Star Wars D6: Green Vipers Episode VIII (Part I)

Episode VIII - The Rebels of Callonia (Part I)

Introduction:

The Long Shot campaign continues with The Rebels of Chayloon adventure written by Padre as published on the Rancor Pit. If you would like to run this adventure, please follow this link to the Rancor Pit. As usual, I own none of the images - hand drawn maps all belong to Padre who has kindly granted permission for their use (and for me to report on the running of the adventure) in these posts - the remainder were sourced from google images. 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 inspires me to continue recording this campaign in these posts - thanks again to all of you who have offered me encouraging words!

Training:

Music Cue: Rebel Briefing 

Before they embark on their next mission, Mikka Reekeene offers the Green Vipers the opportunity for some training while on board Nowhere. Captain Hannah and Corr Alden accept the offer to learn how Nowhere is operated. Hannah finds that while there are many similarities to commanding a Star Destroyer, there is much to learn in piloting a Providence-class ship. Both find the training informative and enlightening - as do Tala Norr and Kaleban Maars who are trained on how to pilot X-Wings! There is nothing suitable for the droids and Bots Vridak is disinterested in training. He feels that experience in the heat of battle is the best training!

A few weeks later, General Reekeene and Santhou give the Green Vipers their latest mission briefing...and they set off soon after!  

Meteor Shower:

Corr and Tala in the Yindao cockpit

Music Cue: Mouse Robot and Blasting Off

The Yindao drops out of hyperspace, and the Vipers see the planet Callonia and its asteroid rings ahead of them. Corr orders C4-S0 to perform a sensor sweep of the system and they discover that a Minarac fighter is tailing them. Captain Hannah opens comms with the ship and explains that they are there to aid with Minarac's mining operation on the planet. The pilot informs Hannah that they have to maintain their course while he checks out their story with Cohlanga Tower on the planet. Fearful that aggressive negotiations may be required, Hannah orders Kaleban and Bots to ready themselves on the gunnery chairs.

Callonia with its asteroid rings

Something whizzes past the viewport and Corr is stunned both by the phenomenon and the sensation he suddenly feels: a tugging in his stomach - and a sense of a far-off will is being exerted upon him. More objects fizzle past the viewport and it takes one striking the freighter to snap him from his reverie! The controls sparking with ionisation damage, he raises a shield while more meteors fill the space around them. Kaleban witnesses the meteors tear through the pursuing fighter, tearing it to shreds! The phenomenon ends as quickly as it began - and all breathe a sigh of relief.

Kaleban: Those meteors took care of that fighter on our tail! 

Corr: I'll take us down into the valleys! That'll keep us off the spaceport scopes!

Planetfall:

Music Cue: The Princess Appears

Deciding to land the vessel in the "velth" - stubby two to three meter high trees which have large flat splayed leaves - to hide the Yindao, Corr spots a nearby village on their approach. They land the ship a little away from the settlement and he and Captain Hannah get to work on covering the ship with the huge leaves of the velth. Mindful of the Yindao's disobedient hyperdrive, Captain Hannah orders C4-S0 and R3-FU to talk to it while Kaleban, Tala and Bots are sent out to scout the settlement. C4-S0 finds the hyperdrive intolerable so does not take kindly to the task. R3 is amused.

While they clear the velth, Corr tells Captain Hannah of the strange feeling he had as the ship approached Callonia, fearing it is some manifestation of the dark side. His captain explains that in years gone by, he would have been duty-bound to kill Jedi and force sensitives, but that his view has now changed. Unfortunately, he knows even less about the phenomenon than Corr does, but asks the pilot to keep him informed if he experiences any further tremors in the force.

Tala discovers that the local settlement seems to be abuzz with chatter and she spots lizard-like beings, the Mah-Ta described to them in their briefing. The language they speak is totally alien to Tala, so Hannah asks her to get closer and to channel the conversations over the comlinks for C4-S0 to interpret. 

Mah-Ta

C4-S0: Captain Hannah, this is intolerable! One minute you want me to talk to the hyperdrive, the next you want me to interpret? Which is it to be?

Hannah: Would you prefer to talk to the hyperdrive?

C4-S0: Very well! Patch it through...Sir, I am fluent in six million forms of communication. These creatures seem to be conversing in a very primitive dialect. It sounds as though they are talking about our ship. They are wondering if we are 'white shells'.

C4-S0

Hannah: White shells? What the blazes does that mean?

C4-S0: I'm not entirely sure. They sound fearful of them.

Corr: They probably think we're Stormtroopers... 

Tala: In which case, they may be the rebels we're looking for!

