20040817

Republic Reckoning 6.10.87 (Yup, still the same damn day)

Having escaped into the bowels of Nakael's mountain fortress, we put together an ingenious escape plan. We have access to janitorial uniforms and flight suits. We'll use the janitors uniforms to get to more populated levels of the palace, then stip down to the flight suits (underneath) and make our way to a ship and escape. The trick is that we don't want to leave Arvandus behind and he ran off earlier. Also, Igashu is still injured. We know there are cameras and the real challenge will be to get past them without appearing suspicious. If we can fit in, we have a chance. Sense tells us that Arvandus is near tha hangar anyway, so we head that way.

Igashu manages to walk out by leaning on a mop-in-wheeled-bucket for support. The rest of us just walk boldly. We get to a hangar bay, check for cameras and hide, change into flight suits and stroll out boldly. (Igashu limps). Nakael's ship is just arriving at the hangar from whever he went. We manage to get aboard a small courier ship in the confusion of his arrival. Arvandus comes out from hiding on the hangar deck to greet Nakael. Damn. Nakael asks Arvandus if he's seen us. There is no discernable response, but they both leave the hangar together. Igashu is going through the pre-flight checklist when armed guards come out and fan out to search the hanger deck.

Igashu tries to bluff our way out of the hangar over comms, but is told that our flight plan has been put on hold and to please power down our ship. We decide to make a break for it. Christene calls Arvandus with the Force while Quindo uses Projected Fighting to try to take down as many soldiers as possible. Someone in the control tower sends over the cargo crane to try to immobilize our ship. Chris fries the cable with Resonate, the crane hook crashes down, missing our ship. The soldiers fling smoke grenades to try to foil Quindo, but smoke doesn't interfere with the Force. Igashu lifts the ship, but we still don't have anywhere to go.

From outside the blast doors, someone sets up a missle rack and starts firing missles at us. In the close quarters of the bay, Igashu still manages to get out of the way. The missles clear a path out of the bay. Chris uses TK to jam the launcher down, resulting in missles fired into the deck. In the smoke and confusion, Arvandus comes sprinting across the deck and leaps for the departing ship. We use TK to grab him and help lift him on board as we take off at top speed. Even flying low and fast, the palace defenses still get off a couple more tracking missles. Igashu dodges but they come around for another pass. Quindo opens boxes at random in the hold to find gold, gems, objects of art, and a big crate of microchips. Hoping it will foil the missles, Quindo dumps the microchips and gems out as chaff to mask our shape, followed by a lit Sith lightsaber on overload, hoping the missles will follow the heat signature. Neither work, but Igahsu is able to keep up the dodging until the missles run out of fuel and crash into the forest below.

We break for orbit and set a course for the nearby Tion Principality (where we hope to get a less conspicuous ship back to Coruscant). Quindo spends most of the trip treating everyones injuries and studying what has been done to Arvandus. Chris rests and recovers from her ordeal. Igashu just rests and keeps an eye on Arvandus.

Republic Reckoning 6.15.87

We reach Tion and try for inconspicuous. Igashu tries to make some contacts to liquidate the Sith gold and stolen art we have on board. Igashu gets us fake IDs?. We spend a few days fencing some goods, and get first class tickets to Coruscant on the "Kauri Princess", a luxury cruise liner. Most of the valuables go into a bank vault, we keep a good deal of cash, and Quindo hides a 1 kg (2.2 lb) brick of gold in the bottom of his med kit for "emergencies".

Republic Reckoning 6.20.87

We abandon the Sith Courier ship and leave a note for Nakael which approximately says "We'll meet again. You really should reconsider this whole Sith thing". We depart on the "Kauri Princess".