(Star Wars d6) #82 - The Tatooine Express

The Crew of the Pretio in This Week's Episode 

Ne'vets Aharo - an exotic animal broker, both legal and otherwise, majority owner in the Pretio.

Duk'k - Sipsk'ud Bounty Hunter, recently rescued by the crew. Offering his services in order to get off this barely existing hunk of mud. His warning shots are dead center mass kill shots.

"Sid" - A peculiar woman who has shown to be a better pilot than the previous one. Possible Imperial ties, but a far better shot.

 
Latorna Savvn - Rebellion pilot and saboteur, trying to lay low from the Empire after a series and destructive attacks.

Evus - Twi'lek male, former slave, then former associate of Ne'vets, who has found his way back to the Pretio but caught back up in the nonsense of the Pretio

Stay-Away-cation

After delivering a missing child back to his 

Imperial Oligarch father, the crew of the Pretio had 

An unfortunate incident involving a bounty

Far too hot for the effort. 

Unfortunately, a running gun battle in a popular

Orbiting diner has alerted Imperial authorities

Of the whereabouts of current ship passenger, 

Mission assistant, and rebel saboteur and

Mass murderer, one Latorna Savvn.

Still mourning the loss of their previous pilot

(And Latorna's younger brother) Tarrie Prolek, 

The crew has decided against turning the 

Rebel in to collect the substantial reward.

In other words, it's time to leave for the Outer Rim

And hopefully turn a profit doing so....

Despite their failure in capturing the bounty, it was felt best to return to the resort on Hosnian Prime for a few more days, lay low, and have Ne'vets review his messages and requests, and if they came up empty, a few inquiries with merchants and brokers, for either cargo, or a mission as far away from the Empire as possible. 

It wasn't even two days later for the Imperial troops to sweep through the planet, and come up empty-handed.  With the transports already leaving orbit, it was deemed wise to return to the resort lounge .  It was a few drinks too many for Latorna to open up to various other resort guests about details about her shipyard bombing that were no public knowledge. 

"Whoever did that probably didn't do it all in one day.  There were over 267 reported break-ins and trespassing investigations done over the previous two years.  It's probably shoddy security." 

The Imperial News Network was full of mid-rim mentions of skirmishes with Rebel forces and travel advisories, so a further trip seemed to be in order.  

Day 3:  Duk'k came down for breakfast to see Ne'vets already poolside, crunching numbers on datapads.

"Hey Duk'k.  No good messages, just some space notary admin stuff I can do remotely.  Any change on Latorna?"

The Sipsk'ud sighed, "No change, she's still at 75,000 credits to turn in.  Also, still no bounties on us unless you want me to dig deeper on the Black Sun offers.  There's got to be one or two left on us, we killed too many of their guys."

"Okay, if we can find a location to lay low, we do have that Imperial offer to do some scientific work."

"You didn't mention that one either Ne'vets, huh,   Let's haul some quick cargo to get out of here and we can re-evaluate from there."

Day 4: Ne'vets left the crew to their own devices at the resort, and took the Piscopo into town to look at job offers.  

• More corporate intrigue, this time involving asteroid mining colonies?  Hard pass.
• Transporting GC-96B (a legal pharmaceutical) to help with an outbreak on Sumarin? Legal pills, delivery already established were pros.  The fact that the drugs were used to treat a highly infectious disease?  A big con to make them move on...
• Delivering a half-dozen Wolfe's Blackstreak Wolves to a Tibanna merchant on Bespin.   Animals were their specialty, but the pay for live carnivores that Ne'vets disputed their potential to be domesticated.  The price offered to a probably licensed animal broker was a near insult.  Plus, things went weird last time they visited Bespin.

Ne'vets finally fell upon a Vagr, a canine race subservient to the Tuktaar Empire.  Despite the disgusting culinary habits of their bosses/masters, Ne'vets struck up a conversation with lone smuggler, a Grenstov Krexilhven.

Grenstov Krexilhven

Grenstov happened to be transporting a shipment of !xug'k!" and had run into mechanical problems with his ship and could not complete delivery.  

