Standoff

5 BBY — Darknell — Porkins maneuvers the YT-2400 into one of Orric’s landing bays and secures the ship. With the Little Piggy secured in the docking bay, Nora proceeds to get in touch with her planet-side contact. Once Arya leaves the confines of the ship, she feels the Imperial presence. While there are not Stormtroopers everywhere, there’s definitely an Imperial order to everything. Porkins and Bistan get busy checking and prepping the ship for a quick getaway if they need it.

As planned, Arya goes into the port to arrange for fuel and supplies. Arya observes that everyone seems purposeful — no loitering. Everyone keeps to themselves. Very purposeful and very Imperial in its vibe. Arya gets supplies and returns to the ship. Nora informs the team that the contact who will pick up the package. It turns out Nora and the crew know much more about Zecraya than Arya was led to believe — they’re known Rebel faction members on this planet, and being seen will be a problem.

Nora proposes that Arya meets the contact and completes the exchange. Arya is unknown here and will not be recognized. She shares that the contact will be in a local cantina called the Continuum Void, and Arya will need to make the exchange there. A bit miffed that she doesn’t really have a choice about doing the mission given everyone else has a blown cover, Arya agrees to do the job. She discusses the city and passages with Nora. When Arya ventured out earlier, she noticed that her white hair drew some attention. Erring on the side of caution, Arya pulls up the hood of her cloak to conceal it and heads out to do some recon. She needs to find a way to blend in.

First, she visits Mungo’s Munitions. She enters and takes a look around. The selection fits a rough industrial world under Imperial control. Nothing too surprising but she does find some wrist weaponry. “Hmmm. That’d be interesting to add to some armor,” she thinks to herself.

Learning what she could from Mungo’s, she wanders over to the Bantha Grill to get the vibe of the working locals. The few people who are there are all wearing industrial coveralls and bill brim caps, which suddenly makes her feel a little self-conscious. Outside of the staff, she’s the only one in the establishment who isn’t in coveralls and a hat. “Need to get the standard outfit” she notes.

With appropriate attire on the brain, she heads to the local market and finds a wide range of practical wares and local clothing. There’s nothing fancy — everything seems very basic. She takes note of some coveralls and pantsuits and continues on to a Duros-run junk shop next to the market. Rummaging around, she finds a collection of power cells. Under a stack of barely usable pieces, she is drawn to a specific power cell that is unlike the others. Studying it, she thinks it may be a power cell for a lightsaber. While she doesn’t need one, having a spare would be a good idea. To hide her purchasing tracks, she picks up a similar power cell that is usually used in an industrial tool. She haggles with the Duros, and walks away with the worthless lightsaber cell.

On the opposite side of the local market and at the edge of the off-world one, she encounters the “Continuum Void” cantina. She heads in and walks to the bar, which is tended by a droid. She asks the droid for the most popular drink, and it responds with Vetruvian Ale. Arya purchases a tankard and studies the room. This is definitely a popular and mixed cantina. On- and off-worlders alike are dotted throughout the place plus it is droid-friendly — an R5 droid is milling about with its companions.

Arya returns to the local market and purchases a rather unremarkable industrial pantsuit. She returns to the ship and gets to work making a hat and modifying the pantsuit to have quick draw openings so she can reach her holdout blaster and vibrodagger concealed within her armored body suit.

The next day, Arya returns to the cantina to fulfill her mission. Now dressed as an unremarkable Darknell worker, she enters the cantina and finds a booth adjacent to a group of Imperials and a droid. She orders a Vetruvian Ale and waits for her contact to arrive.

In about 10 minutes, an individual in common clothes and a leather jacket approaches her table. He initiates the passphrase exchange and asks, “Are you Arya?”

“I am,” Arya replies quietly.

“Do you have the thing we were talking about?” He is obviously nervous.

In a composed tone, Arya replies, “I do.” She shows him the item.

Her contact is about to take a closer look and then under his breath gasps “oh no.” A blaster bolt nearly misses the two of them. He tosses something at Arya and blurts out “here’s your payment. Take it.” A pouch flies from his hand and onto the table. A second blaster shot crackles through the air, and he collapses. Arya scoops up the pouch and pushes it into her satchel.

A dark-haired guy grabs the body of the now lifeless contact and lifts it up for cover. A waitress quickly approaches the table. Arya tries to make her way out in the chaos, but the guy blocks her exit. Arya doesn’t have time for this and punches him. More blaster fire whizzes by, but Arya can’t tell who is shooting in the chaos. People are running out of the cantina, including the Imperials, but the dark-haired guy won’t get out of Arya’s way. In the melee, she loses track of the waitress. Frustrated, Arya tries to kick the guy, but he acrobatically swings out of the way. In the entrance, a K series enforcer droid arrives, and the guy barks an order to it while pointing at Arya, “Take her to the compound!” The droid hunches over and trains its focus on Arya.

Arya doesn’t like the sound nor look of that and tries again to get around the dark-haired guy to make her exit. As she tries, she and the guy end up in back-and-forth move, countermove hand-to-hand combat. Everyone clears out of the cantina. At this point, the guy is frustrated too, pulls a blaster and points it at Arya. However, the quickness of an Echani Guardian caught him by surprise. Before he finishes leveling his blaster, the barrel of Arya’s concealed holdout blaster is trained on his head. Silence falls over the space as the two are locked in a standoff. Arya’s combat instincts have taken over, and she is studying every movement of her opponent to predict his next action. The droid does nothing and simply looks at the two of them, almost amused.

Agonizing seconds pass when an outline of a familiar figure appears in the cantina doorway.