The God of Hyperspace

This appears to be the penultimate dispatch from The God of Hyperspace. Events are building towards a climax, and the challenges increase. Things are always darkest before the dawn, and right now things are very very dark for the players and their characters. Also this week we introduce a 4th member to our team, Matthew Witting.

Last week we left our team, Mok Rebus (Homicide Investigator from Coruscant), Kira Chan (Twi-Lek Jedi), and Ensign Crona Gock (Republic Shuttle Pilot from Allooine), assisted by a team of Republic Military Intelligence Bureau Shadow Jedi (introducing Agent Seven played by Matthew Witting), infiltrating the secret lair of the Doloun Terrorists with a two-fold mission: to capture the murderer and rogue-Jedi Sone, and to stop the Doloun terrorists from using the Dollophon to take over the Galaxy.

The team entered the lair (built into a volano) through an underwater cave, but found their means of escape barred when large interlocking doors closed shut behind them. They took the freight elevator to one floor, but finding nothing, they ascend one more floor to the control room. They enter a foyer and assess their options. Suddenly, the elevator behind them opens to reveal 8 Doloun terrorists. A firefight ensues, resulting in the death of two of the terrorists, and the capture of the rest. Mok dives to the floor and does some cool shooting from a prone position. Crona grabs some cover and shoots around the corner. Seven wades into the thick of it and soon finds himself overwhelmed and wounded from friendly fire. Meanwhile, Kira becomes occupied with holding one terrorist at bay with one of her lightsabers while parrying blaster fire with the other. After the battle, they secure the elevator. The door ahead of them opens, revealing a long hallway and another open door at the far end which opens into what appears to be a control room. They cautiously head down the corridor, but as they enter, both doors close and they find themselves caught in a trap! They are stunned from all sides and fall to the floor unconscious.

Mok and Crona wake to find themselves attached by magnetic manacles to a large metal cylinder surrounded by a subterranean lake of molten lava. Dolok taunts them and reveals to them his agenda. His plan is to use the Dollophon to transport the entire planet Allooine via Hyperspace to the center of the Galaxy. This action will cause severe tectonic stress to the planet, and will cause the chamber they are in to become flooded with Lava, killing them instantly. He complains that he is saddened that they will unfortunately be enable to see his ultimate triumph when he will use the Dollophon to "Reset" Hyperspace, barring all access to it and crippling the Galaxy. All interstellar travel will be controlled by him and him alone. Somehow, Crona knows that what he's planning will actually cause a "Hyperspace Inversion" and destroy the Galaxy, but he withholds that information. Dolok takes some insults from the team before shouting, "Enough!" and exits the geothermal power chamber, sealing Mok and Crona within and dooming them.

Meanwhile, Agent Seven wakes to find himself strapped to a repulsor-gurney in a waiting room in a labortory. To his left is Agent Five. To his right is Kira. They are alone. Two Doloun terrorists and Sone enter from a door on the left pushing a repulsor-gurney transporting what appears to be one of the Shadow Jedi transformed into a snarling beast-man. They push him past them and through a door on the right where more snarling noises can be heard. They return and take away Agent Five, pushing him into the door to the Left, followed soon afterwards by screaming. Seven uses the Force to loosen his bonds and also to loosen the bonds of Kira. Moments later, the terrorists, without Sone, take Five, now transformed into a beast-man, into the room to the right. When they return, Seven leaps from his repulsor-gurney, disarming one of the terrorists and uses the Blaster Rifle to subdue them. He wakes Kira. Seven quickly changes clothes with a Terrorist, and puts him on the repulsor-gurney. They then push the repulsor-gurney into the operating room, Seven first. As they enter, Seven finds himself ambushed with a lightsaber to his throat. Sone says, "Do you think I so blind as to not sense your treachery?". Seven and Kira exchange glances, and simultaneously, Kira leaps up onto the gurney and somersaults over Sone into the lab while Seven drops to the floor and pushes back with his head.

