Prelude to Merger: Lost...

[GM Fang]

With the escape from Coruscant and the Black Sun behind them, and a satisfactory payment arrangement settled with Venlana for the trip on Vanda's ship, the Nebula Raptor, Xander and Roona try to settle in for the several day trip from the Core Worlds to the Outer Rim via the Corellian Way. In order to avoid being tracked, the Raptor has indicated a navigational destination first of The Wheel Space Station along the Parlemian Trade Route.

The ship would drop out of hyperspace near Caarnas and the recently destroyed Alderaan. Then pick up the Hydrian Way en route to Denon. Vanda loved Sakhet's Noodles. Sakhet was also an info-broker. In addition to selling noodles, Sakhet's Noodles provided intelligence services. As a spy in the Kupohan Spynet, Sakhet knew that an individual wished to inquire about these services if they ordered the Corellian buckwheat noodles with rancor sauce. Vanda had Bep order delivery for the whole crew and their guests. They didn't go there to eat because it was well-known that the outside picnic tables contained numerous splinters from so much use. Sakhet's Noodles was very popular.

With a satisfied customer in Vanda, both in what she learned (the recipt had the encrypted data that the Zeltron captain was looking for) and her full stomach, the Raptor was back on its way. Here they would pick up the Corellian Run and be back on Tatooine in another day and a half.

After her explanation of the process in getting Roona and Xander off Coruscant, Venlana had showed the pair around the ship, pointing out where they could go and where they should not. GI-61 passed by once more during the tour. "Your death is most becoming," the droid almost cooed with her soft Imperial accent. Regardless of what the others said, it was still very disconcerting.

g3a.jpg (13.43 KiB) Viewed 24722 times

Later that evening, Xander had found out what it had meant that 'Vanda had plans' for him. Being rather inexperienced and just a little naïve, Xander only briefly hesitated when he was summoned to Vanda's cabin. The Zeltron captain answered the door with a bottle of an expensive liqueur and wearing little more than a smile.

Sometime later at a wee morning hour, Xander indeed had found himself in Vanda's cabin. He could nothelp but have a smile on his face after the encounter with the ship's captain. Zeltrons were definitely pleasure seekers of the upteenth degree. Nearby, Vanda would stir and sit up, her long curly blue hair cascading about her shoulders. Much to Xander's surprise, Vanda had smiled, then said, "I need my beauty sleep now. Thanks for a wonderful evening."

A moment later, Xander had found himself in the hallway outside Vanda's quarters, a confused look now etched on his face. The droid GI-61 had turned the corner and approached. Seeing the slicer standing there, she had stopped to contemplate for a moment. "Murder is always a viable option," the droid had said and then continued down the hall.

As Xander sits up in the middle of the sleep cycle, his thoughts back on that first night on board the Neubula Raptor, he hears a noise, and feels it at the same time. At first it sounds like machinery droning on. It's far too deep of a sound to be an alarm of any kind. He listens for a moment and the sound lasts for about 10 seconds, stops and resumes again.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN...."

Roona seemed to be unbothered by the interruption and was still sound asleep. Xander closed his eyes again and tried to drift off. But there it was again, making his bones rattle. Unable to fall asleep, he heads for the refresher.

As he headed down the hall, Xander hears the sound of an electro-torch crackling away. He sees a figure hunched over an open panel, sparks popping all around. The creature turns at the slicer's approach, removing the welding mask that covered its reptilian head. The forked tongue flicked out at him, testing the air. Xander saw that its upper torso was similar to a humanoid but lower body resembled a snake. The scales ranged from light brown to a darkish green.

The creature returned to its work without saying anything. Xander stood there a moment then asked about the noise. The reptilian alien stopped a few moments later then turned once more. "You mutht be SSSSSander. Thith one will be with you assss sssssooon asssss thith one hasss completed thith repair." Xander stands there and waits several minutes as the alien finishes his repair and methodically closes up the access panel. It then puts all of its tools into its toolbox, carefully organizing them. Closing the toolbox, he places it onto the command chair. Finally, the reptile turns to address Xander once more.

"Thith one isss known assss Sssssasssssasssssstraaassssss Kassssatraaasssasss," the alien says, extending a four-fingered hand in the slicer's direction. "The crew callsss me Ethkay. Unfortunately vocal chords of mosssst lifeformssss have sssome difficulty with Sluissssssi namessss."

