Episode IX - The Battle of Lorimax
Introduction:
The Long Shot campaign continues with The Battle of Lorimax, a scenario I've developed myself for my players' adventures in the Fakir Sector. I wish to acknowledge the input of Mr Nexx, Garhkal, Grimace, KageRyu, and Raven Redstar on the Rancor Pit - with a special acknowledgement to CR McNeill whose rules allowed me to run the sprawling space battle at the heart of this adventure. CR's rules have been published on this blog and are available here. Please also visit The Rancor Pit to join the excellent community there (unless you're one of my players, in which case stay away)!
As usual, I own none of the images, all of which with the exception of one were sourced from google images. The exception is an image of Green Squadron X-Wings which was created by Rendered Sci-Fi Art on Facebook - please give their page a like! Please note that this is an advert free, not for profit blog.
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| Captain Hannah |
Blue Lightning's Triumph:
Music Cue: Rebels at Bay
Before touching down on Nowhere, Tala confronts Captain Hannah on board the Yindao. Her thoughts are very much on their recent mission on Callonia, and their infiltration of the Imperial Base there.
Tala: Do you think you could give us some warning next time you are going to set off thermal detonators? You could have killed us all!
Hannah: I did warn you! I told everyone to run!
Tala: Yeah, except that some of us were caught in the middle of a firefight with Stormtroopers!
Hannah: The mission required us to move with haste....but I'm sorry if my actions risked harm to any of you. It was not my intention...
Tala: Sure, just remember we're not expendable, that's all...
Tala leaves a dejected Hannah as Corr brings the Yindao out of hyperspace alongside Nowhere. As he does so, he sees a Tsukkian water tanker beside their ship. As he glides the Yindao into the hangar, he sees that there are a large number of old droids from the Clone Wars in the hangar bay - and that many of the Rebels on board are in a celebratory mood!
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| Tsukkian Water Tanker |
Corr: Oh aye, somethin's afoot here! Don't hold yer breath for a heroes welcome!
As the team exit their freighter, they see members of Blue Lightning are at the centre of the excitement. Kaleban waves over a Rebel engineer and points to the commotion.
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| Droids in Nowhere's hangar (minus the guns and defeated droids)! |
Kaleban: What's all this fuss about? What's going on?
Engineer: It's Blue Lightning! They found a decommissioned factory from the clone wars. The droids had just been switched off! At at the flick of a switch, suddenly they've got us a crew able to make Nowhere fully operational! They brought them here in that old Tsukkian water hauler! Thank the force for Blue Lightning, eh?
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| Blue Lightning (l to r): Janaos Sobari, Captain Uldrir Gonibar, Zuel Zeemor & Krenan Soulreaver |
As their rivals are raised aloft for their successes, their engineer and X-Wing pilot, Janoas Sobari catches the Vipers looking his way. He casts them a very smug grin and makes a mocking salute.
Kaleban: I don't care if everyone else around here loves them, Blue Lightning's still a dumb name.
Corr: Aye, ah cannae stand that Blue Lightning bunch!
Tala: Watch it! That's my old team you're talking about!
Bots: Mine too.
Captain Hannah: All right, that's enough! Let's go and debrief the General.
Once the debriefing has ended, General Reekeene thanks the Green Vipers for their efforts, but she too seems excited by the arrival of the new droids. She hints at another important mission being planned, and instructs the team to work on their fighter-piloting skills. Bots declines to do so, while Hannah, interested in Nowhere's operations, requests he work with Mikka Reekeene on the Command Deck. Corr and Tala perform drills on the X-Wings, while Kaleban trains on a Y-Wing.
Mission Briefing:
Music Cue: Rebel Briefing
General Lens Reekeene calls her entire Roughnecks to the command deck. Also in attendance is her husband Mikka and her advisor Santhou.
Lens: Thanks to the efforts of our Green Vipers, we've learned that Moff Lorin, Fakir Sector's new replacement after we captured Dixton, has requested additional resources. It seems we've been ruffling a few too many feathers!
Though the General doesn't explain to the other Rebels what she means by this, the Green Vipers understand that she is referring to their recent mission to Iyuta and that the information must have come from the monitoring device they placed under an Imperial Communications Facility there.
