Diplomatic Entanglements 8 - The Best Laid Plans

*10,000 paper cranes, time to rescue Bota, plans are hashed out, friendships are lost, lines are drawn and then crossed, death troopers are jumped mercilessly, Katira learns how to pull the trigger, Jedis grow stronger/sense things/cut open metal boxes on moons, Chiss are choked, Sparky gonna spark and thighs are gonna thigh.*

## **Previously**

*After a brief chase in which “Cantle Spiros” hijacked a Coruscant cab and then assaulted two innocent alleyway denizens, our heroes brokered a meeting between the unhappy Clawdite royalty and New Republic Senator Cal Omas. As a result, they were provided with the location of their long missing friend, Bota Zi. Held in a maximum security New Republic prison known only as “The Crypt”, the team now must find a way to free their compatriot without becoming prison pals with him in the process.*

## **Recap**

### **Debatable Options**

After receiving the location of Bota Zi from Cal Omas, the team musters aboard the *Jinxed Starhawk* to discuss their course of action moving forward. Katira steps forward first with the high risk/high reward plan of breaking Grand Admiral Octavian Grant out of New Republic custody on Rathalay in order to subvert the Imperials at the crypt. Though the plan is given serious consideration, the group comes to a consensus that it could lead to major problems for them in several ways and instead considers:

* impersonating Darth Vader
* using Dask’s recovered droid from Emperor Palpatine
* releasing Droo’s Krayt Dragon on the moon

> "*Let’s sneak in. I mean, we can dress up like Darth Vader some other time.*"
> ― Rusty
>
>

After briefly entertaining the comedic event that would be impersonating a Sith Lord, the team decides that before they make any hard and fast decisions, they should at least reconnoiter the prison moon and its defenses. A brief message is sent off to Cal letting him know that they will look into their options, and they depart for Cloud City. They stop off, deliver Elayne to safety, and pick up Wampa to help with the mission, then depart in short order.

> "*I figure if we’re sneaking in, we can be doing a prisoner delivery with Jawa Jimmy, Droo, and Tek?*"
> ― Katira
>
>

> "*Whoa whoa whoa… why does it have to be the foreigners?*"
> ― Jimmy
>
>

> "*Because they’re the most likely to go to prison*"
>
>
>

### **Lay of the Land**

The *Jinxed Starhawk* comes out of hyperspace and immediately cloaks with no issues. As they transit toward the moon, Blaine picks up several TIE Interceptors and a Lambda-class shuttle on sensors. Watching them, Blaine asks Wampa if anything looks out of the ordinary and receives a sarcastic reply that if he ever took time to watch old Imperial propaganda he would know that they were performing standard training exercises. Confident that they haven’t been detected, Blaine begins to pilot the ship in toward the planet and away from the TIEs.

The ship moves in closer to the moon, and the imposing sight of two Imperial Star Destroyers come into view, looming over the region of the region of the planet that houses the majority of the prison blocks. Scanning the area, it appears that the support ships mentioned in Cal’s report to the group are missing, which Blaine takes as a sign to sneak down to the planet’s surface without being caught.

Once they are safely into atmosphere, Blaine carefully pilots over several prison compounds to get a feel for the general layout as he asks Wampa to run scans and let them know what she thinks.

> "*Wampa is rolling sensors. She’s the best damn copilot I’ve ever had. Sorry Tal.*"
> ― Blaine
>
>

Wampa looks over the layout and lets the group know that there is nothing that the *Jinxed Starhawk* should have any difficulty dealing with. Meanwhile, Tek and Droo reach out into the force in search of Bota but find that the facilities they have thus far explored are almost completely empty.

Exploring a bit more as they push the time limits on the *Starhawk’s* cloaking capability, Wampa remarks that there appears to be a block up ahead that is much more heavily guarded than any others they have seen so far. She directs Tek and Droo to look into that area, with Droo comment that she senses a large grouping of people in the area, including someone familiar - though she is uncertain whether it is Bota or someone else - and Tek stating that he senses a large quantity of probe droids patrolling the area.

### **Cutting In**

Deciding to go all in, Blaine punches the *Jinxed Starhawk* toward the suspect block as he asks Wampa about the construction of the prison, specifically if it has a modular construction that he could take advantage of to tear a portion away. When Wampa reports that this isn’t the case, however, the group is already committed to their course of action. As Blaine settles the ship into a hover atop the suspect prison block, Tek and Droo drop down atop the facility and ignite their lightsabers. They make short work of the ceiling, allowing for the rest of the group to drop in.

Taking a moment to look around the room and comment on the smattering of fecal matter around the bed in the corner, they open the only door and quietly move into the hallway. Katira spots a sentry with their back to the group, and signals Rusty to take him out with her before moving in for the kill.

The attack on the guard starts out well, with Katira managing to sneak up behind and slice his throat before Rusty quiets him with a fist to the temple. Things move sideways though when the formidable figure of Jowkazza steps out from the hallway to give the guard a warm embrace, exposing his presence to a guard further down the hall before tossing his friend back into the hallway. Now realizing that they need to move quickly, the group split into searching for Bota and clearing guards.

As Rusty and Jimmy move toward the remaining doors in the entry hallway, Katira slips off the unconscious guard’s helmet and taps into their communications while she ends the Imperial’s life. Meanwhile, Jimmy opens the first door to reveal a groggy Imperial coming to a bewildered consciousness, and Rusty rushes the man to kill him with a three punch combo (saving the inner thigh punch for the finishing blow as usual). Unconcerned with the doors, Jowkazza stalks forward to the guard that sounded the alert.

