This session opened with a prologue before the roll of the opening credits.
The Silverlight and the 20 Alderaanian cruise ships arrived in space near Asteroid 7785
Radd: (On comms) This is Colonel Norrin Radd requesting landing permission for 20 Alderaanian cruise ships and the 200 soldiers of the newly established New Alderaan security force. And also my new friends in the Silverlight.
Comms: Permission granted.
The hangar bays opened up and the ships flew in one by one.
The Silverlight landed and the soldiers of the security force marched out of their ships in formation. Cecil, CT-12, CT-16, Hal, Grundle and D’Wook were all talking to Colonel Radd, and they all turned to receive the Silverlight’s crew.
D’Wook caught a glimpse of Lo’Sar in his new spiffy armor and leapt into action, pouncing on his chest and wailing on him with all his might.
Turk attempted to talk some sense into him but the bloodlust had already kicked in.
LoSar struggled a bit but eventually removed the helmet. When D’Wook saw who was inside, he came to his senses and backed off.
The party questioned D’Wook and through the interpretation efforts of Golden Wheels, the group was treated to a tale of the man who mysteriously appeared in the forests surrounding D’Wook’s village, often stealing food and killing any Ewoks who would try to prevent him. One Day, whe D’Wook laid pursuit he saw the armored man enter what he called a giant metal bird, and ascend to the heavens.
From that day onward, D’Wook vowed to seek revenge for his fallen comrades, and that’s why he became so eager to board Turk’s vessel.
Relieved that he was no longer being pummeled, LoSar stood up and joined the others.
Vero suggested they try to contact the Rebellion to try to get their next orders. Grundle called his contact, who said they had once again been assumed dead, and that he wasn’t going to tell them any more details.
Grundle transmitted a message for General Rieekan about ET’s species (the Asogians) and Waldorf salads.
(Editor’s note: They think it’s hilarious that they’ve figured out that the actor who plays Carlist Rieekan was on this British comedy show skit about Waldorf Salads. Bringing up the Asogians (E.T.’s species) came from a discussion I had with Grundle’s player, suggesting that the only way they could possibly get the necessary ingredients would be to go to Earth, and given that it is in another galaxy, the only way to do that would be to find the species that did go. And that’s the E.T.s.. So I guess he did that between sessions? 🤷)
He also explained that Blissex designed some kind of cloaking device that they should figure out how to use immediately.
The contact suggested to Grundle that they show up in person at the rebel base.
The group decided that’s where they would be headed next.
Everyone rested.
D’Wook spent some time with his Flutterplume
They took off the next day...
Session XVI: The Empire Strikes Back
The Empire Strikes Back
It is a bright time for the Rebellion. The Empire searches in vain and is nowhere near discovering the new secret Rebel base on the remote ice world of Hoth.
The crew of the Silverlight, fresh off their successes establishing their home away from home at the New Alderaan Casino and Resort, are excited to join their comerades there for the first time in about six months.
They expect a heroes' welcome, as their ship is equipped with impressive kyber crystal-based technology that could turn the tide of the galactic civil war, leading to the end to the Empire's tyranny once and for all!
I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
Aboard the Silverlight, the crew said farewells to a hologram of Cecil, flanked by CT-12 and CT-16, who had agreed to remain on the asteroid and serve as royal retainers.
Cecil: “Thanks again for leading the Alderaan security force back here and delivering the evidence of Bib Fortuna’s treachery. With this evidence I’ll be able to get Jabba off my back for good. New Alderaan will always welcome a visit from the Silverlight and her crew. Until we meet again... adieu. And Losar’Tan, take care of these guys ok.”
Cecil: And Vero... take care of yourself and come back in one piece.
Vero: (eyes rolling) um.. Okay
L1-NK plugged in the coordinates into the nav computer and reported that the trip would take two days.
The team spent their time making sure their weapons were in working order, they were well rested and healed and performing maintenance on the ship to make sure it was operating in as good condition as possible and that nothing would go wrong, especially considering their valuable cargo.
Two days later, the ship arrived in the Hoth system to find a star destroyer orbiting the ice planet.
Turk, fearful that they might be detected, flipped the switch on the cloaking device.
