“No,” he repeated. He stepped hurriedly through the door before she had a chance to argue further. Thus distracted, he missed spotting the man crouched in hiding in a smoke-filled alcove further down the corridor. A blaster bolt hissed bare centimeters past his left shoulder and burned a hole in the bulkhead behind him. He instinctively dropped flat and rolled into the shelter on the other side, another volley of blaster bolts chasing him.
“Mak,” Ketrian called fearfully. “Are you okay?”
The stairwell door slid open further. Ketrian was not fool enough to show herself but Mak knew her fear for him might drive her out. “Stay there,” he shouted across, unable to see her from his position. Maybe the pirates would turn and run if he gave them enough motivation. He leaned out and fired a few shots, catching a quick glimpse of his targets as they tried to make ground toward him through the dim light. Not pirates, and not stormtroopers.
“What the … ?” Mak muttered, both puzzled and hopeful. Those uniforms… He risked sticking his head out for another look and very nearly had it shot off. “Hey,” he cried, “you’re Rebels.”
“You bet we are,” a familiar voice shouted back. “If you wanna stay in one piece, Imp, you’ll toss that pistol into the corridor and come out with your hands up. Now.”
“Okay, okay.” Mak said happily. “I surrender. You win, Hal. It’s me, Mak. I’m coming out. Don’t shoot me.” Pulling the breath mask from his face and grinning from ear to ear, he threw the pistol down and stepped into the corridor.
“It’s me, Makintay,” he repeated, holding his hands high over his head. “It wouldn’t look good on your record if you blasted your squadron leader. Lieutenant Dallin.”
“Mak,” the pilot called in delighted recognition. “It is you, isn’t it? What are you doing in that uniform?”
“Of course it’s me,” Mak laughed, coming closer but not daring to lower his arms. “The uniform suits me better than a prison outfit.” More men stepped out behind Dallin. “Keto, Erik,” Mak greeted. “Intelligence finally sent you guys to the right place for once.”
“Intelligence, pah,” Corvette co-pilot Keto snorted. “We’ve been hoping we might run across your path ever since we heard you’d been captured and shipped out. We found this stray all by ourselves.” The big burly black man poked the slack-jawed Dallin. “I think you better tell him he can put his hands down before he decided to have you demoted, Hal.”
“Uh, yeah, right,” Dallin mumbled.
“Mak?” Ketrian called from the stair exit. “What’s going on out there?”
“We’ve been rescued, Ket.” he called, moving to her. “Come on out and meet my friends.”
Makintay leaned over the Rebel doctor’s shoulder and watched as the hypodermic discharged its load into Ketrian’s arm. “Are you sure that’s the right stuff?” Mak asked anxiously.
The gray-haired Rebel sighed heavily. “I am a medic. I have been specifically trained to treat this poison. Have you?”
“Just checking,” Mak said. He turned to Ketrian who was lying comfortably propped up on the sick bay bed. “How do you feel? You still look pale.”
Ketrian shook her head in amusement and reached out and patted Makintay’s hand. “I feel better than you will if you keep annoying the doctor. You can’t expect the antidote to work that fast.”
“Why not?” he said, then asked the medic. “How soon will she be back on her feet?”
“Mak,” Ketrian chided. “Stop fussing and let the poor man tend the wounded. I’m fine and I’m not taking up this bed when there are others who need it more.” She moved to sit up.
“Thank you, Miss Altronel,” the medic smiled down at her. “Perhaps you could have the commander escort you back to your cabin. You should be feeling much better by the time we land on Eyrie.”
“Eyrie?”
“Your new home,” Mak told her. He bent to slide his arms beneath her and pick her up. “You’re gonna love it. Warm and sunny. And we have our very own beach.”
“Beach?” she said, pleased. Then she remembered to protest. “Put me down. I can walk.”
“Uh-uh,” he refused and kissed the top of her head. “Save your energy. You’ll need it when the big brass find out about that little gift you’re carrying in your pocket for them.”
“Oh, the alloy,” she chuckled. “That’s what started all this and I nearly forgot about it. Did I tell you it could be used to increase the firepower of your X-wings?” He almost came to a halt in surprise as he carried her down the corridor. He stared at her and shook his head. “Well, it can. Not directly, you understand. It’s all to do with heat absorption. If we replace the laser cannon tips with it, it should … ”
Listening, Makintay smiled. He wondered how many more improvements she would invent in all the years they would have together — if the Force was with them.
