend. He was the largest, bluest humanoid in the joint. He took a break from bouncing and sat down with us.
We learned Crovax had some employment with Jabba the Hutt and if we didn’t mind accompanying him to Jabba’s Palace there would be a possibility that Jabba would lend us a flipper, because Sibarra was cyborged and was pretty much despised by all the other Hutts. Crovax directed us to the Lucky Despot Hotel where we found a nice enough room and went down to the lounge to see what was happening.
A very drunken Devoronian named Oxbel was trying to tell us that he saw a fellow named Tarcon Z’Adia here recently, but his accent was pretty thick with alcohol and we weren’t sure if we should believe him or not. And then he passed out. The next morning, bright and early, Crovax collected us and we went to the transit depot. There were several passengers, including some more respectable folks as well as a thug or two. We were going to travel to Anchorhead and then continue on to Jabba’s Palace. I’ve seen safer transports. The GoCorp Aruscan 857 Transport we booked passage on looked pretty rickety and the door wouldn’t close properly on it.
Wouldn’t you know it, half way to Anchorhead there was a blasted sandstorm. It pretty much knocked the transport around until we had to take shelter in the hills. And just in case that wasn’t scary enough, we were attacked by a Krayt dragon. THAT was nasty! Velexa was knocked out cold for several minutes while we were struggling not to get eaten. The other passengers were all killed. Luckily we had some cargo with us that we were helping Crovax deliver. It turned out to be SPICE... the purple stuff.
Velexa had figured it out from the smell, but Crovax said he just delivered and never asked questions. We managed to shove a few boxes down the thing’s throat and while it was going into convulsions, Sabrina gutted it. I’m not sure if it died from an overdose or from blood loss.
Well, we needed Bacta again. So we hiked to Anchorhead. We even dragged the jaws of the Krayt dragon as a trophy, thanks to Sabrina, hoping we could use it to perk Jabba’s interest in our mission. We had an umbrella made from the skins of the dragon draped across the jaws and we all dragged it along with us until we reached Anchorhead, where we had a much needed rest and some medical attention. Did I mention we were chased by Tusken Raiders? I don’t know if I’m cut out for this stuff anymore. I can take it in smaller doses much more efficiently! Poor ol’ Vishna was not having a good time. He had a wrenched-up leg. There was Bacta for him, too.
When we got settled, having stored our dragon teeth at the storage house The Central, we stayed at The Anchorhead and got ourselves a large skiff... And the next day we skiffed it to Jabba’s. On the way we saw some Tusken Raiders beating up and killing some poor little Jawas, at which point we scared them off. I was just going to see the extent of their wounds to apply some medical attention and then we were attacked by some monster worms. Well, we didn’t have the energy to fight, so we just got outta there as fast as we could on our skiff.
Finally we reached Jabba’s and were greeted by Bib Fortuna. He gives me the crawlies. He seems all sly and sneaky and we saw him talking furtively with others in shadows and hallways. We were admitted to see Jabba and Crovax translated for us. We explained our delay and displayed the jaws of the dragon for him in his audience chamber. He was impressed! Later we found our room, and attempted to find all the bugs and surveillance equipment in it. We still weren’t sure if we found them all, but we were nonetheless otherwise occupied - disconnecting the bomb we found under Velexa’s bed. That was dicey.
We put our heads together and decided to re-connect our bomb, except WE would be the ones setting it off at a time of our choosing. Sabrina came up with the idea of using a droid restraining bolt to activate the bomb. We figured this might free us of any obligations we had with Jabba as well as let the people who tried to blow us up think they had done the job.
Velexa and Crovax hid our things in the secret passages below and then we scheduled ourselves to visit Jabba. Velexa had an opportunity to sneak up and eavesdrop on Bib Fortuna, who was talking about us. I guess he was really nervous with how she somehow managed to control him by using her pheromones (he didn’t know exactly how she did it, he just realized that she manipulated him to allow us all entrance).
These are the things of interest that we found out about Sibarra the Hutt from Jabba:
- Sibarra collects rare information, items and species.
- According to Jabba, he does not have a contact we could meet
at the Ace of Sabres.