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| General Reekeene |
Santhou: The reinforcements consist of a Troop Transport and two Imperial Raiders. We understand that the Troop Transport is carrying over a hundred veteran Stormtroopers from the 501st, Vader's own.
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| Santhou |
Lens: While that speaks volumes of our successes, were these reinforcements to reach their destinations across the sector, it would be bad news for our operations...
Santhou: ...but the intelligence we've gathered indicates that the convoy will be stopping off at Lorimax to dock with a refuelling vessel. The Imperials won't be expecting us. However, that Troop Transport and those Raiders are well armed. A fighter assault could expect to suffer significant losses...
Lens: Which is why we're going to be throwing everything we have at it. Thanks to Blue Lightning, Nowhere is fully operational and can join the attack. We need pilots for the X-Wings and Y-Wings. Every ship - that means fighters, freighters and pleasure boats alike - and every member of the Roughnecks needs to play their part.
Santhou: The strategy will be for Nowhere to close in on the Transport and Raiders and hit them with everything we've got - but each Raider has four TIEs each. The priority for X-Wings will be to keep those TIEs in check and cover our Y-Wings too. Y-Wing ion cannon will be key in knocking down the Transport and Raiders' shields. Both Y-Wings and X-Wings will be fully loaded with Proton Torpedoes. They will be more effective against unshielded targets, but use your own judgement as to when to launch these. Make sure that you're right on your target when you launch those missiles - the range is poor and they're difficult to use even at medium range. The nav computers on every ship have been programmed with the astrogation for both for the jump to Lorimax and the jump to the rendezvous point after the assault - so all ships can escape at any time if the heat gets unbearable.
Lens: That's right, so we get in there, take out that transport, and then jump out again. I want all Roughnecks to inform their Captains of what role they'll be playing and then for the Captains to liaise with Santhou in order that we can plan our attack. That convoy is already on its way to Lorimax and our hyperspace jump will take a few days, so we have to be rolling within three hours. That's tight, but doable - plus we can refine our plan during lightspeed. You don't need me to tell you how critical this mission is. Everything is on the line. But we have the advantage - and for once, superior firepower. Let's get to it! Captain Hannah, a word if I may?
As the briefing room empties, Hannah approaches the General.
Lens: You once Captained a Star Destroyer...
Hannah: Yes. I'm trying to make amends for the things I had to do on that ship.
Lens: Then there's never been a better opportunity. My husband Mikka, he may be Nowhere's Captain...but we've never been tested in battle. I know you took the opportunity recently to familiarise yourself with Nowhere's Command Bridge. And you have experience of capital ship engagements like this. There's no one better qualified to lead this mission.
Hannah: I'm flattered. The droids certainly would provide a more agreeable crew than my own...
Tala: You're going to entrust the entire operation to him?
Lens: You have something to say about Captain Hannah's leadership? Last I checked, there'd been no fatalities in the Green Vipers since he took charge. That's quite the turnaround for a team who'd had member dying with alarming regularity. Some of the more cynical members of our crew on Nowhere had even been taking bets on who would die next.
Tala falls silent under the General's withering gaze and Captain Hannah nods appreciatively.
Lens: That's settled then, please take the bridge...Captain Hannah.
The Vipers are reassigned to four-ship squadrons - Corr remains in Green Vipers with R3-FU as his personal astromech, but Tala is assigned to Purple Squadron and Kaleban to Gold Squadron.
Having little aptitude for space combat, Bots volunteers to coordinate the remaining Roughnecks on Nowhere to set up defences on the off-chance that any boarding parties touch down on their vessel. Identifying the main corridors (marked in red on the image below) that a boarding party might seek to exploit, Bots has six E-web guns set up (marked in yellow), with an emphasis on defending the hangar bay and the lengthy corridor which leads to the Command Bridge.
He positions himself by one of the E-Webs on the edge of the hangar bay, while the others make their way to their fighters to make pre-flight checks. Much to Captain Hannah's annoyance, C4-S0 stays on the bridge with him and his mistress, General Reekeene. To protect the fighters, Hannah wants them to stay in the hangar bay until he has sufficiently drained the troop transport's shields and left it open to attack!
Janaos Sobari, one of Blue Lightning's pilots, shouts across from his X-Wing.
