                                Star Wars 

                           Wizard's RPG Stories

          source : http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/newsarchive
          upload : 10.IV.2006


     Cularin at Night

     Scenario Supplement for Night's Friend

     By Morrie Mullins

     Former Living Force Plot Director and Campaign Designer

     Cularin at night isn't what it used to be. Rumors abound about  Thaereian
thugs scouring the streets in the dead of night to round  up  malcontents  and
innocents alike - - folks who are rarely seen again. This latest supplement to
the Living Force campaign ties into the October scenario, Night's Friend,  the
second part of the "Night Eyes" trilogy.

     These streets were fair

     And full of life;

     These streets were kind

     And made for dreams.

     These streets are dark

     And promise strife;

     Cularin's moved

     Beyond our means.

     - - Graffiti found on the outer wall of a warehouse in Gadrin

     Old Ezil? Nope. Haven't seen him. The old man didn't ever do anything but
sit over in the corner and talk bad about anyone and anything that came to the
planet. He was worse than a Tarasin,  most  of  the  time.  Thinking  he  knew
everything that was going on, giving advice nobody  wanted.  People  what  had
brains in their heads, they didn't even listen.  But  there's  always  a  few,
right?

     Nah, you don't want to talk to me. I saw the old man, and I  listened  to
him, but I never believed half of  what  he  said.  Besides,  he  mainly  ever
thought about what happened during the day.  Oh,  he  thought  he  knew  about
pirates and smugglers and all sorts of bad things, but like most of  the  old-
timers, when the suns went down, he hobbled off and fell  into  his  bed,  and
then he missed most of the things he wanted to be talking about. No,  I  don't
care that he said he knew what was going on at night. He  slept  through  half
the things what happened around Cularin, and the most  important  ones  -  the
ones that would scare you stupid, leave you drooling like a  Kowakian  monkey-
lizard on spice - he never knew about at all. 'Cause they happened  at  night.
That's the way of things.

     Now, what's that all about? Flashing a credstick at  me  like  you  think
it'll make a difference. Why should I talk to you about anything I don't know?
Here, lemme see that credstick. Hmm... look, you aren't asking easy questions,
and there aren't easy answers. I might know one or two things I could talk  to
you about, but you gotta know that there's stuff that nobody  knows.  I  mean,
old Ezil, he talked and talked like he knew what was what. He didn't, no  more
than I do. Not for sure, at least. But there's a few  things  I  figured  out,
things I seen at night what would make you quiver.

     See, now, you're lookin' at me like you think I'm gonna talk about  those
crazy Tarasin witches that the holo-bim talked about a  few  weeks  back.  Not
even gonna happen. The scariest thing on Cularin's not Tarasin. Most  of  them
are harmless. Just foolish types, not actually doing anything to hurt  people.
More scare than substance.

     Nah, the main threat on the streets, the one what scares all us, is those
folks from Thaere. Was easier when they stayed hid, didn't  come  out  in  the
open, but these patrols... they say they got  jurisdiction,  right?  But  they
aren't law around here. I got friends in OPS, and Thaere's people are ignoring
OPS. Might as well be that OPS don't exist. That's how much Thaere listens  to
them. And now they got the right to do  whatever  they  want?  Since  when?  I
watched that debate thing that the holo-bim ran, just like you did. Just  like
most people did, what cared about what's going on in Cularin.  Sounded  to  me
like Thaere had to follow local rules.

     They aren't. Like I got to tell you that. What  Thaere's  been  doing  at
night, though... I mean, parading around in their little uniforms  with  their
big guns during the day is one thing. But at night, they  keep  the  guns  and
ditch the uniforms.

     Don't believe me? Then how about this: Tell  me  where  Vad  Kirn,  Horis
Byrla, Anistia Qu, and Rof Barrges have gone. Or old Ezil. Or any of a  couple
hundred others. This ain't like the time when Nim'Ri and Gerta and  them  took
off for the hills. This is people being taken. And yeah, I guess  we  kind  of
thought it might be people being taken then, too, but  we  were  wrong.  Maybe
we're wrong again.