- If Sibarra was killed, Jabba wouldn’t mind taking the credit.
- DUNAN PAR’ELL: Sibarra’s security specialist - veeery
dangerous. He owns a security corps, has had a decade of military service, and
may have some connection or involvement with the Imperial guards. He’d be the
one to ask for employment.
- We were told not to say anything about Jabba at the Ace of
Sabres.
- High security: a visitor has to check weapons at the door.
- Sibarra uses information as weapons against other Hutt
clans.
Well, after we spoke with Jabba, we headed for the high road. We snuck out, and Crovax retrieved our belongings. Then...
BOOM!
We had set off our bomb to cover our departure. After the explosion we noticed a man with a black cape walking through the door we had just left from. While we were in our skiff headed back to our ship, we were attacked by some sort of swoop gang claiming to be from the House of Bennelex, looking for ME to try to capture me and hold me to get to Jakmon.
Some guy named Ta’el of Black Sun was looking right at me, introducing himself. Well, we showed them a thing or two! We’re still here, aren’t we?
I’ll have to start thinking about some sort of disguise to hide my features, like a robe, or a mask or something. And I have to figure out what the deal is between the House of Bennelex and Black Sun. And we were off to Kluistar to retrieve a Formassan.
The LABYRINTH: The plan was for us to get there a few days ahead of Sabrina, our Rebel friend who is quite well- known as smuggler. We would find our contact, one Shaina Kreen (Special Ops). She apparently had this Dunan Par’ell under her thumb and around her finger! This fellow has an interesting visage to behold. He has dark hair, and silver, mirror-like eyes. Lean taut and wiry, like a trap ready to spring. We spoke to him, through Shaina, and told him we had some data pads on Vorn, Z’Adia, V’Sar and Yarwarrigan. That seemed to get us an interview with Sibarra.
We were brought down to a private room by elevator, but to our disappointment all we saw was the holo of Sibarra and a couple of his heavies. We told him we had information to sell him, and listed off the different names of all the DataPads we had, which seemed to cause a reaction, though it wasn’t the one we expected. We were suddenly in some kind of Labyrinth that Sibarra could watch and hold gambling over the odds of us surviving the maze.
We encountered numerous nasty creatures and a floor with disappearing tiles, and a few dead bodies on our quest to find Ikcin. We eventually found our friend, encased in carbonite, and just as inexplicably, we were let out of the maze and into daylight. After travelling around the base of the huge structure that was Sibarra’s stronghold, we ran into a Bounty Hunter named Vallakor En’Vahdi. Thankfully, this time, he was working for one of our good friends - namely Uan’ A!
TRANDOSHAN RETREIVAL: We returned to our base. CT 3PO, Uan’ A, Velexa, Umi and Aria conducted our search for Karnic. Uan’A’s spies found the Kazzellis freighter that Karnic had just bought abandoned on Onderon. Our contact on Onderon, a Bothan named J’Risha Vuarnet said that Karnic was last seen in a bar talking to a masked and cloaked man. Karnic then followed him into a warehouse sector, looking extremely distressed.
CT had decoded the encrypted message, and it went:
“Remember Onderon? My wife? Murder? Remember Urska? The past is about to blow up in your face Major Karnic.”
Urska turns out to be a female Trandoshan name, but that’s all we could figure out as well as the fact that Karnic was in trouble. So we left to check out this warehouse district that the Bothan had observed. We took the YT-1300 The Bright Flame to Onderon and found J’Risha in the bar The Asteroid Belt. She then led us to the area she had last seen Karnic. She disclosed that he had looked hunched over, not in control of the situation that was unfolding, but that was a specific as she could get.
We encountered Ugnauts working in the area, but none of them had seen anything suspicious and were too busy to talk to us. Finally we approached a dark, abandoned warehouse, with footprints leading into the entrance. We noted that there were nine humanoids inside. We all went in except for J’risha, who said she would have to leave soon. A bloodcurdling scream rang out and we rushed in to save our friend from whatever horrible fate was upon him.
