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The World of Georic 1989-Present

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

(Star Wars d6) #28 - Surface Safari

The Current Crew of the Pretio
Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise, majority owner in the Pretio.
Evus - Twi'lek free mercenary, Ne'vets' armed muscle with a keen eye and a tendency to shoot first.
Tarrie - Human pilot "under contract" to fly the Pretio.  Brother of potential terrorist, rebel  Latorna Savvn.
Frokazza - Wookie co-pilot, mechanic, and unarmed muscle. Very distrustful.
Kafla Thingvellir - Billionaire entrepreneur turned zoological enthusiast, in search of the Translucent Chromatic Trapper.

By Request! 
Pulled from much-needed downtime,
By the demands of a brazen entreprenuer,
The Crew of the Pretio is headed to a 
Barely-acknowledged planet in search 
Of some rare spider....

Going on hunches and decade-old knowlege,
Will the crew find any arachnids,
Or find something far, far worse....

The Pretio pulled out of Hyperspace to the planet Offu.  Considered a backwater planet, it still had plenty of supplies to restock the safari.  Thingvellir went out to re-purchase everything he had lost, rations, scanners, cages, traps, weapons, and recording equipment.   

The crew was given a far more enviable task of equipping themselves with 4,000 credits.  A few newer weapons, some extra basic gear, and everyone was happy.  

With the Pretio loaded, the group was ready to go.  Ne'vets tries to plug-in the coordinates to make the jump, but Tarrie thankfully stopped him.

"Sorry, Boss, but you know you're banned from the cockpit for the pre-flight check.  That's part of my contract."

Frokazza took over astrogation and Ne'vets returned to the lounge to Kafla expounding on the others the chance for great success.

"By the time I get back on that luxury liner heading to Alderaan, you're rich beyond your wildest dreams..."

Four days of travel, they came into range of Planet 576-908, Kafla continued ranting about the limited traits of this undiscovered survey.    "Translucent Chromium  spawning females are big as the size of your fist...  but definitely not the Wookie's fist. If we can find a spawning female, let's grab that!"

Evus went to the cargo hold to double-check the Safari Speeder Piscopo, laden with rations, supplies, and medical supplies

Plant 576-908 was a dominant land mass, mostly hills and plains, with one large body of water.  The Pretio's sensors picked up a signal for landing, normally associated with starports.  Despite no landing control, Tarrie followed that in.   

The Map of Planet 576-908
The "Starport" was a 500-foot long slab of flat rock in the rock, adjacent to a five-meter tower that was acting as a beacon.

Sensors on the ship picked up low oxygen, requiring rebreathers to leave the ship.  

The group disembarked.  Not seeing anything signs, they turned to Kafla, looking for guidance.  

"We're not looking for mountains.  Trappers would be hiding in crevasses and caves.  The merchant was on-planet for awhile.  He was stuck here for a good long time as his droids repaired his ship.  That speeder will help us cover ground in days versus months for him.  We can set up camp and take your speeder for a jaunt before dark. "
The Piscopo
The terrain of the planet was a dream for Tarrie to operate the Piscopo.  Long stretches of flat land, with hills that allowed the vehicle to just get enough air.  

"Let's find an interesting area or two that might keep trapper," Ne'vets stated.  

After an hour of travel turning into boredom, Kafla advised scouting out locations to see what type of life they could find.  He could bark out orders and ideas, but it became pretty obvious rather quickly to the group that he no clue what a zoological safari would entail. 

Finding a narrow cave, the crew broke out to dig around and did find a trapper, or a group of smaller, violent, non-transluscent trappers.  Nev'ets was beset by them, but never received harm.  

Outside for a few non-productive sites, the remaining afternoon was as equally boring as the trip out.  Kafla continue to type every piece of info onto his datapad.  

Dinner was prepared outside, and everyone enjoyed the sunset, but everyone decided to sleep inside the ship... except Kafla.  He spent only a few hour outside that night.  The need for a rebreather and the lack of noise was a bit disconcerting, so he banged on the ramp to be let back onto the Pretio.

The following morning, they went out in a different directions, looking at terrain and any clues to if these creatures existed.  Results were non-existent, but Kafla reinforced his position, "We can be out here for 60 days and I can still make my conference.  You are getting paid for this."

Day three on planet was much of the same...

...as was day four, safe a repairable breakdown on the Piscopo.

Day five found them investigating the marshlands near the "Great Sea" and discovering lizards and small flying creatures, but no Trappers.  

On the way home, the were caught in a storm.  It was quite violent, Tarrie nearly careening out of control at most times.  

Everyone stayed in the Pretio that night.  

The next day was uneventful, but day eight found an scale-less lizards or hairless mammals scurrying in the rock.

And a much bigger thunderstorm.  Tarrie realized that it was safer to power down in a high spot of land and wait out the storm.  

Fourteen hours later, Tarrie said the heck with it and eeked the vehicle through the buffeting winds at low speed.

Day Nine: A complete washout.  The ruined campsite needed to be completely recovered.  It was decided unanimously to bring all surviving equipment back on the ship, and park the Piscopo inside the ship.  


Day Ten:  Running low on options of day trips, Ne'vets pointed east, far away from the Great Sea.  Digging in another sample site, they discovered more traditional spiders.  Diving directly in line with sun, a giant bird unfurled a tremendous wingspan before attempting to snag Ne'vets....

*PEW* PEW*

Blaster fire from Kafla scared this humongous bird away.  It seemed like a good time to head back to the ship.  

Day Eleven:  A day of rest, nothing more than sleep and equipment/vehicle upkeep.  

Day Sixteen: After covering the entire area around the Starport, as well as the Eastern coast of the Great Sea. It was decided by the group to head out further East, in search of anything. 

Going off into the plains, beyond the hills they had been searching, the group come upon a series of unusual mounds, towering over the horizon.  They were not hills, rather slag piles of mining waste.  No nearby mining operation.  Copper, Tin, Gold, and Starswarziam mixed within the pile.  

Mimicking his actions on Alcazaar, Evus climbed one of the slag piles and pulled out his monoculars.

The surrounding area was empty, save a strange, hairy six-legged creature with just the faintest trace of sentience. 

Evus: "I saw a crazy creature!"

Ready to chase....

Next: #29 - The Shriekers of the Desert Plains

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