Introduction

This adventure is designed for a party of 4 adventurers of 3rd level. It takes place in the High Republic era, during the events of the Light of the Jedi novel. In this story-driven adventure, the player characters have volunteered to (or been recruited by) the Galactic Republic and Jedi as they respond to a mysterious large-scale disaster in a system in the Outer Rim.

Part I - Call to action

Opening Crawl

THE GREAT DISASTER RESCUE

Calamity strikes! A number of strange hyperspace anomalies have entered the heavily populated HETZAL SYSTEM, threatening billions of lives.

While STARLIGHT BEACON, a massive Republic space station in the Outer Rim, is not yet fully operational, heroes within are mobilizing as most of the Outer Rim flees from the event in terror.

JEDI MASTER AVAR KRISS has put forth a last minute call for volunteers before her ship responds to the catastrophe….

Starlight Beacon

The characters begin on Starlight Beacon. Why they are there is up to them: Jedi characters may have been assigned to the Jedi Temple, other characters may be travelers using the station as a waypoint, mercenaries looking for work or even Republic soldiers waiting for their next assignment.

Regardless of why they are on the station, the characters are all responding to a general call for volunteers by one of the senior Jedi on the station, Master Avar Kriss. Kriss has instructed any volunteers to immediately report to the docking bay.

When the characters arrive at the docking bay, the scene is one of controlled chaos. The huge bay is full of shuttles and Longbeam cruisers, all in the process of being crewed, refueled or taking off. In space, just outside the docking bay, hangs an Emissary-class Republic cruiser, the Third Horizon. Several smaller ships and shuttles are docking with the huge cruiser.

A crowd of volunteers are being sorted by a Republic Defense Coalition officer, who asks for their name and any special skills they may have. For those that ask for a reward, the officer brusquely notes that a credit reward will be dispensed upon completion of the mission. Once everyone in the party has done so, the officer directs the party toward a Longbeam cruiser making final preparations for takeoff.

The characters are greeted at the boarding ramp by a Zabrak male in his mid 30s named Brastix, a good natured but somewhat inexperienced RDC officer. He brings the characters to the bridge, just as a message comes in from the Third Horizon, a last call for ships to dock before it departs. Brastix notes that his ship, the Aurora VII, is undermanned but is equipped with an advanced sensor suite. He can double as both captain and pilot, but if any of the characters are capable, they can stand in for the pilot and/or sensor tech roles.

Once the Aurora VII docks with the Third Horizon, the huge cruiser maneuvers away from Starlight Beacon and makes the jump to hyperspace.

Once the cruiser is underway, all ships receive a signal from the Third Horizon. Brastix routes the signal to the bridge’s holoemitters, and a holo of a female Jedi, with shoulder-length blonde hair held in place by a gold circlet, light skin and blue eyes, looking solemn and regal in her jedi robes. She provides the following briefing:

Transmission from the Third Horizon

“This is Master Avar Kriss on board the Third Horizon to all ships. Thank you for joining this rescue effort. We’re currently en route to the Hetzal System, a populated trinary system here in the Outer Rim.

It’s suffering some measure of serious emergency, though we know very little detail. We received a partial distress call from a monitoring station that triggered a system-wide emergency alert before going silent.

We’ll be arriving in the system within the hour. Be ready for anything. Good luck to all. Remember - we are all the Republic!”

Part II - Arrival

The Third Horizon emerges from hyperspace on the outskirts of the Hetzal System. The Aurora VII receives instructions to remain docked with the larger cruiser. Brastix remarks that the charts say that the monitoring station is supposed to be nearby, but there’s nothing on sensors.

Part III - Evacuation

The Third Horizon has arrived in orbit and is deploying all of its docked ships: over 2 dozen Longbeam cruisers and over 50 Jedi Vector fighters, all of which are spreading out all over the system.

Brastix relays orders from the Third Horizon: the characters will be dropped off at the Museum Immemorial, a museum that houses some of Hetzal Prime’s best minds and most historically significant technological advances (Author’s note: similar to the Smithsonian Institute). There, they must gather the staff for evacuation, while Brastix takes the ship back into orbit so the fleet can gather more information on the hyperspace anomalies.

Smaller pieces of debris are already striking the planet and moons with devastating effects, and the characters only have two hours before a large piece of debris strikes the area containing the Museum Immemorial, decimating the surrounding area.

The characters can maneuver the Aurora VII toward the Museum Immemorial, located in a more sparsely populated agricultural area, with a landable location located near the main entrance. The building itself is an immense, three-story-tall structure artistically constructed of carved stone and a roofed with grassy flora that gives it an earthy feel despite the gargantuan nature of the structure.

