A Fistful of Credits: Episode One
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away . . .
As the music fades, the camera pans down across the starfield and a space station orbiting a blue planet comes into view. A Victory-class imperial destroyer glides toward the station, easing into dock. Its hull is visibly battered and scored from laser cannon fire.
Note to readers: spoilers follow for the West End Games adventure Tatooine Manhunt, published in 1988.
INT. STAR DESTROYER
Twin blast doors slide open and two stormtroopers march in, dragging a manacled human between them. They drop him before a group of imperial officers.
STORMTROOPER
This is the leader, Commander.
COMMANDER PARLAN
Pirate scum. Trying to resist this ship was futile. By imperial law I can convene a court here and now. I have little doubt about the outcome. The penalty for piracy is death.
PIRATE
No -- wait! I have information! (pause) I know where Adar Tallon is!
COMMANDER PARLAN
Fool. Commander Tallon is dead. Her ship was destroyed by pirate filth like you. (To the troopers) Take him away.
PIRATE
It's not true! She's alive. I served on the Battalion. I know what happened. She wasn't killed, she's in hiding. I can tell you where. In exchange for my life.
COMMANDER PARLAN
So. A pirate and a deserter. I'll make no promises, but the court will take into account any verifiable information you provide to the empire. Where is Tallon supposed to be hiding?
PIRATE
Tatooine.
COMMANDER PARLAN
(to a subaltern beside him) How long until the hyperdrive activators are repaired?
SUBALTERN
Five days, sir.
COMMANDER PARLAN
Make it four. (pause) We need to make sure that Tallon -- if she's there at all -- doesn't fly the coop before we arrive. Lieutenant Voor, send for the bounty hunters. And take this scum back to his cell. Dismissed.
As the officers disperse, one junior officer, a young woman, ducks into an alcove and types furiously on a datapad. Looking about to avoid being spotted, she slips away down a side corridor.
EXTERIOR SPACE STATION
A small spaceship maneuvers into a busy docking bay on the far side of the station from the Star Destoyer.
INTERIOR SPACE STATION
The spaceship lands and three figures descend the loading ramp, followed by an astromech droid.
 |
| Ben, human smuggler |
 |
| Rell, human diplomatic courier |
 |
| Tal-Nor-San, Korunnian mercenary |
Moving briskly out of the docking bay and toward the main concourse of the space station, you speak in lowered voices as you make your way through bustling crowds of droids, aliens, and humans. You are members of the Rebel Alliance, here to make contact with an intelligence operative named Dana who has been working undercover on the star destroyer Relentless for several months. A short while ago Dana sent a coded message setting up an urgent meet and the Alliance mustered what available trusted personnel it had on short notice. You were the closest crew. You know each other well, having survived together on a desert world after being marooned. To be an discreet as possible, you have come to the station in Ben's ship, a Mon Calamari jump freighter named Alabak's Gold. It has a few subtle modifications.
The coordinates for the rendezvous lead you to a deserted area of the station. You round a corner to enter a service tunnel and surprise four figures clustered about a fifth lying prone on the deck. They freeze and look at you with a combination of displeasure and malice. One is an Imperial officer -- a navy lieutenant, by the look of it. The other three have the unsavoury look of professional bounty hunters. One, a Kyuzo, swiftly steps through an airlock and activates the control to slam it shut. The two others, a Trandoshan and a human female, level their weapons in your direction...
A blaster fight breaks out at short range. You have the advantage of better cover and quickly down the lizard-like Trandoshan and the officer. The human manages to lob a thermal detonator into your midst. Tal-Nor-San flings himself away to safety, but Ben and Rell are caught in the blast. Wounded, they struggle to their feet as Tal finishes off the last assailant and blasts a passing mouse droid for good measure. Your R2 unit quickly hacks open the airlock door, only to find the passage beyond empty: the Kyuzo has made good its escape.
The prone figure is none other than Dana, still in her Imperial uniform. A slender dart protrudes from her neck, evidently fired from some kind of projectile weapon. None of the foes at hand possesses such a device -- it must have been the Kyuzo's. You take Dana's datapad, as well as the weapons, comlinks, and navy badge from the fallen.
Reckoning that it's only a matter of time before the alarm is sounded, you hasten back to your ship, carrying Dana as she were a friend who's had too much to drink. You hear klaxons blare as you board. The docking bay supervisor refuses your departure request: all ships are to remain at dock until the general alert has passed. Feigning to have misunderstood, you gun the engines and roar away. The frazzled station crew decide to ignore your breach of regulations.
Safely away, you examine Dana in the medbay. She's beyond help: the fast-acting Serunni poison in the dart is exceptionally lethal. Her datapad, however, contains an encoded message for the Alliance. It outlines Parlan's capture of a pirate who revealed the current location of an war hero of the Imperial navy, Adar Tallon, on the desolate Outer Rim world of Tatooine. Long believed dead, it seems Tallon in fact faked her demise in order to go into hiding, knowing that open opposition to the empire was unwise. Now, with the Rebel victory over Yavin having shown the vulnerability of imperial forces, the re-emergence of a old war hero on the side of the Alliance could help further tip the balance in your favour. Parlan knows as much, and has dispatched bounty hunters to capture and hold Tallon until the Relentless has finished its repairs and can reach the planet. Dana's message concludes with a plea to go to Tatooine and warn Tallon. "You are her only hope."
You plot a course to the desert world. You have a four-day lead over the Imperials, but the bounty hunters are likely already on their way. You decide to send a cryptic coded message to Rebel intelligence, revealing only that you are alive and on an important errand, and mentioning cargo stored in "krayts" -- a deliberate misspelling that you hope will lead your comrades to the correct conclusion. Then you gather in the cockpit to watch the stars shift into streaks of light as you jump to hyperspace.
Rewards:
Comments