Introduction
This final prologue will introduce Malor Lendoran, a former special forces operative turned gun-for-hire. Malor was mustered out of the Imperial Army after the loss of his squad during a battle against the Free Ryloth Movement.
Starting Conditions
Since Tavasi and Haasef have both been introduced, I will roll two Force Die to establish the Destiny Pool.
- Dice Pool:
- Result: 3 Dark Side
We haven’t used force points yet, but… ouch! Also, we will increase the Chaos Factor to 6. In the last prologue, Tavasi learned of Haasef’s indentured servitude to Gray Technologies and an Imperial officer discovered the smuggling compartments on the Nightingale. Things were a bit out of control.
Part 1
I want to introduce Malor as he is working through a mission, so I will use Mythic and UNE to come up with a contact and mission. First, we’ll roll on UNE to determine who hired him.
- NPC Modifier: d100… 49… scholarly
- NPC Noun: d100… 43… conscript
Next, I’ll use the Mythic Event Action/Subject tables to determine the purpose of his mission.
- Event Action: d100…10… communicate
- Event Subject: d100… 23… balance
So, a “scholarly conscript” has hired Malor to “communicate balance”.
Okay — there is a secret lab on the station. Something associated with coaxium research for the Empire. A scientist working in the lab has discovered something dangerous. That person is get the word out about what the Empire has learned.
Malor Lendoran sat in the station commissary, at a small table near the observation gallery. The floor to ceiling transparisteel viewports provided a panoramic view of ships coming and going from the landing bays above and below. He glanced at the tray in front of him. Malor had arrived at the station ten days ago and he still objected to the food. He poked at the two soggy, yet rock-hard, reconstituted nerf patties with a fork and pushed the tray away, with a sigh. Malor desperately wanted a drink, but he had deliberately left his flask in his quarters, for that very reason. Self control was an ongoing struggle.
Looking out the viewport, he watched a freighter approach the lower landing bay. He recognized the distinctive three-cylinder design of a Starfeld Industries Questor-class ship. The pilot brought the vessel in smoothly and glided gently into the landing bay. He nodded approvingly.
Malor watched as Dr. Josette Agnel slipped quietly into the chair across from him. Malor had been hired to work security for Grey Technologies on the station, and his job was essentially to guard the laboratory where Dr. Agnel worked. The two had struck up a casual friendship, mostly chatting in the halls and complaining equally about their employer and the poor quality of their meals.
Agnel appeared to be in her mid-forties, her dark hair showing a few silver streaks. She was tall and thin, nearly always dressed in the blue-grey lab coat worn by researchers from Grey Technologies. Her bookish personality contrasted starkly with Malor’s gruff military demeanor, but the two shared a sarcastic streak and hit it off.
Malor looked at Agnel; she seemed unhappy and nervous. He leaned in towards her in concern. “Are you okay, Josie?” That was his nickname for her.
Josette would not meet his gaze. She took a bite of her meal — some kind of flash-frozen reheated vegetable mix — and chewed slowly before speaking. She quietly asked, “Malor… how difficult would it be to get off this station?”
The question caught Malor off guard — he thought maybe she was stressed about work, or that insufferable Dr. Kopvey that she worked for and was always complaining about. He tilted his head and jokingly asked, “You thinking of taking a vacation?” He smiled at her.
When she finally made eye contact, the smile disappeared from his face. Her eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot. They had dark circles under them, as if she had not slept in a couple of days. She was chewing on her lip, nervously.
“Josie, what is it?” Malor asked.
“I need to get off this station, Lendoran. I… found something. I…” she trailed off, shaking.
Malor reached out to touch her arm. “Found what?” he asked, concern in his voice. Josette was his only friend here, and he had grown very fond of her.
Agnel shook her head, almost fearfully. “Please… I can’t explain here. Just tell me — if I needed to get out of here, quickly, without anyone knowing… what could I do?”
His mind raced and he spoke quietly. “The Empire and the companies monitor every transport in and out of here, to make sure nobody tries to smuggle out any coaxium. It’s too valuable” He sipped some water from his glass. “Maybe hire a ship, or stow away on a freighter or something? It’s not going to be easy.”
A trio of Imperial technicians walked into the commissary, talking amongst themselves. Agnel’s eyes shot back and forth, and she seemed to shrink down in her seat a little bit. It was obvious to Malor that whatever she had found had something to do with the Empire.
She grasped his hand, and he held onto it. “What about a message or datacard or something like that?”
He was thoughtful. “I’d bet that the Empire is analyzing most message traffic. The ISB has been doing that on most planets, for a while,” he said, referring to the Imperial Security Bureau. “They’ll get suspicious about any encoded messages, and I’m guessing you don’t want to send this in the clear. “
She shook her head negatively. He continued, “Smuggling a data card out would be easier than a person. Much easier to hide. But, you’d have to trust the messenger to deliver it or transmit it, or whatever.”
He squeezed her hand. “Josie, this is dangerous stuff. What the hell is going on?”
Josette shook her head again. “Not here. Can we take a walk or something?”
Malor nodded and stood. He dropped their trays into the recycler chute, then motioned for her to follow him. He glanced around cautiously, but no one paid them any attention as they left.
Part 2
Malor and Josette left the commissary and took the turbolift down to Landing Bay Three. The bay was divided into two levels, A and B, with landing bays on the station’s “east” side and cargo storage on the opposite side. Level A was mostly used by incoming freighters depositing unrefined coaxium ore, for processing on the station. Level B was used by general freighters carrying equipment and supplies. Both levels featured wide open corridors, views of the landing pads and ships, and plenty of activity and loud noises. Ships were constantly coming and going, and cargo and ore were always on the move.
