(Star Wars d6) #20 - Alcazaar 3 - Mountains and Moles

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.

Defining the Mission

Investigating the planet Alcazaar, 

The crews of Aberl Norrum, Big Game Hunter 

and Ne'vets Aharo, Exotic Animal Broker 

Have discovered illegal mining activity 

Conducted by the rival Strell Corporation.

Can our heroes figure out the right course of action, 

Or will the Strell Corproartion 

Catch up to their misdeeds...

There was a lot of debate between the crews of Abel Norrum, Galactic Explorer and Big Game Hunter and those with Ne'vets Aharo, Exotic Animal Broker and less experienced Adventurer. The discovery of mining operations constructed on Alcazzar by the rival Strell Corporation put everyone on a state of unease.

The decision of what to do was tabled for awhile as the crews decided to venture off to the nearby mountains for a spell, before returning to the ship.  

Most of the trip there was filled with Evus inquiring about communication equipment on The Big Game.  Despite only being on planet for less than a day, contacting Lisani of Strell's corporate indiscretion was a time-sensitive matter.  

"Listen, we're going to the mountains to make Ne'vets happy.  We'll spend a day or more up here and head back to the ship.  I know Ne'vets has a certain... predilection for big mountains....," Abel extolled.

"I just prefer them over swamps."

They disembarked the vehicles and set up a protective hard-body tent between them.  Yast, the Yazirian pilot, scanned the skies while in one of the turrets, on the lookout for the vicious sky-dogs that had attacked Ringel earlier.  

The mountains of Alacazzar were a mixture of grey and black rock, soaring into the sky.  Things were deathly still outside the low howl of the wind.  It was a barren landscape, but it seemed traversable. 

The crews pulled out extra body armor, ropes and pulleys.  Abel doffed his safari hat for a pith helmet drenched in viewfinders and 

Ringel stared at Ne'vets' group, "You guys ever do any mountain climbing?"

Blank faces

"Spelunking?"

"How about Spelling Bees?" Tarrie retorted.  

With an one eye on the sky and one eye on the makings of a trail, they departed the camp.   

About an hour into the hike,  Ringel and Sarge found an interesting cliff face they wanted to try to scale.  Everyone else checked comms, and continued on, leaving the duo there.  

Another hour into the hike and the group found themselves in front of a sheer fifteen-foot cliff they need to scale to continue,  Abel scaled up without an issue, followed by Tarrie, but Ne'vets proved useless, frozen at the bottom.  A pulley was constructed to lift him up, but something went wrong, and the broker plummeted right onto an unsuspecting Frokazza.  Frokazza just needed to dust himself off, Tarrie pulled a shoulder muscle, but Ne'vets suffered a few busted ribs. 

With a serious injury, even after a med pack, the cold and barren landscape it was determined that there was nothing there to explore further.

"Unless a space dragon is up here, this is a no go..." Abel said. 

"Or a Giant Flying Jellyfish." Ne'vets quickly quipped.

"We already have an Alcazzaran Dead Weight," Abel retorted back, staring directly at Ne'vets, "That's enough. Let's go back."

Abel took a few steps away to contact the skilled rock climbers. 

"RINGEL! We got injured coming back.  Need a little help here... What?  Whaddya mean Sarge fell off the cliff.  Jedi Kriffin' Council!"

Hours later, the vehicles were heading back to the ship.  Sarge and Ne'vets were laid out in the back seats of each ATV.   Abel drove one with Tarrie at shotgun and Ringel on the gun.  Yast had the wheel on the other ATV with Evus in the passenger front and Frokazza manning that gun.   It was time to return to the ship, transmit the initial report, and further explore the planet.  

Fording a fast-moving river, the ATVs pulled out of the small river valley and across another small plain.  

***BA-DOOOOOW!!!!***

A large blaster shot pierced Abel's ATV on the passenger side.  It came up through the roof and pierced the turret.   Tarrie, Abel, and Sarge only managed to take some minor shrapnel, but the blast set fire to the ATV around the turret engulfing Ringel in flames, and certainly destroying the heavy blasters.  

