Adventure 7

We took a week off so that people could get acclimated to school. We came back to a crowded apartment. At some point or another, Jared, John, Kelly, John, and Tarah were watching us play. Things got a little disorganized and distracted. It's why I don't run 7-player games anymore.

The party was given some time after the debriefing from their last mission before receiving a new assignment. Maliss interrogated the scientist in charge of rebuilding the Black Sun research, but only found that the project was not going as well as hoped. In addition to having difficulty cracking the ciphers, there had been some sabotage on the project. The Dashade, with his hopes of seeing his race return dimming, threatened the rather oblivious lead scientist. The prodigy spent his time buried in work and research while the droid indulged in some modifications.

Suddenly, while everyone was busy doing something, they heard a loud explosion. The droid recognized it as an impact rather than an explosion. A moment passed, then they received their calls to duty. Arriving at Kinsei Headquarters, they headed to their briefing room. Kyle Katarn and his partner, Pakron Ajanos, briefed them and about 20 others that the Mandalorians had bypassed the defenses and were making an attack on Coruscant, probably to wreak as much havoc as possible on the Imperial capital. The First Battle of Coruscant had begun.

The party was assigned by Katarn to defend a chokepoint in the Imperial Palace, which the Mandalorians were moving towards. As they flew over the world-city on a transport to the Palace, they saw the smoke plumes of where the Mandalorians had landed with Manticore War Droids. The average Mandalorian fighter was more than a match for a dozen Imperial soldiers, but not the Kinsei.

They took up their position in a large circular marble hall, hiding behind the cover afforded by statues in the chokepoint. The Mandalorians would have to pass through the coverless hall to get to them, allowing for maximum time under fire. IG-203 also set up explosive traps using a very small portion of the detonite that it took from the previous mission.

Once the Mandalorians arrived at their post, they beat back two waves of Mandalorians intent on breaking their position. They used the explosives and automatic fire from rifles to pin them down and wear them down. The tide nearly turned when a Manticore arrived to bring its powerful explosives and blaster cannons to bear, but they managed to disable it by wearing its shields down. After their encounter with the Manticore, no more Mandalorians arrived.

In the following days, details of the battle came out. The Empire had inevitably won, but that was not the point of the attack. Hundreds of Mandalorians were killed in battle, but not all of them had been accounted for. Civilian casualties numbered in the thousands, along with standard Imperial military. 14 Kinsei were killed, including 3 members of the Honor Guard and 1 Master. Boba Fett and Diospholos released a joint statement, saying that the Rebellion could strike at the very heart of corruption. (Diospholos, previously thought dead by the party, stated that an attack on his life by Imperial agents had killed a decoy bodyguard of his.)

In addition, a HoloNet reporter had managed to record a small, grainy holo of the Emperor himself taking on nearly a dozen Mandalorians and a trio of Manticores at the steps of the Kinsei Headquarters. Unfortunately, the video was not good enough to tell what color lightsaber he was using.

It was a relatively quick engagement that took a while to adjucate because of the distractions. Next week: possibly a new member!