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GM

The CR90 looks broken backed. Much of the hull's eroded white metal plating is missing, exposing the framework beneath and it juts from the sand like a skeleton. The ship must have impacted on its 'neck', the entire bridge section is twisted scrap. It's only the heavily armoured turbolaser turret, intact, that allows you to recognise the wreck of a Rebellion-era corvette.

Fira Bon tells you it was once the Starlight Wanderer but its space-faring days are long over. Now it is the base for nomadic scavengers.

Patchwork awnings hang from its sides and cables run out from the innards, spliced into a mishmash of electro-mechanicals. One of the main engines has been salvaged, set up on a rig and repaired for high energy power generation.

Despite living in the desert, the scavengers are a colourful bunch, a mix of hardy species in robes, wraps and junker jewellery.

Most noticeable is a picket line of riding beasts, huge, scaled lizards with long tails and bird-like faces. The toes of their feet are splayed and almost flat.

These are the Varactyls that will take you out to the Star Destroyer and up across its hull. Fast moving, agile climbers, native to another desert planet, Utapau.

The scavengers rely on the Varactyls for their livelihood, but Bormo has paid in advance to hire them out for your team.

The Sunstrider swoops in, landing repulsors revving, the ship clumsy and off-balance with the cargo container locked to its underside.

Finally it touches down in the soft sand, stirring it without kicking up a cloud.

The rear hatch opens after some clunking and the steps extend down.

Bormo grabs his scav-tech shock stave and is first out. A friendly face for the locals.

The rest of you follow in order.

"Stay with the ship." Fira Bon says to Mhar-li before exiting.

"Stay with the air-cooler. Copy that." Replies Mhar-li.

The heat hits you, then the sun's ferocious glare.

Breathing the air doesn't cool you, it's a dry, uniform temperature over 35 centigrade. About as hot an environment as any human can still be active in.

There are hotter planets in the Galaxy, Tatooine for one, but at that point the locals live underground, or wear special climate gear like the Sand People.

Your soles sink into the sand, a sensation you probably haven't felt in some time.

The BB-unit handles it fine though. They're designed to operate in the extremes of space.

A dirty A-LT tracked droid looks amazed by the appearance of your marvellous new astromech.

Other scavengers are standing in huddles in the shade, looking confused, fearful, nervous. Male, female, young and old.

It's not the welcome you were expecting, it's not the welcome Bormo was expecting either. He slows his approach, himself uncertain now.

There's trouble. Is it you?

[And this is where the Beginner Game module officially starts.

I want to gauge roughly your disposition as you disembark, then will base skill checks off of your character's inner dialogue and external actions.

At present I haven't given you much to react to, but consider that the locals seem scared. Everything your contacts told you suggested you were expected and the deal done. A battered Quadjumper would not disturb scavengers, nor would a droid or any sentient species (this is Star Wars -- there are weird creatures in any crowd scene). It's plausible that they are upset by some other thing that you simply aren't aware of yet.

The scavengers aren't armed or hostile at present.]

Jelly Bean

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Jelly Bean was a Twi'lek. That much was readily apparent. The lekku gave that away, sure, but the point was, her people came from a planet that was about as arid and harsh as could be found. Stepping out into the dry desert air of Jakku was not as great a hardship upon her as the others, save for maybe Jix. The Rylothians, as hey called themselves, were long adapted to such climates as this.

Jelly Bean stepped onto the hot dry sand and smiled. She wore her google about her neck for now but they would probably be useful very soon. She surveyed the horizon, then the gathered scavengers, and her hand slipped ever closer to the low slung blaster pistol strapped along her leg. There was that 'bad feeling' thing making her skin crawl and her lekku twitch. And then she stilled her head tails and, just as smoothly, she relaxed her hand. No reason to make whatever this was any worse. Jelly Bean was very fast on the draw, but there no reason to advertise it.

"Ut Chuba," hissed Jelly Bean lowly in Huttese.

