Wednesday, October 26, 2011

SW Redshift Chronicles, Intelligence Brief #5: Gadnek Is AAR, Part 1


Stardate:  Fiday, 069-130ABY/Tarsan Intelligence Service (TIS)
Subsector:  Shannekam

DST-3's Mission to Zenya, After Action Report (AAR) 

On Senday, 057-130 ABY, Diplomatic Security Team Three (DST-3) dodged a harrassing flight of TIE fighters from the Zenyan Restricted Zone and landed safely on Pierson Station.  Based on the information from the Ivory Bantha's flight recorder, the team determined Damathon Cohain and several crewmembers escaped the destruction of the ship and landed somewhere on Zenya-3. 

Pierson Station's location in the Tau Tau Archipelago

Within hours, Penelope Pelletin, director of TAg Facilities on Zenya and Adoko, Pierson Station administrator, organized search and rescue (SAR) effort to find the Ivory Bantha's crew.

On Tuday, 059-130 ABY, DST-3 joined the operation and was assigned to search Gadnek Island.  King Gethen and Force Mystic, Gobar Been, joined the planning session.  The Tau Tau king informed the group they have been unable to contact the inhabitants of the island for the past several weeks.  Communications have gone unanswered and teams have been sent to investigate, but none have checked-in, let alone returned from Gadnek.  (The island serves as an historical, spiritual and nature park).  The Tau Taus were reluctant to discuss this matter with offworlders until they had more information on this strange occurrence.

Situation: 2300 hours, 060-130 ABY--the team is selected

The members of DST-3 selected to lead the Gadnek Island search party, were:  Sei'do Avari, Thege Kli 'Klotaz and Cad So Billes.  King Gethen assigned some of the best warriors of his bodyguard to augment the team.  These were: Seleq Seel (Knight of the Guard), Lah To Ceel, Zak Tenko and Jad Jo Dop.  The Royal Engineer, Sian Squnn (a Sullustan), would also join the group.  The remaining members of DST-3, Rican Vranos and Coden were re-assigned to lead a search party on Tandek Island, 500 kilometers to the northeast.

Gadnek Island's location, just below the Zenyan Equator

Despite filing several complaints with the Zenyan Drylander Government, aerial harassment and electronic jamming continued throughout the Tau Tau Archipelago.  Drylander officials claimed these actions were caused by pirates and swoop gangs.


Because of this ongoing threat, the team decided to ingress via waterspeeder.  (Undersea transport was available, but deemed far too slow).


Using the islands for cover, the team sailed through the archipelago and arrived at the northern tip of Gadnek Island at 0200 hours, local time, Forday, 061-130 ABY.


Northern view of Gadnek Island


Southern view of Gadnek Island and crash site

Within several minutes, the speeder's sensors picked up a faint signal from the escape pod's distress beacon.

Situation 0230 hours--Ivory Bantha's escape pod discovered

The search party discovered the escape pod, submerged in 60 meters of water, one kilometer south of the island.  Once over the crash site, the Tau Tau warriors dove into the sea to investigate.  Within minutes, they resurfaced to report the escape pod was empty.

Situation: 0300 hours--search party attacked

As soon as the Tau Taus dried off from their swim, the waterspeeder's alarm klaxons blared to life.  Sensors indicated an approaching air speeder--with weapons systems activated.


The airspeeder turned out to be a droid Hunter-Killer Assault Craft (H-KAV).  The airspeeder opened fire as soon as it was in range.

Situation: 0400 hours--waterspeeder is destroyed and the team swims to shore

Piloting the waterspeeder, Cad So Billes led the H-KAV on a high-speed chase through the barrier islands.  However, the droid craft re-acquired the waterspeeder at every turn and repeatedly hit the waterspeeder with blaster fire and concussion missiles.  Within minutes, the starboard-fore and port-aft repulsor fans were destroyed and the port-fore fan was on the verge of failing. 

Throughout this pursuit, everyone else wrapped as many weapons and as much gear as they could into waterproof bags.  Once everything was wrapped, the bags were dropped at the points selected by the Tau Taus.  After all the equipment was jettisoned, Cad locked-in a course for Gadnek Island's southern beach.  As the flaming waterspeeder careened towards the shore, each Tau Tau grabbed an offworld team member and dove into the sea--just seconds before the waterspeeder crashed onto the beach. 


The H-KAV strafed the wrecked waterspeeder one final time and then veered off to the northeast.  The team swam to shore, once they determined the H-KAV was gone for good.  Sian Squnn could not swim and was pulled ashore by Jad Jo Dop.  When everyone flopped onto the beach, Thege Kli 'Klotaz revived the Sullustan engineer, while the Tau Taus swam back into the sea to retrieve their weapons and gear. 

Most of the bags were recovered.  Once their equipment was checked and cleaned, they set out to into the southern jungle in the hopes of finding the Ivory Bantha's crew--and transportation off the island.

Continued in Intelligence Brief #6: Gadnek Is AAR Part 2.

Gamemaster's (GM's) Notes:

The planet map of Zenya, was derived from the world of Lefiguura, found on page 76 of Smash & Grab, Traveller:  The New Era, by GDW (1994).

The Pierson Station map was derived from Elinore's Realm, on page 78 of Smash & Grab.

The map of Gadnek Island was derived from the map included in Rescue On Galatea, by Mark Lawerence, FASA (1982).

The characters, Damathon Cohaine, Thasallah Cohaine, King Gethen and Seleq, were also derived from Rescue on Galatea.

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