Sobari: Just remember we're in this together, Vipers! I don't want to die out there because you didn't have my back! We all know that getting Rebels killed is what you're good at! If I don't come back, I expect questions to be asked of your actions during this engagement!
An alarm sounds as Nowhere makes the jump to hyperspace...
Arrival at Lorimax:
Music Cue: Into the Trap
As Nowhere drops out of hyperspace, it spots the Troop Transport and Imperial Raiders ahead of them - exactly where they should be. What they are unaware of however, is the presence of a nearby Star Destroyer - Moff Lorin's vessel, the Clenched Fist - and an Interdictor frigate!
Cut to:- the bridge of the Transport where an officer shouts to his Captain.
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| Assault Transport |
Officer: Captain! Sensors picking up ships in sector 7! Readings suggest a Providence-class Dreadnaught and fighters moving to attack position!
Captain: Just as Moff Lorin had foreseen! Sound the alarm! Prepare for battle!
As Hannah orders the gunners to open fire, Nowhere's Ion Cannon and Quad Turbolasers hammer the Troop Transport and strip its shields! The Troop Transport and Raiders return fire, but their fire fails to inflict any damage on the Nowhere.
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| Nowhere arrives over Lorimax |
Key: Green box shows Nowhere and its fighters. Each fighter represents a "flight" of four fighters. The Yindao also represents four freighters which have been tasked with keeping Nowhere safe from attack.
Red box shows the Clenched fist and beyond it the Interdictor. There are also groups of four TIEs and five single Lambda shuttles...
Finally, in the Blue box, are the Raiders, the Troop Transport, and more TIEs!
Cut to: fighters in Nowhere's hangar bay.
Hannah (over radio): All wings launch for battle!
The fighters blast off and spew out of Nowhere's hangar bay.
Gold Leader: All wings report in!
Tala: Purple Three standing by!
Kaleban: Gold Two standing by!
Corr: Green Five standing by!
Sobari: Pah! Never mind those Green Vipers - Blue One standing by!
Blue Leader: Cut the chatter Blue One! Lock s-foils to attack position!
Tala: Wait, off to the right, we've gotta Star Destroyer on Nowhere's tail!
Cut to:- Command Bridge. Captain Hannah rushes over to the sensors suite.
Hannah: Status report!
Crewman: Sir, our sensors are being overwhelmed with static! We're being jammed!
Hannah: How can they be jamming us if they don't know we're coming...
Crewman: ...picking up readings now, two Star Destroyers, one Imperial-class, one frigate - behind us!
General Reekeene: Abort the mission!
Hannah: We're already engaged with the troop transports! Finish them and go as planned! We only need to hold our nerve for a few more seconds, General, and we'll succeed in doing what we set out to achieve!
General Reekeene looks anxious, but nods in agreement.
Hannah: Fighters - proceed on mission! Gunners - hit 'em again!
Droids all over Nowhere fire their cannon.
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| New droids operating Nowhere's Cannon! |
This time explosions tear across the Troop Transport's hull! It's severely damaged, but not gone yet! TIE fighters drop off from racks on the Raiders and swoop to intercept the X-Wing and Y-Wing squadrons, exchanging fire as they close in!
Tala: Purple squadron, ignore those TIEs - hit that transport!
Following Tala's lead, the squadron concentrate fire on the Troop Transport - and destroy it!
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| Tala |
Corr: Whoa! That got 'em!
Cut to:- the bridge of the Clenched Fist. A Captain glances anxiously at Moff Lorin as the Troop Transport explodes ahead of them.
Captain Unsa: What are we waiting for? We must open fire!
Lorin: Calm yourself, Captain. Remember we lured them here to take them and their vessel. I want those shuttles to close on their target - once the 501st are on board, they're doomed.
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| Moff Lorin |
The Imperial Raiders start laying down fire, but their shots fail to trouble Nowhere! They do trouble the X-Wings - but, despite getting a little cooked, the squadrons manage to survive their wrath!
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| An Imperial Raider fires at the X-Wing Squadrons |
Cut to:- bridge of Nowhere. Captain Hannah calls upon all of his experience - and pulls off a tactical masterstroke! Both of Nowhere's front and side arcs catch the Imperial Raider and pound it with everything they have - destroying the frigate in the briefest of exchanges!
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| The Clenched Fist devastates the Raider |
Hannah sneers with satisfaction at his triumph and nods to General Reekeene.
