LogDeniable Asset-Jason-8

Game log for the 2024/12/29 session of Star Wars - Deniable Asset, as taken by Jason

The crew is all back shipboard. We contact Garez Ofnar, and he books passage to Barent's Star, where we shall meet him later. The third world of that system is a luxury resort, so people coming and going don't automatically stand out. We send TL-DR and Phex on the ship with him, while the rest of the team books passage on the next ship.

Phex discovers that Krose is on the same ship. Inevitably he sees and approaches Phex, and they exchange compliments. Krose asks why Phex is here, and Phex tells him he got the contract from Taylor Fnord before the poor Twi'lek was killed by the New Republic. Krose is waiting to hear from Ogo and see whether Phex has the job, or he has the job, or they're both on it. Phex suggests they meet up for breakfast, and Krose says he looks forward to it, but he never shows. Instead, he knocks on TL-DRs door, and tells some lies about being there to see if Phex is ready for breakfast. The droid can tell the bounty hunter is lying, so he goes into Phex's room to look for him, while silently calling him on comms and telling him that Krose is looking for him. It becomes clear that Krose knows perfectly well that Phex isn't here. TL-DR comes back into the room with a weapon drawn and finds that Krose has a weapon drawn. Whereas TL-DR expected trouble, Krose thought he had the upper hand automatically, so the droid gets the first shot off... but misses. Krose's return fire hits, but the energy cell overheats and melts the grips, leaving the Rodian empty-handed and lightly singed. TL-DR steps in and tries to knock the bounty hunter's block off, but Krose is quick, and evades the swing. He misjudges his distance, though, and his counter also misses. TL-DR continues on the offensive, and Krose's efforts to duck the droid's metal fists cause him to trip over a heavy ornate end-table and hit the floor. Unfortunately, the aforementioned quickness allows him to grab a lamp and improvise a truncheon before TL-DR can round the table. The droid lands a telling blow, leaving Krose seeing stars, and while the bounty hunter lands a good hit of his own, the lamp just breaks over the droid's metal head. Their next exchange goes nowhere, as Krose tries to clear his head rather than pressing in. Just then, Phex runs in and tries to whack the foe across the face with a bowl of appetizes. He hits, though he doesn't deliver a lot of punishment. Krose punches Phex as Phex crowds in and knocks him to the ground, but TL-DR can't capitalize on this brief advantage. Krose tries to break free and get to the door, but only succeeds in getting to his feet before Phex immediately tackles him again. TL-DR can't seem to keep up with the action and misses his shot when the Rodian is down, though Krose's frantic squirming still doesn't get him back on his feet, and Phex smacks him over the head with the snack bowl. This is turning into a comedy of errors, as the droid's flailing, though unable to hit, keeps Krose from getting to his feet. Finally Phex manages a mighty overhead swing that bashes the foe's lights out, after which TL-DR uses the cord from the broken lamp to strangle him.

There's a room service droid outside, so TL-DR and Phex load Krose's corpse into a laundry bag and try to convince the droid to take this oversized and lumpy laundry parcel away. TL-DR throws in some flattery about how the room service droid is obviously capable of more sophisticated work, and is being cruelly underutilized by the organics. The droid finds this entirely plausible, and agrees to keep the laundry in shipboard storage until TL-DR's return, which he claims will be 50 days later. TL-DR works on cleaning up the room so it won't look like a combat zone. At end of cruise, there will be some surcharges levied, but no legal charges.

On the following flight, Igli is keeping to his stateroom, reading. Mylla is also there when housekeeping comes. The housekeeper looks familiar to Igli. He was once spotted posing as a port inspector, checking out the Deniable Asset... right before someone put a very clever bug on it. He gives Mylla a look to try to communicate that there's trouble. He thanks the guy and offers to tip him, while trying to maneuver so the steward's back is to Mylla. This guy seems to have spidey senses, though, because as soon as she reaches for him, he rolls across the bed and heads for the door. Mylla goes after him but misses. Igli throws the room clock at him and bounces it off the side of the evil steward's head, but that doesn't stop him, and he escapes into the hallway. Igli tells Mylla to pack, because they aren't coming back to the room. They go get Con and Gar, and return to their stateroom. Con and Mylla find bugs in their stateroom, and instead of removing them, he points at them, while saying "I don't see any bugs here. They must have searched your room first." The team works up a script that they run through back in Gar and Con's room, discussing their enthusiasm for killing Garez Ofnar, and their anxiety about what will happen next. Con and Gar try to see why the droid accompanying the treacherous steward is acting so glitchy, but all they can tell is that someone has done something to it.

The team is reunited on Barent's Star, and has a secured meeting with Ofnar. He's not super excited about hearing that he's targeted for death. After some planning, they conclude that a messy explosion in Elnoor should do the ticket. Con worries that if the Imperial remnant is surveilling them, it might detect the ruse, and then it could blackmail the team after they're already embedded with the Hutts. Ofnar thinks it's going to be hard to stop that, but also that it's unlikely the remnant would act on it. Conzenz, not entirely reassured, mutters that he misses the Rebellion. Ofnar points out that 13.5 billion other Alderaanians don't miss the Rebellion, at which point Con gets up and leaves.

Also, while in transit, word from Goro comes through, confirming that the Ofnar hit is still assigned to the team.

Mylla goes on the black market to find a thermal detonator, and finds one for only 75% of what we expected to pay. Better yet, this black market dealer, Irian Dorne, is aligned with the Hutts, and takes to Mylla. Con slices the computer to draw in a cab for planting bombs, with Gar's help, and Igli goes to set up an escape tunnel. Both manage to get the job done. The team sets up in the building across the street. Ofnar comes out of a meeting in a fancy restaurant, calls a cab, our cab comes, and Mylla steps past it and, in passing, puts a "thermal detonator" in the wheel well. She walks away, Ofnar drives off into a tunnel, escapes, and activates the detonator a few seconds later... just as the cab passes a bus. The video we took as proof looks amazing. It also looks like we're mass murderers. We leave Elnoor immediately. Some things you don't want to stick around to enjoy. The news story that emerges from the media says that, according to anonymous sources, ISD remnants struck out at a covert agent of the New Republic. There's an editorial hint that the struggle between Empire and Rebels threatens the peace and safety of the sector, and everyone might be safer if it Hutts controlled the area.

When we return to pick up the Deniable Asset, Igli unveils its new custom paint job.

Goro the Hutt tells us to meet him on his sail barge when we return to Tios. He congratulates us on killing a dangerous Republic operative, one formidable enough to eliminate other bounty hunters sent to take him out. Goro asks to see the evidence of the team's work, at which Gar shows him the holovid of Mylla planting the bomb. Goro likes it, and mentions that his uncle parlayed this into unexpected success. He and his uncle appreciate this work, and they believe in rewarding success. He gestures, and minions bring out the loot cart. We get assloads of weapons and money, including a scope that Con reckons he can mount on Phex's rifle, using his Tinkerer talent. He then instructs us to hang out around Eygor and wait for him to have work for us.