Vero turned on the comms to try to asses the situation.
“This is the Avenger. No sign of life here, we’ve launched our probes and haven’t gotten any positive signals in 16 hours. I’ve set the probes to long-range transmit. We’re moving to the next location.”
The Star Destroyer turned to port and zoomed into hyperspace.
Vero attempted to contact the Echo base, but her attempts were not successful because the ship was cloaked.
Turk flipped the switch on the cloaking device.
Nothing happened.
They piloted into the atmosphere and could hear over the comms:
“This is rogue 2: Commander Skywalker, Captain Solo, do you copy?”
Turk tried the switch again and some smoke started emanating from the console. He turned it off and the smoke stopped, but the ship remained cloaked.
Hal used the force to sense where Luke was, determining that he was nowhere near where the sensors said the search party was.
He gave some coordinates to Vero to transmit to the search party.
They tried to relay the coordinates to the search party but realized once again that they couldn’t send out any messages while cloaked. Vero decided to pilot to the coordinates herself. They arrived overhead.
L1 read the coordinates and broadcast them with his tiny satellite dish.
Comms: “Echo base, I’ve got something, not much but it could be a lifeform”
They flew closer.
“Commander Skywalker do you copy? This is Rogue 2. This is Rogue 2.”
They again tried to disengage cloak, but the switch broke off in the off position.
“Captain Solo do you copy? This is Rogue 2”
They decided to find a place to land, hoping they might just exit the ship themselves and save Han and Luke.
“Commander Skywalker do you copy? This is Rogue 2.”
Solo: “Good morning, nice of you guys to drop by!”
“Echo base, this is rogue two. I’ve found them, repeat, I’ve found them.”
Rogue 2’s snowspeeder flew by and landed. Zev, the pilot, got out and scratched his head. Solo pointed at the empty gunner seat and the nearly frozen unconscious Luke.
Turk opened the door and the Silverlight materialized, and Zev and Han stood there with their mouths agape. After a while Han realized what and who he was looking at.
Solo: Oh good thing you guys are here. We would’ve had to cram into the back of that snowspeeder with Luke sitting on my lap. Take us back to base, will ‘ya?
Zev Senesca and Han Solo grabbed Luke by his arms and legs and moved him aboard the Silverlight. Solo boarded and Zev flew back alone.
(Editor’s note: the whole point of this section was to explain how both Luke and Han could make it back to Echo base when the snowspeeder had only two seats. I’ve heard theories that Zev took Luke back, and one of the other snowspeeders in the search party came for Han later. But I’m gonna say it was the Silverlight.
Additionally, it was another way to make the party central to the overall story because now without them, the snowspeeders wouldn’t have found Han and Luke and they would have frozen to death.)
Once they arrived at the base they reported to General Riekkan for debriefing.
 |
| You were where????!??!?! |
Riekkan: We thought you were captured..or worse... Tell me what happened?
Vero explained how they were somehow transported to a strange planet where technology doesn’t work except once every 20 years.
Riekkan: and where is Dr. Blissex?
Vero explained that Blissex’ daughter’s … husband Andi Wolf.. offered him safe passage to see his … dying … daughter.
D’wook smelled and sensed extreme anger coming from Vero, who was doing her best to contain it.
Riekkan: And who is this ... bounty hunter?
LoSar Tan introduced himself and Jeegn explained that they had a secondary base in the ruins of Alderaan now.
Riekkan: Good to know. Cloaking will revolutionize the fleet, but unfortunately there’s no way we’ll be able to reverse engineer any of this until Blissex is back. He’s our top scientist, you know?
But now that you’re here, we have a mission for you. We’ve picked up some weird signals coming from several locations on the planet. They sound like droids. You all will check out this location near the South Ridge. Please be careful and stay within the markers. You just saw what happened to Commander Skywalker. We would hate for that to happen to any of you.
Oh.. and Hal... Skywalker says he wants to talk to you. I didn’t realize you guys were so close.
Wipe to:
Main corridor. Hal Brunchkiller was making his way to the infirmary. The corridor was crowded with people moving to and fro. He could swear that someone he passed showed up ahead of him just seconds later. As he got closer to Skywalker’s hospital room he heard:
Leia: Well I guess you don’t know everything about women:
The door opened and Leia stormed out.
