The Millennium Falcon:
The Falcon flies through hyperspace. Our heroes have gathered in the Falcons loungearea.
Lando informs the others what is going on. "My ship was attacked by thugs working for Artham Gom. A nasty character who specializes in buying and selling information. I was asked to help out with arranging the meeting with Grand Admiral Armitage. The fact that Artham took time to rescue Tentac from my ship tells me that they have other things planned. Big things. Now, attacking my ship, I can not let that slide. So, I will help you get Tentac back, along with your friend. It will help the Republic, but most of all, it will hurt Artham Gom. And after he attacked me and my ship, trust me my friends, I intend to hurt him."
Rose is standing with arms folded. "And you have no idea what Tentac sold to the First Order?"
"Im afraid not" Lando says. "I was merely the middleman, setting up the meeting. I take it you managed to track my ship that smuggled Tentac out of the Republic?"
"Sure did" Poe says. "Wasnt too hard."
Chewie growls and snarls and Lando grins.
Lando then nods, "I see. Not bad. Not bad at all."
Rey is next to speak. "So where is this Artham Gom heading now? Where is he taking Finn?"
Lando sits casually in a chair. "Most likely to a planet called Kijimi. Its the closest safe port for Artham. He has contacts with the spice-smugglers there and often employ bounty-hunters from the system. Trust me. He's heading for Kijimi."
"Alright" Rey nods. "What's the plan when we get there? How do we find them? How do we get Finn back?"
Lando looks confident. "I have my ways."
Rose doesnt look convinced. "I bet you do."
Kijimi, Arthams Mansion:
The one-eyed Wookie and Tentac enter a large and luxurious lounge where droids serve drinks and food. Artham Gom is waiting.
"Aaaah! Tentac, my friend" Artham says. "Good to see you again."
"I am grateful for your help, Artham" Tentac says as he recieves a drink from a droid.
"Consider yourself lucky" Artham says. "The First Order wanted you dead. I, however, have further need of you."
"How can I be of assistance to you?" Tentac wonders. "The Republic knows I can no longer be trusted."
"They do" Artham nods. "You have been discovered. But, you also know who within the Republic, in the Senate, that has not been discovered. Who would gladly accept a bribe. Senators who could help us build a profitable enterprise away from the eyes of the law."
Tentac raises his drink in a toast. "My dear friend, I would be more than happy to offer what help I can in this endevour."
Elsewhere in the mansion, Finn is shackled and pushed into a cell. The door is closed behind him by thugs and he sits down, sighs with his head hanging, trapped in an unknown location.
The Falcon arrives as Kijimi:
The Falcon flies in towards a large town on the mountainous planet and lands. They all disembark and head into town. They enter a shady establishment and sit down and all order drinks.
"What now?" Poe wonders.
"Now we wait" Lando says, sipping his drink.
"Wait?" Rose wonders. "Wait for what?"
Rey isnt happy either. "We dont have time to wait. Artham and Tentac may already be heading off the planet. Then we'll never get Finn back."
"We'll soon find out" Lando says.
An alien walks up to the table and leans in. "How much for the droid?" he asks, nodding at BB-8.
"He's not for sale" Rey says with a frown.
"I wasnt talking to you" the alien growls.
Rey focuses. "The droid is not for sale."
The alien stands up. "The droid is not for sale" he says and walks away.
Lando picks up on this, obviously. Moments later, a female wearing a helmet walks up to the table and sits down with them all, much to everyones surprise.
Lando smiles. "Hello, Zorii."
"Lando" Zorii says. "Long time no see."
"Too long" Lando replies.
"Why are you back?"
"Artham Gom" Lando says. "I need to find him."
"Rumor has it you two are working together."
"Not anymore."
"I see" Zorii says. "Can I make some money out of it?"
"Maybe" Lando says with a smile and holds up a pair of Sabbacc dice.
Zorii shakes her head with a sigh. "Alright... For old times sake."
Some time later, Lando and our heroes follows Zorii into her lodgins and she closes all windows and then activates a device in the middle of the main room.
"What's that?" Rey wonders.
"A signal-scambler" Rose explains. "It makes listening devices useless."
Zorii then sets up yet another device and activates it as well.
"And that?" a suspicious Poe asks from one end of the room.
Rose looks at Poe from across the room. "What was that?"
They all look at each other suspiciously.
Poe is perhaps the most unsure of the situation. "Whatta hell is going?"
His words a muffled, almost distant, to the others, despite being in the same room. The same goes for Chewie as he growls in response.
"Come closer" Zorii says and waves at Poe and Chewie to do as she says. "The audio-slave kills sounds. You need to be close to it to be heard. The field wont let any sound get through."
"Neat toy" Poe says. "Paranoid much?"
Zorii looks at Poe. "That's the only reason Im still alive. Unfortunately for me, I dont have smooth running tongue like Lando here to rely on."
Lando smiles. "Chewie here has muscles, my old buddy Han was quick on the draw. Me... I talk."
"So lets talk" Rey steps in. "The game of Sabbacc, what did we win?"
Zorii looks at her quests. "Artham Gom has a mansion in the Trandoshan block. He has plenty of thugs for protection, even security-droids. The fact he lives in the Trandoshan block means that outsiders rarely visit, so anyone not Trandoshan stands out in the crowd and is easily spotted. He will know if you're coming for him and he has enough blasters to kill you if you try. Hell, chances are the Trandoshans living there will deal with you before you even reach Arthams mansion."
"What's the layout of the mansion?" Poe wonders.
"Tall walls" Zorii explains. "A courtyard, a smaller landingpad for shuttles, three main buildings. A reinforced gate with a guardtower. Around twenty guards in total."
"So attacking the entrance is out of the question" Poe says. "It's a bottleneck and they'll just gun us all down."