Stevan “Mak” Makintay
Type: X-wing Squadron Leader
DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 5D, dodge 5D, melee combat 5D, melee combat: sword 7D+1, melee parry 6D+1, running 4D
KNOWLEDGE 2D
Bureaucracy 5D, languages 4D, planetary systems 4D+1, streetwise 6D, survival tactics: starfighter 6D, willpower 6D
MECHANICAL 4D
Astrogation 5D, repulsorlift operation 4D+2, space transports 5D+2, starfighter piloting 5D+2, starfighter piloting: X-wing 6D+2, starship gunnery 6D, starship shields 5D
PERCEPTION 3D
Bargain 5D, command 6D, persuasion 4D+2, search 5D+1, sneak 6D
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling 5D, climbing/jumping 4D, stamina 4D
TECHNICAL 3D
Security 5D, starfighter repair 4D
Force Points: 1
Character Points: 8
Move: 10
Equipment: Comlink, heavy blaster pistol (5D), knife (STR+1D), pilot’s flight suit
Capsule: Lean and agile, Makintay is a 28-year-old extensively educated man with a wide experience in many areas. Born into the royal family on Hargeeva, Mak was raised in a palace and studied noble pursuits. He prefers an egalitarian manner and is often teased about his background, particularly his expertise with the sword. He is an excellent swordsman and has a distinctive duelling scar running the length of his right cheekbone — a legacy of trying to prevent a lover, Ketrian Altronel, from carving up a rival.
When the Empire annexed Hargeeva and made Mak’s father Imperial governor, Mak left to attend the Imperial Academy. There he received his training in starfighter piloting and grew to love flying. Although he later returned to his father’s court. Mak opposed his father’s and the Empire’s tyrannical oppression of his native people. It was during this time that Mak fell in love with Ketrian Altronel. But when Mak announced his intention to marry Ketrian instead of the high-born noblewoman his father had chosen for him, Mak was disinherited. His father arranged for him to be kidnapped and sent to an Imperial penal colony, to get him out of both the political and the social scene.
After a year of languishing in the penal colony, Mak managed to escape with several other members of the Rebel Alliance during a daring raid. Indebted to the Rebels, he secretly returned to Hargeeva to start a small Rebel cell among his oppressed people. The movement quickly grew into an uncontrolled and unplanned revolt. The uprising was quickly and ruthlessly put down, and Mak barely escaped with a few Rebel friends. His role in leading the revolt won him the death mark on Hargeeva. Mak joined up with a larger force of Rebels and put his starfighter pilot training to good use as an X-wing pilot.
Mak has a basically gentle nature and genial temperament, although he is roused to anger by injustice and cruelty. Mak’s contrasting stern demeanor while on duty with his pilots hides a great depth of protectiveness and loyalty. An idealist, he is also practical and highly resourceful. In addition to his constant concern for his pilots, Mak is currently worried that material shortages within the Rebellion will destroy any chance of defeating the Empire.
Ketrian Altronel
Type
: Young Scientist
DEXTERITY 3D
Dodge 4D, melee combat 5D, melee combat: knife 6D, melee parry 4D
KNOWLEDGE 4D
Business 5D, scholar: geology 6D+2, scholar: metallurgy 7D, survival 4D, value 4D+2, willpower 5D
MECHANICAL 2D
Repulsorlift operation 3D+2, sensors 4D
PERCEPTION 3D
Bargain 5D, command 4D, con 4D, hide 3D+2, sneak 4D
STRENGTH 2D
Climbing/jumping 3D, stamina 4D
TECHNICAL 4D
Computer programming/repair 5D, first aid 4D+2, security 5D, starship weapon repair 5D
Force Points: 1
Character Points: 12
Move: 10
Equipment: Knife (STR+1D), metal alloy, research jumpsuit
Capsule: Always fascinated by geology, Ketrian was determined to better her position in life and leave the backward surroundings of her native world, Hargeeva. Her cloth-merchant parents worked hard to give her what was an unusually thorough education for a Hargeevan woman. She won a prestigious Imperial scholarship and was sent to a university attached to the Imperial Academy. Here she studied metal sciences and earned recognition for her outspoken and revolutionary theories of industrial application to machine and vehicle design.
Her fascination with metals also drew her to collect swords and knives. At a fencing class she met and fell in love with Lord Stevan Makintay. Intensely jealous of advances made to him by another student, she gave him a facial scar as he stepped in to break up a duel. Stevan was disinherited after proposing to her and they were planning their marriage when he disappeared. Makintay’s now Imperial governor father led Ketrian to believe his son had abandoned her for his first love, starfighter piloting.
Embittered, Ketrian immersed herself in her work, accepting a position as head research metallurgist back on her home planet at the newly established Imperial refinery behind Arginall City. She later learned of Stevan’s return when she saw his criminal profile on a wanted holo accusing him of leading an uprising against the Empire on Hargeeva. He disappeared off-world again soon after.
Slim but strongly boned, Ketrian is an attractive young woman of middle class background. Her fiery temperament matches her shoulder-length red hair. Past betrayal has lent her an air of shrewdness and cynicism. Exceptional intelligence gleams in her deep-set ice-blue eyes.
