EotE:Session 3 Prologue
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A lot is made of the cold, black, emptiness of space. Hardtack guessed it was true if you were travelling alone, but at the moment none of the aforementioned adjectives seemed apt. With the addition of the crew of the Stars and Garters, the Eclipse was operating at maximum occupancy. At times like the present, when most everyone was crammed into the Eclipse's cramped cockpit, the environmental systems struggled to keep up: The transparisteel panes of the Eclipse's viewports fogged with condensation, obscuring the lethal void mere inches away. Not that any of the gathered assemblage paid it any mind - The focus of conversation was the holographic display provided by the ship's navicomputer.
"Look, I'm real sorry I got you into this, you know I am. I'll make it up to you once I get back on my feet."
Hardtack met the glares of the crew of the Eclipse with unflinching joviality. He often affected the airs of a jolly fat man to diffuse hostile situations. Sometimes it worked better than others.
"In the meantime," he continued, "let's deal with the situation at hand. The Empire has likely flagged your IFF transponder frequency, but I can't imagine that we're important enough for an APB. So all we need is someplace to lie low while we scrounge up a new transponder for y'all."
Hardtack's meaty hand made a sweeping, theatrical gesture indicating the holomap floating ghostlike above the Eclipse's console.
"Your bests bets are here," Hardtack's word's were punctuated with a stab of his finger to a cluster of points of spectral light, "and here."
The display's telemetry sensors picked up Hardtack's gestures and split the focus of displayed image, zooming in on the two discrete star systems he indicated.
"This is the Cha Raaba system, Hutt space. Primary export is refined spice, primary import is, uh, 'coerced labor' for the spice mines. Also does a decent sideline in, believe it or not, tourism. The Besadii Hutts bill the two planets in the system, Ylesia and Nyrvona, as religious retreats. Should be pretty easy to lose ourselves among the smugglers and pilgrims, if it comes down to that."
Hardtack swept his hand to the second display.
"And here we have Lannik, the only noteworthy planet in its system. The only reason that it's not considered part of Hutt space proper is that none of the kajidics can decide which of them it belongs to. Home to a bunch of ill-tempered munchkins called, cleverly enough, the Lannik. When the Duros found them, the Lannik were a warlike, technologically primitive people. So what did the Duros do? The sold them blasters. And airspeeders. And hyperdrives, all that good stuff. The introduction of all this technology spilt the Lannik into several cultural factions, all of them determined to solve their problems with violence. Eventually the Galactic Republic stepped in to sort the whole mess out, and in turn introduced the Lannik to the wonders of Bureaucratic Corruption. Now the planet is nominally governed by a royal monarchy, but really the planet belongs to the crime syndicates. If we can't find someone willing to sell us a transponder there, we won't find one anywhere."
Hardtack cleared his throat. "What do y'all think?"
Venn's eyes narrowed as he mulled over the two options.
"Not much of a choice," he grumbled.
When Jazra heard Ylesia and Nyrvona mentioned, her foot twitched with excitment. She badly wanted to visit the religious centers and had wanted to go there ever since her father died, but her step-father would never allow it. The thought of visiting the Cha Raaba system was so appealing that Jazra nearly blurted out her choice right then, but as Hardtack started to describe Lannik, Jazra began to consider the small planet to be the better choice.
With a heavy sigh, Jazra turned to Nion and said, "Lannik's civil strife might be just the cover we need. The Empire doesn't seem concerned by the planet's corruption and the Hutts do not yet own everyone there. We should be able to buy a computer core for the droid there with no questions asked, and besides like Hardtack said, if we can't get a transponder code there, where can we?"
Tieg leaned back and sipped at his green tea. "We've had good luck with the Hutts in the past. I'd pick their space over an unstable system. Too many variables. At least with the Hutts, we have an idea of what to expect."
Tobias nods, "Yep. The Empire will be a lot less likely to mess with the Hutts than with an unstable government. I'm suprised it hasn't already come in and crushed them under its bootheel. I vote Hutt. It's safer."
Nion gave Hardtack a quick glance, and then looked around at her crew.
"Cha Raaba it is. We've had good relations with the Hutts, as have you, Hardtack. I'm not sure I want to rely on the mess of a civil war for cover." She gave Hardtack a wry smile, "You and yours are now religious pilgrims, and we're the kind ship who gave you passage for such a fair price."
She looked at the crowded cockpit and threw her hands in the air.
"Now get out of here! All of you! I need space to think and plot a course!"
"Well, that settles it." remarked Venn, smiling slightly. After years of working with less-than-honest characters in the Outer Rim, he always found Nion's candor to be both amusing and refreshing.
He waited until Tieg departed the room and fell into step behind him, ducking a large pipe that protruded from the ceiling of the cramped passagway.
"Tieg, I'd like to have another look at that unusual crystal object that belonged to Cray. I have a few theories about its origins, and I'd like to study it further."
