I have several things I want to accomplish in my first adventure and I'd like some suggestions on crafting it into actual encounters.

The players are all childhood friends. One is a wounded Human Medic who was discharged from Imperial Service for losing his leg. He has no love for the Empire. Another is a Mirialan Niman Disciple. She's the secret Daughter of Master Luminara. Her Clone Commander removed his bio-chip and smuggled her off world during Order 66. 5 Years ago he made contact with Master Shaak-Ti who trained her as a Jedi until Shaak-Ti's mysterious disappearance. Another is a Hutt Ace Pilot.He's the disowned son of Grakkis the Hutt. Finally, we have a Human Shien Expert. His mother was enslaved by Grakkus at a young age. At the age of 11, his friends all left Nar Shaddaa. Sis, his guardian arranged for his mother's freedom before joining the Rebellion. Her confidant betrayed as soon as she was off world. He took the credits and left.

It is now five years later and the friends have gathered for Sis' funeral. Her last mission to steal a Jedi Holocron with the coordinates to an asteroid filled with Khyber crystals from a private auction had been blown. A mole in the Rebellion had blown her cover but not before she made off with the Holocron. With the Hutts and the Empire on her tail she stashed the Holocron in a safe place and faked her death.

Anticipating the betrayal, she set up her last will an testament before the mission. Unable to trust her allies in the Rebellion, in order to complete the mission, Sis was forced to rely on her friends.

At the funeral the party will be approached by a droid with a clue to the location of the Holocron that only the party would know about and the papers for a YT-2400 left to them in her will.

I'm thinking I could create an escape scenario where the players would have to make their way to the ship while being pursued by gangsters and stormtroopers. After that I'm not sure what encounters to throw at them.

I'm thinking I could create an escape scenario where the players would have to make their way to the ship while being pursued by gangsters and stormtroopers. After that I'm not sure what encounters to throw at them.

This sounds a lot like 'Escape from Mos Shuuta' in the Edge of the Empire Beginner's Box Set. You could reference that adventure for ideas and/or just modify it to fit your narrative. Then most of the work is done for you already.

Sounds cool. Oddly enough it kinda reminds me of that movie "Without a Paddle", I mean that in a good way. I've been toying with taking movies I enjoy and using the story beats and building adventures around them. I think you offer good reasons for the players to get back together and go on this mission. I think it works, but at the end its more of where they are headed that is going to be the interesting part.

As far as building the first session I think I'll plan my first two encounters as such:

1. Fight at the Funeral:

Grakkus sends a group of his thugs to take the party by force. This encounter will be interrupted as the funeral home is set upon by a platoon of Stormtroopers. Are Stormtroopers setting appropriate? Would this be an act of war in Hutt Space? Should I maybe use differently armored Imperial Agents?

2. Street Flight:

Faced with unbeatable odds the party will be forced to retreat to safety. This could go a couple ways. They could retreat to the roof and go from rooftop to rooftop, they could try to escape into the crowded market place, or they could use there knowledge of the streets to suck through alleyways. No matter the scenario, problem I'm having is the same. The players all have no athletics training and Brawn scores of only 2 or 3. I love the narrative elements of a chase scene but I don't think they can win this. How can I make this encounter viable?

How and why would anybody come to beat them up??? That makes no sense. Why would thugs and troopers be after this group? I mean, unless they knew the secrets the GM knows, which they don't. As far as they're concerned, the woman's dead. However, they might possibly want to examine the ship and see if the holocron was there. The ship could be held up through customs by hutts or troopers a confiscated property of a criminal. Gotta break it out, defeat some troopers, maybe fend off a TIE or two.

It would be fitting to have one of the Rebellion attendees be the mole. He meets the group at the funeral and tells them, "If you EVER need ANYTHING, please contact me!" Someone who resurfaces later in the campaign trying (again) to gain betray some Rebellion members.

The droid would deliver info of "a friend" of Sis whom they are to deliver the ship to. Deliver the ship to receive inheritance. This "friend" is actually Sis in disguise.

How and why would anybody come to beat them up??? That makes no sense. Why would thugs and troopers be after this group? I mean, unless they knew the secrets the GM knows, which they don't. As far as they're concerned, the woman's dead. However, they might possibly want to examine the ship and see if the holocron was there. The ship could be held up through customs by hutts or troopers a confiscated property of a criminal. Gotta break it out, defeat some troopers, maybe fend off a TIE or two.

It would be fitting to have one of the Rebellion attendees be the mole. He meets the group at the funeral and tells them, "If you EVER need ANYTHING, please contact me!" Someone who resurfaces later in the campaign trying (again) to gain betray some Rebellion members.

The droid would deliver info of "a friend" of Sis whom they are to deliver the ship to. Deliver the ship to receive inheritance. This "friend" is actually Sis in disguise.

Thanks for pointing out that plothole. I was thinking that as Sis' last known associates they would have been prime targets for questioning, especially if the mole pointed them out.

I really want the opening scene to be a basic Combat tutorial. I think we can preserve this by having Grakkus' men intercept, interrogate, and reprogram the droid. If the message was, "You'll find what your looking for in the place we used to dance where no one was watching.", then the players become a necessary part of the investigation. Once the mole sees Grakkus' thugs enter the funeral he could tip off the Empire that they need to move.

Perhaps an ISB or Imperial Customs agent using "local talent" or mercenaries/bounty hunters would be a better choice than Stormtroopers? After all, even the Empire doesn't currently want to spark a full-scale war with the Hutts, and Hutts aren't likely to take too kindly to Imperial assaults on their own worlds. If you pay off a street gang, you have plausible deniability when the Hutts come sniffing around to find out who allowed their prey to escape.