"Oh yeah, this is gonna go great..."

Preach

He waits for being directed to step from the container hauler. His head is wrapped against the harsh sun, his clothing loose and layered. He looks as if he might be from this planet as much as any other given his tattered clothing, and lack of obvious weapons. Seeing the locals looking concerned, he tries to see where they might be looking, if that might give him a hint as to what is bothering them. He expects that they are the focus of the local's current attention, but people often betrayed themselves with little looks, little actions. He has been a guardian for longer than some of his companions have been alive. First and foremost assess the situation. He let his instincts guide him. He knew too that the Force was in play and would guide him correctly. If this was a trap, he would sense it shortly. Hopefully not too late to act.

He waited to see who would speak to the locals. In particular, he took cues from the leaders of their little group.

Sirra

The young woman stepped out, breathed the hot air.
She was momentarily nonplussed, but quickly got over it. Just another thing to adapt to.

She looked around and did a quick survey of the people.

Lovely. Just lovely. Nope. Something didn’t fit here. These are not shiny happy people.


Her eyes did a quick flit around further afield to see if she could spot a reason other than them why. Her hand also smoothly came to rest on her waist in a ‘relaxed’ pose. Also conveniently close to her sidearm.

“I think I hear thunder on the horizon ...”. she murmurs only loud enough for those adjacent to her.

She flashes a smile. The smile might not be more than skin deep, but all they could see was her skin.

Amos

The Rangy ex-lawman stepped off of the shuttle and into the heat of the desert planet after shedding his long coat and laying it over one arm. He shouldered his scatter blaster causally over the other shoulder as he looked around the settlement, taking in all of the visual clues that he had earned the hard way over years of dicey situations.

Something has these folks spooked.

A vibro machete was obvious on his belt as he moved about ten feet away from the group to one side so as not to be lumped together.

Winta

As the ship touched down, she shut her eyes and centred herself. ... peace ... calm ... friendship

The hatch opened. She opened her eyes, and followed Bormo out. She slipped on her peaked cap as she stepped out of the ship's shade, and the sun hit her. Its peak shaded her eyes. Winta told herself that the rest of her protective gear could wait.

As Winta followed Bormo, a little off to the side to see past him, she could sense that there was a tenseness in the air. She tried to reach out for its source and to calm it.

Jix

She follows the others off the transport, aware their tension has increased, her eyes providing further information, small telltale signs of unrest she has come to associate with increased risk, ambush or other negative situations.

She bends down, shrugging off her weapon and pack, getting organised to move out as they intended. However, if something else occurs, she will be ready, weapon to hand.

2BB-2

Organics. Not the reaction that was expected, which in turn begged the question, what had the locals been expecting? Now was not the time for a sarcastic comment in Binary, there was ice to break and it had better come from someone whose grasp of protocol was up to the task. 2BB-2 proceeded out slowly with the rest.

GM

It only takes you a few seconds to gauge the scene.

There is a large red awning to one side, creating a patch of deep shadow where vehicles are parked.

There is an old, bare metal Treadable, big enough to carry over two tons of cargo in its belly, and probably belonging to the scavengers. And then there is a row of swoop bikes, each built from junk with a pinion mount and painted fuel tank, about the only surface on them not sand-blasted.

Jelly Bean doubts that scavengers would have much use for swoop bikes. They're fuel-hungry and extra high maintenance on a desert world like Jakku.

Preach would think similarly. Jakku scavengers aren't wasteful of resources, every vehicle they operate must have a vital function. The Treadable, used for moving sites, even the Varactyls will provide an edge in salvaging the big wrecks. Swoop bikes are useful for going fast.

Amos has a gut feeling that the swoop bikes belong to a swoop gang. He's seen their kind before. Bandits, thugs, formed into small, highly mobile gangs sharing some creedo and usually serving the local underworld.