Sone, stunned, staggers back into his lab. A battle ensues, with Sone armed with a lightsaber, Seven armed with a blaster rifle, and Kira armed with her bare hands. The battle was furious with Sone parrying Kira's kicks and punches with his lightsaber (causing minor injuries, but thanks to the expenditure of several Force Points during the battle, no real harm was done), incapacitating Seven with a Deflected Blaster Bolt, and Kira even catching Sone's lightsaber in her hands (using "Absorb/Dissipate Energy")!! Kira then grabs Sone and pushes him into a large Jacob's Ladder (no mad scientist should be without one), electrifying him. When he emerges alive but injured, he is joined by his Beast-Jedi slaves who have burst through the door (previously locked by Seven). Kira leaps on top of a large tank of biogenic liquid and uses the Force to bring down the Jacob's ladder. The tank then bursts, spilling biogenic liquid all over the room and causing Sone and his Beast-Jedi to be electrocuted. Kira leaps and grabs hold of some suspended operating room lights and, seeing that Sone STILL isn't dead (and neither are his Beast-Jedi, swings to the door, but slips as she lands and hits the wall. They are recaptured and Sone orders their immediate execution. The Beast-Jedi begin strapping them down in the next room, but Kira breaks free, grabbing one of the Beast-Jedi's lightsabers, and begins to battle them back. She wakes Agent Seven with an Electro-Stimulant and make a break through the door on the right. They find their gear in a locker in the next room, and an exit, but it is barred by the Beast-Jedi. They fight their way through and escape, only to find the alarm has been sounded and reinforcements are on the way. Kira uses the Force to locate Crona and Mok and heads off to find them.

They find them far below the base in the Geothermal Power Converter. The converter is powering up, however, drawing tremendous amounts of heat from the planet's core to power the Dollophon's hyperspace fold to the Galactic Core. The station begins to shake as plates shift and continents slide from the stress of a planet entering hyperspace. The lava chamber begins to fill with lava. While Agent Seven guards the entrance, Kira extends the bridge to the central cylinder where Mok and Crona are stranded. She frees them and they begin running across the bridge. She stays behind in an attempt to destroy the central core, but the lava is rising too fast. Crona and Mok fall on the bridge but are saved when Kira fires her magnetic grapple gun across, giving them a rope bridge to leap for. The quickly scurry across. Kira finds that her attacks against the central cylinder, designed to withstand lava, is useless. She gracefully leaps to the far side, but slips climbing the stairs out of the chamber. Mok reaches back and grabs her hands, pulling her out just as the lava nips her heels. They slam the chamber hatch closed and seal it.

The planet Allooine has entered hyperspace. Monitors in the station record massive quakes and tsunamis and seismic and tectonic stress. The temperature of the planet's core has been reduced by 20% to power the journey ("O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana plays dramatically in the background as I describe the devastation). Soon afterwards, the tremors settle and the power core returns to normal output. The sky outside is now blazingly white with unimaginable luminance. The planet Allooine is now at the Galaxy's Core, and the Power Core is slowly rebuilding its capacity, only this time it will use the remaining 80% of the planet's internal heat energy to power Dolok's next big effort: the Destruction of the Entire Galaxy!

To Be Continued!
**Post-Game Wrap-Up**

I have to admit, I made a big mistake this time. I should have allowed Mok and Crona to save themselves from their death-trap, and then go and save Kira and Seven. My big bad mistake!!

My original intention was to have Kira and Seven wake up, make a hasty escape through the OBVIOUSLY more pleasant exit to the right (the one without the screaming and the operating and the nasty Jedi villain) and rescue Crona and Mok quickly. The entire battle in the laboratory was completely unanticipated and really drew out the whole affair, and made for a really boring session for Neil and Kevin (Crona and Mok respectively) who spent most of their time hanging around while Kira and Seven got all the action scenes!

The earlier elevator scene was unanticipated too! Oh, speaking of elevators. This particular team is OBSESSED with elevators and turbolifts, and every detail about them! Whenever they enter an elevator or turbolift, they need to know everything, and for some reason want total control over the elevator, no matter where they're going. They could be going to the local spaceport to ask the operator some questions, but when they enter an elevator, they need to know if they can determine where it's been, who's been riding in it, if it's monitored, and how it's controlled! It's very frustrating! This session I eventually just shouted, "What's the DEAL with you guys and Elevators?!?!" They laughed and recognized the obsession, and realized that it extended all the way back to the assault on the station and included every elevator they've seen or been in so far!