"This is some rescue..."

2 August 2007-

When last we left, Craig's character had been captured by the Imperial troops on the lower deck of our star cruiser, after an inspired (if very wrong) fast talk attempt. I say "inspired" because no one else had any ideas, and it just popped out- his guards were non-plussed enough to let Craig get at least some distance away before they pursued him, anyway.

So, with our stealth-hound captured, a platoon of Stormtroopers below decks, and no immediate rescue options, eMike's smuggler, Brian's doctor, and Jeff's Jedi regrouped in the cabins while eBill's bounty hunter and my Jedi continued to mingle at the ball, hoping for a lead.

As luck would have it, we got a break, in the form of a pirate attack on our ship (pirate attacks are only rarely considered "lucky" breaks, but it worked for us). In a more aptly-phrased "inspired" move, eBill and I shoved into an elevator with a bunch of panicked tourists and "mistakenly" headed for the lower decks, where the Stormtroopers were preparing to repel borders. In the confusion, we passed ourselves off as plain-clothes ship's security forces, and discovered where they were hiding Craig. We strode purposely through the Imperial forces on the lower deck to get him, "reporting in" to our buddies back in the room to let them know where we were were going, while at the same time boosting our cover by appearing to talk with someone "in charge".

We all met up to free Craig, who was in an ad-hoc interrogation room. The human occupants had been knocked out by a nearby hit from a pirate ship's weapons, and we took their uniforms. Now we just need to blast through the pirate bording parties, get to an escape pod with our data, and get away through a raging space battle. Excellent.