Hal smiled and waved at her. She saw him, and tried to step to the side to get around him. But Hal also had tried to step in the same direction to get out of her way. Leia corrected and stepped the other way... at the same that Hal corrected and stepped the same way she did. She stopped and let out a frustrated sigh glaring at him with an annoyed look on her face. Hal stepped out of her way and she continued down the hall at a fast pace.
Hal again approached the room and heard:
Han: Take it easy.
The door opened and Han, Chewie, and C-3P0 stepped out walking toward the command center. Han and Chewie brushed past him, not even acknowledging his existence.
C3P0: Oh! Good afternoon Master Hal.
Hal: Is Luke in there?
C3P0: Oh yes. This is Master Luke’s recovery room and he is a little bit worse for wear, but overall in good shape considering the injuries he has sustained. Afterall I do believe that he encountered a Wampa ice creature and I must say that...
Hal: Alright.
Hal entered the room, not bothering to say anything further to C3P0
C3P0 walked down the hallway muttering to himself about how human beings can be so rude.
The room was empty except for Luke and Hal.
Luke: Hal, I wanted to tell you. I had a vision!
 |
| She had already left at this point. After smooching her own brother...unknowingly. |
Hal: That’s amazing! Tell me more!
Luke: It was Ben! Ben Kenobi! And he was telling me to go to the Dagobah system to meet a great and powerful Jedi master named Yoda. Have you heard of him?
Hal: Oh yes, big tall green guy. Gigantic muscles. He said he was the most powerful of all Jedi.
Luke: You’ve met him?
Hal: No. What I mean is... his hologram in the museum in the ruins of the Alderaan palace... you know. He said he was even more powerful in the force than he was with his physical prowess... which means he must be like the greatest most in tune with the force ever. Also he lived for like 10,000 years apparently. But.. I think it’s too late. He also said he died.
Luke: What? He died? Well then why would Ben tell me to go look for him.
Hal: Maybe you were seeing things. You know, hypothermia and all.
Luke: No.. this is different. He has to be alive. I’m going to search for him. Thanks for telling me what you know about him. Now I know who I am looking for. I’m sure he’s probably the most famous guy on Dagobah.
(Editor’s note: Ok.. in the original trilogy, it makes sense that Luke does not know what Yoda looks like. The Jedi are mostly unknown to the general public and are talked about as if they are ancient. But then the prequels came along and established that the Jedi are pretty much celebrities who are so well known, their peak was not all that long ago, and even Chewbacca has personal history with Yoda. It therefore does not make sense that in all the time leading up to Obiwan’s death he never once mentioned Yoda, and Chewie and Obiwan never discussed how he used to hang out during the Clone Wars, and Luke is going to Dagobah with no idea at all what Yoda looks like. This reconciles that.
This also makes it so that when Luke meets Yoda on Dagobah, he’s not aware that it’s Yoda not because he’s underestimating him… it’s just that he expects to see the Incredible Hulk.)
Luke: You know what Hal? You should come with me! We could both become Jedi masters and we could revive the Jedi order! What do you say?
Hal: Tell you what... if you find him, come back and tell me and I’ll catch you the next time.
Luke: It’s a deal! They shook hands
Another wipe, and everyone was riding out of the Echo base on Tauntauns
Long story short, they closed in on the location where movement was detected and found three imperial probe droids. They shot at the droids, which moved toward them rapidly and self destructed.
(Editor’s note: I don’t quite remember exactly what happened here, but I do recall that some people lost control of their Tauntauns and were bucked off. They had to hitch a ride with the others who were able to control theirs.)
After dispatching the droids, they could see off in the distance a bunch of moving figures. Jeegn pulled out his binoculars and explained what he saw.
Jeegn: I relay what I saw.
Everyone else: Well... what do you see?
Jeegn: Um... I’m sorry. I..
GM: 😤 YOU SEE SIX WAMPA ICE CREATURES CLOSING IN ON YOUR POSITION AND ONE OF THEM IS MISSING HIS RIGHT ARM!!!!
 |
| It was this guy... |
On the comms: This is Echo Base calling Vero Morelock. Come in.
