Echoes of the Past (Star Wars) still recruiting!

[theskorpionking]

Kaz watches as Grace approches. She knows that Grace is angry with her.
But, it's not my fault, she thinks to herself. It's not like I asked to be a Jedi. That's when an idea comes to her. If she were to get the holo-recorder, she could prove to Grace that it was actually talking to her and not Kaz.
Once Grace was close enough Kaz says, "I think this little guy belonged to your family. Maybe he could shed some light on what happened here?"

[Elbeyon]

The little droid watches as grace approaches. Once shes here his attention keeps switching between watching grace and kaz. However as the conversation continues he locks his view onto Kaz. He makes a few of his louder high pitched chirps and whistles, except this time he's crosses his arms above his head.

[Snowfire]

Grace tilts her head at the pit droid Kaz indicates.

Doesn't look like one of ours -

But then any that survived probably wouldn't after most of a thousand years.

Point.

Well, easy way to find out.

"Possibly..." Grace says, kneeling down in front of the droid. "Come here, little one." She says, patting the space before her.

[Elbeyon]

His crossed arms continue on for a bit more along with his screechy reply. As the women dressed in white kneels down and calls for him he turns to face her. Apparently he's lot less shy this time around, since it doesn't take him long to reply and move towards her. He stands were she patted and lets out a quick beep.

[theskorpionking]

Kaz smiles as the little droid approaches Grace. Finally somethings going right, She thinks to herself. But her smile quickly fades. She's starting to feel uneasy. She wasn't sure what was causing it. She looks down at the droid and quickly rules it out. She scans the hanger, but nothing seems amiss. "Uh, guys. I think we need to leave. But, Grace we need to go back to your room. I think that holorecorder is the key to something. What I don't know, but..." Her voice trails off, not sure what to say.

[Holice]

Watching what could be a reunion unfold, Robb seemed very indifferent on the subject. What was more intriguing was the droid itself.

"How does a droid manage to stay in one piece and functioning after all these years?", he thinks, but winds up saying it aloud.

As Kaz continues to jabber on, he hears her say that we should leave and nods in agreement.

"Surely we can figure out the deal with this droid, and with Kaz and that holorecorder on the ship. We've already tarried here too long, and if they can track us its only a matter of time before scouts arrive."

[Snowfire]

Grace nodded encouragingly to the droid as it moved closer, then reached out with one hand and brushed away the dust and grime from where it's identification would be. Every droid the Skywalker's had was part of a complex letter-number sequence, a sequence taught early in your life and always remembered. That sequence would let you know if a droid was truly a Skywalker one. Now she leant down and inspected the small plate of metal on the droid's side.
Let's see if you belonged to my family. And if not...well we'll just have to find out where you came from.

[Elbeyon]

Luum happily sits there why she examines him but he begins to worry when she starts to dust him off. He shifts ever so slightly when she does so, but bounces back when she stops. Not really sure what shes looking for he lets out an higher pitched whistle as if he's asking a question.

[Snowfire]

"Just checking something, little one. No need to worry." Grace replies calmly, peering close at the id number.

Not the pattern.

Damn.

But then...

"How did you get here? And lose the tweetle-dee act. A droid that can restore a system like this has to have more intelligence than that. If nothing else, draw an answer."

[Elbeyon]

Luum sits there looking up at grace, his lens shutter flicking. He starts moving towards his speeder home and brings back a thick wire and starts drawing in the sand near the group.

Spoiler

Show

As he finishes he hits his hand on the ground making a thump noise. If you guys stare at him blankly for a bit he repeats the noise.

[theskorpionking]

Kaz wants to scream in frustration, her uneasiness wasn't going away. She looks at what the droid had drawn in the sand. From what she could make out it had fallen, but she wasn't even sure if that was right. "I can make him talk you know," Kaz says to Grace. "I mean just look at all the junk around here. I could make a vocalizer for him, I could literaly make him talk."

[Snowfire]

"So you fell? How did you get out here?" Grace asks face remaining calm.

Understanding of complex concepts, awareness of visual medium of communication, ability to manipulate said medium.

No way is this a normal pit droid.

Ok, hold off for now. Let's see if we can find a way to get it-

Look at the vocal system.

Grace bends down further, turning her head to examine the system responsible for the bleeps and whistle that the droid has attempted to use thus far.

Well I'll be...

Yep, capable.

And no way is it not intelligent enough.

So...what's its game then...

She moved back, until she faced the droid, and then spoke. "Little one, I don't wish you any harm. But I need the truth from you, or I can't know you don't mean us harm." She shakes her head. "Speak to me, speak to us. I know you can do it."

[Elbeyon]

Luum checks the bottom of his head for any obvious holes and then looks down at his drawling. After a moment he looks back up at kaz and grace, "I didn't think you guys were going to hurt me. I was just trying to have a bit of fun, I don't get a lot of guests in my home.."

