I hope it isn't stereotyping anyone but Lando when I portray him as drinking malt liquor yet smooth with the ladies. I also refuse to RP C-3PO for more than a few seconds, so I just kept him offline.
The trip would take a few days to get them to Alderaan. They repaired the droids and tended to the wounds of the living, getting everyone to more-or-less health. In the meantime, R2-D2 identified himself and told the Imperials of his mission. It and C-3PO had been tasked by Emperor Skywalker himself to infiltrate the Rebel Alliance and find any classified information he could. To facilitate this, they were given alternate personalities and partial memory wipes. It had gotten them assigned to the Tantive IV, knowing that a diplomatic ship would likely see more information pass through it than most. During the Battle of Tatooine, C-3PO had suggested that the Freedom Station plans be entrusted to R2. The Rebel captain agreed and gave the plans to the Imperial spy.
C-3PO had also been brought online, but kept repeating, “I am fluent in over 6,000,000 forms of communication!” At Calrissian’s request, the droid was shut off. To pass the time, R2 displayed the relatively unclassified sections of Freedom Station, allowing the group time to memorize as much as possible about the layout.
A few days into their trip, less than 24 hours out from their destination, both the Kinsei felt a powerful pain in the Force, as if millions of voices had cried out in horror and were suddenly silenced. For the Dashade, this was the second time he had felt the deathcry of a planet. Knowing that something was wrong, the group tried to access the HoloNet, but it had been shut off from civilian access. Their codes weren’t adequate to immediately circumvent the blackout, and the slicing of the Verpine and Ensign Nor’ein were not enough to get much more information than that a state of emergency had been declared. The Kinsei sent a message back to the Corps headquarters, but only a cryptic response came back the next day: “Emergency. Stand by.”
The night passed. The Falcon was due to arrive at Alderaan in less than 5 minutes, which had everyone on edge. Suddenly, the ship rocked and slipped out of hyperspace. The group flooded the cockpit to see what had dragged them out of transit. What they saw shocked them: the Imperial fleet jumping away, leaving behind a number of smaller ships and damaged Rebel ships. In addition, there was a large and imposing space station, along with a rather suspect bunching of asteroids. Alderaan had been the source of the deathcry. (Of course, this brought an interesting question to mind: why would a Rebel space station destroy a Rebel planet that was under siege by the Imperial Navy?)
Freedom Station loomed before them, catching them in a tractor beam before Calrissian could react. As it dragged them closer, they made a plan that might see them through this. The droids would all hide in the smuggling compartments while the rest pretended to be crewmembers or passengers. A few minutes later, the ship entered the one of the space station’s hangar bays. A Rebel team was soon out to investigate, apologetically explaining that all ships were being detained following the catastrophe at Alderaan. They gave few details, except that the Empire was at fault. The Imperials successfully warded off the suspicions of the Rebels, who left them with the warning not to disembark and wait until they were cleared to leave.
Destiny, again, intervened. The Verpine picked up a number of transmissions from the nearby posts, listening in on the chatter. He gleaned that the Rebels had custody of Prince Skywalker, who was scheduled for execution within the day. Knowing the cost that would have on the Empire, the soldiers began scheming on how to rescue him. Ensign Nor’ein took the initiative (without telling anyone his plan), walked outside, and dropped a grenade on a computer console. Within moments, a team entered and arrested them while he ranted about how they had kidnapped him and implanted chips in his brain. The Rebels moved to place them under arrest until they could sort out what was going on. The short Kinsei, having earlier given a cover identity as a noble heir, demanded that they be given special treatment as nobility.
They granted this request. The team of 10 Rebels took them to a nearby prison area. As the Rebels prepared to lock them up, the group struck swiftly. Despite most of them still being manacled, the advantage of surprise, the Dashade’s strength and propensity for hitting people with other people, and the small Kinsei’s near-exclusive usage of the Force as a weapon, they managed to drive back their captors in a brief fight, killing several of them, although Calrissian was badly wounded in the firefight. Looking in the door of one of the cells, they spotted an unconscious Luke Skywalker, pulled him out, and dived into a nearby trash compacter, hoping to make it out before they could be arrested again.
Seeing as they would be leveling inside a trash compacter, I didn't let them level yet. 3 is the level where I become comfortable with not letting one adventure mean leveling, but it is generally 2 adventures per level until about 6 or 7. Fortunately for me, I'm at the point where I can put some more serious foes up against them; as another bonus, they've got a few wounded, which is going to slow them down next adventure and place a limitation on their options.