Hannah: Excellent. C4-S0, I want you to head into the camp to talk to these creatures. 

C4-S0: I have no intentions of walking in there myself! Who knows what these savages will do to me!

R3 laughs at C4-S0 who grumbles something about his counterpart being a 'bucket of bolts'.

Kaleban: I'll go with him. 

Contact:

As Kaleban and C4-S0 enter the village with their hands raised, many of the people scatter, some running off to hide in the surrounding velth. Some of the braver Mah-Ta stand their ground and regard the strangers with interest. 

C4-S0: It's all right! We're here to help! We have weapons to help your warriors against the white shells!

A village elder emerges from one of the huts and approaches the two. 

Ta-Ytref: We have no interest in weapons. There are no warriors here. None have been chosen.

Kaleban: Tell him we are looking for the warriors so we can help them to fight back.

Ta-Ytref: I cannot say where the warriors are. There have been none for two seasons. And warriors never return.

At that, a messenger called To-Aoba -from a neighbouring village - bursts out of the velth. He breathlessly explains that the 'white shells and their stone servants' are approaching his village and that some of the village elders are remaining there to talk to them! Ta-Aoba is concerned for their safety as he says that he has only seen 'the shouting ones' taking prisoners. Kaleban shrewdly deduces that the shouting ones are Minarac employees who are enslaving the local population.

Ta-Ytref: I'm afraid your journey was in vain, young Ta-Aoba. As I was just telling these off-worlders, there are no warriors here. 

Kaleban: Not true...there are Vipers in this jungle. We will help you, Ta-Aoba. Lead on!

With Kaleban speculating that the 'stone servants' may be walkers, Captain Hannah fears the worst and orders Corr and C4-S0 to follow him back to the ship while Bots, Tala and Kaleban to use the velth to defend the village from the ground!

Rumble in the Jungle:

Music Cues: The Forest Battle & The Mine Car Chase (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)

As the team on foot approach the village, a Minarac fighter makes a flyby and drops a bomb, destroying a hut and wiping out a family of Mah-ta! The approaching Rebels are enraged, but their anger is tempered by the fearsome opposition they see ahead in the velth - four AT-STs, 6 AT-PTs and a Floating Fortress!

AT-ST and AT-PTs lumber through the thick velth

As the walkers slowly trample through the choked terrain, the trio of Bots, Tala and Kaleban use the cover of the thick leafy canopy to close in on them. They pass through the frontline of AT-PTs to target the AT-STs. As Kaleban and Tala climb the leg of an AT-ST, they are slapped by the thick foliage of the velth ceiling, but manage to climb above that layer as they haul themselves on to the walker's cabin. Kaleban tosses a stun grenade in through the hatch, knocking both walker operators unconscious! As they slump across the controls, the AT-ST begins to veer off to one side - and into a collision course with another! The two Rebels leap inside to try to regain control! 

AT-ST

Meanwhile, Bots opens the comms to Captain Hannah and tells him the attack is underway, before activating his jetpack to land on another walker. He tosses a thermal detonator into the AT-ST hatch, before boosting down to take cover beneath the canopy! The huge explosion tears apart the AT-ST, leaving behind nothing more than the walker's legs - which teeter to and fro before crumpling into the undergrowth! The bounty hunter, already eyeing another AT-ST to attack, barely even registers the flaming foliage raining down around him! 

Bots Vridak

Aided by the droids, Corr roars the Yindao across the battlefield, while Captain Hannah tears up the floating fortress with the freighter's cannon. A plume of flame and dark smoke spills out from the vehicle, but it still manages to float - just!

Tala brings the AT-ST to a halt just before it collides with another and both she and Kaleban fire the cannon point-blank at the enemy AT-ST, blowing it to smithereens! 

Tala

Aware that the walker operators may revive within minutes, Kaleban draws his blade and ensures that the men do not wake again! Tala turns the walker's guns on the Floating Fortress - and blows it apart! Several Stormtroopers burst out of the burning fuselage, but it is too late - they are dead before they hit the ground!

Kaleban

Bots boosts up to the last AT-ST before dropping inside and killing the operators, one with a blaster, the other with his blade! The Rebels now control two AT-STs! 

Mayhem in the velth

Captain Hannah: Alden, when I read your file, it said on Mycroft you used the Yindao to ram several TIEs...

Corr: Yeah, so?

Captain Hannah: Well, it would seem that those AT-PTs are lined up rather nicely for you...

Corr: I got you! Buckle up everyone!

C4-S0: This is madness!

