Star Wars Missions 007 - Ithorian Invasion Page 5

  If your confront# is equal to or more than your roll#, add the difference +4 to your MP total. No one should be that good. You may now proceed.

  If your confront# is lower than your roll#, subtract the difference from your MP total. Those closing doors can be hard on the ribs. Repeat the confront until you scramble through the doors.

  You see several ships ahead. A Kubaz bounty hunter is just diving into one. Dengar, the last bounty hunter in line, is carrying a large bag — big enough to hold Grubba the Hutt! You even think you see squirming inside the bag.

  Dengar whirls and fires a blaster above your head. You remember that the tractor beams are on. If this ship tries to blast off, the bounty hunters’ vessel will be torn apart by the pressure of the beam.

  You shout at them to stop.

  Dengar leaps into the vehicle and closes the door. A laser cannon flips up on top of the ship, and swivels toward you. You drop for cover behind the nearest vehicle.

  To avoid the auto-cannon: Add your skill# to your stealth# for your confront#. Roll the 6-dice.

  If your confront# is equal to or more than your roll#, add the difference +6 to your MP total. Now you’re dodging cannon blasts! You may proceed.

  If your confront# is lower than your roll#, subtract 7MP from your MP total. Bits of plascrete hit you as shells explode overhead.

  The cannon stops firing, and you roll out from behind your cover as you hear the thrusters begin to whine. You decide to take a shot at the ship’s sensor dish. If the tractor beams don’t stop the ship, at least it will blast off into the midst of a naval battle without any sensors.

  To shoot the sensor dish: Add your weaponry# to your weapon’s far-range# for your confront#. Roll the 6-dice.

  If your confront# is equal to or more than your roll#, add the difference +3 to your MP total. The dish is blown off the ship. You may now proceed.

  If your confront# is lower than your roll#, subtract 5MP from your MP total. You missed.

  The ship blasts off. Fierce heat and white flames fill the hanger bay. You raise your shield to seek protection and duck into a corner.

  To keep from getting fried: Your stealth# +1 is your confront#. Roll the 6-dice.

  If your confront# is equal to or more than your roll#, add 5MP to your MP total. Maybe you’d make a good fire fighter. You may now proceed.

  If your confront# is lower than your roll#, subtract 5MP from your MP total. So what if you singed a few hairs? They’ll grow back — you hope.

  The bounty hunters’ vessel eases out of the bay and begins racing away. Yet in moments, you see it begin to rattle as the invisible rays of the tractor beam grasp it tightly.

  You expect it to explode at any moment from the incredible forces. But the ship’s pilot expertly rolls in midair, and swings back toward the Tafanda Bay.

  You see a flash from its launch bay as a single torpedo snakes toward you. He’s trying to blow the tractor beam!

  You shout and run for cover as the proton torpedo hits above you. Part of the ceiling collapses. You raise your shield and dive beneath a TIE fighter.

  To keep from getting flattened: Your skill# + your strength# is your confront#. Roll the 6-dice.

  If your confront# is equal to or more than your roll#, add the difference +4 to your MP total. You leap to safety beneath the TIE fighter. You may proceed.

  If your confront# is lower than your roll#, subtract 6MP from your MP total. Something heavy lands on your head, and you sit there for a moment, dazed.

  You see the bounty hunters’ ship arc away, up toward the sky. You leap into the TIE fighter, determined to get those bounty hunters once and for all. But as you begin to power up, a quick systems check shows that the TIE fighter has no armaments. The thing has been stripped for repairs.

  Then you realize that even if you did chase the bounty hunters, and even if you shot them down, you would still lose. If Grubba dies, then Jabba will never be appeased.

  You watch the bounty hunters’ ship glide up into the sunlight. Then it’s gone. You only hope that it doesn’t get blown apart in the naval battle.

  Weary and defeated, you open the blast doors and walk back up through the corridors toward the state room.

  Maybe there you will find some clue that will tell you where to hunt for the young Hutt.

  You wonder. The Oracle said that you could find Grubba in the state rooms. And he was right. You almost got him. You hope that in the state rooms, you will find some clue as to where the bounty hunters might have taken the Hutt.

  As you walk in the halls, you suddenly find dozens of jubilant Ithorians, shouting in celebration. You remember. Despite the loss of Grubba, this mission still has been a tremendous success. “The Rebels have driven off the Imperial Navy!” they cry. Some of them recognize you and pat your back, wanting to touch their hero. You are everything to them, their sole representative from the Rebel Alliance. They act as if you have driven off the Imperial fleet single-handedly.

  Right now, you are battered and bruised. Your body hurts from so many small wounds that you almost feel like you did drive the Empire off by yourself.

  In moments, the Ithorians sweep you off your feet and cany you on their shoulders down the corridor.

  “Take me to the state rooms,” you shout, and in moments they stop outside a state room. They set you down. A console that was thrown up against the door as a barricade is still burning. Scorch marks and blaster holes show that the bounty hunters put up a terrible fight. All the furniture is ruined.

