Star Wars - Credit Denied - Unpublished (7 page)

Aaregil said nothing in response, but after a few moments under Svale’s barrage, he motioned for security to take the First Minister into custody.

A half-dozen security guards cut off her view of him, and she turned her attention to the soldier who had been about to end her life.

“Thank you,” she said, but he ignored the comment.

Aaregil walked up to her. “Even if this datatape can be verified, you’re still in a lot of trouble.” She wanted to tell him that she didn’t care, but before she could utter a word, he headed off.

She looked over to see Vakir hyperventilating—but alive—and she rested her head against the pillar.
Step one accomplished. We might go to jail for fifty years, but at least we’re not going to die today.

As the adrenaline faded from her body, she started to wonder whether that was a good or a bad thing.

Two long months later, Rendra, Nopul, Vakir, Oro, and even Scrud (Oro had named the espionage droid in his native tongue, though none of them could decipher from his explanations what exactly the word translated to in Basic), stood before the
Zoda
in its open-air docking bay on Sriluur.

“I don’t like it,” Nopul said. “The colors don’t match.”

“It was either this or stay in the detention center for the rest of our lives,” Rendra said, for what she guessed was the hundredth time.

“Yeah, I know. But why do we have to have the symbol of the Houk-Weequay Alliance painted across the side of our ship? It’s not going to help us carry out these missions.”

“Aaregil said something about establishing a reputation, having a presence… the usual political stuff.”

Nopul grunted as he smoothed back the twin lines of hair running across his scalp. Over the years, Rendra had learned that the gesture meant he’d accepted what he’d been told, but still wasn’t happy about it. “So what’s our first mission? Escort duty for a fruit transport?”

Rendra eyed the datapad in her hands. “Not exactly.”

“I just gave you a perfect shot!” Rendra screamed into her headset as she rolled the
Zoda
to evade a line of incoming laser fire. “What happened?”

“Missed,” was Oro’s simple response. If he’d been in the cockpit with her, she’d have smacked him on the back of the head. Luckily for him he was an entire deck away in the belly turret.

“They’re coming around again. Two fighters at… one-twenty mark forty-four,” Nopul said, his eyes glued to the sensor console in front of him. He turned toward her. “How long does this agreement with the Houk-Weequay Alliance last, anyway?”

Before she could answer, the
Zoda
shuddered as the pirate ships battered her with a barrage of laser bolts. Rendra responded to the attack by pulling up into a new vector, ninety degrees divergent from the last. “You don’t want to know.”

“That long, huh?”

“Oro, Vakir!” Rendra shouted over the headset. “It’d help me out a lot if you’d
hit something
!”

“Pirate starfighters, pyramid formation,” Nopul announced. “Ninety-two mark seven and coming in fast.”

“All shields to starboard flank. Oro and Vakir, fire at will!” She took the
Zoda
into a dangerous maneuver, heading straight for the enemy fighters. “And boys, I really mean it this time.”

Rendra Maex

Type:
Mercenary

DEXTERITY 4D

Blaster 6D+2, blaster: heavy blaster pistol 8D, dodge 5D+2

KNOWLEDGE 3D

Business 4D, languages 4D, streetwise 5D, value 5D, willpower 6D

MECHANICAL 3D

Astrogation 4D, space transports 6D+2

PERCEPTION 3D+1

Bargain 4D, command 5D, con 5D, sneak 6D

STRENGTH 2D+2

TECHNICAL 2D

Blaster repair: blaster pistols 4D

Force Points:
2

Dark Side Points:
1

Character Points:
13

Move:
10

Equipment:
Comlink, heavy blaster pistol (5D), hold-out blaster (3D)

Capsule:
Arrogant, self-centered, cold—these are the words used after meeting Rendra Maex for the first time. There is a lot more to this 26-year-old than first appears, however. Raised by her father on the unforgiving world of Reuss VIII, she watched as the Reuss Corporation encroached closer and closer to the small town she lived in. Her father—a worker at one of the factories—spent his time and most of his money on the poorer residents of the town. He tried to help the rust rats—orphan children who lived outside, breathing in the contaminated air. She always heard him tell how wonderful her life was and how good it was to sacrifice oneself for the good of all. She didn’t care about that: all she wanted was to leave the planet.