When we entered, we heard a cloaked figure telling his troops that 10 yrs ago, Major Karnic Foe was part of a hit squad, which on one mission killed Commander Ratrah’s (Tarcon Z’Adia’s) wife, Astashia. Later we found out that Commander Ratrah was, in fact, the true killer, however, at this time I can not reveal the source of this information.
In fact, to keep Alliance records straight, I need to elaborate. Tarcon Z’Adia is really Commander Ratrah, if you didn’t catch that. He was the one who formed the Trandoshan Hit Squad to use fear and terrorism as a tool for his agenda of power and politics. Indeed, it is entirely possible that, since Ratrah is deep underground somewhere, possibly working with the Empire, he still may be planning assassinations of high-profile individuals and their families. The Hit Squad is commissioned for assassinating those who are in high seats of government, or royalty. For the right price, a Senator or a Princess can be blown to microcosms in front of an assembly or world trade meeting, or in the privacy of their own office or home.
Major Karnic Foe was the field commander of the Squad, and as such carried out several duties for Commander Ratrah. Three seats of government were eliminated on Onderon so that Ratrah could maintain power over the military. However, Ratrah’s wife found out about his scheme, and Ratrah shot her in the back to silence her. He blamed the assassination on Major Karnic, however, and convinced the Hit Squad to help hunt him down.
As you can see by the many missions we’ve been on, Karnic Foe has definitely shown retribution. He has saved numerous lives on many occasions. He has ensured the success of several key missions. When he went underground as a Rebel Alliance operative, he may not have intended to, but he has become a loyal and valuable part of our efforts against the Empire and has become a good friend and faithful ally.
It seems that Karnic’s father, Selfin Foe, sold his own son out. He gave Commander Ratrah the location of Karnic’s wife Alska, and Ratrah set out to use her as bait to bring his former employee before him. It looked to us like Karnic’s wife was dead. And, right before us, Tarc took care of Karnic by breaking his neck. Aria was so stunned that she fell to the ground in shock. Then the armed guards threw off their cloaks and revealed that they were Karnic’s former troupe, the Trandoshan Hit Squad. We were told to stay put until Commander Ratrah had taken off and they had all left the building. When they left and we went up to the victims.
It was clear by their condition that we couldn’t revive them. An impenetrable sadness fell over all of us, especially Aria. We went back to Karnic’s ship and read the data pad on which his will was recorded. Aria was given a touching gift: the kazellis freighter, renamed The Lone Gunnir. He also relayed greetings and wishes to the rest of the group. We headed back to base with a heavy feeling in our hearts. The alliance lost a good fighter.
END OF FIELD REPORT: LT Umi Rom.
UMI'S PRIVATE ENCRYPTED NOTES: Uan’ A, myself and Aria headed back to base in The Lone Gunnir, and Crovax, Velexa and CT 3PO went in The Bright Flame. We were headed back to base, but suddenly our co-ordinates changed and we headed somewhere else completely. Both ships were locked in to the co-ordinates, and it was The Lone Gunnir that led us. We ended up on Chandrila, Hanna City - the Silver Sea. It was mostly a human settlement, so we had no clue what was up, and were ready for another confrontation with Commander Ratrah again, if need be. Imagine our surprise when we touched down near a building made of stucco and saw a figure in armour waiting for us. We all entered the building and seated ourselves at a table. He took his helmet off. It was KARNIC! Aria was overjoyed. This is when he explained that the one we thought was Karnic, was actually his twin brother, Jennex. Jennex had a rare terminal illness that made it impossible for him to regenerate. He had been helping his brother by raising Karnic’s son Leecheb. But when Karnic came to him for help, he insisted on going in himself to try to save her. Unfortunately he couldn’t save her, and was also killed in Karnic’s place. He succeeded in allowing Leecheb to have the opportunity to be raised by Karnic, however. It turned out that Alska was sold out to Commander Ratrah by Karnic’s own father. He explained all about his involvement in the Hit Squad to us as well. Of course, I don't know when I'll disclose to the Alliance that he is still alive, but I will make sure he isn't on an Alliance Wanted List for his former life before I make my decision. I believe Karnic is a changed being... Except Karnic’s new identity is now Acroyer Zar-Karza. THAT’s going to take some getting used to!