  You inspect the room quietly for a moment, looking for any maps or records that might show where the bounty hunters went

  As you do, you hear a strained grunting, and a deep voice cries “Help! Help!” You climb over the couch and enter the room. Behind an overturned table, you find a leather bag that wriggles.

  You untie the strings, and Grubba the Hutt pops out. The little brown wormlike creature gasps for air. “So, Rebel scum,” he says, “are you here to save me?”

  “Yeah,” you answer. “I’m the one who saved you. But I was afraid that the bounty hunters had carried you off. They had a sack just like this one.”

  Grubba looks around quickly, in distress. “They must have gotten confused during the fight,” Grubba says. “They carried off my dinner.”

  You remember the way that the bag squirmed in Dengar’s hand. Surely, there was something alive in it.

  “What was in the bag?” you ask.

  “Live ghost spiders,” Grubba says.

  You pull a grim face. Grubba bites your knee, and says, “At least they taste better than you!”

  For helping the Ithorians defeat the Empire — and for finding Grubba the Hutt — reward yourself 200MP (275MP for Advanced Level players).

  Nice work!

  “Don’t leave me here!” General Olan Dewes cried. Princess Leia was in the Ithorian jungle, amid the Bafforr groves, with Han, Luke, Chewbacca, and the droids. Momaw Nadon had brought them here, along with General Dewes, to witness Ithorian justice.

  The scene was an odd one. The Oracle stood next to Dewes, staring at him with blind, white eyes. “Do not worry,” the Oracle said. “We will not blind you, as you blinded me.”

  “Don’t leave me here in this jungle!” Dewes shouted. “Kill me. It’s faster.”

  Leia wondered. The Ithorian jungle seemed peaceful enough, aside from the hangman’s trees and a few other monstrosities.

  “Faster than what?” Momaw Nadon asked. “Faster than death at the hands of the Torturer?”

  Olan Dewes held his head. “The trees — I hear their voices. I cannot shut them out! Please, let me go!”

  Momaw Nadon smiled cruelly. “We will return for you, in a day or two. Listen to the voices of those trees. They can keep you from the shadow hunters that will otherwise eat you. Those voices can keep you alive.”

  “Nooooo —” Dewes cried, as the Oracle climbed into the leaf ship.

  In moments, the vessel rose above the trees and hovered low over t
he jungle.

  “You knew all along,” Luke Skywalker said to the Oracle. “You knew that he could hear the trees.”

  “Yes,” the Oracle said. “Many men cannot hear the voices of the Bafforr. A rare few have the gift. Such men cannot help but listen. The General Olan Dewes who came to our world years ago was a cruel, hard man. He is gone, and what is left of him will learn from the trees, learn to live in our jungles, in harmony with nature. The General Olan Dewes who learns this will be a man of peace. He will be our ally.”

  The sun was setting. Down among the trees, Leia could see great twisting vines, with huge trumpet-shaped yellow flowers. The flowers had opened up, inviting night insects, and the sweet fragrance of them filled the air. She gazed off toward the setting sun, just as the arrak snakes began to sing in chorus, like a thousand woodwinds rising from the jungle below.

  Back aboard the Tafanda Bay, Han Solo lifted young Grubba in front a viewer. A holograph showed Jabba the Hutt gazing at the child in satisfaction, licking his lips with an enormous blue tongue.

  “See, Jabba,” Solo said, “we rescued your Ur-Damo, again, just like I promised.” Speaking like this, on a realtime holo, was tremendously expensive. But out of gratitude, the Ithorians were footing the bill.

  “Very good, Solo,” Jabba said. “Bring the child to me, and I will reward you.”

  Han dropped Grubba and shook a finger at him. “No way! Not after the treatment we got last time. Between the sandstorms and the bounty hunters and your goons, I barely made it off Tatooine alive. This time, if you want your Ur-Damo, you can bring the reward money to me. Let’s pick a nice, neutral planet this time. I have some old friends on Togoria.”

  “Agreed,” Jabba said. “I will meet you on Togoria.”

  Dengar studied the tiny images of Solo and Jabba on a viewer in his ship. Jabba had patched Dengar into the call. To send a message on the communicator required great amounts of energy, and was therefore very expensive. However, Dengar didn’t need much in the way of special equipment to receive a realtime call.

  As Solo ended his communication, his image faded from the screen. Jabba the Hutt stared up into the viewer, as if looking at Dengar.

  “Prefect Talmont assures me that you and your team can be trusted completely,” the Hutt said. “You know where to find him now. Togoria. I will pay you a reward both for my Ur-Damo and for Solo. My Ur-Damo must not be harmed. But as for Solo — just bring me his head, bounty hunter. Bring me his head.”

  NEXT MISSION: TOGORIAN TRAP!

  11.6.18.15.14.5-1