Solo Adventure ‘Escape Pod Down’

A lone sentry stood in the observation tower overlooking the dense forest. Behind him rose a small rocky hill which housed the Rebels’ secret base here on Edan II.

The Alliance established Edan Base to house a squadron of X-wing and Y-wing starfighters, their pilots and crews, and the various Rebel operatives who wandered in and out from nearby systems. It was the hub of Rebellion activity in the sector.

The sentry saw a glint of metal on the horizon. He raised his macrobinoculars to his eyes and ranged in on the two X-wing fighters coming back from a mission. Before long they were roaring overhead on their approach to the landing bay entrance, little more than a large cave in the rocky hillside. The sentry waved to the pilots. The starfighters were returning from a nearby system, where they had no doubt shot down a few Imperial TIE fighters. The sentry would hear about the mission later, when the pilots sat around bragging about their exploits in the crew lounge.

Since the Alliance defeated the Death Star, the Empire had stepped up its measures to crush the Rebels. Edan Base had played an important role in keeping the flame of rebellion burning in this area. The starfighters harassed Imperial shipping in nearby systems. Smugglers stole Imperial supplies and delivered them here for Rebel resistance fighters. Free-traders transported Alliance agents to and from assignments nearby, and acted as couriers for important intelligence information.

A splinter of light in the sky aught the sentry’s eye. He raised his macro-binoculars to his eyes and peered upward. Something was ripping through the atmosphere on a steep descent. It looked like an escape pod. The pod crashed into the forest about a kilometer away.

This was something Commander Drayson would want to know about. The sentry pulled a comlink from his belt and pressed the transmit switch. “This is Sentry Post A9 reporting. Something just crash-landed about a kilometer northeast of the base. Looked like an escape pod, but I couldn’t be sure. You’d better send someone to check it out. There could be survivors.” You will be that Rebel someone…

You are Cara Dune, a Rebel Shocktrooper stationed at Edan Base. Between patrols, you hang out in the landing bay, working on your speeder bike. The docking hangar’s intercom speakers crackle to life. “Cara Barant report to the command center” they blare. “Cara Barant to the command center.” You pack up your gear and head off through the underground corridors to the base’s heart.

The command center is packed with Rebel officers. Captain Ellers is monitoring comm channels and sensors, while Lieutenant Commander Kai is checking the shield generator’s power output. Commander Drayson, your boss, is standing near a holographic display of the planet. You step up and ask what he wants.

“We need you to run a quick patrol,” Commander Drayson says. “One of our sentries spotted an escape pod which crashed into the dense forest a kilometer from the base. I need you to go out there and see if there are any survivors inside.” He gives you directions to the pod’s crash site, then dismisses you.

You return to your speeder bike and fly it out of the landing bay. Following Drayson’s instructions, you zoom through the forest to the northeast. Soon you come to a small clearing: sitting in the center is what looks like an escape pod, with the main hatch wide open. You hop off the speeder bike and approach on foot to investigate.

You decide to check out the pod and its surroundings. Depending on how well you search, you may or may not find something important. To determine how thoroughly you look around, you’re going to roll your search skill. Look at Cara’s character sheet. Search is an observation skill, so it’s listed under
Perception. In this case, Cara has a dice code of 3D in search. Now roll your 3 dice and add them up to see how well you examine the pod.

• If you rolled 10 or higher, go to Part 5.
• If you rolled 9 or lower, go to Part 3.