Star Wars D6: Green Vipers Episode V (Part II)

Episode V - Assault on Repair Station M13 (Part II)

Introduction:

The Long Shot campaign continues with Part II of the Assault on Repair Station M13 adventure outlined in the Classic Adventures book. Please click here to read Part I. All of my additions to the adventure outlines will feature on this blog at a later date. This adventure took 4 sessions to run and this write up details the action from the final two sessions. As usual, I own none of the images which were mostly sourced from google. Please note that this is an advert free, not for profit blog. 

Additionally, please visit The Rancor Pit. The support shown to me by fellow GMs and players there has been wonderful - thanks again to all of you who are reading these write ups! 

Picking up the action after Part I...

Mayhem on M13:

The Yindao under fire!

As the Corr engages evasive manoeuvres on the Yindao, Skye shoots down one of the three pursuing TIEs! Meanwhile, on the Turbolaser tower on the Repair Station, Kaleban struggles to hit the nimble fighters! Corr's piloting continues impress, but a direct hit on the freighter downs a shield! Spotting another three TIEs emerging from the hangar bay, and their sensors picking up another eight flying down from the space station in orbit, the pilot fears the worst!

Two TIEs pursue the Yindao (bottom left) while another three emerge from the hangar!

He barks orders to R3-FU to use the ceiling elevator to go on to the freighter's hull and repair the shield. The astromech complies, but his bleeps and whoops signal his displeasure! Corr also orders C4-S0 to go and speak to the hyperdrive to disable the safety protocols - he is considering attempting a dangerous jump to hyperspace while in the gravity well of the planet!

The crew on the Yindao

As concentrated TIE fire strafes the freighter, R3 emits high-pitched screams, but manages to repair the shield before returns inside to safety! Despite finding the hyperdrive highly abusive, C4 succeeds in understanding it and his computer programming skills are successful in disabling the safety protocols. The droids return to the cockpit and program the nav-computer for their jump while Corr is feeling the pressure with the TIEs bearing down. He sideswipes one, clipping its wing! It spins out of control before slamming into the control tower and exploding spectacularly! Having only exited the tower moments previous, JiBa gapes at the ruined building.

JiBa: You knew I wasn't in there, right?

JiBa

Corr: Uh, yeah, of course!

Corr

The hyperdrive computer signals it is ready, but Corr ignores the readout. 

C4-S0: What are you waiting for, that's us ready to make the jump! Get us out of here!

C4-S0

Corr: We've still got people down there!

C4-S0: We've got to leave now! That blithering idiot JiBa got himself into this mess - he can get himself out!

JiBa: Shut up cowardly droid! You're not leaving without us!

Skye shoots another TIE from the sky, while Kaleban manages to nail another from the station's turbolaser! In desperation, Corr uses the freighter as a battering ram and uses the Yindao's forks to slam through another TIE! Things seem to be going their way...but having recognised the danger from Kaleban's Turbolaser, one of the TIEs opens fire and the battery explodes!

Kaleban

Meanwhile, in the hangar bay below, Kira watches as TIE pilots climb into their ships and start blasting off to deal with the threat from the Yindao. She follows one pilot and jumps upon him before he can seal the cockpit. She pulls the blade of honour she was rewarded with by the Godking on Masterdom, and repeatedly stabs the pilot! Throwing his body from the cockpit, she seals it closed and sees three more TIEs have already exited the hangar bay - but another two are in her sights! She opens fire and inflicts heavy damage on the first...

Kira in the TIE

It's engines are destroyed and it crashes to the hangar bay floor, the screech of tearing metal filling the air as it skids across the floor. Recognising the danger, the second TIE turns around. Kira's TIE is still attached to the rack! She frantically tries to activate the release but she is too late! The enemy TIE opens fire...and hits! The TIE fighter Kira is sat in explodes and is consumed by a ball of flame! There is a moment of stunned silence among the Vipers as the sound of the explosion and Kira's comms going dead signifies the loss of another comrade.

Kira: Killed In Action

Somewhat fortuitously, Kaleban manages to flee the inferno in the turbolaser tower and sees that the Stormtroopers Kira had sent up with other workers have made their way out into the courtyard. Still dressed in mechanics' overalls, he falls in behind the Stormtroopers before throwing a fragmentation grenade into their midst! 

Kaleban grenades the Stormtroopers!

It kills two of them and he rushes down to the hangar bay below. He finds himself in a standoff with two Stormtrooper guards and throws another grenade down the passageway...

Meanwhile, JiBa has also made his way down to the hangar where he sees the wreckage of Kira's TIE. He climbs down the wall and rushes for the turbolaser, but is spotted by three Stormtroopers! 