Ne'vets was familiar with the odd sounding product by its Galactic Basic name:  Highleaf, a highly addictive hallucinatory plant.  The pay was adequate, and the destination far enough away to not attract high-profile Imperials. The contact for delivery was to a Snivvian named Bornn Gnott at the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine.  They would direct the final destination.

Ne'vets shook hands, confirmed a location for transfer, and gathered the crew to further discuss the plans.  

"We said no drug runs when we visited Tuktaar.  Why the change of heart?"  Duk'k asked.

"The credits should be good, Tatooine is far enough away, and I think Tarrie might have right." was all Ne'vets could muster.  No one else argued any point.  

The rendezvous for the cargo and the trip to Tatooine went off without any incident whatsover.

Entering the atmosphere, Sid was relieved to find some help with space control to find the starport.  

As the Pretio landed onto the spot, she turned to an oblivious Ne'vets,  "Hey, I don't like this at all."

Emerging from the corridors was a garrison of Stormtroopers, lining the walls.  Sid fumbled the coms to the correct channel.  "Ghtroc 720, prepare to be boarded!"

Ne'vets mind was racing.  Stormtroopers were expected on Tatooine, but this many troops for a routine inspection? ... on an outer rim world?  Definitely, not coincidence, and probably a set-up, whether by the Vagr or a competitor, he wasn't quite sure.

For Duk'k, there was a more pressing concern.  The vast amount of illegal Highleaf was stacked inside and around the Piscopo. He instructed Sid to delay dropping the ramp so he had a few more moments to mix it in with the normal equipment.  Hopefully the grenade dispensers would attract more attention than random packages of drugs.  

After Sid successfully performed an hydraulic adjustment on the ramp, the lone Imperial officer, a Lieutenant, walked up to the ramp and was greeted by Ne'vets.  

"I'm Lieutenant Lavlin, state your business."

"Ne'vets Aharo, visiting a friend."

"Visiting a friend? On Tatooine?  With a Ghtroc and the price of fuel nowadays?  Unlikely story...  You have two holds on this vessel, what are you carrying."

"You'll find a ship in one, and a speeder in the other"

"A ship in the hold?  Let's start there."  

The immediately moved to the cargo bay with the Something Awesome in it.  Ne'vets prodded the officer.

"Are you normally inspecting ships that come through Mos Eisley?  It's a first for me."

"Yes, there's been an upswell in big-ticket black market items recently, not your usual smuggler fare.  Gotta keep your 'friend' safe from the ne'er do wells," and with that the Lieutenant gave a quick wink to Ne'vets.    "Where's the paperwork on this Q-Ship?  It's legal, but highly unusual."

Ne'vets pulled an arm around the officer, "Let's go into my office and review everything I have on file." 

Ne'vets took him into his office, full of leather covered datapads and rich mahogany shelves framing the trophies.  

"Here's our flight logs for the last month.  We're simple import/exporters with a specialty in exotic animals.  Zero animals on this flight." 

After twenty minutes, Ne'vets had distracted the officer with legitimate paperwork that was in order, that he escorted him back down the ramp, satisfied with what he saw.  No inspection of the second cargo bay was conducted, although Ne'vets did get a full description of the new Imperial garrison established in Anchorhead.  Lieutenant Lavlin dispatched the Stormtroopers with a hand gesture.  Soon thereafter, Ne'vets and Duk'k disembarked  and followed the Stormtroopers general direction until they reached the Mos Eisley Cantina.   An undue amount of attention was given to the duo from the inhabitants, who expected a far different outcome with the meeting with the Imperials.

Once in the cantina, they quickly found a rushed and distract Bornn, awaiting multiple black market shipments.  

"I've got seventeen shipments coming in today, without any more Imperial heat."

Bornn Gnott - Snivvian Black Market Broker

The Snivvian throws about 600 credits at the pair, "Congrats, you're the first delivery...  My boss wants to be part of the Highleaf market, this should be a start.  Hold onto it overnight and once both suns have risen, fly it over to Jabba's Palace for the rest.  Don't use the front doors if you want to live."

GM Notes:   Many good quotes from the session, but tonight's ward goes to Hoyce, "How well concealed is our vast amount of illegal drugs?"

Next: #83 - The Service Entrance to Jabba's Palace.