Meanwhile, Sirra looks outwardly relaxed whilst skimming the scavengers for signs of hostility. She notices a brawny Whiphid gripping a wrecking bar, standing in front of his wife and child. Likewise with some other scavengers. That one holding a shock prod. That one a lump hammer. They aren't as unarmed as they first seem. But in a threatening situation it's amazing what weapons people can find close to hand; scavengers probably more than most.

Jix sees that the scavengers are a roughly equal mix of species, mostly originating from desert worlds or otherwise of a rugged physiology. She sees Whiphid, Twi'lek, Skakoan, Kubaz, Nikto, interspersed with humans. No Jawas. All seem in good health, weathered by the sun and thin but not starving. They're spooked, yes, but they've huddled into familial groups rather than one mass rabble or combat units.

Winta's face shows passive amiability, though through the Force she more actively tries to sooth the fear and aggression she senses. She feels the mood change in one very old, very wrinked Nikto woman who's head looks like gnarled wood. Fear of Winta quickly changes to fear for Winta.

2BB-2 rolls to catch up with the others, extending his antenna. He does not pick up any unusual transmissions from the camp. The A-LT droid tracks the BB-unit with its own photoreceptor. It has a faded green and orange paintjob that was probably the height of fashion 40 years ago. Now it just looks like a mistake. The A-LT-series were designed as multi-purpose units; the scavengers have converted this one into a water cooler and dispenser. No joke when you work under the Jakku sun.

Before the team can share their observations, there is a commotion inside the wreck of the Starlight Wanderer and figures emerge.

They wear a variety of dishevelled flight and field jackets, caftans or trekking trousers, heavy-duty gloves and boots, and all their faces are covered, some by proper swoop masks, some just by sacks.

They are all strapped with blasters, a variety of rebuilt junk from the Battle of Jakku, Rebel and Imperial. There are nine of them for six swoop bikes.

If they're a swoop gang, they're the filthiest, roughest-looking swoop gang in the Outer Rim.

Following them out are a grey-haired, bronze-skinned Zabrak woman and an Arconan with Y-shaped head and irridescent eyes, both in desert robes. Probably the scavengers' leaders, they appear to be under some duress.

The shortest swoop ganger wears urban camo---you doubt it's meant to be ironic---steps forward, burly strides, making himself seem bigger and his hand rests so callously on his blaster pistol, it pushes it even further into its holster. You sense he is not afraid, but then, you do not look intimidating. You barely look armed. Jix's heavy blaster rifle is resting behind his pack.

"What the pta!? This is what you loca-scavs smuggle to the surface?" His synthed voice is contemptuous, "More scavs?"

The Zabrak scavenger-woman fumes, "I told you, you're wasting your time. There's nothing for you here."

The other swoop gangers seem disgruntled by this but Urban Camo isn't dissuaded.

"I be judge of that, Vontoba. We came for makacheesa*, we take makacheesa."

His goggled glare alights on 2BB-2.

"Feirfek! Now that droid some high-end gear, bros. Brand new product."

What do you think is going on here? And what are you going to do about it?

*Huttese for 'pay-off'.

Amos

The tall man's eyes took note of the positions and firepower of the swoop gang members, waiting for his leader to decide on diplomacy or action.

While waiting he slipped his coat on.

Sirra moves back slightly, next to the aforementioned droid, placing one hand on its dome and the other hand on her hip, and starts figuring out who would be the clearest shot should shooting be needed, and waited for the ‘brave and fearless leader.

Winta


She caught up with Bormo. "Has the quadjumper got guns?" she asked him quietly.


She concentrated on the obvious leader of the swoop gang, using the force to calm things. She did not want the situation to lurch off into sudden violence.

"The BB unit is not theirs to trade, " she told the swoop gang's leader.

2BB-2

On the one hand, the Gangers were absolutely right: the BB-series was indeed at the high end for droids, everything from the selenium drive to the gyroscopic propulsion system at the apex of automaton architecture. 'Brand new' was perhaps pushing it a bit, 2BB-2 in particular saw himself as a seasoned veteran of the Resistance rather than some neophyte orb fresh rolled off the Industrial Automaton production lines.

