Clone Wars Campaign: Recap # 20

This session sees the heroes going undercover for one of the only times so far in the campaign--they pulled it off quite well, too. The main thing I remember about this session is that our pair of hard nosed, blaster-toting secret agents (who have no shame in shootin' a bloke dead if he looks cross-eyed at 'em) draw the line at getting involved in the spice trade, even if it's part of an undercover operation. It's one of the few times someone has drawn a strict moral line in the campaign, and I was quite surprised when it occurred (especially around something I consider relatively benign).


SESSION # 20

Having succeeded in uncovering a clone trooper smuggling ring, Arresta D'avilos and Zero have proven themselves to Republic Intelligence. With the Republic fighting a war on a thousand fronts, the need for agents is great, and few duos can match the combination of street smarts and royal upbringing presented this unique pairing. But now the test is over, and the real work begins . . .

[AG 212]

As Arresta enters her luxury apartment fresh from a day shopping, she hears voices coming from her living room and realizes that Agent 2719 is interrogating her protocol droid about the prior threats and attacks on her life. The Republic Intelligence agent has come bearing another mission for Arresta and Zero--he wants them to trace the profits, used to support Separatist terror cells, from the sell of a new, unusual kind of spice. According to the agent, representatives of the spice's manufacturer will deliver the shipment at the Onyx Ring, one of the many establishments owned by notorious spicelord Volven Roxe. The two sellers are a Sullustan known to the authorities named Tyrus Sweedle and an armored figure known only as "Mr. X." The mission is to capture the two sellers and figure out where the money is going.

Arresta fills Zero in on the plan and then heads out to buy an armored suit of the same type as "Mr. X", while Zero arranges to purchase several tracer darts and a used aircar. Zero uses some info provided by Arresta to get Prosecutor Rap-Seri to confirm that a warrant is out for Tyrus Sweedle, but otherwise Rap-Seri doesn't seem to know about what's going on.

Zero and Arresta arrive early at the Onyx Ring, an usual club that requires landing upside down on a plate-like building. Soon, the pair see Sweedle and Mr. X enter. Zero tries to subtly slip a tracking device on Sweedle, but fails miserably and gets caught in the act. Sweedle crushes the tracking dart and makes an exchange with the bartender. After Mr. X catches Zero staring at them during the exchange, he throws a frag grenade and the two book for the exit. They escape during the panic, but not before Arresta manages to hit Sweedle with a tracking dart.

Zero's skillful piloting allows them to catch up to Sweedle and X at a cargo spaceport where the spicer's ship, the Orange Lightning, is docked. A running chase/firefight ensues, with Arresta and Zero jumping on board just as the ship lifts off. Some quick blaster fire drops Mr. X, leaving Sweedle alone in the cockpit. He injects himself with some spice and starts to course with some strange energy, but a stun bolt drops him before he can react. Sweedle is handcuffed and X is revealed to be a manifest droid. Arresta and Zero strip X's memory banks and information from the ship's nav computer, retrieve several bars of precious metals from a steel case carried by X, and then land the shuttle back on Coruscant.

Arresta turns the seized material over to Agent 2719 at a diner called the Redline. He tells her the job is only half done, and that they should follow the trail before the manufacturer gets suspicious. Moments later, the two are attacked by what the agent says are Separatists. Arresta and the agent manage to escape after a short fight. After dropping Sweedle off for interrogation, Arresta and Zero return to the Orange Lightning and follow the coordinates on the nav computer.

[213 AG]

They drop out of hyperspace into a mostly-empty sector of space. Waiting for them, however, is a Z-95 Headhunter. The pilot plans to activate a slave circuit and escort the shuttle to another destination, but asks for the password. Not believing Arresta's and Zero's sudden fabrications, he opens fire. Zero manages to skilfully avoid the stream of laser fire, while Arresta responds in kind and scores several quick direct hits. Soon, the Z-95 is disabled and drifting in space. The ship's pilot is taken prisoner, but Zero destroys the Z-95 moments before learning that the coordinates for the next destination were on board. It seems that the mission is a bust and that they have no choice but to return to Coruscant, but then Zero is hit with sudden inspiration--minutes before the tachyon particles from the Z-95's hyperspace engine fade completely, the young Rodian manages to reconstruct the ship's entry vector. With a bound captive, the Orange Lightning again jumps for hyperspace.

This time they find themselves emerging near a large freighter and its droid starfighter escorts. An automatic response program moves them into docking position with the freighter. Emerging into the freighter's docking bay, Arresta (dressed in X's armor) does some fast talking to convince a trio of gullible B-1 Battle Droids not to shoot Zero. The duplicitious duo then make their way to the ship's main deck, where even Arresta can't stop a B-2 guard from detaining Zero. Arresta is escorted through a production area, full of vats and strange chemical apparatuses--it looks like vials of some sort of red liquid are used as a raw ingredient in the spice manufacture. On the bridge, she meets the ship's captain--an Aqualish named Gaulish Maki. Arresta tells Maki that Zero is the new pilot of the Orange Lightning because "Sweedle overdosed" and that their planned Z-95 escort never showed up. Maki swallows the tale completely and decides to get on with business by assigning Arresta and Zero to make another drop once the ship emerges from hyperspace.

After departing the freighter, Arresta and Zero debate what they should do in the Orange Lightning. Should they make another drop and wait for an opportunity to find out how the freighter is connected to the Separatists, or should they return to Coruscant immediately? With neither wanting to sully themselves in the drug trade, the latter option is chosen.

Back on Coruscant, Agent 2719 seems disappointed but turns over the usual fee.

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