Star Wars: RSO

Last session of our one-shot before its abandonment. Our team follows the thread of its discoveries up to the last two mercenaries sought. But as the situation seems to move forward, Galrow's past resurfaces and forces his fellow unfortunates to assist him...

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Difficult decisions

The group's recent exploits - the capture of Aaren and Duke - convinced Diana to release her information on the mercenary group and on Linda Garvik. Unsurprisingly, she confirms to her agents that "Garvik" is not really a person, but a separatist interest group with a vast fortune and a taste for secrecy, even within its own ranks. During an extraction mission on a supposedly abandoned base, a separatist team stumbled upon a group of mercenaries fleeing the premises at full speed. They must have been carrying precious resources with them, for Diana's superiors tasked her with finding them.

Armed with this information, the rest of the group better understands that waking Aaren up and talking to him is not in its interest. Worse still, Duke - should he ever come out of his coma - is known to be a particularly effective Scout. For him, freeing himself would be a matter of minutes. Fortunately, a first medical assessment performed jointly by Kejar and Diana suggests he is only a shadow of his former self: apart from a few ocular reflexes, Duke has sunk into a brain-dead state. This observation is confirmed when Nolan brings in a Black Market "friend" doctor, who scans the poor man's skull and detects two minuscule holes, drilled from the nasal cavity to the brain. Injecting oxygen through the nose has irreparably damaged what could remain of it.

Great discussions begin regarding the last two individuals sought - Xeli the elite sniper and Decebal Vulpesco. The leads seem rather slim. To make matters worse, fate chooses to strike at this very moment: Galrow receives a message he cannot ignore...

Hostage of the Black Sun

In truth, Galrow is a Wookiee as honorable as he is venerable. And as tradition dictates, when an individual saves a Wookiee's life, the latter owes them one in return. This is how Galrow ended up bound to Rosa, a traditionalist Black Sun member at odds with the gang's new leadership. The situation was already precarious well before this adventure began: Galrow was forced to work in Rosa's stead, on pain of seeing her executed. But judging by the message he just received, the Black Sun chose to get rid of her anyway.

"Hi Galrow. I'm in trouble. I'm sorry to bother you with this, but if you can come by Avenue 82-A-D37, you'd save my life." - Rosa

Galrow rushes out of the ship, not without seeking the help of the other group members. While TRCJ accepts without blinking, Nolan sees neither how he would be useful, nor why he should follow. That does not prevent him from doing so all the same. Diana stays on the ship to make sure Kejar does not free Aaren.

Arriving at Avenue 82-A-D37, Galrow notices the presence of his Black Sun "superior", the infamous Nallok Mogarian. He walks up to him, followed by TRCJ, and asks him in what way he can help. Between two strings of demeaning insults, Nallok addresses severe reprimands to him: he really does not seem to appreciate Galrow's suspicious presence, since the latter should be busy collecting credits for the gang. Despite his bristling fur, Galrow keeps a low profile and leaves the premises. He contacts Rosa to ask her where she is: the mercenary has taken refuge in the local branch of Maison V, a ready-to-wear boutique whose prices make the neighborhood residents believe they are worth more than others.

Nolan volunteers to enter, since Nallok has not seen him yet. He infiltrates the store, quickly locates Rosa and hands her ample clothes fit to conceal her. Before Nallok in turn bursts into the store, Galrow and TRCJ warn Nolan, who slides a rack of clothes behind which Rosa manages to hide herself. She reaches the back of the store, leaves the shop and flees across the rooftops, followed from the street by Nolan. Once safe, the latter offers the fugitive to extradite her to another planet, for a fee. She acquiesces, despite her surprise: hard to believe a mere smuggler would agree to take on the Black Sun. That does not scare Nolan, for he guarantees that in case of trouble, he will not hesitate to sell her out and do his best to cover his own back. At least things are clear.

The situation is less funny for Galrow and TRCJ. While Nolan and Rosa were fleeing, the two pals took the opportunity to enter the Maison V as well, which the Black Sun was ransacking without consideration under the servile gaze of the customers and shopkeepers. Galrow exchanges a few last unkind remarks with Nallok, then turns on his heels once Rosa is safe. And yet, on several occasions, the Wookiee and the droid came within a whisker of engaging hostilities. Revenge to be taken...

The Hunter hunted

Galrow's problem seems solved, at least in part. Since the investigation is far from over, TRCJ, Nolan and he head back to the ship to confer on the next steps. At the bend of a crossroads, they catch the gaze of a man. The latter quickly slinks away, in a manner so suspicious it prompts our penniless investigators to wonder where they had already seen him: from memory, it is an anonymous face in the crowd, one that has presented itself to them a bit too often over the day to be perfectly innocent. And thinking about it carefully, the dirty blond beard could match Decebal's - the mercenary group's leader - whose photo had fallen into the group's hands. Nothing more is needed for them to follow him to a remote alley, from which resounds a heavy Blaster Rifle shot that gravely damages TRCJ's circuits. Their enemy sounds the hunt.