On the other, 2BB-2 was done being a commodity. The Resistance had thankfully steered clear of the Rebellion's habit of using droidkind as treacherous gifts, as The General's brother did with both the legendary Artoo and Threepio in his infiltration of the Hutt palace on Tatooine, as the story was told, but that didn't mean the option was off the table here if the Swoop Gangers could be made use of.

Silently, his primary photoreceptor focused on each ganger in turn, then started going across their vehicles, a sensor out for exploitable weaknesses on the presumption they wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Or even a few choice beeps and durdles of binary insulting their parentage and origin for an answer, which was another tempting option not yet taken.

GM

"No, I think not." Says Bormo regretfully, adding, "Be careful, Winta. They are Strus Clan. A family of swoop bikers. They rip off scavengers and sell to Unkar Plutt, Kanjiklub, the Hutts. There's no low to which they won't descend."

Bormo steps aside to let Winta speak to the gang.

The leader wears camo mesh draped over his head like a veil, hiding his face and his voice is synthesised. Even his hands are gloved, so they don't even give away reflexive twitches. Reading him or his cohorts' body language is a difficult but familiar problem in a Galaxy full of sentient species and extreme climates.

The swoop gang are an intimidating, motley bunch. Rough, dirty; you can probably smell them from where you stand. But covering bare flesh is common sense on a desert planet and goggles and face-masks essential gear if you're screaming around on a swoop bike.

Sirra walks alongside 2BB-2, her hand drifting to her hip, the butt of her knife and the sling of her blaster rifle. The BB's scan of the vehicles shows the bikes are more of a hybrid skimmer, probably lacking the high altitude ceiling of most swoop bikes and redirecting that energy towards ground speed.

They must be a swoop gangs most prized possessions. It should be noted that they are parked in a row, in front of the monstrous DN-25 Treadable. The tracked heavy vehicle doesn't look like its operational. Though, nor does any of the tech around the scavengers' camp yet it clearly is.

Jelly Bean has noticed the same but her attention is drawn now to two of the thugs who are stalking towards her, keenly interested.

Amos, feeling a chill---must be a cold day in Jakku---pulls on his longcoat.

The two thugs grunt to the leader in some Strus Clan patois.

The leader, Urban Camo says to Winta, "Me bros like the red Twi'lek. We take her, schutta, leave you the droid. Welcome to Jakku."

Touching his mind with her own, Winta finds that it is emotionally stunted but already calm. For some, aggresion is not an emotional response but a primeval form of communication, and either way, changing emotions does not change one's motivations.

[I have a battle map and game tokens from The Beginner Game. I might upload them.

In the meantime, to keep things conceptually simple, from an overhead POV we have a straightforward stand-off between the seven PCs and nine Strus Clan gangsters.

No-one is in cover, though there's various cover available. It's one manoeuvre to get into cover and it gives a Black dice to anyone targeting you with ranged weapons.

There are bystanders, these just give us something to spend Threats and Despair on when you roll dice.

There are six swoop bikes in the garage, so some of the gangsters must ride pillion. There a Treadable parked perpendicular to them.

All the action is taking place within Short range, talking range.

If you're not interested in game mechanics, don't worry, I just post notes on them for those who are. First and foremost, play your character and describe what they're doing in the fiction.]

Jix

He is crouched, pack in front of him, using it for cover whilst he powers his armour and selects a target. Probably the bikes, all of them. The bikes are precious, they already need more, so hitting the bikes should definitely divert their attention. He flicks the rifle to auto fire, it still lies on the ground behind the pack. It is in an easy position to grasp meanwhile it looks like he is on one knee and fiddling with the pack straps.

But now he is all soldier.

Winta

*No scope for subtlety here then ...* she thought having felt the mind of the gangster leader. She let her force attention on him drop. She knew that there was nothing more to be achieved there.