Vero: Vero here.
Base: We’ve detected some of those nasty ice creatures headed towards the base. We want you to do whatever you can to prevent them from getting to us.
Vero: No need to worry. We took them out already.
Echo Base: All 20 of them?
Vero: 20?
Echo Base: yes up ahead! Our sensors detect a large group of them heading your way.
With that the ground began to shake. Turk whipped out his binoculars and saw AT-ATs marching towards their position.
Turk: Walkers!
Echo Base: What?
Vero: Imperial walkers spotted! It’s not a group of ice creatures. It’s walkers!
Echo Base: They’ve landed already? Vero! Get your team back to base NOW! We have to prepare for the defense and evacuation!
They all rode their tauntauns (some with two riders on the back) back to the base as fast as they could.
When they arrived the base was rife with activity as people scrambled from one location to another talking about “They’re here,” and evacuation. In the hangar snowspeeders were being refueled and hastily repaired. Things looked serious. Leia got done briefing some x-wing pilots, and they scattered and headed toward their ships.
She motioned to the group, and walked over to explain their role in the upcoming battle.
Leia: Okay Captain Vero, Captain Turk, you and your cell assigned to Delta Team. You’re going to guard our west flank. The main Imperial approach is coming from the north from what we can tell, but your priority will be to guard the ion cannon until evacuation. You’ll hold off against any Imperial forces, but we expect that we are badly outnumbered. Hold out for as long as you can and then fall back and take refuge in the base. You’ll be one of the last teams to evacuate. Echo team will stay behind and seal the door once you’re back. Then you get to your ship and leave.
We’ve designed these magnet detonators and because your team will not have much support in the way of airspeeders, you’ll be able to throw these at any walkers and they should take out the legs. Each of your ground personnel will be equipped with two.
Captains, you’ll be flying snowspeeders... your droids are combat equipped right? They can shoot guns?
Golden Wheels nodded with both heads, L1 gave a thumbs up with his boxing glove.
Leia: The rest of you (Hal, Jeegn, Grundle, Lo’Sar, D’Wook) you’re on the ground team.
As they scrambled into position, an announcement came over the intercom: The first transport is away! The first transport is away!
Wipe to:
 |
| Turk and Vero.... honest! |
The snowspeeders zoomed overhead as the ground team, on tauntaun, moved into position slightly in front of the ion cannon.
In the distance, they could see two AT-AT walkers approaching from the west, with about 20 foot soldiers between them.
The snowspeeders flew out and fired shots at the walkers to no effect. The armor was far too strong. They made two or three passes, but were not able to make much progress. It was then that on the intercom they could hear Luke Skywalker telling his squadron to use tow cables. They thought they should try that.
Meanwhile the ground teams fought with the foot soldiers lobbing detonators and such.
Vero flew toward one of the walkers and L1NK fired the tow cable and it hit and attached to the back left leg.
Turk did the same with the other Walker and Golden Wheels shot the tow cable and it missed all the legs landing near D’Wook.
D’Wook naturally grabbed the tow cable and it stuck to the metal detonators in his pack. And he was swept upward into the air.
The foot soldiers shot back at the ground based teams, killing some of the tauntauns.
One walker shot at Vero’s speeder causing her to temporarily lose control, flying under the belly of the walker rather than around its legs.
Jeegn and grundle moved into position near the legs of the other walker and connected the magnetic detonator to a leg.
They dove for cover.
Boom!
It had no effect on the walker.
Turk noticed his speeder was sluggish and Golden Wheels explained they were pulling D’Wook along.
Turk headed to the head of the walker hoping to get D’Wook in a position to land. Golden Wheels demagnetized at just the right moment and D’Wook’s momentum allowed him to land just behind the cockpit.
Vero made a few passes around the underbelly and over the back of their walker. The leverage caused the tow cable to rip the walker’s leg off and the walker lost balance and fell to the ground.
Hal, LoSar, Jeegn and Grundle took some more shots at the foot soldiers.
The foot soldiers who could see what D’Wook was doing turned around and tried to shoot at him. All missing.
Vero’s speeder pulled the massive leg along the ground and it collided with all the foot soldiers, crushing them all.
