2 ABY – 09 Golf – 3 Benduday (Gizer) In the quick, sharp moments of the attack, C4-BL3, Kantarra, and Cheebs each separately recognize the intruding ships as familiar. The Incom starfighters attacking them are models now famous from holos of the Rebel “terrorists” blowing up the Empire’s short-lived “Death Star”! As this dawns on Captain Cheebs, he sues for a cease-fire. A third such “X-wing”plus three large assault frigates appear as both the Porgatu and the aggressors apologize for hastily opening fire.
Cheebs asks who they are with and what they want. Sure enough, these ships are part of the Rebel Alliance, but they’re not after Crag and his technology. The party is astonished to learn that the Rebels are after their Trionex! These volatile and rare chemicals they recovered from Pirin are used in manufacturing shield-penetrating torpedoes, and the Rebels need them to fight the Imperial fleet.
Soon over 2 dozen more ships appear in a coordinated fleet jump, and most of them appear to have sustained significant battle damage. Several of the ships are huge capital ships of Mon Calamari manufacture, accompanied by frigates, corvettes, gunships, and more starfighters. C4-BL3 instinctively begins cracking their novel comm encryption and discovers the fleet came from a system called Mako-Ta. An officer named Commander Thrach aboard the largest ship (a giant MC80 heavy cruiser, the “Geist”) parleys with Cheebs, promising a deal to repair the damage inflicted on the Porgatu plus trade for the Trionex. The Porgatu is guided in to a docking bay inside of a Mon Calamari light cruiser.
Lieutenant Smythe, a minor officer aboard the “Chance,” meets Cheebs after the Porgatu lands. The party sees significant damage done to the docking bay doors from the inside. He explains that the Imperials – led by a mysterious forbidding “evil Jedi” called Lord Vader – ambushed them recently and seem to have infected the Rebel ships with some kind of computer virus which (among other things) locked down the hangar bay doors. They are still working to determine exactly what happened and how to prevent it. This of course gets C4-BL3’s attention, and he volunteers to assist these Rebel efforts. Smythe is clearly not authorized to negotiate about the Trionex, but he promises a holovid call with the Gamma Group’s commander. Hearing “Lord Vader”‘s name, Kantarra urges Cheebs not to get greedy; “If he’s after them, they’re in serious trouble! We’ve gotta help these people!”
Cheebs talks to the Gamma Group commander via holovid. Her name is Hera Syndulla, a Twilek. Cheebs suggests that the Rebels ought to aid repairs of the Porgatu plus supply them with 4 heavy laser cannons to complete its rearming in return for the Trionex. General Syndulla agrees to make available whatever starship weaponry the party needs that it can salvage from wrecked ships in the Rebel inventory. She also invites the party to assist the Rebels in repairing the damaged fleet (or however else they could help), but the fleet will be moving on and jumping to hyperspace in 2 hours. Lieutenant Smythe duly unloads the Trionex.
Although R3-M3 and C4-BL3 begin repairs on the Porgatu’s battle damage before the Rebel fleet departs, they need more time. Cheebs finds all manner of weaponry to salvage from the small craft bays aboard the light cruiser – except the heavy laser cannons he’s looking for. The party decides to stick around, complete their repairs during the fleet’s hyperspace travel, recover their payment for the Trionex, and see what comes next if they throw in with these ragtag Rebels.
Kantarra consults with Crag and discovers he’s interested in starting his new life with the Alliance. He requests and is granted his own 1-on-1 talk with General Syndulla, after which he reports he’s reached a satisfactory arrangement.
The fleet jumps to hyperspace with the Porgatu still in the light cruiser’s hangar bay, and the party sets to various projects. R3-M3 and the other mechanics eventually complete the Porgatu’s repairs using patches and hull material scavenged from the hangar bay around them. Watching Crag open his dangerous camtono, the party discovers that its radioactivity & threatening aura was a ruse to discourage snooping; Cheebs & C4-BL3 help him craft a “ringer” for the small spherical reactor unit it contained. Crag also helps to increase the Porgatu’s hyperdrive efficiency to 0.75 using X-wing hyperdrive components, and Crag teaches Cheebs a great deal about ship modifications in the process. C4-BL3 goes to offer his assistance to the Rebels. His mastery of encryption makes quick work of the Rebels’ difficulties in securing their computer systems from future Imperial hacking attacks, and several Rebel droids begin following him around in awe of his skills. Cheebs finds a quartermaster on the ship (“Max”) who identifies 4 heavy laser cannons available elsewhere in the fleet. They will have to make a run to a different ship after the fleet exits hyperspace – wherever it’s going. The party tries to prepare to face the unknown with their new allies, uncertain when they’ll be able to complete their current mission delivering the booby-trapped camtono and cashing in on Crag’s bounty.