(Star Wars d6) #92 - The Biclopean Hegemony

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.

Sqarl - Quarren ex-whaladon hunter, recently hired onto the crew.

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

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.  Former lover and boy-toy to the feared Rebel terrorist (and former Pretio crewmember), Latorna Savvn.

 
R2-H8(r) - Astromech with a confusing history, and harsh attitude towards most of the crew.

A Howling Good Time?

The crew of the Pretio have had the good fortune

To hunt and capture numerous

Legendary animals, but never the 

Opportunity to capture a werewolf? 

Hired by a galactic social media maven, 

And equipped with the latest

In personal camera technology,

The crew has arrived at the remote planet 

Belkain to begin their hunt...

Ne'vets gave the okay to leave Bestine and the Pretio was programmed towards the Kwenn Space Station, for a rendezvous with Amber Kincaid's associate and tech guru, Kurt Morningstar.  Kurt piloted a small, two-man customized freighter with mutliple cameras for every outside angle of the ship, and probably and equal number, if not more, on the inside.

Morningstar had already unloaded his cargo before they discovered the ship. 

"Sup Space Dawgs..."

"Hello, we aren't putting all those cameras on our ship."

"Nope, not Amber's protocols, all these are personal body cams."

Each case held one camera, that fixed over the ear, a charging cable, and a set of accessories for mounting on equipment, magnetizing to some armor, and general adjustments.  Kurt warned that the cameras could record and playback, close circuit video with other team members, and a live-stream option to a more powerful transmitter.  Kurt was staying there on Kwenn, and doing a quick review for editing notes. 

"Just, like, a word of caution, if you're recording and getting chased by a gnarley werewolf, I won't hear your cries for help until hours later."

Ne'vets nodded. "No worry, Kurt, that's not our style."

"Crying for help or running away?"

"Both."

Once a werewolf was acquired, the crew was instructed to contact Ameber directly via the coms for delivery and payment arrangement.

Duk'k seemed disappointed, "I thought you would be coming with us, like holding a camera?"

"Dude, that style of holodvids was so post-Clone Wars.  A couple of seasons of Troopers and everyone was copying it"

The equipment was transferred to the Pretio, the ship refueled, and they bid Morningstar adieu. 

The crew traveled another day and a half on the hyperlane, most of the time fitting and fidgeting wit the head cams.  Evus and Duk'ks head weren't conducive to their heads (Duk'k had no ears and his helmet designed for seven eyes was a perfect fit. 

"This is going to block at least three of my eyes.  Stupid Biclopean Hegemonys"

Ne'vets, "Just don't break it an lose footage. It's the only way we'll cover expenses on this trip."

They left hyperspace and began a desolate journey through largely uncharted space to get to Belkain.

The delay and adjustments were mind-numbing to Ne'vets: 

"I'm waiting for a beacon that shows up that says 'Hyperlane not maintained during Imperial Rule' "

Once they arrived in Belkain's orbit, the crew decided to pull resources together and perform multiple sensor checks to scan the planet more efficiently. 

Belkain was a mustard-yellow, very arid planet, with a thin atmosphere, both with breathable air, and atmospheric compounds blocking star radiation.  

"Refine the search for the Biclopean Overlords," Ne'vets joked, staring at Duk'k. 

"Kark you, Ne'vets."

Life form sensors found no major lifeforms, and particularly no settlements, but they could make our square and rectangular buildings representing a major camp or medium-sized facility.  

Each of the dozen ruins also were adjacent to Explorer Corps markers designating safe landing zones in the wilderness.

The planet Belkain - Arid, low oxygen, heavy irradiated world.

Duk'k continued to refine the sensors, and with the exception of Sqarl bumping into the equipment the sensors  found energy signatures coming from underground near three of the ruins/landing site.

Outside radiation levels provided long-term damage to any biological product. Most appeared to be lingering unfiltered solar radiation. 

"Which one we hitting first, boss?"  Duk'k asked.

"Let's hit the closest one first," Nev'ets directed the crew, "The fourth of five moons is just rising now. Let's hope more moons doesn't equal more power."

The walls of the ruins appeared to be the exposed foundation of what could possibly be a large industrial complex.  While the Pretio was landing, Sid noticed something dart across the dust and under the vessel and towards a large crack in the foundation wall of the former complex.  

"Hey I saw something."

Sqarl was confused "What did you see, nothing popped on the sensors."

"I saw a flash and went in the wall, that's why I spoke up."

Ne'vets was sitting in the co-pilot seat, confused, "I didn't see anything."

Duk'k countered, "Ne'vets the medical droid would be better suited in that seat than you."

As the ship landed, Sid leaned back and realized his camera was actually on the entire time. 

For a half-hour, the crew tried to use the wiring on the ship,  the droids,the microwave from the lounge, and their limited know-how to pull the video onto the amber monitors in the cockpit. 

The shaky video of Sid looking all around while landing, blurred the shadowy image even more.  They couldn't tell if it was running on two legs or four, and the blur itself filled up most of the eight foot entrance to massive wall. 

Ne'vets was ready to start the search, "It looks like something we can investigate, let's get ready."

The landing pad on site was a bit above the bottom of the foundation wall, forcing a circuitous path.  The thrusters on the ship had blown up the powdery dust, making the outside world look like a min-dust storm. 

Duk'k lowered the ramp, Evus distributed re-breathers, Ne'vets distributed a variety pack of grenades to each crew member. and the crew descended to ground level.  Ears popped, skin felt like it was stretching, and it felt like it took a bit of squinting to fight back the weird feeling of outward eye pressure.  As Duk'k worked his way down the hill, looking for the blur's tracks, they heard Sid on the coms.  

"Hey guys wait up."

Sid ran down the ramp and chased after his crewmates... wearing a helmet of an Imperial pilot.

Must have been hiding that in his rucksack.

No one, including the new guy, blinked an eye. 

Sid looked over to Sqarl, "Prep you grenades, my first day on this job I was assaulted by a Tree Kraken."

Ne'vets interrupted, "Assault, not violated with its tentacles.  We've had prior crew members that were so lucky... Thankfully we didn't have cameras for that job."

Duk'k had to lean down to the soft tracks leading to the crack in the  wall. The blur was running on its toes with a sprinting stride.

Sqarl and Ne'vets leaned down with Duk'k and debated the tracks. 

"It's not running on its toes, it's running on its paws with large retractable claws that are just grazing the dirt."

"Should we set up a trail cam and wait this out?" Duk'k asked.

"I don't want to wait this out... or stick my head in that cave," Ne'vets admitted.

"How about we break out a bunch of the Space Salisbury Steak Dinners?"

Ne'vets stood up and smiled, thinking to himself, "I know EXACTLY what we're dealing with...."

GM Notes:  It's hard to think of quality titles for some of these episodes.  I don't want to use a published adventures title too soon if it's going to take multiple weeks, But calling Imperial culture a "biclopean hegemony" in regards to camera lenses not working effectively on Duk'k's seven eyes was too good not to use.  I believe it's also erroneous, but who let's fact ruin a good time had by all?

My biggest trouble during the session was trying to describe the fluffy, almost blow-away dust.  I kept comparing it to dry leaves in fall, but really failed mightily. 

It should be noted that Evus and Sid's cameras were misaligned and recording from nauseatingly odd angles. It may or may not impact the final holovid product going to Amber Kincaid.

Next: #93 -  Meat to Droid Ratio