She finally left at the age of 18, knowing her father was dooming himself. He was beginning to steal Imperial foodstuffs and water to help feed the poor. In a large yelling match, she announced she was leaving, and accused him of loving everyone but her. She left her father in shock and boarded the first ship she could buy passage on. It was a week later that she heard her father had been caught and executed for stealing Imperial property. That was the last time she allowed herself to cry.

During her travels she picked up several skills, some of which could be considered unsavory. She found she had a talent for blaster-play. An old pirate she was cooking for noticed this and showed her how to take care of a blaster and make it her own. It wasn’t long before he was hiring her out for both entertainment and business purposes. Rendra Maex was 20 when she shot down her first target for money. Soon she was making a fair amount of money as a cheap assassin and mercenary.

After buying her ship, the Zoda, Rendra found herself working harder and harder to make ends meet. She took on a partner—Nopul—for a job in the Core and found she liked working with the Kerestian. Nopul agreed to stay on and help her pay off GalactiCore. While Nopul reminds Rendra strongly of her father, the two have become best friends.

Nopul Etrefa

Type:
Kerestian Mercenary

DEXTERITY 3D+1

Blaster 5D, brawling parry 4D, dodge 5D

KNOWLEDGE 3D

Languages 6D, streetwise 5D, value 5D

MECHANICAL 2D+1

Astrogation 5D, space transports 6D

PERCEPTION 3D+2

Forgery 6D, gambling 4D, hide 4D+2, persuasion 6D, search 5D, sneak 5D+1

STRENGTH 3D

Brawling 5D, stamina 5D

TECHNICAL 2D+2

Computer programming 7D+1, security 5D Force Points: 2

Character Points:
11

Move:
10

Equipment:
Blaster rifle, code slicer (provides +1D
security
bonus in attempts to bypass or break through security measures), hololocket, slicer’s box (provides +1D
computer programming/repair
bonus in attempts to break into computer systems and alter files)

Capsule: When people meet Nopul Etrefa, they expect the cool, merciless killers seen in the employ of Hutts and Imperials. Nopul, however, is a Kerestian of practically another world. Long before the Kerestian sun began to cool, several sunspace colony ships were launched; the Kerestians aboard were placed in suspended animation.

After several hundreds of years of sailing through the galaxy, one of the few surviving colony ships was stumbled across by a passing merchant freighter. On this particular ship were, among others, a Kerestian couple, the female heavy with a litter of young. Two young survived the cryotank—Nopul and his sister, Forisa. As Nopul grew he learned the fate of those Kerestians who were left on Kerest—how they became barbaric bounty hunters and body guards. When the time came for him to leave the nest, he was given a hololocket which shows a picture of the planet Kerest as it once was.

He decided that he would dedicate his life to technology and education and defy the stereotype his savage cousins created. Although he did learn much in his course of study, his dream of becoming a scientist was not meant to be. The Empire was taking Kerestians in as personal servants and Nopul chose at that time to disappear.

Due to the expectations of his species, he found work mostly in criminal locations. Eventually he hooked up with a young mercenary, Maex, who was trying to make a name for herself. After several adventures with the cocky sharpshooter, he signed onto her ship for good.

Vakir’sa’jaina

Type:
Nikto Mercenary

DEXTERITY 4D

Blaster 5D, blaster: blaster pistol 5D+2, dodge 5D, grenade 5D

KNOWLEDGE 3D

Languages: Dresselian 4D

MECHANICAL 2D

PERCEPTION 2D+2

Gambling 4D, hide 4D, sneak 5D

STRENGTH 4D

Brawling 5D, stamina 4D+2

TECHNICAL 2D+1

Special Abilities:

Vision:
Nikto have natural eye-shielding of a transparent keratin-like substance. They suffer no adverse effects from sandstorms or similar conditions, nor does their vision blur underwater.

Kajain’sa’Nikto Stamina:
These Nikto have great stamina in desert environments. They receive a +1D bonus to both
survival: desert
and
stamina
rolls.

Force Points:
1

Character Points:
8

Move:
10