Nolan is the only one to follow the individual's trail. Perhaps he would have preferred otherwise, for once face to face with him, the sly fellow discovers that his "prey" is none other than one of those legendary Force users. The latter insidiously influences him into believing he is not in danger, that he had better follow him. That is without counting on Nolan's remarkable coolness and his stinging answer: the threat of a point-blank Blaster shot. So much for the fact that, Force or not, it does not have the same grip on everyone. Resolved not to surrender so quickly, the "Jedi" disarms him with a gesture of the hand, his pistol landing directly between his fingers. Nolan is thus coerced by force - the one with a small "f", his only weakness!

The abductor orders him to get rid of his comLink, but with a sleight of hand fit to fool a Force user, Nolan slips the gadget into his sleeve, rather than throwing it into the alley. Our wily merchant is not out of tricks. When the "Jedi" tries to knock him out in order to transport him to his lair, he feigns sinking into unconsciousness, while keeping his lucidity under the nose and beard of a man too desperate to be attentive.

Arriving in the corridor of a vacant building, Nolan is tied up, searched and stripped of his belongings - with the exception of the comLink, adroitly hidden. Before he deigns to "wake up", he hears the footsteps of a third person - a woman, with rough manners. The two individuals wait for Nolan to come around, before the man introduces himself. It is of course Decebal Vulpesco, the mercenary group's leader. With him, Xeli, the famous elite sniper who sowed terror within the group on several occasions. Decebal's monologue is hard to follow: he asks that Nolan "warn his Jedi superior" that it is not necessary to send more assassins after him. He intends to "find the coordinates", communicate them to her and cut ties. His hostage will serve as his "guarantee". On these fine words, Decebal locks him in one of the corridor's two apartments while he carries on his work. Nolan communicates his position to his comrades, thanks to the name of a mechanic shop whose sign is visible from the window.

Finishing the mission

Having listened to the entire conversation, Diana decides to leave the ship. She offers Kejar a "herbal tea" that quickly puts him to sleep, then rejoins the rest of the group. Her lack of computer knowledge does not prevent her from triangulating the signal of Nolan's comLink, and soon, TRCJ, Galrow and she find themselves in front of the building where their comrade is held prisoner. TRCJ bursts into the building across the street, where he vainly tries to dupe a resident into letting him into his apartment. Failing that, he goes for the brutal way: a single punch suffices to smash the door, his appearance taking care of terrifying the tenant who had nonetheless prepared to fight. Master of the premises, the Droid positions himself so as to be able to shoot Decebal and Xeli through the window.

Meanwhile, Nolan tries to worm information out of Decebal. He mentions Linda Garvik. This simple mention triggers an explosive reaction in the Noble: as he realizes the terrible misunderstanding about the group's employer, his chances of negotiating with the famous Jedi he spoke of drop to zero. Galrow and Diana take advantage of this moment to enter the corridor: the Wookiee treats Xeli to a heavy Blaster Rifle shot before she has time to react. TRCJ does the same. Thrown to the ground, the poor thing hardly has time to get back up before Diana throws herself on her and injects her with a powerful sedative. Decebal reacts by propelling his assailants against the wall, demonstrating his mastery of the Force. He then disarms Galrow, but a stroke of bad luck causes him to trigger an involuntary shot that disorients him for a few moments. Diana frees Nolan: the group's two "pacifists" hesitate a few moments before resuming hostilities. TRCJ sprays gunfire from the apartment across the street: wounded several times, Decebal slams the door of the apartment that gives the droid his line of sight. Galrow goes for broke. He draws his concussion rifle and points it at Xeli: if Decebal does not surrender, her colleague will bite the dust. Never short of resources, the man persuades Galrow to lower his weapon without resisting - the Force again! Diana tries, without success, to sneak up to plant a syringe in Decebal's throat, which gives Nolan time to recover his truncheon and knock the poor man out.

In the meantime, a Republican patrol gathers at the building's ground floor. It must have been called by a passer-by, despite the neighborhood's relative depopulation. TRCJ creates a diversion in his own way: he guns down the tenant who had so kindly given up his apartment, then detonates a grenade that quickly draws the attention of the law enforcement towards the neighboring building. Meanwhile, the rest of the team loads the "prisoners" and all the equipment aboard an abandoned Airspeeder.

The mission over, Nolan calls Rosa and offers her to leave Coruscant. Diana, for her part, asks "Garvik" for the coordinates of the planet to which the mercenary group should be extradited. It is Tatooine, the famous desert planet. Yet, the group wishes to learn a bit more about this famous business of mercenaries and coordinates. After dropping Rosa off, the ship stations near Tatooine, where Nolan tries - with difficulty - to work on Decebal's data. A recording captured by Duke's neural implant relates the first moments of their assault on the station mentioned by Diana. The recording is not fully decrypted: there is still work to do, should our comrades in misfortune wish to learn more about this mysterious affair...

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