Off to the distance both vehicles could see a single, boxier ATV approaching from the east.  Both drivers began evasive maneuvers to engage it, but Frokazza began shooting wildly into the air.  Seconds later the others would notice the two aircraft veer off in opposite directions to avoid attracting further fire.

With the attacking vehicle's weapons blast barely over his own head, Frokazza focused a violent barrage of return fire.  

The Yazirian managed to create drift on the all-terrain vehicle and allowed Frokazza a moment to strafe the mysterious enemy, rocking their vehicle with a less stellar explosion than Abel's had suffered.  

Abel punched the accelerator the ATV came behind the attacker. 

"Pull out a weapon and shoot, dammit," Abel commanded Tarrie.   Tarrie fired at a man in the turret, hitting him in the back.     Yast found a small ridge and catapulted their ATV over the crossing ATV of Abel's.  IN the midst of that jump, another flurry of fire by Frokazza assaulted the undercarriage of the enemy craft, blowing up solid tires, shredding the suspension and sending it into a cataclysmic series of flips.

Stopping to put out the fire and gather their senses, Evus brought up a distant dust cloud. 

"Look, there's more of them, running away!  Those aircraft went the opposite way."

Searching the wreckage, they could only find body parts, but not all of them appeared completely human.  Something had been shackled to the inside of the vehicle.  The size and fur of the creature immediately made everyone think it was an unfortunate Wookie prisoner, or maybe a baby version of the Giant Alcazzar Bear.

Everyone except exotic animal expert Ne'vets Aharo.  

"This thing was sentient.  Look at that skull fragment.  It's more human than Wookie, in spite of its furry exterior.  It's like a primitive sub-man."

"Look at the finger structure.  And even

Abel countered, "Four lungs?  What if it was a pair of two smaller Wookie creatures, like pygmy Wookies?"

"Nonsense, even the bone fragments are much to large to suggest miniature versions of the creature.  This is obviously the Alcazzaran version of the Rinku Ga!  The missing link for all mammalian races! "

Abel sighed, "Don't tell me you frequent those Cryptid Holovid sites, you crazy foul. I don't think they exist.  There isn't some primeval entity flitting around every forest and glacier. There's either Wookies or Wampas, there's nothing to connect us with them."

"I am the subject matter expert on these things Abel.  These things are a hot commodity, and that's not even mentioning removing its Dula Oblongota and grinding it into a powder to increase Hutt virility...  I'm not sure I want to get into that part of the business.  

Evus kicked through the wreckage, and near parts of what used to be dashboard.  Printed in all capital letters, "STRELL CORPORATION."

The search and anthropological discussion was interrupted by Frokazza firing wildly in the air.  Everyone was on edge about the flying aircraft, but he was picking off SkyDogs nearing the crash site.

Abel, "Let's get the vehicles back to the ship.  We'll patch this one up and get out of the atmosphere to transmit our findings and recover.  Tarrie, you drive this time..."

They reached The Big Game without further incident.  Once in orbit, Yast and Ringel started welding ATV-1 back together.  The others sat upstairs to transmit the report and review their actual orders.

Abel read directly from my agreement, "Catalog the resources of the planet, look for wildlife, sentient life, and trespassing life. Report the former, eliminate the latter."

"I expect some squatters, not a kriffing corporate installation!!!  My only worry this second is if those fighters you saw can leave the atmosphere.  We can handle two, maybe three, but Yast would have problems with four or more of 'em swarming us."

"Let's send what we know and we can can ask for further advisement," Tarrie interjected.  "Perhaps they'll send troops, or more money."

Everyone agreed, and Frokazza sent the message to Lisani's channel. 

********

Two days later, there had been no encounter with any forces, but an encrypted message appeared on the comms.

Abel quizzically looked at the Wookie, "Furball, what level of encryption did you send the initial message?"   

If Wookie's could blush, Frokazza would be rose-colored.

"Nevertheless," Abel continued, "It's legit from Lisani."

"Barring a full-fledged Corporate Army on the planet's surface, we will earn an extra 15,000 credits if we eliminate the threat."  

"NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Ringel, Sarge, and Evus all shouted together. 

Next:  #21  Alcazzar Part Four: Flying Away From Trouble.