Xander reiterates his original question. Eskay listens for a moment. "There are many noisssessss currently active." He then begins to list the various noises starting with the sub-light engines, the air refreshers, the signal lights on the command panel operating the auto-nav system, etc, etc. Xander stops Eskay and specifies the sound he means when it drones out again.

"Thisss sssound could be many thingssss. Thith one will sssample the sssound and begin analythisss for yourssself. Thith one'sss full report sssshould be complete in about one ssstandard hour."

Xander responds, "I don't need to know everything that the sound could be. Don't you know what is making that sound now?"

Eskay blinks his reptilian eyes at Xander a few times. "Thith sssound is the ssssnoring of the being, dessssignated Dorn, a member of the rathe known as Herglic, alternately known as Koodan. They are a thpecccciessss native to the planet Giju."

Xander later looked up information on the Sluissi and learned that they were very methodical, calm, patient and easy-going beings, famous for remaining calm under pressure. Those characteristics also made them a bit challenging to deal with. Their patient, calm nature—combined with their seeming inability to become genuinely upset or angry—often baffled, and sometimes even infuriated, other species. Extremely industrious, Sluissi loved to tinker with technology and mechanical objects, and Sluissi technicians were able to improve the engine efficiency, power output and system response in even archaic, worn-out ships.

The Sluissi were extremely methodical, and worked slowly. To them, starship construction was an art form. Although jobs done by Sluissi always took longer than expected, most clients were willing to be patient, because Sluissi technicians could make improvements upon or salvage vessels when no other mechanics could.

[GM Fang]

The remaining time on the Nebula Raptor went by slowly for the passengers. The crew didn't spend a lot of time with them, although Bep and Venlana were pleasant enough when they were around. Vanda, the captain, however, seemed to avoid them, even when she had ordered the delivery meal on Denon from Sahket's Noodles. Xander had been hoping perhaps that Vanda would call him to her again, but she barely looked at him after their first evening encounter.

The remaining time was spent with Xander mostly watching holo-vids and Roona practicing her skills against the computer on the sabbac table. When Bep tried to sit down to play the Rodian scout, she quickly took him for almost 200 credits and he wisely bowed out.

Xander also sent out messages to a few of his local contacts in Mos Shuuta and found that Seedoneo, the rotund sand merchant and underground criminal boss, had been taken down by Black Sun enforcers. Xander's plan to bury incriminating evidence to absolve himself and incriminate Seedoneo had worked well enough on that part. They had also collected the bounty for capturing the Nikto bounty hunter Ka'ato Leeachos. Unfortunately, the group had been broken apart on the escape, the Archelon lost to Imperial impoundment and they barely were able to sneak off Coruscant with their hides intact.

Venlana informed them finally that they were going to be leaving hyperspace momentarily and to meet them in the common area once more. She had a surprise for them. Roona exchanged a glance with Xander as they stepped through the doorway—and froze. There, balanced precariously on one tread, was R5-D12, his conical head swiveled toward them with a mechanical chirp. A jagged scorch mark ran down his chassis, and one photoreceptor flickered unevenly, but it was him. “Spikes,” Xander breathed, hands clenching at his sides. They’d left the droid aboard the 'Archelon' during their desperate escape, assuming him lost to Imperial impound.

The astromech whistled sharply, rocking forward with a clatter of servos. His head spun once—slow, deliberate—before projecting a flickering holo into the dim space between them. The grainy footage showed the 'Archelon’s' corridors choked with Imperial troopers, their white armor gleaming under emergency lighting. Then, suddenly, the feed jerked sideways—R5’s perspective as he rolled at a reckless tilt, dodging grasping hands. A final frame: the droid plunging into the light freighter's ventral maintenance shaft mere seconds before the doors sealed, as blaster fire streaked around him.

Roona crouched, her fingers hovering just shy of R5’s scorched plating. "Rerouted power to mag-clamps," she murmured, piecing together the droid’s escape route from the distorted holo. "Used maintenance tunnels like damn mynock." R5 beeped in affirmation, though the sound was laced with static—one of his motivators must have taken a hit during the frantic escape.

Xander exhaled through his teeth. The maintenance shafts on the GhTroc were narrow, built for service droids, not astromechs. R5 would’ve had to override his own safety protocols, scraping paint and circuits raw against the durasteel walls as he dropped. The scorch mark told the rest of the story.

R5 rocked back, his photoreceptors dimming briefly—either from damage or sheer smugness. Then, with a stuttering whirr, he projected another holo. This one showed him wedged between two coolant tanks, vents hissing steam around his chassis. The timestamp flickered—three hours after the 'Archelon' seizure. Imperial voices barked distorted orders in the background. A trooper’s boot stepped into frame, paused, then moved on.