JiBa spotted!

They open fire and one hits, wounding JiBa! He makes it to the turbolaser battery and takes cover as he nurses his wounds.

Skye shoots down another TIE, but the Yindao suffers several more hits - another shield goes down before then a direct hit heavily damages the freighter, destroying Skye's gunnery port! Fortunately, she is unharmed and crawls through to the other gunnery port on top of the ship. As Corr slams through another two TIE fighters, JiBa enters the turbolaser port in the hangar and runs his sword through the operator inside. As the three Stormtroopers advance, he orders Corr to land in the hangar. As he is flying across the base, with TIEs threatening to obliterate them at any second, Corr calls upon the force to guide him... he sends the Yindao into incredible loop from above and straight into the hangar bay. He deliberately slams the rear of the ship down and the three Stormtroopers bearing down on JiBa are reduced to a red smear on the floor! As Corr brings the freighter to a standstill at the rear of the hangar, R3 once again rolls on to the hull to repair the downed shield...

The Yindao touches down in the hangar!

Kaleban's grenade wounds one Stormtrooper, while the other is unharmed...but not for long - he is in Skye's sights! She opens fire with the laser cannon and Kaleban sees the Stormtrooper hurtled into a rock wall and blown in two! 

Skye

Kaleban rushes the wounded Stormtrooper and finishes him off with a blaster shot! Spotting that the Stormtroopers were guarding a room marked "Authorised Personnel only", he rushes inside and discovers the power generator - and the room off to the side which is filled with fuel tanks! He quickly primes several frag grenades and, leaping from the catwalk on to the hull of the Yindao, returns to the ship, following R3 - shield now repaired - down through the upper hatch.

The opposition is cleared for Kaleban!

JiBa also rushes back to the ship and issues a communication warning the remaining TIEs above to keep their distance as they will blow the plant. Having had a few moments to compose himself, Corr concentrates as he blasts off, gunning the ship for the sky. He swerves between the TIEs who are caught in indecision, while the fuel tanks in the station explode! The whole Repair Station is engulfed by a huge ball of flame, the fireball soaring high into the air and destroying the TIEs! Seeing the flames licking around the cockpit glass, Corr kicks in the hyperdrive and they make their escape to safety! They made it!

Return to Nowhere:

On their return to Nowhere, the Vipers are met by Faylynn Voidstepper and her sidekick Kentara.

Falynn: The General wants to see you in the observation deck. Follow me.

Faylynn Voidstepper

Falynn leads the way, while Kentara brings up the rear behind the team. She silently leads them to a turbolift which takes them to a chamber at the top of the tower. When they arrive on the observation deck, they find Lens Reekeene there alone. 

General Lens Reekeene on the Observation Deck of Nowhere

Lens: Thank you for coming. You seem to have returned earlier than expected. Perhaps you could explain what happened during your mission?

General Lens Reekeene

She listens intently as JiBa boasts about the success of their mission and how they destroyed the station. He seems unperturbed by Kira's death, remarking that she was a good warrior and died an honourable death. Lens specifically asks whose idea it was to proceed with the raid ahead of the attack. JiBa explains that it was his decision. She activates a holoprojection from one of Bronze Squadron's pilots, a transmission from their attack on the space station the day after the Vipers destroyed M13.

Lens: We picked up this transmission not long before you returned.

Cut to:-

Eight X-Wings drop out of hyperspace over Mycroft and swoop in towards the space station. We follow the squadron’s approach from behind, intercutting between this view and the pilots in their cockpits.

Bronze Squadron close in on the Space Station

Bronze Leader: All wings report i-

Bronze leader’s X-Wing suddenly explodes, forever silencing him. Bronze Three - a female Mon Calamari - looks across at the destroyed fighter in disbelief.

Bronze Three: That shot came from behind us! Setting sensors to a rear scan!

Bronze Four: Whatever’s going on, we’re in trouble! Set S-foils to attack position!

As the sensors sweep is completed, Bronze Three’s eyes widen with shock and terror. 

Another X-Wing explodes as heavy laser fire from behind suddenly lights up the darkness all around them. The camera spins around and reveals that they have dropped out of hyperspace directly before a Imperial Star Destroyer! Another two X-Wings are obliterated. Bronze Six - a Wookiee pilot - roars in confusion.

Bronze Squadron under fire!

Bronze Six: [Gotta jump outta here!]

Bronze Three: The nav computers will take too long!

As more ships explode around her, Bronze Three issues a desperate communication.

Bronze Three: This is a message for General Reeekene! Bronze Squadron is under attack! It’s a trap! We’ve got the Clenched Fist, Moff Lorin’s flagship on our tail! Someone betrayed us…Yaaaaarrrgggh!