Josette leaned into Malor as they took the stairs from the turbolift down to B level. She was clearly exhausted and leaning on him for physical and emotional support. She spoke very quietly as they walked.
“You know my lab is doing research on coaxium for the Empire, right?” He nodded and she continued. “We’ve been working on increasing the efficiency of large hyperdive reaction chambers. Coaxium coats the inner surface of the reaction chamber, so bigger chambers require more coaxium.” She was quiet while a cargo sled drove past, carrying a pair of binary loadlifters.
“Basically, the size of the reaction chamber is proportional to the mass that can be moved through hyperspace. Bigger ships, bigger reaction chambers, more coaxium. But since it has to coat the inner surface area, the coaxium requirements don’t increase linearly. It’s an exponential increase!”
Malor was not dumb, but he was not a scientist or engineer. “When do we get to the scary part?” he asked.
She went on with her whispered mini-lecture, as if he had not interrupted. “My specific research has focused on the thickness of the coaxium coating. At millions of credits per square meter, thinner coatings or patterns that maintain the reaction but reduce the coaxium requirements can save a lot of credits.” Josette looked up at him. “A few days ago, I was asked to run calculations on a new drive design. The biggest I’ve ever seen.”
He glanced down at her, then returned his gaze to scan their surroundings. He was quiet, as a small sled carrying two Imperials sped past. “Bigger than a Star Destroyer?”
She nodded. “Yes. Much bigger. Hundreds or thousands of times more massive.”
That caught Malor’s attention. “What the hell is a thousand times more massive than a Star Destroyer? A space station?”
Josette shook her head. “I don’t know. That, or maybe a big asteroid or small moon?”
I think this is a good time to ask the Fate Chart if anyone is looking for Josette. I think its somewhat likely — based on her appearance and nervousness, someone else may have caught on to her. So, Chaos Factor 6, odds Somewhat Likely.
- Question: “Are the Imperials looking for Dr. Josette Agnel?
- Roll: d100… 75
- Result: Yes
Josette jumped as her comlink chimed. She looked at Malor, “Should I answer it?”
Malor considered. “If you’d usually answer, it will seem odd if you don’t…”
Shakily, she thumbed it on. “This Dr. Agnel.”
A nasally voice came through the speaker. “Josette, this is Dr. Kopvey. What is your location?”
Malor was shaking his head, and Josette’s mind was racing. “Uh…. I’m going for a walk. Near landing bay… two. What seems to be the trouble?” Malor gave her a thumbs up.
“I need you to return to the lab, Josette. There’s an Imperial officer here — they are looking into some kind of security alert from the computer system. We need to talk with you.”
Josette went pale. Malor motioned towards the comlink, while making an “ok” signal with his other hand. She nodded and closed her eyes to steady herself. “Oh, no… Umm… okay. I’ll be there in a few minutes, Dr. Kopvey.” She clicked the comlink off.
Malor pulled her into the shadows outside of a landing bay. He looked at her sternly. “What did you do?”
Jossete pulled a datacard our of her lab coat. “I… I downloaded everything I could onto this card, and encrypted it with my personal cypher. I thought I covered my tracks, but I guess it wasn’t good enough.”
Malor’s eyes widened. “Why? Because of an oversized hyperdrive?”
Josette stopped shaking and stared at him. “Because whatever the Empire wants to move, that’s big enough to need that kind of oversized hyperdrive, it’s not good. They’re evil, Malor! I just… wanted someone to know. Maybe someone can stop them.”
Malor was impressed with her conviction. He knew the empire was evil, from first-hand experience. “We have to get you out of here. You’re in deep bantha crap.”
She looked as him, shaking her head. “No, you have to get away from me. You’ll just get in trouble!”
He looked her in the eyes. “Josie, I’m already in trouble. When they go through the security logs looking for you, they’re going to see us together in the commissary and walking down here together.” He shrugged and smiled. “This job sucked anyway. Time to find a ship.”
Part 3
Malor was staring at the layout of the station on his datapad, when it chimed with an incoming message, and then another.
The first message was a station-wide alert sent to all security personnel — including Lendoran, since he worked security for Grey Technologies — advising them of warrants for the arrest of Dr. Josette Agnel and Malor Lendoran.
The second message was from Grey Technologies, terminating his employment contract.
Malor chuckled and then said “Station security is onto us.” He squeezed her shoulder. “Both of us.”
Tears began to run down Josette’s cheeks. Malor gave her a quick hug and a wink. “No time for that. Let’s get out of here.”
He drew the E5 carbine that was slung over his back and adjusted the sling so it rested comfortably across his chest. He silenced his datapad and placed it in a pocket. He flicked his comlink to silent and asked Josette to do the same with hers; she did.
Malor watched a sled go past, carrying two Imperials. He thought it was the same two he’d seen previously, going the opposite direction. Some errand accomplished, he supposed.
After it was quiet, he turned to Josette. “We’re going to find a ship and get you off this station. Stay behind me and stay quiet. Do exactly as I say. “
Josette was suprised by the change in Malor’s demeanor. She knew that he had been an Imperial soldier, but she did not really know much about him. She swallowed hard and then nodded.
Malor raised his carbine in a ready pose and slipped quietly out of the shadows down the corridor. Josette followed a couple of paces behind, trying — and failing — to move as smoothly and quietly as he did.
I hope you enjoyed this final prologue and the introduction of Malor Lendoran and his friend, Dr. Josette Agnel! I think Session 1 is set up for an interesting — and potentially explosive — first meeting between our characters. I’m looking forward to seeing the story develop in the next session.
Disclaimer
Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, Star Wars: Age of Rebellion, Star Wars: Force and Destiny, and related materials in those product lines are the property of Fantasy Flight Games.
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