Instead, Winta reached out with the force to push the start button of the Treadable, telling herself that this would be a pretty useless bunch of scavengers if the vehicle wasn't actually in working order.

"I am sorry," she told the gang leader. "That's not how it works."

"The Twi'lek is not some possession to be passed between owners or just taken. She has free will. And I am sure that she will use her free will to resist any attempts to enslave her."

"And then things will go very badly for your men."


"Shall we make a fresh start to this negotiation?"

Jelly Bean

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"Kriffin' i'cha poodoo," hissed the Twi'lek woman. Their arrogance was as repulsive as they themselves were. Droid or Twi'lek didn't matter to her, you don't make deals about her or her team. She started forward, a couple paces, toward the two advancing on her. The natural sway of her hips counterbalanced by the swing of her lekku could make a weak-minded dungcreeper forget everything else around him. Her hand strayed dangerously close to her blaster and the tips of her lekku twitched in violent agitation. There was not going to be a peaceful resolution to this situation, despite Winta's best efforts at mind tricks.

Maybe they knew there was a Hutt bounty for an escaped slave, a Lethan Twi'lek. Maybe they had seen the First Order's warrant report for Outer Rim fugitives. Maybe they thought they'd have their 'fun' and then collect a reward. She would have to 'change' their minds...

Running for cover would expose her, and the first person to run or reach for a weapon now would break this mess wide open. But, one way or another, this was going to get broke, and soon. Her forward movement was meant to close the distance and enable her to use the two swoopers as a shield against other swoopers farther back by limiting their angles on her.

"I don't like that word," she stated flatly.

If either of them touched their weapons or made a gesture that they were going to attack, she would react with her blaster, and fast.

Sirra:

Her body language shifts from that of a vaguely disaffected and bored late teenager to a much more predatory stance.

These people disgusted her. Either way, they were a casual disorder. A selfish disorder. Something that disgusted her in her previous life and did the same now. She leveled an icy chance in their direction.

“Unwise. It would be foolish for you to play kick-the-rancor.”

She smoothly moves forward a few steps, muttering to the BB unit. ‘stay with me for the moment”

She is making it so she can get a head start on diving to cover if action breaks out. In that case, she plans to dive to cover, draw and take aim at the leader and fire.

Amos

He still had his scatter blaster in one hand resting on his shoulder as he watched yet another example of stupidity and a good example of why sterilization for some people is needed.

"You should listen to the lady there boy. No sense losing a life for ten minutes of pleasure." he drawls, then looks over the scoopers. "Well, make that five minutes."

Preach

"People," he called in a sing-song tone meant to get their attention. "Peace is a choice, as is war. Do we choose to act to take life? Or do we act to preserve life? I understand that things are tough here, I know hardship." He raised his arms outward to show how tattered his poor robes really were. It also served to free up the cloth from where his lightsaber was harnessed on his hip. He stepped away from others, and a bit forward. "I wish to preserve life, but your choices will determine how things go. Be very smart, as I am sure you are, do not give away your hard-earned economic and personal well being in jeopardy." Looking the leader right in the eye he said "walk away, make the choice for peace. Make the choice for life. The Force will protect that choice. Anything else leads to things you do not want."

Winta

*There we go,* she thought to herself, as Preach said his piece, *a fresh start to the 'negotiation'.*

Winta

She sighed and with the force engaged the forward motion of the Treadable. The brigands now had a choice - fight or go and rescue their bikes before they were crushed by the Treadable.

She know that some would shoot anyway and most likely at her ... she pulled her lightsabre into her hand as it ignited, preparing to defend herself from fire.

Jix

As he had been watching the bikes, he noticed the Treadable start to move. Figuring that was a move by his team, he switches his focus to the leader of the opposition instead, prepared to fire at the first sign of action against them. He will lift his rifle and aim, taking strain to fire if needed.