As the characters leave the ship, Brastix offers a commlink to whomever of the characters he believes would be best suited to be in charge, likely a Jedi or one who is affiliated with the Republic. The commlink is hooked up to the fleet network.

Time limit

Characters only have two hours to complete the extraction and evacuate before the debris impacts the surface and destroys the museum and the surrounding area. This will force characters to work together to complete challenges and leave time for a possible short rest before the final conflict in Part IV. However, the GM should feel free to adjust the time remaining (communicated via commlink) if it is beneficial to the flow of the game.

Hetzal Prime

Region: Outer Rim Territories
Suns: 3, including R-type star
Moons: 2 (populated)
Population: 40 billion sentients
Major exports: Agriculture, experimental bacta

Commlink Transmissions

At the GM’s discretion, the characters can use the commlink to communicate with Brastix on the Aurora VII and receive updates on the system wide crisis, as the ship is equipped with a sophisticated sensor array. The updates below are provided in rough chronological order.

Update
The hyperspace debris appears to be ship parts from a ship blown apart in hyperspace
The Jedi have sensed that some of the debris have passengers that are still alive and are attempting rescue
The Third Horizon is landing near a major city to pick up as many civilians as possible.

Museum Immemorial

Exterior. Outside the Museum Immemorial, speeder parking and other landing pads appear completely deserted, and there does not appear to be any civilians around, however there do seem to be a few speeder bikes parked outside the main entrance. A large blast door that leads into the building is closed. A holo next to the door reads “CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.”

Upon inspection, the secure outer doors appear to have been recently cut open using a fusion cutter, and access to the lobby can be gained without issue.

Lobby. This brightly lit chamber is designed to funnel people into and out of the main hangar chamber ahead, which is sectioned from the lobby by sliding glass doors. Two inactive droids appear on either side of the entrance (close inspection reveals that several key components have been sabotaged by a cutting tool, rendering them inoperable. The Thugs in the Artifacts Room disabled them before entering). Holos play along the walls advertising the various attractions inside the museum, including starships, droids and agricultural and pharmaceutical achievements. A half-dozen kiosks on the west side of the chamber advertise entry badges for 3 credits each. Close inspection of one of the kiosks reveals that it has been forced open. Inside are 17 additional entry badges and 293 credits.
The east side of the lobby is made up of tables of various sizes, with various tchotchkes including scale ship models, stylized caf containers, low concentration bacta test tubes and more.
The glass doors are locked, only opening if the approaching humanoid has an entry badge. It has AC10 and 5HP. Most attacks shatter the glass, alerting the thugs in the Artifacts area.

Ship Plaques

Each ship has an ornate, engraved plaque on a stand in front of it.

Large ship: THE SIRENA. A multi-purpose vessel, the Sirena was in the original convoy to colonize Hetzal Prime over 200 years ago, and was subsequently used as an agricultural seed ship, patrol ship and delivery of the first shipment of Hetzalian barley with an armed droid escort before she was retired. Though she will never fly again, she remains here for the appreciation of all. Long time ship astromech B3-EP remains by her side.

Fighters: SCYTHE-CLASS CROPDUSTER. Agricultural one-man ship, the Scythe-class Mark I, Mark II, Mark III and Mark IV were iterations on a design used by Hetzalians who had the need to maintain their first crops before droids were widely available. Each featured significant updates from the previous model until they were phased out 100 years ago.

Examination of B3-EP reveals that the droid is mostly intact except for weaponry and power converter being removed. A droid power converter can be found in the Artifacts room and can be installed with a DC12 Technology check and 10 minutes per installation attempt. The check is automatically successful if using Astrotech Implements.

If activated, B3-EP is grateful for being included with the characters’ group, but will notify them (in a dialect of Binary that involves mainly beeping at varying volume levels) that some of his cognitive functions are disabled due to age.

It will not suggest any courses of action to the group, but will be as helpful as it can for any of the characters’ needs. He can automatically lower the landing ramp of the Sirena without performing a check and can perform any checks involving repairs of the Sirena with advantage. He also has knowledge of the droid defenses onboard the Sirena but will not volunteer that knowledge unless asked.

Boryl

Medium humanoid, neutral dark

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• Armor Class 14 (combat suit)
• Hit Points 30 (4d8 + 12)
• Speed 30 ft

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
12 (+1)	12 (+1)	15 (+2)	9 (-1)	11 (+0)	14 (+2)

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• Skills Athletics +3, Intimidation +5
• Senses passive Perception 10
• Languages Galactic Basic
• Challenge 1 (200 XP)

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Traits

Aggressive. As a bonus action, Boryl can move up to his speed toward a hostile creature that he can see.