> "*Do you have any weapons with you?*"
> ― Luke
>
>

> "*Yeah, I have two.*"
> ― Jowkazza
>
>

> "*What are they?*"
> ― Luke
>
>

> "*My left fist and my right fist.*"
> ― Jowkazza
>
>

With a bone chilling roar, Jowkazza leaves the guard laying unconscious on the ground, but alerts the adjacent room that the reported threat is indeed serious. As two guards move into position and fire harmlessly at the Wookiee, Blaine and Sparky accidentally jam the lock on one door, then Blaine opens another to find the fresher.

Katira hurries to Jowkazza’s aid, mortally wounding one guard as she dives for cover nearby. Jowkazza, however, needs no protection, opting to rush through the adjoining doorway toward two more guards and wounding one. Blaine and Rusty move toward the two remaining doors, and the last remaining guard loses his nerve after watching his friends eliminated so easily. Shaking with a Wookiee standing mere meters away, he misfires and shoots himself in the foot.

### **Free at Last**

The fight carries on, with Katira peeking out to kill another guard and Rusty incapacitating another as he discovers two more guards and an officer heading toward the team. Meanwhile Jowkazza moves back to the nearest door, managing to unlock it (-1 cp) and then looking in to see a dim red light illuminating the otherwise darkened space.

As Bota Zi receives the most gentle embrace Jowkazza has given since his introduction to the team, Blaine and Jimmy open the final door, not knowing that their friend has already been found. Instead they find the local control center, waking the sleeping guard so that he can bear witness to his own demise from Blaine’s heavy blaster.

Jowkazza rushes to the exit with Bota in hand, and the group makes their way to the hole in the ceiling that they infiltrated through. Last to leave is Katira, providing cover fire and wounding the lone Imperial officer. As she boards the *Starhawk*, she taps into the helmet she stole early in the insertion and gives one final taunt to the Imperials on her way out.

> "*Officer down at the prison break. I want you all to know that Cantle Spiros did this to you. Long live Cantle Spiros!*"
> ― Katira
>
>

## **Featured Characters**

### **Our Heroes**

* Blaine Hansom
* Bota Zi
* Droo Vos
* Jawa Jimmy
	+ Sparky
* Katira Eve
* Roostan Steele
* Tek Krodak

### **Mentioned**

* Octavian Grant
* Cal Omas
* Talcoborro

## **Inventory**

* +purge trooper helmet - slightly damaged (Katira)
* -1cp to unlock prison door (Jowkazza)

## **Notes**

* It was agreed on that Tek stayed behind previously to bring Lannik Rakto into custody
* Cal Omas passed along the information from the Gold Armored Mandalorian Female to Katira

## **Quotations**

> "*So you guys are going to rescue a Grand Admiral from prison that the New Republic has placed under arrest.*"
> ― Luke
>
>

> "*Yeah, I heard it was unjust.*"
> ― Droo
>
>

{{Quote|quote = Unjust? Because the Empire fell?

> "*He surrendered to the New Republic, and they immediately said “you’re not allowed to do anything!” How would you like it if they did that to you… voice in the sky…*"
> ― Katira
>
>

> "*I like Jawa Jimmy’s plan. Let’s just go up to the front door, knock on it, and ask if he can come out and play.*"
> ― Jowkazza
>
>

> "*He’s late for his dentist appointment. We’ve got to take him.*"
> ― Jimmy
>
>

> "*Well next time, don’t schedule it during class.*"
> ― Rusty
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>

> "*Okay, so when we rescue this Grand Admiral we all dress up as death troopers?*"
> ― Tek
>
>

> "*I don’t think the New Republic uses those.*"
> ― Katira
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>

> "*It would be intimidating, though.*"
> ― Tek
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>

> "*None of these dudes have probably ever seen Darth Vader, so when the whip comes out just pretend that’s normal.*"
> ― Rusty
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>

> "*He doesn’t have to walk around the Imperials with his lightsaber out.*"
> ― Katira
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>

> "*Changing it up. Darth Vader got kink*"
> ― Rusty
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>

> "*…mic drop…*"
> ― Jawa Jimmy
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>

> "*Don’t question a Sith Lord man, Darth Vader about to choke you.*"
> ― Rusty
>
>

> "*I don’t want to bring the changeling*"
> ― Blaine
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>

> "*Well, I’m saying in case you want to…*"
> ― Luke
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>

> "*Nope. Cloaked ship. That changeling is never coming on board.*"
> ― Blaine
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>

> "*Wait, even if we save Bota, for the foreseeable future he won’t have his armor. Unless… unless Tek gives his armor to Bota.*"
> ― Katira
>
>

> "*Yeah, I’ll give it to Bota. That’s a worthy choice.*"
> ― Tek
>
>

> "*Luke Skywalker’s voice in your head is telling you that it’s a noble choice.*"
> ― Luke
>
>

> "*Yes. Arm the Mandalorians!*"
> ― Katira
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> "*Stop talking, Emperor!*"
> ― Luke
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>

> "*What are you gonna try to do to him now?*"
> ― Luke
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>

> "*I’m gonna tear his arm off.*"
> ― Jowkazza
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>

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