"Any way to sneak in?" Rose wonders.
"There is no time for that" Lando says. "We need to make our move before Artham and Tentac relocate. It is now or never."
"So what do you suggest?" Rey asks. "Sneaking in through the sewers? Climbing the walls? Offer them a deal?"
Poe is next to speak. "We need a proper plan for this. Something well thought out. Going in there, it's gonna get messy."
Lando turns to Chewie. "Chewie, remember when we did that heist on Belarmo? Whatcha think?"
Chewie growls in response.
"What?" Poe asks. "What happened at Belarmo?"
Arthams Mansion:
Artham and Tentac step out onto the small landing-platform attached to the mansion and walk towards the shuttle there.
"I forsee great things" Artham says. "Our business-deal will earn us a a substantial profit for many years."
"Looking forward to it" Tentac says. "I will immediately make contact with those within the New Republic that would be interested in supporting our enterprise."
"Good, my friend, good" Artham nods.
Suddenly, the shuttle takes several hits and explodes. The Falcon sweeps in overhead and circles the mansion, its ventral turret firing time and time again. Artham and Tentac flee back into the mansion. Rose is manning the ventral guns and keeps firing, destroying the guardtower and some vehicles parked in the courtyard, while Chewie is in the cockpit and pilots the ship. Arthams guards flee to find cover. The Falcon flies in low over the main building, hovers and opens the airlock, allowing Rey, Poe, Zorii, Lando and BB-8 to disembark. BB-8 opens the closed door and they all get inside Meanwhile, the Falcon continues to circle and Rose fires the guns.
Inside, our heroes engage Arthams guards in a firefight, battling their way through the rooms and hallways. Rey takes point, using her dual lightsaber to block incoming shots, the others following her and firing past her at the enemies up ahead, at times gunning down guards that try to outflank them. BB-8 hooks up to a computer-socket and does his thing; the main gate closes, denying people to escape and Arthams allies to enter. Blastdoors close as does bars on the windows. BB-8 tells them what he has done.
"The mansions is locked down" Rey says. "No-one is getting in or out. BB-8 has located where they are holding Finn and has a good guess where Artham and Tentac are hiding."
"Good" Lando says. "Then lets get going."
Guards in the basement gets gunned down as Poe and Zorii, followed by BB-8, make their way there. They find the cell where Finn is held and BB-8 instantly opens the door via a computer-socket. Poe hugs Finn!
Finn holds up his shackles. "Can we get out of here?"
Zorii fires a shot at the shackles and they fall to the ground. "No need to wait around."
"Let's go" Poe says.
Finn picks up a weapon from a dead guard. But they are quickly forced to duck into hiding as the One-Eyed Wookie appears, firing a large repeating blaster at them. The heroes returns sporadic fire.
Finn ducks as blasterrounds detonate around him. "Whatta hell is that thing?!"
"I dunno!" Poe replies over the firefight. "But this wasnt part of the plan, I can tell you that much!"
"Less talking, more shooting!" Zorii yells at them and they return fire.
Up in the mansion, Artham and Tentac are moving with guards through the building. Outside, the Falcon flies past and fires its guns targets on the courtyard. All of a sudden, they get surprised by Rey and Lando and a fight errupts between our heroes and the bodyguards. Lando guns down some of them while Rey cuts down the rest, deflecting several incoming blaster-bolts; one of these deflected bolts hits Tentac who falls down. The fight is short and ends with Rey aiming a single lightsaber-blade ( the other deactivated ) at Arthams face.
"I surrender!" Artham says desperately.
In the basement, the shootout continues. The Wookie throws a grenade at our heroes who are forced to run out of the way before it explodes. The detonation destroys the floor, walls and ceiling. The ceiling collapses, walls fall down. The Wookie steps over the rubble but sees no trace of our heroes. Poe steps out of hiding and tries to shoot the Wookie at point blank range; the Wookie strikes the blaster to the side and grabs Poe and throws him into the wall. Zorii steps out of cover and aims, but the Wookie fires his blaster at her and forces her back into cover. Finn jumps up on the Wookies back from behind and tries a chokehold. Poe gets back on his feet and bodyslams the Wookie. The Wookie is now wrestling, while still standing up, both Finn and Poe. Zorii aims but cant get a good shot thanks to Poe and Finn trying to subdue the Wookie.
Finn calls out to Zorii in desperation. "Shoot it! Shoot it!"
The Wookie grabs Poe and throws him into the wall, again. Next, Finn is thrown into the wall as well. The Wookie turns around and finds Zorii armed with his own large weapon. The Wookie makes a sad noise and then Zorii unleashes a hail of blaster-bolts at him. Poe and Finn get back on their feet, sore from the fighting.
Zorii steps over the smoking remains of the Wookie. "Come on, boys."
Up in the mansion, Lando has Artham at gunpoint. Rey is kneeling next to Tentac.
"He's dead" Rey says disapointed. She turns to Artham. "What did he sell to the First Order?" She stands up and looks at Artham. "You will tell me what information he sold to them" she says, focused and using the Force.
"Not without assurances" Artham replies.
Lando glances at Rey. "Skywalker said this could happen from time to time. It doesnt work on everyone."
"We need that information" Rey says.
"And you'll get it" Lando assures her and then turns to Artham. "But not from him" he then says and shoots Artham and kills him in cold blood.
Rey activates a single lightsaber and aims it at Lando. "We needed him alive!"
"On the contrary" Lando says calmly. "You need me alive."
They all run out onto the top of the main building, the Falcon moves in with the airlock open, hovers in place and allows for them all to get onboard before the airlock closes and the Falcon flies away at speed, leaving the mansion behind in total ruins.
To be continued..