An explosion fills the cockpit, forever silencing Bronze Three.

Cut to:- Observation deck.

The hologram of Bronze Three ends abruptly. The General Reekeene’s fury is palpable.

Lens: Eight X-Wings went out. It seems unlikely any will return. Eight. Eight of our best pilots. Do you have any idea of what you’ve done? Two-thirds of our X-Wings are destroyed! Our entire operation has been crippled because of you! I was beginning to suspect that your team had been infiltrated by a mole -members of your squad have been dying all too frequently - and now my worst fears have been confirmed! But we’ll get to the bottom of this! The spy will confess! Faylynn! Kentara! Take JiBa away! Find out who he is working for!

Kentara

The team stare on, dumbfounded, as Kentara grabs JiBa and takes him to a chamber just off the observation deck. His friends tell the General she has it wrong, that JiBa is an honourable warrior and no traitor to the Rebel Alliance.

Lens Reekeene: I hope you're right, I really do. But I have a responsibility to everyone that's part of our operation to make sure no spies are jeopardising our operations. I owe it to the eight dead pilots - and to your departed friends - Tarrik Nightburner, Jaden Jericho, Jimi Ackbar, and now Kira Rishkar...it's possible that they all died - directly or indirectly - as a consequence of JiBa's actions.

Corr: I've served with JiBa on the Centurion with Jaden for years! He's got no love for the Empire! You got this all wrong, General!

Cut to:- The interrogation room. JiBa has been strapped to a scan grid. Kentara looms over him, while Faylynn sits opposite.  

Faylynn: It would be easier if you’d confess just now… 

Spitting defiantly on the floor, JiBa tells her that there is nothing to confess.

Faylynn: We’ll know soon enough, believe me. The thing is, Kentara’s mate died on that attack run. At first he told me he wanted to tear your arms from their sockets, but I told him, that’s too quick, too easy. We’ve got the scan grid here, that’ll do for starters. You know what that is? No? It’s a piece of mining equipment we got from the Sarnikken miners guild. It analyses metals by emitting electrical charges to gather data. It’ll do for starters. On you go Kentara, fire it up…

JiBa made to suffer like Solo on the Scan Grid

The Vipers pale as they hear their friend screaming in the adjoining chamber - and plead with her to stop. Even C4-S0, who has no love for JiBa, begs the General to let him go. She remains tight-lipped.

Eventually, Faylynn and Kentara emerge from the cell. JiBa is unrecognisable. His face and body have been raked with claw marks and he is missing an arm.  

Faylynn: There's no conspiracy. No one can take that, he'd have told us anything there was to tell. He even tried to convince us he was a spy just to stop, but you know I can see through deceptions like that. He and his squad are rule breakers, incompetent - but no more than that. Doesn’t mean they’re not dangerous, though. You keep ’em around here at your peril. There could be another Bronze Squadron with these amateurs on the loose.

Faylynn and Kentara leave the team with the General. 

Lens: Take him to medical, the bacta tank will heal the worst of his wounds.

Kaleban: He's missing an arm! I don't know what you're playing at General, but what you've done here is no different to what the Empire would do! I'm beginning to wonder what we're fighting for if this is what you stand for!

Lens: Like I said, your team are not my only concern. I'm responsible for the lives of everyone under my command. I have to protect everyone... Take some time to yourselves. Thereafter, you'll be assigned to a new crew. Then you can vent your anger out on the Empire - but you'll stick to the orders I give! Dismissed!

The Vipers go to retrieve their friend and take him to medical. C4-S0 stays behind and stares as his mistress. She turns her chair away and stares out into space. C4-S0 follows the Vipers into the turbolift, leaving her alone with her thoughts...

Cut to:- Int. Bridge on the Star Destroyer Clenched Fist. Off Lorin stares at holographic images of the destruction of Repair Station M13.

Lorin: First of all, these Roughnecks captured my predecessor, then they destroyed the station on Alabash...now this coordinated insurgency across the Sector. This pitiful band of Rebels can no longer be ignored. We will find them...and when we do, death will be their fate.

Moff Lorin

Closing Reflections

Apologies in advance, but there's a lot to reflect on this time! I'll set it out in chronological order, starting with events outlined in Part I.

