Utopia
Utopia is an enormous cube-shaped space station that hosts a never-ending rave, filled with criminals and information. There are rooms for almost any taste, including a casino!
In Utopia, all kind of exotic spices and drugs are available. There are also offering of slaves and strippers from all corners of the galaxy.
There are guards posts and patrols everywhere. The guards wear riot-control equipment, but a fully stocked armory is also available to them if need be.
Utopia is divided into three major sections, but as a rule of thumbs, the lower levels are creepier while the higher levels are more vibrant.
The scums slum
The lower part of Utopia is filled with scums of all kinds; “light” weapons are allowed, but for a few credits and the right contacts, you walk around with an E-Web, and no one will care.
There are suspicious bars, obscure strip-club, dirty parties, shady lounges, and other fun places where scoundrels like to hang out.
The low docks
The low docks is the name given to the scums docking bays. All docks open on the scums slum.
The vibrant district
The vibrant zone hosts “cleaner” raves, bars, and other crazy things as well as a casino, an “higher-class” strip-club, a “clean” slave market and an auction for exotic items (sometimes slaves are auctioned there as well).
Administrator Blinn’s office is on that side of the space station as well as all the real business.
The high docks
The high docks is the name given to the rich people’s docking bays; they open on a private buffer zone which leads directly into the vibrant district. The access to the high docks is highly restricted and requires high-level connections; trespassers will be shut down.
The buffer zone
Between the criminals and the elite areas, Blinn built an antechamber with increased security. There is a huge waiting room and a small heavily guarded “disarming room”.
The weapons, taken from visitors, are stored in sealed pods. Those pods are sent elsewhere on the ship, which leads to an extremely safe process; even more reliable than on many Imperial spaceports. Blinn has to keep is neutral reputation intact!
Episode 6: The Cortosis Shipment
While the Kaki Usyk was under repair, after a memorable out-burst of intense rage by Commander Foxwell, Undrake was pulling all of the string that he could to find the one mission, that could lead to acquiring Cortosis.
The PCs headed to Utopia, the underground party and business neutral space station, to meat with Administrator Blinn. With no underground reputation, the PCs landed in the lower-docks and had to reach the richer side of the complex on foot, seeing several unforgettable sights of lowness. Administrator Blinn then presented them to Jeffry Coley, the explorer that found the possible deal.
Once everyone agreed on the terms, they started a series of secret hyperspace jumps, on board the Alpoca, to reach an asteroid mining colony in the Unknown Regions. The Alpoca was scheduled to deliver a shipment of supplies to the nearby (only) town, opening a window of ±5 days to land, steal the Cortosis, and leave. The most apparent problem was that the mines was heavily guarded by a Mercenary Group named the Dragonflies. The second problem, less apparent at the time, was the alignment of the three suns with a moon-like asteroid.
On the asteroid, everything started with the PCs making some friends at a local miners bar, where Paolina Bjurstrom, Humphrey Haray, and Kendrick Willburn talked to Kaine as friendly drunk buddies. Willburn became very friendly and explained many security aspect of the mine, including patrols routes. During that first day, they (Undrake?) also found a very old building, primarily ruins, that seemed to be dating from an old civilization.
On the next day, Coley and Akara, investigated that old intriging building. Meanwhile the PCs disguised themselves as miners, jumped into the miner transport and entered the mines. They travelled to the secure depot, killed two guards, but got spotted by a merc posted in a mirador; he sounded the alarm and blaster shots began to fly! Worms were starting to invade the perimeter, so the guards decided to shot at the worms that were between them and the PCs first!
At this point, Coley’s and Akara’s research lead them to belive that the old structure was built by and ancient civilization that seems to have been wiped out by some creatures. At this point, there was also an increase in worm activity in town. People were starting to panic, especially due to Dargon’s droid running around with a worm, creating more chaos! From there, the PCs stole a speeder-lift from the secure storage, they filled it with explosives and tools, and they welded a dura-steel plate as a protection on one side. They used that protection to move around without getting shot at too much. Dargon hacked an anti-air laser-canon turret, while they were fighting more worms, creating Versmic’el, the elite worm!