[theskorpionking]

rolling searches.

Spoiler

Show

(1d20+8)[14]

Spoiler

Show

(1d20+8)[10]

Spoiler

Show

(1d20+8)[22]

[Lentrax]

The next few hours are spent going through the underground base. You find all kinds of things, including a trio of speeder bikes that are still in good condition. You also found a armory that survived the passage of time without incident, sadly it is mostly empty, but it still has four functional blaster rifles, two DL-44 heavy blasters, spare power packs, and some kind of odd looking scrap in the corner.

You also find a medbay which has 5 medpacs, one liter of useable bacta, and the remains of a 2-1B medical droid.

There is one thing you do not find, however, and that is bodies. Nowhere in the entire underground facility is there one skeleton, or any evidence that anyone was ever there.

You take the central lift up to the main residence to find it caved in after so many seasons of neglect. The twin suns of Tattooine blaze outside, and because of the lack of an enclosed space Kaz and Grace immediately start to sweat.

Fortunately, because of the speeders you recently found, the trip to Mos Espa is not long, or overly hot, the relatively cooler breeze from the motion of the bikes is most definately cooler than standing still. Though you do start to sting from sand blowing into your faces and across your skin. Luum the droid, having no feelings on the matter at all, worries only that the sand will clog his exposed gyros and joints.

Mos Espa is huge, sprawling out over several square kilometers. Imperial troops and droids are seen patrolling every few blocks, but there do not seem to be enough of them to really do anything more than look intimidating.

You see several shops that may be willing to buy your salvage, but there is only one that seems to have the parts you need for Sara's hyperdrive.

[Elbeyon]

Luum sticks close to the two girls, a wandering droid was just asking for trouble. When two jawas point and chatter about luum he moves even closer to grace, bumping into her leg.

[Holice]

Back at the shuttle bay, Robb takes the time to examine the blaster he found earlier. Looking it over, it seemed relatively intact but would still require some repairs.

Well with the girls gone, its as good a time as any to get this thing working again.

Working for a few hours on it, he thinks he has everything back together and operation, but he'll have to test it first before taking it into battle.

As he gets ready to head out and give it some shots, he notices the medical droid that they found.

Perhaps I can fiddle with that as well before I head out.

Picking up the pieces and bringing it over to the workstation, Robb attempts to see what's left of the droid and if any of its systems can be repaired.

After a few hours of cleaning, soddering and installing make shift components, Robb can only hope that something useful came of all the work.

[Lentrax]

The blaster seems to fully functional, after a few calibrations, it should be battle ready.

The droid is, sadly, despite your best efforts, apparently beyond repair. You thought for a moment it was going to work, but then the lights flickered out of its eye sockets, and a shower of sparks erupts from its motivator.

[theskorpionking]

After looking around Mos Espa, Kaz runs ahead of the group to do a little scouting. She comes back a few minutes later to tell Grace what she had found. "There's a few shops here that might buy our stuff, but only one of them has the parts we need for Sara. I think we should shop around and find out what we can get for all of it. If that doens't work I'm sure that there's some kind of work we could do earn a few quick credits. What do you think, Grace?"

[Snowfire]

So many changes.

And yet so much is the same.

Point. Just change the names, replace the Trandoshan over there with a Camassi and just like that-

Yeah, I know.

So...fixing Sara. Bets on there only being one place selling what we need?

No bet.

I don't take suckers.

Oh, and that one on Bespin wa-

Shut it you.

Grace blinks as Kaz finishes speaking, and then nods.
"Sounds like a plan to me." She replies. "Although keeping a relatively low profile is probably wise. Regardless, let's see what we can get for what we have." She pauses for a moment, as if considering something, then smiles slightly.

"You know, there's a place around here somewhere that could help us with that. I doubt it'll have changed - even after a millennia. It's been there for as long as there's been a settlement here." She shakes her head. "There's this shop in Mos Espa, specialises in antiques more than anything else. Been around since the Old Republic times. Still run by the same guy - although we've got no clue how. He looks human - for the most part - but there's no way a human could have lived that long..." She trails off with another shake of her head. "Regardless, some of the stuff we salvaged - as well as a few things that were in my cache - would likely fetch a pretty penny from him. If he's still there at least - although I don't see why he wouldn't be." She smiles, mostly in remembrance, then leads the way into the settlement with a brisk stride.

Spoiler

Show

Yeah, I know, this is outright use of backstory for minor personal gain, please don't kill me. But it also allows the game to move a bit faster. So yeah, going to try and see if the Mos Espa antiques shop is still around.

It's been around for a long, long time, so I doubt it'll be gone. But hey, up to you. Of course, it would be nice for it still to be around if only for Grace to find something that hasn't turned to dust and nothingness in her sleep. So...please?