Reckless. At the start of his turn, Boryl can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls during that turn, but attack rolls against him have advantage until the start of his next turn.

Actions

Vibroaxe. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, one target. Hit: 9 (1d12 + 3) kinetic damage.

Blaster Carbine. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 60/240 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6+1) energy damage.

Fusion Cutter Thug

Medium humanoid, chaotic balanced

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• Armor Class 16 (durasteel armor)
• Hit Points 16 (2d10 + 6)
• Speed 30 ft

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
13 (+1)	14 (+2)	16 (+3)	10 (+0)	10 (+0)	9 (-1)

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• Skills Technology +2
• Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
• Languages Galactic Basic
• Challenge 1/2 (100 XP)

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Actions

Fragmentation Grenade (3/day). The thug throws a grenade, choosing a point within 35 feet. Each creature within 10 feet must make a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 2d6 kinetic damage on a failed save, or half as much as on a successful one.

Blaster Pistol. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 40/160 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) energy damage.

Blaster Thug (X2)

Medium humanoid, chaotic balanced

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• Armor Class 13 (combat suit)
• Hit Points 13 (2d8+4)
• Speed 30 ft

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
10 (+0)	14 (+2)	15 (+2)	9 (-1)	10 (+0)	10 (+0)

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• Senses passive Perception 10
• Languages Galactic Basic
• Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)

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Actions

Multiattack. The thug makes two blaster carbine attacks or two vibroblade attacks.

Blaster Carbine. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 60/240 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) energy damage. Vibroblade. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) kinetic damage.

Extraction

Once all scientists agree to extract, the characters can signal the Aurora VII for pickup. Brastix acknowledges the signal, and characters can exit the museum and await the ship’s arrival. If appropriate, Brastix communicates the information from the Commlink Transmissions sidebar at the beginning of this chapter.

Just as the Longbeam cruiser comes into visual range, an urgent message comes over the commlink from Master Avar Kriss onboard the Third Horizon: a new piece of debris, while smaller than the impending impact the characters have already been aware of, has exited hyperspace close to the planet and is closing in fast! Brastix confirms he’s going to come in for pickup as quickly as possible.

The characters watch as the silhouette of the Aurora VII appears in the sky, heading toward them. But then a sudden streak of an object flashes down through the heavens, striking the ground a few miles away. The shockwave sends the Aurora VII tumbling out of control, and it explodes in a ball of fire as it gets close. A moment later, the shockwave hits the characters, knocking any standing outside off their feet, shattering the front windows of the Museum. The structure shudders, and the characters can make out a partial collapse of the ceiling of the building.

Any call for help is responded to by jedi aboard the Third Horizon, who let the characters know that no other extraction method won’t arrive in time. It’s up to the characters to find another way off the planet.

Part IV - Desperation

Debris rains down overhead outside the museum after the impact. For every 30 seconds a character is outside, they must do a DC14 Dexterity saving throw, and suffer 2d6 kinetic damage on failure or half as much on success.

The nearby impact has caused significant structural damage to the museum. In the lobby, most of the glass has shattered and tables are knocked over.

The hangar doors on the ceiling of the Hangar room, hidden before now, have partially collapsed, crushing the front halves of the Scythe fighters underneath and giving a view of the sky overhead.

If the characters are unsure what to do next, Dr. Typho suggests their only hope is to get the Sirena working in the Hangar area.

The Sirena's engine room

Boarding and Repairs

Boarding the Sirena requires accessing a loading ramp that cannot be manipulated by an exterior control point. The only way to lower it is to restore B3-EP and request he lower the ramp.

Hallway. The ramp leads up to a hallway in the middle of the ship. Dim interior lights illuminate, indicating there must be some measure of power left on board. The hall leads to openings at the front (bridge), side (modular bay) and rear (engine room).

Engine Room. A layer of dust on the controls indicates that nobody has been in the engine room in some time, though all the hardware appears to be intact. The main interface panel is operational, right next to a droid interface port. B3-EP can, if requested, plug in and acquire the list of repairs required. This takes 5 minutes, or 10 minutes for any character to run the diagnostic manually instead.

The diagnostic reveals that ship power reserves are at 5%, with the only power draw being diverted to the Modular Bay. 5% should be enough to lift off. All that is required to get the ship going is reactivating the ship’s power modulator, which can be done instantly by anyone with Technology proficiency.

Success on a DC17 Perception check reveals a small ventilation shaft that opens to a tiny crawlspace.

Modular Bay. The huge lower level runs from one side of the ship to the other, and is clearly designed to be modular (for example, cargo or extra living quarters). The only exception is four droid power sockets that are connected to the ship’s main power grid. On the nearby wall, a smaller-than-human-sized ventilation shaft entrance has been opened.

