Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise, majority owner in the Pretio.
Tarrie - Human pilot "under contract" to fly the Pretio, and drive the Piscopo. Brother of potential terrorist, rebel Latorna Savvn. His climbing skills are suspect, but his grenade skills make up for it. Edging a dangerous lifestyle of drugs, booze, and loose women
Frokazza - Wookie co-pilot, mechanic, and unarmed muscle. Very distrustful, and that anxiety gives him skin issues.
R2-H8(r) proved quite valuable calculating the barely-acknowledged route to the distant Tuktaar, while Tarried proved his piloting in between the jumps was invaluable at avoiding unnecessary contact.
During the jumps, Tarrie monitored the health of the creatures, using a low-dose drug concoction to keep the rabbits under control, without the imminent fear of a crazed rage Translucent Trappers like they had experienced on Alderaan.
It required five hands of Sabaac for Duk'k to "win" the honor of cleaning up rabbits cages, but even he could not avoid the embrace the cuteness of the blue critters. Moving them within a communal pen to get enough time to clean out the cages, Duk'k tripped over one of the little guys, collapsed, and was enveloped in cuteness. Luckily, no one else saw the incident, less The Sipsk'ud would be force to kill them.
After an optimal trip through hyperspace, but an long and winding course at sub-speed, the Pretio arrived at Tuktaar. Given the characteristics of the camel-like Yarkorans, Tuktaar seemed perfect, with its vast swaths of arid land, dotted with small patches of green which appeared to look like farms.
Hailing the starport, Tarrie was required to provide only the basest of credentials to land, and was directed towards Landing Bay 1. He pulled into the starport to discover that they were the only ship at the major starport on the city. There were other space and aircraft in the air upon their descent, so they weren't a primitive culture, but it just seemed odd. .
Entered customs for clearances, credentials, and unloading their peculiar cargo.
The regular customs officials looked like the few Yarkorans they had seem across the galaxy. The chief customs official appeared to be of noble status, and a series of evolutionary changes. With darker, matted hair on his hair, and a pair of vestigial arms/(legs?) on his chest, he was a haughty, but by the book character.
While working with customs, a race of wolf-men subservient to the Yarkorans, the Vagr, were tasked with the accounting and unloading of the shipment.
"Very good. How many of the Bioxin Azure Rabbits were diseased or died on the voyage?"
Ne'vets looked at his pilot, "Tarrie has those numbers."
"Twenty-four diseased and twelve dead, 532 for delivery."
"We will take them all, however we are to only pay for 500, More importantly, I only count 525."
A messenger arrived, who distracted the customs team from further questions. He took the Customs Chief aside. The Chief then turned to the crew.
"It appears that the Administrator has issues with your ship, please follow the runner to the Administrator's domicile." The crew complied, leaving Evus and Frokazza at the Pretio to hose out the cargo holds.
The messenger led them to the domicile of Ghek'kurik.
 |
| Ghek'kurik |
Ne'vets could only plaster a giant grin across his face, to prevent any other emotions from coming through. Duk'k through of numerous ways to kill this alien, but chose against them, for the sake of their own survival.
"Are they... satisfactory?" was all Ne'vets could muster.
Ghek'kurik held a finger up to them, to beg for a moment while he crewed and swallowed the last bit of rabbit. "The lower castes cook their rabbits, but the Bioxin Azure is most delicious raw, and still breathing."
"I am always happy for a satisficed customer."
"You and your ship may be a solution to our problem."
"In the last Klaat'tu, a number of our ships have been attacked, completely disabled, and boarded. Whoever is doing this taking all of the cargo, and killing everyone on board, including females and children. Despite our distance from most human civilization, it is still safe to surmise that if it's not some misguided Vagr with a death wish, then the threat must be human. What is the model of your freighter."
"Why, it's a Ghtroc 720..."
"Yes, Ghtroc, it is far bulkier than other freighters. It may pass for an uncomfortable Yarkoran ship to attract the pirates. You currently have a Twi'lek walking around an peaceful starport with a blaster rifle, the Wookie seems a bit perturbed, and..." staring over at Duk'k, "This specimen is particularly sporting. You would do well as a decoy to lure the pirates in and then you just kill them."
"Waitaminute, you just met us and you want us to kill a bunch of pirates for you?"
"Essentially, yes. The jump point to the Vagr system seems to be where the attacks happen."
"I assumed that's what you guys do."
"On a rabbit transport?"
"You're not the stereotypical crew."
"What are we lookin' at for compensation"
"So.... every ship that has been attacked has been carrying !xug'k!"
"Excuse me?'
"!xug'k!, It's one of our few exports out of our empires. We enjoy it as an after-dinner treat. It's quite soothing, but other races find it much more satisfying."
Ghek'kurik pulled a jar off of a bookcase, took a large wad of a dried substance out and stuck that his mouth. closing his eyes to savor the flavor.
Duk'k leaned over to Ne'vets, "I think that's Highleaf?"
"Highleaf?"
"Yeah, bad stuff, hallucination city. Quick Addiction, Really Bad Withdrawal. By the sweet power of the Force, they're dealing with drugs."
Ghek'kurik continued, "We can offer you a kilo of the !xug'k! to solve our problem. That should be more than worth you time, if you know the right humans who want it."
Between the live animal consumption, and pompous attitude of this alien noble with vestigial limbs, Ne'vets and Duk'k were quick to professionally decline, but not completely condemn the Yarkoran Administrator to his face.
As the crew walked out of the front door of Ghek'kurik's domicile, Tarrie seemed incredulous, "We're really not taking the mission."
It was enough for Duk'k to threaten him with a backhand to not pursue the matter longer, but Tarrie wisely suggested that they leave immediately.. and avoid that jump point at all costs.
Once back in space, Tarrie put Duk'k in the turret as the Pretio and set a steady course for the opposite jump point from the attacks. Tarrie was about to lean back and catch a nap, until a huge, green tear-drop shaped craft flew right in front of the ship. It knocked the autopilot out, and took the ship out of control, damaging one of the Tuktaar communication satellites.
"Don't shoot it, unless they return fire!" Tarrie shouted over the coms.
It was time to go back home.
Ne'vets felt a little disgruntled "This kinda ruined the spa day I had planned. Now I'm just not feeling it."
The Pretio made fabulous time with the course R2-H8(r) plotted, but made one last side trek to establish a business front off of Takodana and onto Bestine, a safe and picturesque midpoint from the Inner Core. The Empire was already interested in their shipbuilding operations, so additional Imperials wouldn't raise an eyebrow.
GM Notes - Every once in awhile there's a scenario that might be a breeze, but a party of PCs won't take the bait. Deciding that the bunnies were a delicacy, and the pompousness of the nobles, it's no surprise that the crew passed on the mission as offered.
Of course a kilo of the !xug'k!/Highleaf does fetch about 25,000cr to the right buyer.
The Tuktaar Connection appeared in Challenge Magazine #26. Outside of two NPCs I haven't introduced, and two scenarios that are great one-offs with different groups, I've completed my Challenge Challenge with issues #26 and #27. We're very close to the campaign storyline changing gears, so I don't know how much more I'll get through on my quest. Considering after #29 I'm jumping back and covering the Journal of the Traveller's Aid Society #1-24, and there are a ton of cool creatures in those issues, I might be a bit more selective.
Next: #45 - Takodana Days
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