Smugglers and Bandits

This last session, the players had a short encounter helping some Desifen smugglers repel some bandits.

The PCs followed their Chenji'i contact, Mossi Bobert, to the meetup spot for the convoy. Half of the cargo was regular foodstuff, and half was Desifen. This was a slightly higher ratio of contraband, due to the market being stifled by the Empire.

There were three hovertrucks there, with a group of about 16 locals milling about. They were waiting on the fourth truck before they disembarked for the city. He soon arrived, a human named Glej'n. Trucks were loaded, 8 crates to a truck, and the group started off.

A few hours into the journey, one of the trucks started smoking, slowed, and drifted to a halt on the ground. Unsurprising to any of the PC's, it was Glej'n's vehicle. Oslo helped the locals diagnose the problem, and estimated a couple of hours of repair work. About 15 minutes later, dust clouds were spotted on the horizon. Vehicles, approaching fast.

The herders circled the three remaining trucks around the broken one, and they took up defensive positions. There were only about four blaster rifles among them, and a lot of melee weapons. The bandits arrived with eight vehicles, and surrounded the convoy. One of them stepped out with a megaphone, and demanded all of the Desifen. He said they could keep the rest. Glej'n was the first to start unloading a truck to concede to their demands.

Geyer and Lorn intimidated him into revealing that he had betrayed the convoy. Geyer hoisted him easily, and used him as a human shield. He then charged the bandit who was speaking, with Lorn on his heels. Oslo strafed some of the bandit convoy, and Cyprian jumped the ring of vehicles to get behind their inward-focused fire. Blaster shots rang out, Geyer and Lorn were grazed, and a couple of the bandits were hit.

The fight was over quickly, though, as Geyer vaulted over the enemy speeder and skewered the bandit with his sword. The bandit dropped his megaphone, and Lorn caught it before it hit the ground. He claimed to have a thermal detonator, and called for a ceasefire. Everyone complied, uneasily.

They got Cyprian to treat the bandit leader, so he wouldn't bleed out, and said that they would give him 4 crates of cargo, which constituted Glenj'n's share, and told him to get out of there. He said the people he worked for would not be happy with this, but they loaded up the crates and sped off.

Glej'n managed to escape with them.

Oslo eventually found the sabotage, and repairing the vehicle was easy, though time-consuming. The convoy then continued into the evening, when they finally got to the city.

Instead of unloading the cargo themselves, and getting paid their normal full amount by the warehouse fence, there was an imperial customs officer and detachment of stormtroopers guarding the building. The herders received less than they normally would, and they worried about their financial future. Rather than stay in town and waste even more money, the group mounted back up and made the trip back home overnight, arriving just as the sun was coming up.

Everyone got 5xp for the session.