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 ##Begin Log## Captain’s Log, entry #082 Stardate: Taking off running. Had a little glimpse of what’s supposed to make Hoth worth all this trouble today, and can’t say I’m happy. Not surprised, either.  Guss gave us the directions for the White Maw’s real base, where Shai Tenna was holding their super-secret cloaking thing. Sure enough, it was right in the middle of the starship graveyard where the Republic fleet got laid to rest in the war.  They don’t just let any old spacer wander through the Republic’s choice wreckage, and that plus my name recognition meant getting called up to meet the commander of the salvage operation. I could get clearance for an attack on the White Maw, but only if I did him a little favor first.  quote:Admiral Revald: I’m Admiral Revald. The Zabrak with the sunny disposition is my chief engineer, Arim. Welcome to the best place on Hoth! Yeah, he’s one of those officers.  quote:Admiral Revald: This isn’t just a battle for Hoth. We win out here, and we’ve got the whole war with the Empire in the bag.  I’ve heard that line before. High command’s always looking for a silver-bullet solution. So far not one of their superweapons have changed the course of the war like they promised, but hey, maybe this one’ll buck the trend? quote:Quinine: You wouldn’t still be here if this was a simple salvage mission. Honestly, I was only doing it to keep this blowhard from sending out more of his men to get killed over something that probably isn’t even going to work.  quote:Admiral Revald: Keep an eye out for anything that will help us track the scum back to their lair, and contact me once all the fragments of the power core are secure.  Yeah, yeah, knuckle down for the big win and all that.  At least it was easy enough to find. There were ruined starships all over the ice – this must’ve been one hell of a fleet in its day. Makes our little shootouts on this ice-cube seem small time.  The power signatures were nice and easy to track. Sometimes we managed to beat the pirates there.  Other times, we had to get creative.  Once we had the parts, we snuck down into the bowels of one of the downed ships to report back to the Admiral. Turns out some of these ships still have power – whoever the Republic pays for batteries, they’re not paying them enough.  quote:Admiral Revald: You made quick work of that motherless space trash! Well done!  So yeah, all that sneaking and part-stripping I showed you? Complete waste of time. Now you know how I felt. quote:Admiral Revald: You’ll have to go into their base after it. Hit those sons of Hutts before they know we’re coming. Sending Arim – what ever happened to “on the front lines!”?   With the data I’d “acquired” from some of the pirates, finding their salvage op wasn’t too hard. Looks like they’d dragged the parts to a nearby ice cave to reassemble. Kinda like one of those ships in a bottle, if the bottle was a freezer.  The pirates had some security, but nothing special. I’ve gotta remember to stock back up on Ion grenades before we hit the White Maw base and deal with Shai Tenna.  Didn’t seem like there were enough of them to run a base like that. Nearest I can figure is the bulk of ‘em were still out there looking for more salvage.  The captain was there, though, and he was what you might call a character. Recommended for rapid-fire negotiating https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL9FrxGjJ8U  quote:Quinine: I don’t talk to pirates.  Well, that put a wrinkle in the plan. Not to mention I’m a little stunned a rinky-dink pirate operation in the middle of nowhere had the gear to build a dozen copies of a Republic prototype weapon – why not just ship it off-world and do it there? quote:Quinine: You built copies of a Republic superweapon, and you think it’s a good idea to admit it? Pirates are cowards, as a rule. Sure, they’re happy to jack an unprotected transport and vent the crew to space for the sweet cargo, but anything bites back and they take off running. So yeah, Sero was probably smart enough not to try anything funny and actually give up the goods in exchange for his scummy life.  I figured, why let them go when they’ll just be causing trouble for somebody else down the line? Safer to bury them in the snow.  To reinforce my point, and also to reinforce me, Arim and the Talz turned up.  Don’t yet.  Sero’s pirate lackeys were nothing, especially since Sero himself got neck-deep in Talz immediately.  He would’ve stood no chance against me one on one, so having Akaavi, Arim and some eight-foot carpets with fists backing me up was just unfair.  At first I figured a job well done, but Arim was frowning something fierce. I mean, more than he apparently usually does.  quote:Quinine: You showed up right in the nick of time.  Typical. I doubt he’d be listening even if the signal did get through. quote:Chief Engineer Arim: Blast it! I can’t get the signal back. Now what do we do?  He had a point. Much as I didn’t buy into the admiral’s hype, these were dangerous toys to leave to a bunch of pirates. Or worse still, the Empire. quote:Quinine: Let them send more pirates, we can handle them.  The drat things probably don’t even work, and definitely won’t “change the course of the war” like Revald thinks. Might as well play it safe, I’ve got enough trouble sleeping at night. quote:Chief Engineer Arim: Stand back.    Good work, for a tech-jockey. I can understand why Arim’s so grim all the time, caddying for a gasbag like the admiral, but he made the right call here and showed some grit back in that firefight. Hope he makes it off Hoth in one piece. As for me, I’ve got my clearance, and that means it’s time to give Shai Tenna a little payback. ##End Log##
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