A New Friend and an Old Problem

After taking off and leaving behind Rwarr's body, they piloted the ship to locate another safe landing area.  Not far off in the distance, they spotted what appeared to be a wrecked ship.  They flew over to get a closer look and it appeared to be crashed into a rocky area of the desert with no clear blaster damage on the top.  Despite its apparant condition, it did not appear to be on fire or even smoking.

They landed nearby and approached the ship cautiously.  While approaching they say a four legged creature darting off around the back of the ship.  They got closer and noticed a large tear in the undercarriage of the ship's hull.  They could hear something coming from inside the ship so they decided to investigate.  They climbed into the ship and found a large 'gator type creature eating someone pinned beneath debris.  Nearby a human was also pinned, this one moving to try and break free.  The group began blasting away at the creature until it was killed.  They assisted the other human, Jodo Biggs, and learned that he was part of a smuggling operation to bring some weapons grade hydrogen to the planet for sale to Poggle the Lesser.  The equipment, although extremely explosive, was to be part of some larger weapon, and likely not useful for fencing.   The dilemma was that he had already been paid half a million credits by an anonymous older human, identified only as "Tarsus" to deliver the goods to Poggle.  They stripped the ship of its landing gear and shield parts to repair their own ship and returned to the Geonosians to check in on them after fleeing the battle with the Jedi.

They landed again in the same area several days later to learn that the Jedi had been defeated - one killed and the other captured.  Kannon Kapos proudly showed off his new lightsaber taken from the dead jedi.  He told them that they had been torturing the Jedi and recently resorted to some medieval techniques.  They learned that there was a "secret" set of astrogation coordinates to get to the citadel but hoped that further torture would reveal an elusive way in and out of the citadel.  Kannon asked them to take over the torture process to learn this information.  They asked for time to discuss a course of action.  While on their ship talking it over, they received a hologram message from Calla the Hutt asking them to return to Tatooine for a very time-sensitive purpose that would be profitable for both sides.  Grateful for a way out, the group decided to take off and abandon geonosis.  They rigged Jodo's old ship to explode, faking his death to avoid any trouble with his seller.  The subsequent megaton explosion was enough to distract the blockade ships and allow them the opportunity to cross back through the blockade.

They landed on Mos Espa and went to visit Calla.  She revealed the reason they had wanted Barin Trevino in the first place.  Barin had purchased a liquified form a cure for a deadly virus then jettisoned that cure over the planet Rodia when he realized that the Hutts wanted it badly.  This was why their ship didn't originally have an escape pod.  Calla asked them to go to the planet and locate the escape pod with the cure.  Although he was willing to offer them a permenant 5% cut in the Disilik Hutt operation, they group negotiated a flat fee instead.  Part of the negotiations required them to also deliver a large canister (torpedo-style) to the planet Gamor along the way. 

Land there ... no there... no there...

After the shock of seeing a Jedi imprisoned, the group asked the Geonosians through the interpreter how they captured the Jedi.  They learned the Jedi a series of strikes attacked their hive a few days back, and, although another group of Jedi successfully captured Poggle, this particular group of Jedi were defeated by their defenders.  Three Jedi were killed but they captured this Jedi and have been interrogating him but have so far been unable to learn anything significant.  Unwilling to discuss their options in front of the Genosians, they agreed to go back to their ship.  While on board, Bib informed the group that he had sensed two force users approaching their direction quickly.  While assessing their options, the Jedi arrived and combat began around their ship.  As cannon fire rained down from the mountainside, they took off flying low.  When they moved a cannon shot blasted one of the jedi while the other surged forward for cover. 

The group flew their ship out of the area and landed in the desert in what appeared to be a safe clearing.  While assessing the damage to their shields, suddenly the ship lurched down and they appeared to be trapped in some sort of mud pit.  Punching their sublight engines, they pulled free and while looking for another location to land, Dekapota went into the cargo hold to inspect any damage.  Turns out one of the landing gears was damaged.  Trying to use the force to remove the sludge eating away at the gear, Dekapota pushed with too much force and broke the landing gear off the ship.  Locating a safe place to land surrounded by rocks, they set down and all but Bib and got off the ship to begin repairing the gear.  Connected to the ship was what appeared to be mud corroding the metal from the mudpit.  Using the force to begin pulling it off the ship, two large creatures came over the rocks aggressivly approaching the party.

Rwarr charged forward with his vibroaxe and began to engage the creature.  While the rest of the group dealt with the aggressive sludge and shot at the creatures from afar, Rwarr was punctured with two claw attacks and bitten almost in half.  His body was tossed behind the charging reptile.  While Bib fired away at the creature with the ship's guns, the rest of the group was able to do enough damage to drop the larger of the two creatures.  Although Zeph fell unconscious, Dekapota was able to grab him and carry him onto the ship before successfully taking off to escape yet another bad landing zone.

Geonosis Blockade

After committing to the acquisition of additional explosives, the group waited for their black market contact to get back to them.  Meanwhile, a group of three humans approached their hanger and asked for an audience.  Their leader, Kannon Kapos, explained that they had extremely precious cargo that needed to reach the people of Geonosis, who had recently been blockaded by the Republic.  Offering the group half a million credits to make the trip through the blockade with him and the goods, he hgave them 200,000 upfront when the cargo was loaded. 

After investigating the information channels, they learned that Republic blockades were extremely rare.  Five years earlier the Senator from Geonosis was censured and he was withdrawn from Coruscant after an investigation into crimes against his own people was opened.  The planet is currently undergoing a resistance movement against the Republic lead by Archduke Poggle the Lesser. 

Using their downtime to fly near the planet to inspect the likelihood of running the blockade, they decided they should install a jammer onto the ship and use the cover of the asteroids to navigate through the blockade hopefully undetected.  After installing the jammer, purchasing their thermal detonators and explosives and loading the cargo, they shot into space to the atmosphere of Geonosis.  Flying into the body of a large asteroid, their ship smashed into the edge of the asteroid damaging their shields.  However, they were able to avoid the starships and head into Geonosis.  Before leaving the view of the blockade, they noticed a pair of small starships leaving a larger ship and flying into the planet.

After landing near the entrance to a large catacomb settlement, they were greeted by inhabitants and learned that the buyer for the cargo, Poggle the Lesser, was recently kidnapped by the Republic and sent to the Citadel, a large prison on a planet near Coruscant.  Disappointed in their lack of a buyer, the group threatened Kannon, who insisted he could only offer them 100,000 more for their ride.  However, the Geonosians requested an audience and a job.  In return for rescuing Poggle from the Citadel, the Geonosans promised the group 2.5 million credits.  While getting in and out of the prison planet seems impossible the Geonosians claimed to have information that would make it possible.  They escorted the group into the catacombs to a small chamber with a human jedi, imprisoned in an energy shield.