Turk flew and shot behind the cockpit of the downed walker. It exploded.
On the comlink:
Delta team, we are detecting a small group of imperials have broken away from the main attack and are approaching the ion cannon. You’re the closest team. Stop them!
LoSar, Jeegn, Grundle and Hal headed towards the ion cannon.
Once there they took out the team of commandos inside, realized that they had killed the ion cannon crew and sabotaged the console of the ion cannon. LoSar hastily jury rigged a fix and Hal fired.
It was a direct hit on a star destroyer, which allowed a transport to escape. They stayed and made a few more shots.
D’Wook removed his magnetic detonator from his pack and stuck it in the walker’s neck joint. He armed it and began running towards the walker’s back.
The broken walker leg caught on something on the ground and ripped the back thrusters of Vero’s snowspeeder off and she tried her best to safely crash land.
Boom!
D’Wook’s detonator went off bringing the second walker down. D’Wook jumped… aiming for a snow drift.
He landed with such force that he displaced a lot of snow which piled up around him and rolled into a bigger and bigger ball.
When he came to the bottom he began to dig himself out with the help of Vero, who was fine and had conveniently landed nearby. L1 was making their way towards them.
Echo base: Delta team, our main flank is broken and we are retreating into the base. Fall back and defend the base.
Those with tauntauns picked up those without tauntauns and they all made for the base. Turk and Golden Wheels in their speeder were first, followed by the ion cannon team and then Vero, D’Wook and L1, who took back D’Wook’s very tired tauntaun.
They made it in just in the nick of time and the doors shut behind them.
Inside the base soldiers were scrambling as fast as they could to get to their transports. Or any ship.
Vero and Turk looked for Echo team, who they remembered they needed to coordinate with. They were approached by Major Blair.
Major Blair: Delta team, most of Echo team has been destroyed. You stay here with the rest of them and guard the entrance. Private Ertter of Echo team has instructions to man the PA system and tell us the instant that the troops have entered the base. After the announcement you’ll have 10 seconds to fall back to a safe position and someone in the command center will blow the whole hangar and take out as many troops as possible.
We’re going to try to stay in the command center as long as possible so that we can get as many transports off the ground as we can.
After that, get to the Silverlight and get out of here. We’lll see you at the rendezvous point. Hold the line and May the force be with you!
As time went on the main entrance area of the base became more and more quiet. Scraping sounds could be heard coming from the other side of the massive metal door.
Grundle surmised that they were drilling holes into the door and would insert explosives.
One of the remaining Echo team troopers struck up a conversation with Turk, who noticed from his uniform that his rank is private and his his name tag read Ertter.
Private Ertter: So... here to the end eh... We all knew what we were getting into when we signed up...
Turk: Well I didn’t sign up for this, but yes I know how you feel.
Ertter: My parents owned a small grocery store next to a high school. I could have easily just taken over the family business, but noooo... I had to go out and be a hero... Oh well, guess this is how it all ends.
(Editor’s note: Turk and D’Wook’s players let out a collective groan. This was an obvious reference to Ertter’s Market, which was a small mom and pop store next to Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, MD, where they both attended. Everyone else was confused and didn’t get the reference. But this is going somewhere. Just wait.)
 |
| Private Ertter's childhood home... |
Turk: Well, private, if you keep your head up and stick with us, I believe you’ll one day go home to your family and you’ll be able to run that grocery store! But for now. Let’s focus on the mission at hand. There’s much more at stake than just us.
Ertter: You’re right. Besides, the transport Echo is slated for is now overcrowded with the surviving Beta members. I’ve got no way out. Wait! On the off chance that we make it out of here alive, can I come with you on your ship when you evacuate?
Turk: Fine with us!
Errter: Oh thanks! What’s the name of your ship?
Turk: It’s called the Silverlight.
Moments later, sparks flew from the gigantic door as a man-sized hole appeared. Troops began streaming in and the team trained their weapons on the door and shot every stormtrooper they could. But more and more made it inside and began taking cover.
Hal could sense a pure evil approaching. Through the door, he saw a hooded figure walking ever so elegantly toward the door, as more stormtroopers ran past him into the base.
Echo team member: Errter! Make the announcement!
