The Horde Invasion

As the team was leaving the planet Kael with some survivors with the intent of rendevousing with the Republic Fleet 6 hours away. In orbit, sensors reported a damaged fighter of unknown configuration. They closed to investigate, coming in close and hoping for salvage. Suddenly, they found themselves in the grip of a powerful Tractor Beam from an unknown source. After a few moments of futile actions, a huge asteroid surrouded by thousands of previously unnoticed fighters reveals itself. They are in the grips of the asteroid's Tractor Beams.

Dag, the captain of the freighter, decides to hide everyone in his secret smuggling area. They are taken into a large airlock (no force field, an actual huge metal door) and searched. They manage to escape detection. Eventually, they sneak out of their freighter to find it ungaurded. Dag, Ahram (the Elani Jedi), and Zsa Zsa (the Gungan Mystic) navigate through the ventilation ducts to find and disable the tractor beam generators (sound familiar?).

In the Ventilation shaft, they encounter a wierd creature, a giant caterpillar with 4 black eyes and a sturgeon-like sucker mouth that squeezed through the shaft cleaning the sides with it's vaccuum-like mouth. I completely made it up on the spur of the moment because Dag made his navigation roll but rolled a 1 on the Wild Die. So I had to complicate things. Dag killed it with his vibro-knife and Ahram pushed it back with TK.

On the way there, they hear roaring crowds and find a huge audience chamber filled with the barbarians. The team decides to observe from the air vents. They are being addressed by their leader, Kron, who goes on a diatribe about the weakling pig-dog Republicans. Dag takes aim and contemplates taking a shot. A woman in a slinky outfit and a metal skull-cap approaches Kron on his dias, whispers in his ear, then departs. Kron looks around for a moment, then reveals the Horde's plan, including the next targeted star system, Li Yong, when they should leave, 15 minutes until Hyperspace Fold, and when they should arrive. Dag REALLY thinks about taking a shot, but waits. Kron enters the throngs of his men and accepts their adulation. Dag loses the shot.

The team decide to go back to where they thought the power generators might be and find it manned by 5 emaciated slaves guarded by 2 barbarians. Ahram uses the Force to put the guards to sleep and they decend to question the slaves. The slaves help as they can, but are ultimately of little information. They plead for rescue, and the team decide to take them.

Dag decides to wake one of the guards and interrogate him about the location of the Hyperspace Engines with a Heavy Blaster in his nose. He gets the guard to disarm himself and asks him questions while Ahram uses to Force to Translate and read the guard's mind for the true answers. They discover the location of the Hyperspace Engines and decide to use the guard as a human shield. They send Zsa Zsa back to the ship with the rescued slaves.

Once in the hall the guard fights back, spinning around and disarming Dag and flooring him with one fluid motion. Ahram draws his lightsaber and cuts the guard in two.

Ahram wakes Dag and proceeds to the Hyperspace Engine room. Dag gets up and follows. Ahram cuts the door down with his lightsaber and finds himself under fire from three guards inside. The room itself dropped to a deep chasm with three towering columns containing the hyperspace engines, each maintained by a control panel which a guard was using for cover. Ahram parries all of the blaster fire and moves towards the center panel. Dag comes to the door and begins to fire at the left and right panels from behind cover.

With fifteen seconds until Hyperspace Fold, Ahram and Dag both spend Force Points. Ahram manages to destroy the center panel and deflect bolts back at the other two panels. Dag manages to get off several shots at each. In doing so, Dag misses one panel and damages one of the three hyperspace engines, which begins to spew glowing blue gas that quickly envelops the room and messily killing the closest guard.

Ahram decides to make a hasty retreat, using the Force to push the expanding gas back towards the other two guards. They get back into the corridor and run back towards the ship, with hundreds of Horde barbarians coming after them down the corridor.

They get back into the airlock hangar with their ship and Ahram uses his innate Elani power of fusing to seal the workings of the door controls. Dag gets on the ship and begins to power it up. Before Ahram could climb the the ramp, barbarians in the overlooking control room open the airlock door. Ahram stumbles on the ramp as the airlock opens, evacuating the air in the hangar and puling Ahram out. Ahram loses his grip and flies backward, luckily grabbing hold of the ship's landing gear. Dag closes the ramp and retracts the landing gear. Ahram pulls himself up and hides himself in the airtight landing gear well.

Dag pilots the ship out and punches it. The ship comes under fire from the asteroid, but the thousands of fighters visible earlier were gone. After some ineffectual fire, Dag loses track of the asteroid. No hyperspace, no cloaking, he simple loses it, mysteriously.

Once free, Dag opens the inner landing gear well access hatch and lets Ahram inside. They land on the planet and send a message to the Republic Fleet with what they've learned. The Republic fleet sent their reply: The fleet shall engage the Horde at Li Yong, they shall dispatch a Medical Frigate to Kael to deal with the survivors, and they shall send a small taskforce to an alternate system previously thought to be the Horde's next target. Their mission was considered a success and they could return to Coruscant.

While effecting repairs to the ship incurred when the Horde cut the hull to board her, Dag was attacked by a Nightmare, apparently hiding on the top of the ship ever since their first appearance (remember they originally saw five? well, the killed two, and two ran away. They never accounted for the fifth, so I quietly stored him away). Running to help, Ahram held the creature at bay using Telekinesis, and Dag turned and fired his blaster. A few shots was able to dispatch the creature. They had discovered that the NIghtmare had ruined their hyperdrive.

They waited for the Medical Frigate to raid their spare parts stores. Once it arrived, the Jedi helped in the aid mission while Dag and his copilot (previously wounded from the Nightmares) continued repairs. Then the bad news hit.

The captain of the Medical Frigate called the crews together to break the news: The Republic Fleet was devastated at Li Yong. They were no match at all for the Horde and its fighters. The Medical Frigate was to proceed to Li Yong to search for survivors and wounded. The captain asked the Jedi for their assistance, and they agreed.

This week's game ended with the images broadcast from Li Yong of the Republic Fleet, several hundred capital ships and several thousand fighters, broken and destroyed, debris littering space. It was a somber and sobering moment for the team. You could almost hear the "Dah duh dahdah dah duh!! Dah duh dahdah dah duh!! Dah Duh! Dah Duh!" and a to be continued next week.

As always, I gave my players a "Next Week on Die, Jedi, Die!" (their name), including opening and activating Zero and One, the two new engineering droids, a big space fight with some barbarians, and some dramatic Force use.

They can't wait, and neither can I.