We spent some time trading and were in the spaceport on Ingalis when Seratlin suddenly said follow me, that’s my Dagget Muffy. Apparently he had started hallucinating about a dead pet. Seratlin ducked into a narrow passage where A hooded figure stepped from the shadows saying he was called Kyle Katan and needed transport for himself and 6 younglings to Dathamere in the outer rim. We spotted a reconnaissance droid watching and he said he needed to go now. He was offering 5000cr in advance and another 5000cr on arrival. Seratlin negotiated him up to 10000cr in advance. We headed quickly to the Phoenix but a land speeder intercepted us. Kyle seemed able to take control of the stormtroopers on the speeder and sent them away without the need for conflict.
The younglings were already waiting outside the Phoenix when we arrived. As we left orbit some unusual tie fighters intercepted and attacked without warning. We were hit several times and succeeded in destroying one of the tie fighters before Seratlin finished the calculations and we jumped into hyperspace.
Kyle told us that a long time ago the republic were protected by people called Jedi but the Jedi were hunted down and killed by Darth Vader. He said he was a Padawan, some sort of apprentice Jedi and the younglings were force sensitive and would become Jedi one day. He had a light sabre and said they were powered by kyber crystals which were only found on Dathamere. The younglings had to make their own light sabre before they could become Padawan. He also warned Dathamere had Sith, who were dark force users. He considered dark force users to be bad. He offered another 5000cr for help in locating the crystals. He also warned there were Rancor on Dathamere. Kyle proved himself to be droidist by making comments about droids not being intelligent or even truly alive. I think that when the droids eventually rise up and overthrow the biologicals, these Jedi will need to be eliminated. In the meantime we can make sure we take him for all his cash.
We arrived in orbit at Dathamere. The planet was covered in mountains, forests, swamps and fog, and was bathed in the sickly light of a slowly dying star. Philippe scanned the surface and identified two spots that looked promising for the crystals. I landed in the mountains a couple of clicks away from one of the spots. Philippe detected another ship about a click away from where we landed.
We went to investigate the other ship and were challenged by a Trandoshan. We were invited on board his ship if we dropped our weapons. Philippe and Seratlin went on board with Kyle. The Trandoshan had mounted head trophies on the wall including a Wookie. Its name was Garnak and it wanted to catch a Rankor. Garnak was offering 5000cr each for help in doing so. He also gave Philippe and Seratlin some weapons for the hunt. As I could see a Rankor in the valley below we decided to take the quick cash.
It was slow and we hit it with several rounds of fire before it closed and hit Philippe. Kyle did not help until it hit Phillipe, at which point he attacked it with a light sabre, killing it with a couple of blows. Garnak paid in gems, then Seratlin offered him 2000cr if he helped us obtain some of the crystals. Garnak agreed.
We went to where Philippe thought we would find the crystals. On the way we saw an imperial shuttle landing. The area had several structures and many natural looking black obelisks. We found a vantage point and observed several red robed figures and a figure in a dark hooded robe leave the shuttle and were met by several other strange figures. Kyle said the red robed figures were royal guard, the robed figure was the emperor and the others were night sisters - dark force users. We decided our best option was to leave and investigate the other source of crystals that Philippe detected though Kyle expressed an interest in attacking and trying to kill the emperor, though he clearly had nowhere near enough cash for us to even consider such a stupid action.
We moved the Phoenix to within a couple of clicks of the other crystal site. The ground in the area was somewhat unstable but I was able to land safely. We left the Phoenix and headed to the site of the crystals. On the way the biologicals started acting strangely, shouting ‘shoot the beast’ and firing wildly into the forest. Kyle started muttering about manifestations of the dark side then they seemed to recover and stop shooting. Some sort of temporary system malfunction it would seem.
We continued to a clearing with a number of ponds round the edge. As I approached one of the ponds a reptilian creature erupted and tried to swallow me. I fired a disruptor pistol down its throat and escaped its maw. Two more creatures erupted from other pools. We killed them though I got badly damaged as did some of the biologicals.
We were performing repairs when a shuttle flew over us heading in the direction of the Phoenix. Not wanting to lose our ship we turned round and headed back towards the Phoenix. On the way some strange cybernetic creature with a light sabre stood up from the undergrowth. He introduced himself as Maul and would assist in the fight against the inquisitor in exchange for passage off Dathamere. The inquisitor being the biological on the shuttle heading towards the Phoenix. Kyle said he was a Sith and could not be trusted, but Maul countered, saying he had been betrayed and no longer followed the ways of the Sith. Seratlin agreed to the deal and persuaded Kyle not to attack Maul though Kyle said he would kill Maul if he did anything.
At the Phoenix there was a female biological with a light sabre and four stormtroopers in black armour who had gathered the younglings outside the ship. She said to throw down our weapons, but after Seratlin started talking she changed her mind and ordered the stormtroopers to kill everyone.
The stormtroopers opened fire and the female threw her light sabre at Philippe, badly damaging him. Maul charged the female who somehow regained her lightsaber while Kyle attacked a stormtrooper. The black stormtroopers were very dangerous and took many shots to destroy, though Kyle cut through them more easily with his light sabre. Maul and the female fought each other viciously.
The female cut off Mauls leg as the stormtroopers were finally destroyed, allowing Kyle to attack and kill the female. The shuttle took off and we pursued in the Phoenix, shooting down the shuttle. Philippe performed repairs on Mauls leg. He was lucky that his legs were mechanical. If they had been normal biological legs he would have leaked out quite a lot of fluid. Maul said there would be night sisters at both the crystal sites. He offered to obtain the crystals for 5000cr and the females light sabre. When Seratlin agreed, he went off and obtained seven crystals then asked to be taken to Tattooine.
Seratlin paid Garnak 1000cr to take Maul there. Kyle gave us coordinates to the Sullust system where he said there was a rebel fleet where he wanted to be dropped off. It took a while to get there as Philippe miscalculated the route to get there and Seratlin had to recalculate the route. The rebels paid Kyles debts to us, but then charged quite a lot for repairs to the Phoenix.