Major Nial Pedrin
Type: Imperial Garrison Commander
DEXTERITY 3D
Blaster 5D, dodge 4D+1, vehicle blasters 5D
KNOWLEDGE 4D
Bureaucracy: Imperial 6D, cultures 5D, intimidation 6D, law enforcement 5D, scholar: geology 5D, survival 4D+2, tactics: ground assault 6D+2
MECHANICAL 2D+1
Communications 4D, sensors 5D, walker operation 5D
PERCEPTION 3D+2
Command 6D, con 5D, investigation 6D, persuasion 4D+2, search 6D
STRENGTH 3D
Brawling 4D, climbing/jumping 4D, running 4D, lifting 5D
TECHNICAL 2D
Computer programming/repair 4D, demolition 3D, droid programming 5D, security 6D, walker repair 3D+2
Force Points: 1
Dark Side Points: 1
Character Points: 10
Move: 10
Equipment: Blaster pistol (4D), comlink, datapad, Imperial uniform
Capsule: Short and stocky, Major Pedrin has compensated with an almost fanatical dedication to physical fitness. Always immaculately groomed, he is fastidiously neat and has a habit of continually pressing flat his already smooth, neatly trimmed black moustache. He has a somber expression and rigid posture, and his low dark brows add to his midnight-black eyes and disapproving stare.
Pedrin has an obsessive/compulsive personality, and is fearful of change and unpredictability. His ideal world would be populated entirely by soldiers, all identical in uniform and trained to unquestioning obedience.
Pedrin revelled in his former position as a commander of an AT-AT walker platoon. However, his background training in geology brought him an unexpected promotion as garrison commander on Hargeeva, a backward world he despises. Pedrin was responsible for the cruel suppression of the Hargeevan uprising, and he remains vigilant for any resistance activity in Arginall City. He has imprisoned Alikka Nolan’s brother as a safeguard to keep the young mine personnel chief in line — Pedrin suspects her of being an Alliance sympathizer.
Desperate to find some means of attracting praise from his superiors, Pedrin believes his only means to rapid promotion and transfer off Hargeeva is to capture an Alliance operative and uncover the location of a Rebel base.
Hargeeva
Type: Temperate
Atmosphere: Type 1 (breathable)
Hydrosphere: Moderate
Gravity: Standard
Terrain: Farmland, hills, forests, mountains
Length of Day: 23 standard hours
Length of Year: 380 local days
Sapient Species: Humans
Starport: Standard class
Population: 30 million
Planet Function: Agriculture, mining
Government: Imperial governor
Tech Level: Space near Arginall City, feudal in outlying areas
Major Exports: Metals, minerals, foodstuffs, cloth
Major Imports: Luxury goods, high technology
Capsule: Hargeeva is a primitive backwater planet which warranted the Empire’s attention only after the discovery of abundant mineral deposits in its mountain ranges. The Empire quickly raised Hargeeva’s feudal ruler to the status of Imperial governor and established a high-tech refinery and an Imperial garrison there.
Hargeeva is the third planet of five in the Pelonat system. It was settled by Humans 2,000 years ago but soon reverted to a feudal state when outside support was cut off. Hargeeva was feudally governed and self-supporting until incorporated into the Empire 10 years ago. Although the planet and it’s feudal government welcomed the Empire and the technology and wealth it brought, those benefits have been restricted to Hargeeva’s upper classes and urban nobility. Most of this new-found wealth never reaches the impoverished masses. Eventually this problem grew into a revolt — it was short-lived and ruthlessly quelled.
Arginall City is one of only six urban communities and is by far the largest. It has become much more prosperous since the opening of the refinery and the establishment of a military garrison nearby. Closed in by a harbor and river at front, the city is backed by a range of sharp-peaked mountains. While the mining operations center on those mountains closest to the city, the canyons and high passes beyond serve as a haven for Hargeeva’s unwanted. Caverns in these high altitudes shelter refugees, criminals, freedom-fighters and others who don’t fit into the new social and technological order the Empire brought to Hargeeva.
Campaign Idea
The characters are Rebels sent to Hargeeva to create a Rebel cell from those discontent poor who oppose the Empire’s tyrannical policies. They must somehow infiltrate Hargeevan society and gather contacts and prospective freedom-fighters, both while maintaining a low profile and fighting native suspicions that the characters could be Imperial spies. The characters must find a base of operations — either in Arginall City or in the mountains — and smuggle supplies and weapons there.
Once the characters have made their contacts and set up their base, they can begin sabotaging the Imperial mining operations, causing work strikes at the refinery, and stirring up riots in Arginall City. However, they must match wits and tempers with Major Pedrin, who is not above using unrestricted Imperial force to keep the populace under control.
Perhaps the characters’ most desperate mission could involve an assassination or kidnapping attempt on Pedrin. They might also try to organize a commando raid on the Imperial garrison itself in an attempt to destroy Imperial military might on Hargeeva.
From Star Wars Adventure Journal 8 (11-1995)
11.6.18.15.14.5-1
bsp; Carolyn Golledge, Star Wars - Firepower
Star Wars - Firepower Page 4