[Lentrax]

The shop is just as you remember. The antique vibrosword there. That old blaster rifle propped up on the shelf. The row of droids lined up along the wall.

For Grace, it seems like stepping into yesterday. Everything is the same. Even...

"Grace? Is that you?"

[Elbeyon]

Feeling the safety of indoors the pit droid moves over towards the droid lined wall and stations himself in front of them, his head rotating back and forth between the droids. After he finds one he likes, he lets out a whistle and moves up to it and starts examining it closer, opening it's access panel if he can.

[theskorpionking]

Like Luum, Kaz let's out her own whistle as she takes in everyhting in the shop. She takes notice of Luum looking the droids over and wonders to herself why a droid would examine another droid the way he was. She has one of the DL-44 blasters tucked under her arm as she nears Grace. "Hey, uuuh, Grace? I was wondering if it was okay if I hung onto one of these?", she asks, showing Grace the blaster. "It's the same type that Han used. I mean his was a little modified, or so my father tells me. But, still. I know it probably belonged to someone in your family, so I'd understand if you said no."

[Snowfire]

Been a long time.

Yeah. Hardly believe it's all here.

But it is now isn't it.

Yep. Now let's see if Naomi did what she had planned...

Grace smiled slightly, an old, wistful smile of someone well beyond their years, and nodded.

"It's me, Ifraz." She answered gently, then shook her head. "Albeit that I hardly believe it myself.

"Been a long time though. How've you been this last millennia?"

[Lentrax]

"My word. It is you." Ifraz walks out to face Grace. He grabs her by the shoulder and moves her into the light coming in from the window high in the wall.

"Let me have a look at you. Why," he exclaims as he looks you up and down. "Why you haven't aged a day since I last saw you! How did you do it?"

[Snowfire]

Grace's smile turns sad, eyes sparkling with a mix of wistfulness, sorrow and...joy to see at least one part of her world still alive.

"Nothing as special as what sustains you, my friend." She replies, clasping his hands in hers - as if almost scared that he'll blow away. "I was...asleep...until just a few days ago. In stasis." She shrugs, the ghost of a grin stealing onto her face. "So, as far as you're concerned, cheating.

"However, now that I'm back I have a few questions - most of them business I'm afraid." She nods slightly at the ceiling. "Company may come at any time. So." The grin fades to a normal smile, tone turning business-like. "First, there's the matter of any accounts or resources that my family may have left behind. If they did, I suspect it would have been with you. And I know Naomi at least said she had an...arrangement with you regarding the possibility of them not being able to retrieve me." She shrugs. "And even if that isn't the case," She retrieves one of the old, verging now on ancient, blasters from Kaz, "I believe that these - and the other things we retrieved - would now count as antiques. And this is an antiques shop."

[Lentrax]

"I see," Ifraz said. His eyse flicked upwards for a moment, then went back to the items you have all brought with you.

"Well, let's see what you have with you, shall we?" As he spoke, he placed a pair of gloves on his hands, and started to inspect everything one item at a time. He said nothing, just looked at every item, one at a time. His eyes looking at every scratch, every indent. He moved every switch, every lever. Then placed the item down, and moved on to the next item, where he repeated the process, and again, until he was done.

"Grace," he began. "I have known your family for a long time. Your family name is not worth much to most anymore, but I will always be your friend. What do you need?"

[Lentrax]

"You there. Droid. Don't touch anything."

Spoiler

Show

Snowfire, I need you to post in the next three days or risk being dropped.

[Snowfire]

Grace sighed, then blew out the breath.

"I need help. Money mostly - we need to certain components to repair our ship. But..." She stops.

"Look, I know you never admitted to having an information network, but if you have anything that could help me get a handle on things, even just a record of all that's happened over the last millennia. You've always been unbiased in your record-keeping and I'd trust you over general data-feed every time." The white-and-gold suit shifts as Grace shrugs.

"The means to repair our ship is most important, considering we've probably been tracked. But anything at all you can give me about the current state of the galaxy and how it got there - and any suggestions on who we could contact to try putting it right again.

"I know it's asking a lot, but I've been flying blind since I woke up. Would you help a friend get her bearings?"

[Lentrax]

"Well, Little One. I could help you out, but I need something in return. As you know, the Jedi had a library on Ossus. It got hit hard during the war, but the Sith didn't raid it a well as they thought. Many of the artifacts were never recovered, and what little they did loot from the wreckage doesn't even scratch what lies beneath the surface."

He goes back behind his desk and pulls out a strongbox. He opens it, pulls out some ancient credit notes, thumbs them once, and tosses then to Grace, who manages to catch it without dropping it.

"That should cover Sara, dear. Now, go on, I'll send you a message over the old system that will list what I want you to find."

"And Grace? You watch yourself. The Empire hunts the Skywalkers like a starved rancor."