Venlana let out a slow, appreciative whistle. "Well, well," she murmured. "Never underestimate a desperate droid." Her gold eyes flicked to Roona. "You trained him?"

Roona shook her head, fingers still tracing R5’s scorched plating. "Self-taught," she said, voice tight with something between pride and fury. "He must have watched me few times. Guess he took notes."

Venlana arched a brow, her gaze sliding from the battered astromech back to Roona. "Impressive," she mused, rolling the word like a rare vintage on her tongue. "Brave, too. Stupid, but brave."

The ship groaned as it pierced Tatooine’s atmosphere, the hull shuddering against the sudden onslaught of heat and grit. Through the viewport, the dunes stretched endlessly, waves of amber under the twin suns’ glare, until the jagged sprawl of Mos Shuuta rose from the horizon like a scab on the planet’s skin.

"Looks like you made it home," Venlana said, with a smile. "Now it's time for you to pay your bill." Xander pulled a data chip out of his belt pouch and held it out towards the Pantoran.

Xander flipped the chip between his fingers—just once—before tossing it towards his host. Venlana easily snatched it out of the air while looking directly at him. "That’s got everything you negotiated for," he said, voice flat. "Black Sun’s security protocols, the spike schematics, and..." His jaw tightened. "Bonus. Their comm relay frequencies."

Her smile grew slowly. Then she winked at the pair. "Good luck."

The hatch hissed open before Xander could respond—fast and smooth—and Tatooine’s scorched air rushed in, thick with the scent of ozone and engine grease. The ramp extended into Mos Shuuta’s docking bay, its durasteel plating already shimmering with heat distortion. Roona didn’t wait, striding down with R5 clattering behind her, his treads kicking up puffs of dust.

Xander lingered a half-step longer, watching Venlana pocket the chip without so much as glancing at it. "You’re not even going to check?" he asked, voice rough from the dry air.

She leaned back against the bulkhead, arms crossed. "Oh, sweetheart," she purred, "if you lied, I’ll know before sunset." The way her gold eyes tracked him—like a nexu deciding whether to pounce—made his skin prickle.

Outside, Roona’s voice cut through the chattering dockworkers and screeching droids. "Xander. Let's go."

[GM Fang]

Two days later, Xander was navigating Mos Shuuta's labyrinthine alleys, stepping over gutters clogged with discarded parts and the occasional unconscious spacer. Xander had just ducked under a rusted awning when a hand snatched his sleeve—gnarled fingers, skin cracked from too much sun and not enough water. Old Man Tarvik, barely more than a skeleton wrapped in leathery hide, hissed through yellowed teeth: "They took Jask."

Xander froze. Jask was a fixture in Mos Shuuta—a mechanic who'd once jury-rigged his blaster with nothing but spit and wire. Never drew attention, never crossed the Imps. "When?"

Tarvik's grip trembled. "Last night. Stormtroopers dragged him out of his shop." The old man's whisper was raw, like sand grinding between durasteel plates. "No logs. No holos. Just... gone."

Xander's stomach twisted. Jask didn't deal in spice, didn't harbor rebels—just fixed speeders with hands blackened by hydraulic fluid and swore at anyone who asked about his past. Jask was also a colleague of a sort, if not an outright friend. When Xander had jobs to do for Seedoneo in the past, Jask was the person he went to for anything and everything mechanical, including most of his hacking gear.

Xander recruited Roona to help dig up info. The Rodian scout was not a permanent resident of Mos Shuuta, but she knew her way around the under belly of the small town, ruled by Teemo the Hutt. And she had dealt with Jask as well. He was the one who upgraded her own landspeeder. It didn't take long before she learned that Jask wasn't the only one who 'disappeared' into Imperial custody recently. The Bothan doctor, El'Jammir, had also been arrested, then no longer listed as in custody. A group of spacers had been asking questions about her disappearance. It was time to ask them some questions.

----------------------------------------------------

Unspent XPS:
Roona - 5
Xander - 35
Cohr - 30

Group (Xander / Roona) spoils 5791 credits - Cohr got his third of the group spoils through some means. Xander and Roona have 1000 credits personal each from the Ka'ato bounty. Roona won 200 from Bep in sabbac. Roona bought a gear upgrade on Tatooine for 1100 cr.
Roona - 1748 cr
Xander - 1200 cr
Cohr - 1340 cr