Session Highlights: Coming Soon...

Session Highlights:

- As the group approached the hanger-bay entrance to the installation, they noticed an altercation between a squad of storm troopers and about a dozen or so Duro around a group of large delivery trucks.  The conflict was about to erupt into violence when Pike (still in disguise as a trooper himself) stepped in and suggested that the Empire would be best served by the squad leader allowing the Duro workers to do their jobs.

- The party then proceeded to the third installation sub-level where they found the Duro mechanic staffing quarters.  They took and interesting approach to making friends, but ultimately got some useful information about how to proceed upward to the control room without being questioned - this would involve climbing up through the maintenance access areas of the machinery itself.  They also discovered that they would need an activation key in order to arm the weapon for firing.  This key would certainly be in the possession of one of the Imperial officers in the installation.

- While their new Duro friends jammed the two primary access lifts, the party climbed up through the 4-story guts of the orbital gun and through a removable panel into the control level.

- The party took a quick survey of the rooms in their immediate area before proceeding to the control room itself.  Their intending storming of the control room began a little awkwardly, but they were able to take out the squad of troopers within it with little difficulty - though the alarm was sounded during the effort.

- The alarm brought an officer and another squad of troopers in from the opposite side of the control level.  After a brief by intense firefight, Pike recovered the access key from the officer.

- Jaylyn and Pike rallied the Duro technicians in the control room to take action against the Empire, and preparations for firing began in earnest.  When everything was ready, they looked to Pike for the command to fire.

- Pike gave the order over the still-blaring alarm system, but when the orbital gun itself engaged everything went silence for a few moments before the entire complex vibrated with a pair of shots aimed toward space.  

- On the satellite monitors, they could see the massive energy beams slice through the bow of the star destroyer in orbit.  The Duros were still cheering when Pike noticed a flight of tie fighters and a pair of AT-ATs rapidly closing with the installation.

Session Highlights:

- Jaylyn and Pike continued their conversations with the resistance cell about sneaking down to the planet and attempting to commandeer one of the orbital defense guns just long enough to fire on the remaining star destroyer still in-system.  They collectively decided sending two teams would be best - one toward each of the guns - to increase the odds that at least one contingent would be successful.  Jaylyn and Pike decided they would head to the production sector and let the other group hit the mines.

- Ash returned to the ship to get some rest.  Upon waking a few hours later, Belussa told him that garrison was in search of a rogue trooper and that 4 newly-arrived visitors (the party) were wanted for questioning.  She expected an imperial detachment to arrive at the ship before midday.

- Ash and Belussa took C5 and some of the gear they thought the Imperials my confiscate and left the ship, hiding what they could in a nearby cave and then heading to the area Belussa said the others had gone to.

- Jaylyn and Pike were finally able to contact Ash and Belussa and meet up with them the next day.  One of the resistance members was driving them to a shuttle contact in a neighboring settlement where Jaylyn, Pike and Ash could get a ride to the planets' surface posing as mechanics and labor personel for manufacturing.

- There were a few close-calls with Imperial inspections, but the group did make it down to the planet.  They attracted some attention slipping into the manufacturing facilities, but managed to evade any sticky situations.

- After some investigation, the group discovered the location of the orbital defense installation and began making their way toward it.

Session Highlights:

- Jaylyn and Pike road in the speeder with their new "friends" until they reached the edge of the "outpost"

- The "outpost" turned out to be an old underground installation that, apparently, had fallen victim to massive arial bombardment, and now was mostly just a crater.

- As they approached the far edge where the small rebel group was hiding out, they noticed the power was not on as it should be.

- Meanwhile (or, actually, some time later), Ash continued infiltrating the Imperial garrison at the settlement.  Disguised as a storm trooper, he made his way around to the garage where the speeder bikes were kept.

- He had marginal success talking his way past several people in the garrison - ultimately choosing to just deck the clerical worker in the munitions locker. 

- After hacking his way through a couple of doorlocks, Ash rigged 9 satchel charges to a detonator and proceeded to attempt to leave the garrison.  Before he was able to make it to an exit, however, he was conscripted by a fellow trooper to go on an assignment.

- The assignment took Ash to Drao's Hole where a large gungan named Nabrek was becoming a problem for the proprieter.  A pair of Duros joined in the distubrance by firing upon the troopers.

- Ash helped the other storm troopers stun the assailants, but upon leaving the bar, peeled off into the back-alleys and detonated the charges.  The resultant explosion shook the settlement and lit up the night sky.

- Back at the resistance hideout, Jaylyn, Pike and their new friends were engaged in combat with something they believed to be the bounty hunter Uziel Hash they'd met previously.  He was employing a long-ranged stun rifle, booby traps, walking stun grenades and some form of hallucenogen that was making the fight tricky and uncertain.