GM

The sun beats down, creating a stark contrast of white sand and black shadow beneath the wreckage. The metal groans in the heat.

Somewhere a steelpecker bird tap-tap-taps on the hull.

Winta's eyes are on the Treadable, off to one side, someone having wisely left the cab door open. (An all-enclosed metal vehicle, its interior would become a pressure cooker with the doors closed.) There is a power lever assembly, similar to what might be found in a starship.

Preach stands between the factions, arms raised, ushering peace. For a second, the Strus Clan are bemused.

"Know what, you is carrion!" Growls the leader from under his camo hood, hand grabbing his junk blaster.

Chaos erupts.

Suddenly the Treadable rumbles forwards, the solid metal tracks clattering on their sprockets. The thing must weigh over 15 tons and crushes the first of the parked swoop bikes like an old fuel can.

The swoop gang go crazy.

Jelly Bean reacts first, pulling her blaster pistol and sending a salvo of plasma bolts at the two thugs closing in on her.

She might've hit one of them. She didn't hit any bystanders at least; a miracle considering how many are gathered around.

Jelly Bean is diving into cover behind a tool chest as the thugs return fire. Hot metal spalding dashes her face as the bolts sizzle through the cavities in the tool chest.

Her team-mates also come under fire, Sirra and Amos stippled by debris too. Even 2BB-2 is targeted, an avaricious Strus pointing at the droid before opening fire with his blaster set to stun.

The BB-unit has a hardened chassis and is unfazed. Although a second bike is crumpled by the Treadable only a metre behind him. He should stay out of its way, hardened chassis or not.

Loud grunts and blaster fire as a couple of Strus finally spot Jix. The brawny Verpine had tried to keep a low profile, not easy when you're 200 cm of green carahide in powered ultramesh. Her loose-fitting bodysuit has transformed into tight-fitting chrome plate. Bolts explode in the sand around her or burst off her armour, as she shuffles forward, the heavy blaster rifle sliding into a good firing position.

Slow motion. Scorching red bolts criss-cross the camp, Fira Bon and Tiras joining in on your side with their blasters. The scavengers don't panic, they disappear into their bolt-holes like womp rats, dragging their children with them.

The leader is struggling to aim his blaster, shooting wildly at Winta with a wizened old Nikto clinging to his forearm. Winta and Preach's words must have inspired the crone.

Sirra rolls to her belly after a pantherine dive behind a pile of wall panels. She snaps off a shot with her ZOK-10 hunting blaster, punching a smoking hole straight through the leader's head. The crone doesn't notice, still gripping the leader's arm with her eyes squeezed shut.

Amos has stayed on his feet, lining up a shot. He whips out his scatterblaster and fires, a burst of yellow bolts that kicks up a swathe of dust in front of him and puts down two of the thugs, including 2BB-2's attacker.

As a third bike dies noisily under the Treadable, the sound of high-volume blaster fire is heard as Jix lights up his two Strus with red death. They fall, riddled with burning black craters.

The bitter smell of Tibanna gas hangs in the hot desert air. Sweat drips from eyebrows. But the blaster fire rages on.

Fira Bon and Tiras go wide, covering each other as they move, heading either to Jelly Bean or the Treadable.

With a woosh and crackle, the first lightsaber is ignited.

There are at least two Strus still fighting as far as Winta and Preach can see. One dead ahead, tangling with a scavenger boy, maybe 6 years old, trying to pick him up and use him as a human shield.

Another is climbing up onto some drums, trying to get an angle on Sirra's position.

2BB-2 can see that Jelly Bean is being pinned down by the blaster fire of one attacker while his buddy scrambles off to one side, trying to manoeuvre around her cover.

The red-skinned Twi'lek sits between them and what's left of their swoop bikes.



[Winta, Preach, and 2BB-2's turns next. Everyone else can post too, if you have an idea what your character wants to do next or want to summarise their current state of mind. Etc.]