Bridge. Many of the bridge consoles and chairs have been removed, replaced with dust that has caked most of the remaining surfaces. Light streams into the dim room from the open hangar doors through the cockpit window.. One basic station remains that controls a basic sensor suite and piloting controls, but they are not operational until power is restored.

Success on a DC17 Perception check reveals a small ventilation shaft that opens to a tiny crawlspace.

Lifting Off

With power restored, the characters are able to gain control over the Sirena’s propulsion systems, either one of the characters or B3-EP is able to navigate the ship out of the museum and toward open space.

As they do, one aged but large and obviously heavily armed Anti-Piracy Droid with two floating Combat Remote escorts burst from the ventilation shafts on the bridge. The large Anti-Piracy Droid intones “Pirates have been detected. This ship must be returned to the museum,” then attempts to take control of the ship at the helm console with the Combat Remotes creating a perimeter. Negotiating with the droid is impossible, and allowing the droid to take control means the destruction of the ship and the characters with it. If the players interfere with that action or attack, the droid group engages.

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Anti-Piracy Droid

Medium droid, unaligned

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• Armor Class 17 (armor plating)
• Hit Points 58 (9d8 + 18)
• Speed 30 ft

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
15 (+2)	16 (+3)	14 (+2)	14 (+2)	15 (+2)	11 (+0)

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• Skills Perception +4, Piloting +5, Technology +5
• Damage Vulnerabilities Ion
• Damage Resistances Necrotic, Poison, Psychic
• Condition Immunities poisoned, diseased
• Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
• Languages Binary, Galactic Basic
• Challenge 4 (1,100 XP)

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Traits

Circuitry. The droid has disadvantage on saving throws against effects that would deal ion or lightning damage.

Actions

Multiattack. The Anti-Piracy droid makes two weapon attacks with its strike or wrist blaster.

Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4+2) kinetic damage.

Wrist Blaster. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 60/240 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6+3) energy damage.

Wrist Blaster Volley (Recharge 5-6). The Anti-Piracy droid sprays a 10-foot-cube area within normal range with shots. Each creature in the area must make a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw, taking normal weapon damage on a failed save.

Part V - Finale

With the Anti-Piracy Droid defeated, the Sirena is able to depart the planet surface just in time, as the hyperspace debris races past the ship and impacts on the surface, completely leveling the Museum Immemorial and the surrounding several miles.

With that, the mission is accomplished. Rescue operations continue on Hetzal Prime and its two moons, and the ship’s antiquated sensors are picking up several Republic and Jedi ships in the process of destroying or halting the larger pieces of debris. The Third Horizon is taking off from one of the highest population centers on the planet, and can easily take the Sirena into its docking bays. A drift of Jedi Vectors pull into formation nearby, heading away from the planet toward the Third Horizon to dock.

Move it! Kriss is drawing upon the effort of the Jedi, trying to force the canister to change trajectory. Her will urges you on: “We WILL move it.”

The canister changes its trajectory, but it isn’t enough to avoid the star. Characters involved in this effort can sense many Jedi losing consciousness from the sheer effort. Outside the ship, one Jedi pilot loses consciousness and crashes his Vector into another’s ship, with three total destroyed.

MOVE IT! With one final push, Kriss reaches out, drawing together what strength remains with the Jedi in the system. The cadence of her use of the Force intones: “WE WILL MOVE IT, and it will not hit the sun!”

Forcecasting result	Effect
1-9	Suffer 2 levels of exhaustion
10-15	Suffer 1 level of exhaustion
16+	No effect

The tibanna canister is finally nudged completely clear of the sun, slingshotting around the star and out into open space. The contents of the canister are heated to dangerous levels, but immediately begin to cool off.

Kriss calls out to the fleet, sounding exhausted, but confirms the success of deflecting the canister, and even confirms that most of the largest pieces of shrapnel have been destroyed or recovered, with innumerable lives saved. The day is won!

Rewarding Jedi Efforts

> Any Force-using characters that live through participation of each stage of Master Avar Kriss’s plan to move the liquid tibanna container gain a permanent +1 to their Wisdom stat.

Return to Starlight

As the crisis has passed, all ships are able to return to and dock with Starlight Beacon. Waiting in the oversized docking bay is a crowd of civilians, greeting those that return with a cheer, and an RDC officer rewards the characters with an amount of credits based on the table below. Characters will gain access to Jedi Master Nubarron’s stores onboard Starlight Beacon.

Objective Complete	Credits Received Each
Saved the Hetzal System	1000
Recovered the Sirena	600
Recovered gilded mandoviol	300
Recovered bacta sample	300
Recovered master ice melon	300