Hannah: Mission accomplished, General! Crew, get us out of here!
As the crew activate the hyperdrive, Nowhere shudders and the engines make a horrible sound!
Hannah: What the blazes? Sensor team - status report!
Crewman: Sir, I don't understand! It's as if we're caught in a gravity well!
Hannah: An Imperial Interdictor!
Lens: It's a trap!
Hannah: It's the smaller of the two Star Destroyers, it's laying down gravity wells to prevent our escape! We need to outrun it!
Music Cue: The Final Battle
Cut to:- X and Y-Wing fighters. Fire from the TIEs and the Raider lights up space around them!
Kaleban: The only way to escape is to take down that Interdictor! Nowhere'll never outrun it!
Corr: Captain Hannah, bring Nowhere around, we need cover tae take down that Interdictor!
Hannah (radio): Negative. I need to protect the lives of everyone on this ship. The best way to do that is to take Nowhere clear.
Corr: Yer abandonin' us! We'll be smoked like we were tae be the main course at a Barabel feast!
Sobari: I'm getting a reading on Lambda Shuttles closing on Nowhere! I'd bet that there's a boarding party on board - the 501st! All wings turn around and engage!
Corr: Negative! That Interdictor is our target! Follow my lead!
Sobari: Damn you Vipers! You don't care if anyone on the ship lives or dies! I'm taking out these shuttles!
The other wings agree with Corr's assessment and launch an attack run on the Interdictor, while Sobari engages the shuttles!
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| One of five shuttles headed for Nowhere! |
Sobari's flight comes under heavy fire and two X-Wings are destroyed under a hail of supporting fire from the nearby Star Destroyer! They inflict damage on one of the shuttles, but Sobari's own fighter suffers serious damage too! He spins his ship around and returns to Nowhere's hangar bay for urgent repairs to his ship...
Meanwhile, as the other squadrons Rebels approach the Interdictor head on, Tala winces!
Tala: I don't like the idea of engaging one of these things head on! Feels like...suicide!
Corr: Don't worry, we're so small that we can easily evade their weapons!
Tala screams and pulls at her controls as a barrage of heavy fire tears through her flight, destroying one of the accompanying X-Wings!
Tala: You were saying?
Corr: Aye, well, they can get lucky too! Hit 'em wi' yer Proton Torpedoes, light 'em up!
The combined might of the X-Wings drop a payload of torpedoes on the Interdictor but the ship soaks up the attack with ease!
Corr: Ah cannae get through their shields!
Kaleban: Maybe I can help there! We're starting our attack run! Hit that Interdictor with Ion Cannon, Gold Squadron!
The Y-Wings pummel the Interdictor with their Ion Cannon and blow the ship's shields!
Kaleban: I've cleared the way! Hit 'em again!
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| Kaleban |
Tala: I'm coming around again. Corr, are you with me?
Corr: With ye, and way ahead of ye, Tala!
Corr's wing has already spun around and is making another attack run!
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| Green Squadron launch their attack - image courtesy of Rendered Sci-Fi Art on Facebook. |
As they pass over the Interdictor's bridge, they drop another salvo of Proton Torpedoes! The torpedoes slam through two gravity well projectors and tear up the surface of the hull! As the explosions intensify, Corr and his squadron desperately outrun the fireball and clear the hull as a climactic explosion tears the Interdictor apart in a spectacular explosion!
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| Interdictor incinerated! |
Corr: Woo-hoo! All wings and Nowhere - we've just tanned that Interdictor! Hit yer hyperdrive an' ah'll see youse on the other side!
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| Corr Alden |
As the Lambda shuttles approach Nowhere's hangar bay, it and all the fighters and frieghters engage their hyperdrives and make their escape!
On their return to Nowhere, the pilots emerge from their vessels to a hero's welcome. Hoisted on to the shoulders of other jubilant Rebels, the Green Vipers finally seem to have won around their fellow Roughnecks and they bask in the glory of their victory. Remembering Solari's earlier actions, Kaleban grins smugly and returns a mocking salute. Judging by the look on his face, Sobari's pride is even more badly damaged than his smoking X-Wing.
Once the celebrations die down, the Vipers are asked to report to General Reekeene on the Observation Deck.
