The time I got punked by New Republic Intelligence

By Pyrus, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

Ok, in the spirit of today's date, I thought I'd dredge up a story from my Star Wars roleplaying past. I don't think I've shared it here before, but if I have, forgive me.

Caveats - it was a long time ago and some of the finer details escape me. Also, it might have been one of those "you had to have been there" things.

Setup: This campaign took place way back in the height of the d20 (pre-Saga) Star Wars RPG. Flawed as it was, still love that system. We were playing during the post-Endor Thrawn era. We mostly messed with criminal gangs and such, but we did have a running antagonism with an Imperial research division, headed by a bit of a mad scientist. Because of this, the NRID (New Republic Intelligence Directorate) had a working relationship with us. They'd contract us to hit outposts, or we'd sell them info we acquired in our day-to-day hijinx. What we DIDN'T know is that our contact was a mole for the Mad Scientist. Actually, he was a regular Imperial mole, who was then co-opted by the Mad Scientist, because he didn't want the Empire to know what he was doing either, but anyway...

The story:

We had recently come into possession of some schematics for the P.L.O.T. device, which only required a source of refined Maguffinium for deployment. This was bad. So, we swing by Coruscant, and I'm tasked with making the drop. I'm playing an earlier incarnation of my Kel-Dor assassin, more of a pin-stripe suit mob type in those days. (I like playing the same character in different systems the first time in to get a feel for how things handle differently for subsequent character creation.)

So, I drop off the info, the contact looks it over, looks suitably impressed, and then goes to get the payment. As usual, it is a datapad with a large secure data unit attached (basically the equivalent to a slightly bulkier laptop). We did it that way for deniability reasons. Won't go into it, but it was part of the cover. So, I grab the machine, and leave the building, to take it to the drop off point for the money. About halfway there, I get stopped by a cop. Asks me the normal questions, which I feel I navigated pretty well. Then he asks to see the computer. I tell him it's a private package that I've been paid to deliver, as I'm a courier. About this time I notice several more cops coming in from the sides, slowly working through the crowd. Not wanting to make a scene (it's a crowded area) I hand it over, thinking it was an encrypted computer. He grabs it, pops out a knife and pries the case open, and glitterstim goes EVERYWHERE.

Well, that's embarrassing.

There's a few seconds of the cop and I just staring at each other blankly, the crowd around us more or less oblivious, while the other cops arrow in on us. It was, obviously, a setup. Our contact saw our information, realized we were far, far too dangerous to let go this time, and set us up. So, anyway, back to the staring. I did the only thing that seemed prudent. I open-hand slapped him in a surprise round, and took off through the crowd. One of the traits of this character was small size and high agility (he was supposed to be a mix of Joe Pesci and the acrobatic guy from Ocean's 11) so it wasn't TOO hard for me to lose them.

From there, it turned into a few sessions of dodging the immediate repercussions of being betrayed (gathering everyone back up, getting to the ship, getting outta the sytem) and then onto the long-term arc this put us down. I will always have a special place for that slap though. I think the GM was as shocked as the cop.

Caveats - it was a long time ago and some of the finer details escape me. Also, it might have been one of those "you had to have been there" things.

Was it also far, far away? :P

I love a good open handed slap. The best moments are when you crit the slap and they go down immediately by an arguably harmless assault. :D

Was it also far, far away? :P

I see that you saw what I inadvertently did there.

Back in the pre Saga d20 days, my jedi padawan character "Elias Windrider" (that's the origin of my screen name), got his clothes stolen by a female zeltron jedi padawan while he was in the shower