Several in the party noticed that the PA system was not being manned by anyone. Private Ertter was nowhere to be seen.
Turk was the closest to the mic. He dashed over, did a summersault over a laser blast, ducked under another, slid for a bit, grabbed the mic and said...
And said...
Turk: Am I supposed to quote a line from the movie?
GM: Agggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
(Editor’s note: I’ve been planning this part of the battle for more than a year now. I’m giving one of my players a voice line spoken in one of the actual movies! COME ON!!!!! COME ON DUDE!!!!!)
Hal’s player to Turk’s player: You’re supposed to say that Imperial troops have entered the base.
Turk, clearing throat: Imperial troops have entered the base! Imperial troops have...
The mic was shot out of Turk’s hand before he could finish the sentence.
Vero, who remembered Major Blair’s orders, commanded everyone to fall back as fast as they could. The party laid covering fire as they retreated into the corridors.
BOOM!
The whole hangar was destroyed, and the blast knocked some ice blocks from the roof of the tunnel. The party stood up and continued to run, but they could hear footsteps of soldiers behind them. They entered the command center, which from the looks of it, had just been vacated.
They could see on the monitors that in the hallway they had come from, the snowtroopers were setting up a repeating blaster, and shooting it at the ice blocks.
One of the members of Echo Team asked the Deltas what happened to Dez.
Turk: Who is Dez?
Echo team soldier: Dez! Private Ertter.
Vero looked at one of the monitors that showed the Silverlight taking off. The console revealed that the pilot was registered as Private First Class Ertter, Dez, and showed his picture.
Turk’s player: When did he ever say his name was Dez? Is that an actual Star Wars character I’m supposed to know about?
D’Wook’s player: (Smacks face) No.. His name is Dez Ertter. He’s a deserter...
(Editor’s note: Yes. I made a callback to a grocery store that neither of the players has been to in perhaps 30 years, to make a pun in a tabletop roleplaying game that is out of print.)
Another monitor showed the ice blocks levitating a bit, as the hooded figure, well now clearly the helmet wearing caped figure, walked calmly out of the debris. He pointed and nodded his head at one of the stormtroopers, who saluted. The repeating blaster fired at the camera, causing the monitor to show static.
They could also feel the base shaking violently as if it was being bombarded from orbiting star destroyers... Because that’s what was happening.
Vero: Well, looks like they got the shield generator...
Echo team soldier: Let’s make a run for it! There are still transports left in the hangar!
Another monitor showed various high-ranking rebel officers running aboard another transport.
The party decided to fall back even farther, all the while laying more of their magnet detonators, on the off chance they might be followed.
They got into a few skirmishes with snowtroopers who were combing the tunnels.
Another blast came, and the whole base shook again. This time blocking their path toward the other hangar with the transports.
Com link: “Transport this is Solo better take off I’ll get her out on the Falcon”
Jeegn and Grundle recalled where the Millennium Falcon was parked and made a break for it. But a group of six more snowtroopers stood in their way.
The group were able to dispatch them, taking minimal damage themselves.
As they approached the Millennium Falcon’s hangar, they were flanking a group of troops in the the tunnel trying to set up an E-web heavy repeating blaster. The Falcon was doing its best to hold another group of troops off, but this group, out of sight, and under cover, had a vantage point to shoot through an ice wall to disable the Falcon.
The ship could be heard trying unsuccessfully to start a few times.
 |
| Why didn't they just set it up first? |
“Lock and load!” the concealed E-web team’s commander said.... But he was shot by Turk. The other members of the team were also killed off, and the Falcon zoomed out of the hangar to safety.
More troops could be heard, so Turk hopped behind the trigger of the E-web and began firing down the hall.
The barrel of the E-web mysteriously bent itself, as smoke emanated from its base. It wasn’t a misfire, Turk knew. Something supernatural had happened.
A group of stormtroopers advanced on the party, and they all stuck their hands in the air.
An ominous heavy breathing could be heard coming down the corridor.
The black clad helmeted and masked man walked in with a sense of purpose.
 |
| Uh oh! |
Commander! Take these prisoners to the Subjugator and tell Captain Kolaff that he is to transport them to my castle on Mustafar!