Regular readers / Star Wars D6 aficionados will be aware that this is all part of the Long Shot campaign and that scrapping the Long Shot was a major left turn. The reason I did this was that I didn't feel that the setting of the Long Shot particularly added to the players' experience; it was a ship which (to my knowledge) doesn't feature in any of the films and therefore didn't give the players that instant connection to the universe. In addition, Captain Ixsthmus and Sienne Symm didn't really add anything to the sessions. Perhaps I didn't make the characters distinctive enough, but the key issue was that they essentially dropped off the PCs and played no other role. The players didn't particularly like this and I didn't want those two characters to be more involved as it takes away from what the PCs themselves are doing - the game should be about their actions, and not about NPCs flying to the rescue. So, after a little discussion, and for better or worse, I dropped the Long Shot and gave them the now-deceased Jaden Jericho's ship, The Centurion, (which was quickly renamed by JiBa as the Yindao) - a YT-1300. Having a YT-1300 is probably the biggest cliche in a Star Wars RPG, but I feel replicating the feel of the Falcon is something which players absolutely thrive on, and make them feel that they are definitely part of that universe.

Once the mission was underway, I realised something which wasn't set out in the outline provided in the Classic Adventures supplement: where are the Repair Station's workers actually based? The scenario seems to assume that the PCs touch down and simply scout the base from nearby - and potentially slip in unseen by guards. On the hoof, I suddenly devised that there was a nearby village where the base's workers lived and that there was a bus taking them to and from the Repair Station. I still expected the PCs to scout the base, but at least there was another option for them to consider. I think the improvisation went well, as the players hadn't realised that I had created the village, the sheriff, the cantina and its occupants in the moment! 

Once they had Stormtrooper uniforms and gained access to the base, I expected the team to use their disguises to explore the base and act once they had some knowledge of the threat they faced. Indeed, my expectations were that when they discovered that there were so many TIEs on the base that would threaten the imminent attack on the orbiting space station, the PCs might attempt to steal TIE pilot uniforms and fly out with the squadron - shooting down TIEs and even aiding the Rebel attack on the Space Station. It was all there for them to do so. As usual, and as every good GM should know, the PCs had their own ideas!

Not only did they decide to hit the base without exploration, but they split the party and used the Yindao as air support! What unfolded was the most challenging and involved combat situation I've ever run. I've been using Roll20 due to the current pandemic and suddenly I had a battle raging which involved ground troops, repulsorlifts, turbolaser batteries, and spacecraft - all at once! 4 maps were on the go during this battle - the Repair Station, the hangar, a wider map of the mountaintop for the ship-to-ship battle, and the interior of the YT-1300, meaning we were constantly jumping between screens! I found it incredibly difficult to keep on top of things, but hopefully the players enjoyed the battle!

In relation to Part II:

Kira's demise was gut-wrenching (partly as I had written an adventure relating to her backstory, but mostly because I liked her character), one occasion where I really wanted to fudge it - but the rolls are made in the open on Roll20 and we all agreed to honour the results. This open rolling and (to their credit) the players' agreement that Character Points cannot be used to boost Strength rolls are the reason why we are experiencing such high attrition rates in the campaign to date. I think it's a great thing that they are enjoying the increased difficulty of Star Wars D6. It's helping give the campaign more of a Rogue One rather than Original Trilogy vibe, something we hoped for before we started. (We previously played a 50 week campaign which was more in the OT vein and where very few PCs died.)

Speaking of that gritty vibe, the early attack on the Repair Station (against orders) created a major problem: Bronze Squadron were on their way to a planet where a high alert had been raised. The natural consequence was that the Empire would send a Star Destroyer to aid the outpost - and hunt down any insurgents still on the loose. The entire battle probably lasted about three minutes (rounds are only 5 seconds) so there was no way the Star Destroyer would be there to stop the Vipers...but Bronze Squadron's attack was not due for another 18 hours. The PCs had been given orders not to act before the attack on the Space Station, and so, it seemed justified that for all their success, they were due to suffer a massive failure - and that their General would be furious with them in the aftermath.

JiBa was only meant to be subjected to the scan grid and perhaps to suffer a few broken bones at the hands of the enraged Kentara, but I did let the extent of the punishment doled out be determined by the player himself (I thought he might like a few Wookie claw scars on his face). He felt the character had run his course and it was his decision that JiBa be gored and mutilated to the extent he was. JiBa is not dead, but, going forward, will be a NPC. Two new characters will join the team next adventure!

I did give the players the option to abandon Reekeene's Roughnecks and strike out themselves (the Minos Cluster campaign being an obvious possibility), but, though their opinion of General Reekeene has significantly changed, they opted to stay under her command. I'm quite pleased, because it helps us build upon the setting of the Fakir Sector, even if this means I may have to write a lot more adventures rather than relying solely on the published material. I think it makes the dynamic between the Vipers and Reekeene more interesting also!

I'm looking forward to seeing how the campaign continues to develop - and hope you'll keep dipping in to find out what happens next!