The PCs then fought along Captain Ardis of the Fireflies and his squad of crazies, composed of Sergent Haray, Lorme, Archer, Virginie (a.k.a. Virgin), and Walden. Lorme and Walden died, while Archer was injured. The PCs encountered Versmic’el again, but killed it this time! Ardis and the PCs parted way close to the landing plateform, where the PCs noticed the involvment of yet again Juno Eclipse, leaving on board of her X-Wing.
With most anti-air defences disabled, Coley was willing to come and pick the PCs up, as well as the Cortosis shipment. They reached Utopia in one piece, got their share of the deal, and both sides went their own ways.
Episode 7: Deputy Director Kataz
The Overwatch had to extract Deputy Director Kataz. He was kidnapped by rebel insurgents. Then they had to assess the damage done. To finally eliminate the threat if necessary, making it looks like the rebels did it, which is good for the New Order image.
The PCs traveled to the remote planet of Statoko to meet Senior Agent Joshua Jett, an ISB legend in the Outer Rim. In Gofftown, the city hosting the Imperial-class Spaceport, they explored a bit, split into two groups of two, to avoid detection. One of them, located Juno Eclipse, got spotted, and she escaped using her hovercraft. The others made sure that the rendezvous point was safe.
After a quick meeting after Senior Agent Jett, the PCs headed to a bar in town got hired by a small company, as cleaners. They took the job that was scheduled to be done in the rebels area that day. Heading to a mansion along the river hosting the rebels, they bullshitted their way in, got accessed to the main power controls and shut it down after using the security system to locate Deputy Director Kataz.
The PCs outside ran to the back of the mansion, where Juno and a few more rebels where taking Kataz. Juno jumped into her hovercraft with a few rebels, while 2 pairs of rebels jumped on a Hover Bike. Jenssar and Undrake jumped on an Old Hover Bike, chased, and gunned down both Rebel Hover Bike, before being stopped by Eclipse’s Refurbished Light Repeating Blaster.
Meanwhile, the other PCs were tracking her signal from the ground. Both teams converged on a second rebel mansion where a firefight took place. The mansion was well guarded, and a rebel was even using personal stealth technologies! The PCs had a hard time securing the VIP but succeeded. Just before leaving, Undrake was able to acquire a piece of the stealth armor and noticed the similarities with The Voiceless One’s technologies.
The PCs then took the VIP a bit further. They interrogated Kataz, to know what information he revealed to the rebels. The PCs got the following out of him:
- The rebels want information about stealth research.
- Starlight and the Empire are still working on The Voiceless Ones technologies, trying to decipher how they do things.
- They are making a lot of progress, especially in the stealth technology field.
- With the new experimental way of recycling energy, they should be able to create an energy generator that could power future advanced stealth technology. It should be smaller and harder to detect.
- The general area where the Starlight research facilities that work on those projects are located.
- The location of several minor research stations, but don’t remember exactly which one he gave away. He assures the PCs that the information is useless, which might not be exact).
After that, Juno called Undrake and told him that she captured his wife, Aristocra Akara and that she is willing to make an exchange in Utopia, a neutral ground. They agreed, without much choice.
Back to the spaceport, when arriving at their hangar bay, a little girl shows up to delivers a message to the PCs. She is crying and seems forced to be there. She then plays a message from a data-recorder. The clear sound of a woman resonates, saying: Brewinger sends his regards!. Out of a sudden, the PCs notice that all guards and personnel have vanished, most likely bribed. Agent Kaine then sees the two Tarascii plasma charges attached to the little girl and uses a counter-measure to stop the signal from blowing them up; he most likely didn’t care about the girl.
A few tugs shoed up to cut the PCs to retreat, and Dargon’s droid was hacked by the Bounty Hunteress, opening fire on his master! From there, an intense fight begun, no reinforcement was available, but the Mando squad of Undrake; they showed up a few minutes later. The PCs have been able to flee the scene, but many were gravely injured.
Following the treacherous attack made by a bounty hunter against agents of the New Order, Undrake submitted an official Imperial bounty on the head of Brewinger for Conspiracy against the empire and assassination attempt on imperial agents. The bounty is still pending approval.
To limit the chances of Kataz revealing any more secrets, Undrake burnt the eyes, fingers, and vocal cords. Afterward, they made the exchange at Utopia.