Music Cue: A Princess Appears
Lens: Thank you all for your heroism in our battle today. However...it seems obvious that we dropped into a trap. That would mean that the Imperials fed us deliberate misinformation. The question is how?
Tala: Was it possibly JiBa? Is it possible he defected to the Empire?
Lens: While I don't doubt his ill intent, this doesn't seem like JiBa's style. If he's to have his revenge, I'd expect him to lead the attack against us, not get the Imperials to do his dirty work. Was there anything that went wrong on Iyuta on your mission to plant the listening device? Please search your minds, anything that was out of the ordinary, even the littlest detail.
Corr: The contact...Chilla, wasn't it? When we arrived on Iyuta, her bar had been burned down.
Lens: Burned down? Continue...
Corr: Aye, well... We went looking for her and found someone claiming to be her. I tried to be careful but Hannah just told her everything, that we were Rebels'n that...
Kaleban: Talk about throwing him under a sandcrawler...
Tala: Can you confirm if the person we spoke to was Chilla?
Lens: I will send agents to investigate, but was there anything else you can think of about that mission that was suspicious?
Corr: We did see what looked like a dead Rebel in the sewers...
Lens: Did you check the body for I.D.?
Corr: Naw, there was a one-eyed tentacled beast thing in the water. We had tae get oot of there!
Music Cue: Finale (Empire Strikes Back)
Lens: ...I think it's fair to say that the body may have belonged to Chilla and that the person you met was an Imperial agent. I suspect she sent you to plant the bugging device to feed us with misinformation to draw us out, and destroy our cell in one fell swoop. We're fortunate to still be alive. This will not be discussed outside this room - but your failure at Iyuta could have been the end of us all. You Vipers can't afford to keep making mistakes. Every life lost brings the Empire's final victory ever-closer. We need to assume that the 501st were on those shuttles. That means we can expect to run into them in our operations across the Sector. To everyone else on this ship, this will be celebrated as a famous victory...but don't get carried away with your newfound celebrity. We all know the truth. Dismissed.
Closing Reflections:
The Tsukkian Water Freighter shown at the start of this episode is a nod to the original campaign setting as outlined in "Classic Adventures" module. That ship was called "Home" and was where the Roughnecks operated from. I rejected it for two reasons: I didn't particularly like its design, but, more importantly, I wanted a ship that could have some fighting capabilities so that I could run an adventure along the lines of this one at some stage. I thought a relic from the Clone Wars - a ship like General Grevious' Invisible Hand - fit the bill perfectly.
I couldn't remark on it here at the time, but obviously Episode VII: The Plant was a mission the team failed. I felt bad about taking the good out of what they'd done, but the truth of the matter was that this wouldn't have happened had they realised the problem during The Plant mission. They'd been Conned by the Imperial Agent (I got them to make Perception rolls at the start of the session) posing as Chilla and planted their device with the Empire's full knowledge. Had they fished the body out of the sewer, they would indeed have discovered that it was Agent Chilla. Once he knew the device was in place, Moff Lorin deliberately planned to trap the Rebels and capture them with the boarding party. I did take some satisfaction from the realisation afterwards that Lens' exchange with the team shared similarities with Leia's conversation with Poe in the destroying of a Dreadnaught ship at the beginning of The Last Jedi.
Despite the failure and General Reekeene's final remarks, the team did well here! Nowhere is a powerful ship, but I hadn't quite realised just how easily it could deal damage to the smaller frigates! I asked the players what they thought about the Capital Ship Rules and they said they enjoyed the battle - and that they'd be pleased to be involved in another one again!
There's no doubt that the team got lucky with the Y-Wings blowing the Interdictor's shields and that, as a consequence, the Proton Torpedoes were able to finish the job. I'd allowed the players to spend Character Points to add to damage, but, in retrospect, I don't think I'd allow that again. We'd already banned it at character level, but I did want a certain amount of lethality in the combat for this encounter, so allowed it on this one occasion. While I don't regret it being used in this adventure - as it provided an excellent climax - I do think, in general, that it's too powerful a mechanic to throw into the mix.
Special thanks to CR McNeill for all of his help with these rules which, when we collaborated together, were designed with this one adventure in mind! I look forward to putting them to use again at some point in the future!
More Green Vipers adventures coming soon!
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