Corr brings the Yindao down low over the canopy and, while C4-S0 angles the deflector shields to the rear of the ship, Corr angles the freighter so that the nose is raised and the engines trail along the canopy! The ship's hull batters the AT-PT's while the sublight engines set them and the velth ablaze, destroying all of the light walkers in one fell swoop!

Corr

Captain Hannah: Outstanding Alden, outstanding! Vridak, Maars, Norr, follow us back to the village - and bring those two Scout walkers with you! 

The team do as Hannah orders, with Kaleban conning Cohlanga control into believing he is the expedition's captain (from identification he found on the bodies of the dead AT-ST operators) and that they are pursuing the villagers into the velth. For now, at least, no one is looking for the squadron of walkers!

When they return to the village, they hear horns sounding out. Much to Captain Hannah's annoyance, the village elder Ta-Ytref only wants them to eat and sleep! 

Ta-Ytref: Patience! Tomorrow there will be warriors!

Initiation:

Music Cue: The Land of the Sandpeople 

In the red dawn of the morning, the air is filled with screams as the leather-winged Groh-Ta swoop down on the village. As the creatures begin to battle with some of the villagers, those who have drawn flint knives to defend their homestead, the Rebels are alarmed - but C4-S0 soon sets their minds at rest as he explains that the battle, vicious as it appears, is part of an initiation ritual. Satisfied, Captain Hannah stands his people down and they allow the Mah-Ta and Groh-Ta to conclude their battle. As he observes the ritual, Corr senses that the force is at work, although he is unclear if it is the Dark Side or the Light that the creatures are calling upon. He continues to feel uneasy about this planet...

Finally, the initiates become warriors, and bidding their village farewell, they head out into the valley. Ta-Ytref is received when the Vipers offer to escort the warriors. Hannah orders Corr and the droids to head back to the ship and stay on standby until required, while the rest of the party follow the warriors into the wilderness, bringing the two AT-STs with them.

Soon after, they encounter a lone warrior, Ta-Kiazee. He does not care for the off-worlders, but they win his respect by showing them that Kaleban and Bots have taken control of the stone servants. Kaleban tries to teach Ta-Ytref's son, Ta-Ytrab, how to pilot the AT-ST, but it quickly becomes obvious that the Mah-Ta are more likely to harm themselves when presented with such technology!

Ta-Kiazee

Leaving the AT-ST's behind in an area of forest, the party presses on as Ta-Kiazee leads them to a mine. Captain Hannah insists his team scout ahead of the warriors, something which draws protest from Ta-Kiazee who insists the new warriors must be tested in battle. Hannah promises that they will not deprive the Mah-Ta of their chance to fight, and eventually Ta-Kiazee allows the off-worlders to push on to scout the mine. 

Bots, Kaleban and Tala use the tree line for cover, closing in around the mine entrances, while Captain Hannah orders Corr to pick him up nearby - and C4-S0 to remain with the Mah-Ta.

C4-S0: You're not my master! You don't get to order me around!

Hannah: You're a member of the Rebellion and I'm a ranking officer! You'll do as you're told! You stay here!

C4-S0: I must say, you've gone down in my estimations, Captain! Wait till General Reekeene hears about this! I'll be filing a report about this, you see if I don't! 

Hannah: Noted. Until then, just follow my orders. Strike team, when you're ready, hit that mine.

Hannah

Bots nods grimly as he hears his Captain's order over the comms. With two Minarac guards in his sights, he readies his blaster... 

Bots: About time.

To be continued...

Closing Reflections:

I don't want to say too much about the story as we still have several weeks of play ahead, but the players are enjoying it so far and enjoying Padre's setting and imaginative adventure! After a gentle start, the encounter with the walkers was very eventful and the players did well! Their ingenuity in wrestling control of the AT-STs while the Yindao gave them hell from above paid off was a lot of fun! It's worth noting that Bots only had the one thermal detonator, so while it was a really cool moment when he used it to destroy an AT-ST, that's it gone! The destruction of so many AT-PTs relatively easily was achieved by an insane roll of 47 by Corr's Space Transports and we did check collision damage which was substantial due to the scale and speed of the ship connecting with the walkers! With Hannah coordinating his team well, and Kaleban and Tala doing great in taking the AT-ST, the (two) sessions were packed full of great action and roleplaying a play all round!

The only one thing that has me scratching my head is the ethics of stabbing unconscious Imperials to death. Obviously, as servants of the Empire, they are evil, but does that mean it is okay to finish them while they're unconscious? If the Imperials were able to defend themselves, it definitely would be justifiable, but killing them when they're defenceless is pretty questionable. We are running a campaign which is more in the vein of Rogue One, but even still, I think I may have to threaten Dark Side points if anyone thinks to repeat this in future sessions.