(Star Wars d6) #19 - Alcazzar 2 - The Abandoned Compound

Our "Heroes"

Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise.  Teaming up with ally and friendly rival Abel Norrum for some exploration.
Evus - Twi'lek former mercenary, Ne'vets' armed muscle with a keen eye and a tendency to shoot first.
Tarrie - Human pilot "under contract" for the upcoming mission, whatever that is.  Brother of potential terrorist, rebel  Latorna Savvn.
Frokazza - Wookie co-pilot, mechanic, and unarmed muscle. Very distrustful.

Not a Friend to All Animals
Reunited with his friend, 
Big Game Hunter Abel Norrum, 
Ne'vets Aharo and his crew 
Are investigating the wonders of Alacazzar,
Both natural, and those that look man-made
After encountering two of the most viscious 
Creatures on the planet (hopefully), 
Both transports are mere kilometers 
From their destination....

Driving for only a minute or, two the comm link came alive, with Norrum on the other end.

"Pull over, keep Frokazza on the big gun, just in case that kriffin' bear returns.  We need to do some repairs."

With that, Frokazza went around in his turret, scanning the trees for more man-eating death.  The others conferred.

"Yast drained the power cells for the heavy repeating blaster.  It's gonna take a sec to get them recharged... Make it fast there, ya bloody Yazirian!"

Otherwise, the damage was minor, some wounds on Ringel that Sarge and Tarrie patched up, and a big dent in the second ATV from where the giant bear pawed with the vehicle.  It was merely cosmetic, so when the big gun was recharged and reloaded, each team went to their respective vehicle, and Abel's took the lead.

A few kilometers later, they spotted the rectangular shape that Abel had noticed in the planetary scans.  It was at least two stories tall and certainly made of concrete, rather than just a rock formation.

Disembarking from the vehicles and getting closer, with binoculars they could see the rectangular tower was dominating feature in a small complex of buildings, surrounded by a wire fence. 

"The tower is a reactor unit. This facility has its own power supply, and a LOT of it," Ne'vets explained to everyone. 

The large pile of mud and rock outside the fence to their left confirmed their fears that the facility was used for mining, but it also provided closer cover and an elevated position to take a look.   Ne'vets' crew ventured over for a better view.

Evus tried to scale the pile of mining waste, but immediately caused a minor landslide.  Everyone got out of the way, and the Twi'lek needed to be treated for minor injuries.

Finally settling down, they did indeed get a better view of the compound,  Besides the Reactor and adjacent processing plant, there was an storage building with large doors and door other buildings on the campus.  Most peculiar were the various droids and large mining equipment just sitting in random spots on the grounds.  Security and Maintenance droids stood motionless, unprotected from the elements.

Conferring with Abel, the best course of action would be to enter through the main gate, and perhaps trip the alarms early.  A small explosive charge later and the whole crew was inside the compound.

Ne'vets was quick to examine, but not touch the droids in any way.

"They're dead... completely disabled.  Even their power sources appear to be removed, " Ne'vets declared.

The first building was open, and appeared to be a barracks, with nine bunk beds, and three more unmoving maintenance droids in the bay. 

The large storage building had served as a motor bay to some form of vehicles, which had recently left.  Abel's crew was going to further search behind and around the reactor tower, leaving no surprising stone unturned.

Then Ne'vets opened the door to the third smaller, unidentified building.  Once opened, computer screen and blinking links could be seen inside, but Evus noticed something odd behind them.  The heavy equipment, attached with a borer, started to power up.  On the other side of the complex, multiple heavy blaster shots could be hurt, quickly followed by the com link, "They're kriffing alive!  Sarge is hit.  Regroup and counterattack!"

The security droids, the maintenance droids, and even the programable heavyy equipment all rose to life and menacingly attacked the team. 

Tarrie quickly jumped onto the boring machine and attempted to either stop it, or override it, with no immediate success.  The machine crawled forward and nearly decapitated a destracted Evus.

Return blaster fire could be heard from, across the facility, but more amusing were the curses of Abel Norrum,

"Yast, every one of my packs for my blaster packs is completely drained!  I can't get a single shot off."

*Pew-Pew-Pew*

"Sorry, boss, Yast the Yazirian apologize, "I drained those to refill the big gun on the truck faster, just like you ask...."

Even without the big game hunter, Abel's team quickly dispatched the main security droid and three maintenance droids and four shots, and turned to get back to Ne'vets crew. 

Tarrie had even more misfortune with machine, as an electrical discharge from the main console knocked him off his feet. 

Evus quickly dispatched another security bot, but a second machine, a front end loader, had sprung to life as well and parraleled the path of the machine Tarrie was working on.  Both were heading right towards the Twi'lek. 

Tarrie came to his senses and finally managed to override the computer to make the machine stop abruptly.  The machine swerved left, narrowly missing an Evus running between the two to make his escape.  The sharp turn jolted the front end loader and it crawled up the body of the boring machine and flipped onto its side. 

As the dust settle, Frokazza guaranteed it would settle naturally but finally ripping the  attachments off of a cleaning droid that had kept him occupied the entire time, and proceeding to beat the droid into its molecular components. 

Finally, Ne'vets emerged from the hole in the wall the two mining machines made in the "computer" building when they crashed.

"Guys, you're gonna want to see this"

The computers were from the Strell Corporation, another multi-planet corporation on the Imperial payroll, just like Lisani.  Unlike Lisani, Strell had determined Alcaazar ripe for the picking with the normal explorer and claim requests.  Instead of testing for minerals and filing a report to the Imperial offices, Strell simply built a fairly autonomous mining facility at the start.  A fresh report back to Lisani would tell of how this perfectly good facility appeared abandoned, and might speed up development issues to be ready after the thaw. 

There were even general coordinates of the main Strell facility on the planet, but frontal assaults were poo-poo'ed.  Ne'vets spoke for all but Ringel and Sarge when he said, "We're paid as explorers, not necessarily mercenaries.  They can have their own little private war afterwards, for all I care."

"Agreed, for now," Abel concurred, "Let's document this, and do a little safari exploration before we forward the info to Lisani."

Next: #20 - Mountains and Moles