- Eventually, Pike and two of the others charged in to the main open area where they believed their assailant while Jaylyn and one of the others made their way into an air vent that would lead them into the room from above.

- The group was at last able to overwhelm the attacker, but as they were finishing him off, Pike was becoming convinced that this was not the real Hash, only another decoy.

- Once the area was again secure and several of the stunned inhabitants revived, they group of them took a full day to rest.

- When they had recovered their strength, Jaylyn and Pike met with the rest of the group and its leaders.  They told the two that Coruscant had not been destroyed in fact, though they couldn't offer any tangible proof.  Instead, it had been effectively blockaded such that it seemed destroyed and the Empire was now using their forged "demonstation" as an intimidation tactic to get its hooks into the governments of many systems - sometimes by employing existing entities in the underworld.  Soon, they would be in deep enough that the fact that Coruscant had survived wouldn't matter.

- They continued by saying that the resistance had been gathering in different parts of the galaxy and that they meant to launch a coordinated attack against the Imperial Fleet at Coruscant, but that Duro was needed as a staging and gathering ground - and with the Imperial presence here, that wouldn't be possible.

- The resistance had been in talks with the Chief Industial Officer - effectively the Government-Corporation leader - about using the Duro's not-insignificant forces to free their world, but the CIO is a bit of a coward.  Still, the resistance believes he would launch the attack if the Star Destroyers could be first eliminated.  One, it seems, had left the system earlier that day for reasons unknown, but there was still one in orbit.

- The option put forth as feesible to get rid of this threat was to use one of the orbital defense guns on the Duro surface.  They were, of course, currently under Imperial control, but if one could be liberated and brought to bear on the remaining Star Destroyer, it would never see it coming...

Session Highlights:

- Jaylyn and Pike decided to check on Ash.  When they'd talked their way through the red tape to enter the garrison, Tanor himself showed them to the temporary medical bay where their friend was being treated.  The garrison, it seemed, was still under construction.  Tanor told them that Ash should be released in approximately 36 hours - sometime the morning after next.

- The next day, the two decided to scout out the street intersection they'd been given, only to discover that the streets in question did not intersect.  They were, in fact nearly parallel and among the straighter streets of the settlement.  

- Jaylyn and Pike eventually decided that the shifty Rodian must have been implying the place where the streets would meet if they were to be extended into the wilderness - a point approximately 3 miles northeast of town.  After returning to The Verity for some supplies, they made their way toward that location.

- The location, they discovered, was a large crater-like canyon.  By the time they reached the place, however, it was well after sunset - and was getting dark.

- Meanwhile, Ash had been revived and was preparing to leave the garrision earlier than expected.  Once he had been debriefed, he decided to head toward Drao's Hole where his companions had been intending to go.  

- He'd only taken a few steps in that direction, however, when he noticed something in his jacket pocket.  It was a small data pad.  When Ash switched it on, it read: "I know your secret, Mr. Grayven.  It is safe for now."  The message went on to say that Ash should meet this person at the end of a street in one hour.

- The acidic rain was falling pretty hard by the time Ash arrived at the prescribed location.  The shadowy figure standing at the edge of the area illuminated by the one street lamp was obviously waiting.  When he approached, the figure told him he was glad he came.  Ash recognized the voice as Tanor's.  Tanor told him that he needed a favor.  He needed someone to break into the Imperial garrison and dispose of some new speeder bikes that had just been shipped in.  Since Ash didn't want his secret to get out, and since he generally didn't have qualms about sabotaging Imperial property, he agreed.

- As Pike and Jaylyn entered the canyon they'd found, it seemed as though no one was around.  They were beginning to wonder if they'd been mistaken when the very dimmed headlights of a speeder began approaching.  A young woman opened one of the rear doors, stepped out and hurriedly motioned them to join her.

- About that same time, a grenade rocked the speeder car from the other side, and an unknown group of assailants opened fire from the ledge above.  Pike and Jaylyn made a run for it to the speeder, which was already turning around.  They managed to get inside before it took off, rocketting into a tunnel in the canyon wall.  It took only precursory conversation for Pike and Jaylyn to learn that the people they'd just joined were, at least in some way, part of the alliance.

- Back at the garrison, Ash had found a downed tree resting against the back wall of the installation beneath a guard tower.  He had returned to The Verity for his storm trooper armor which was currently covered by a brown cloak.  The external lights of the garrison apparently weren't functioning yet and the surroundings were dark, though the installation itself was well lit.  Once the guard in the tower turned away, Ash made his break for it - leaping up the tree and throwing himself over the wall into a small courtyard between the tower and two other buildings - which, as luck would have it - was currently empty.  That is, until Ash saw one of the doors opening...