     Speaking of Nim'Ri, word is now that he's not  here  because  he  "headed
home." You find that funny? I sure do. Since my  big  lizardboy  was  born  in
Cularin. He didn't head back to wherever it is them Trandoshans come from.  He
got took. You look like maybe you know something about that  -  -  what's  the
word? Me, I figure that after everything he did for the  system,  he  wouldn't
leave just because things was getting rough. If anything, he'd hang around and
make sure that they started getting better. But he wouldn't be leaving. So  my
guess is, he's dead, and if I had to lay blame, I'd put it on Thaere.  Summary
of the "Night Eyes" Trilogy The "protection" offered by the  Thaereians  often
includes harsh justice - - harsh enough that many  citizens  of  Cularin  have
become  increasingly  resentful  of  the  Thaereian  presence.  Senator  Wren,
however, maintains that Thaere has her support. Could she possibly know  their
cruelty?

     Anyway, back to Thaere and them being here and  doing  things  at  night.
Some of what they do is arrests. I seen it myself. I almost got caught in  one
of their sweeps, about a week back. The thing is, they  don't  much  care  who
they get. At least, not that night. Probably not any of the others, far as  it
goes. They just wanted to get somebody. Maybe they have targets  other  times,
but that night they just walked down the street in these black  uniforms  -  -
you couldn't hardly see them at all - - and whenever they come to somebody who
was in the street at night,  they  just  went  all  stun-baton  happy  on  the
person's neck. Front of the neck, too. They laughed. Sounded to me  like  they
was having a "twitch" contest. Shock someone, see how long they twitched after
you took the shock off. They had this droid  cart  behind  them,  just  coming
along and scooping up the folks they knocked out. Every time the droid  picked
someone up, it'd say, "You are under arrest. You  are  being  detained."  Then
it'd drop them into its back-end, usually head first.

     Yeah, I know. Hard to believe, right? You ask the Thaereians about  these
nighttime sweeps, you know what they'd say? That they're taking  care  of  the
criminal element. Making everybody safe. Nobody's going  to  dispute  them,  I
guess, since they think nobody's seen them do what they do,  and  anyone  what
says something is likely to be "detained" next time they do a sweep. For all I
know, that could be tonight. Which is why it ain't good to talk about, and why
I ain't saying nothing to no one who might repeat it. You ain't recording  any
of this, right? But that... that ain't even the worst of it.

     See, the bone that Thaere's throwing to OPS, to keep  them  shut  up,  is
that crime really is down. Guess if you "detain" enough people at night,  then
you're gonna get a lot of the rough-and-tumble types, the ones  what  might've
been looking to cause trouble. They want folks to  think  that's  their  whole
goal, but if that was their goal, how come there's other  folks  disappearing,
too? I know folks who ain't around any more. Some of them, maybe they deserved
to get detained. Some of them didn't do nothing, though. But  because  crime's
down, even if OPS is kinda getting run over by  Thaere,  OPS  isn't  gonna  do
nothing about it.

     Besides, our "beloved" Senator says that Thaere's okay  by  her,  and  we
should all be happy that they're willing to protect us. What I wanna know  is,
when's the next election? Let's get that cow out of office and put someone  in
who actually wants something good for Cularin. Just forget  all  those  rumors
about how she's some descendant of Reidi Artom -  -  no  descendant  of  Reidi
Artom would ever let this kind of thing happen in Cularin. You  don't  take  a
place that your great-grandmother found and named and brought the  galaxy  to,
and then flush it. Wren's a politician. No better or worse  than  any  of  the
rest of them.

     Which is to say, she's pretty bad, if you ask me.

     You keep looking at me crooked. Let me tell you... I don't like that. You
look at me straight, or you just peddle your rump back out the door. You  paid
me to talk, you didn't pay me to put up with you thinking I  don't  know  what
I'm talking about. You don't like what I got to say? Fine. Leave. You  already
got your cred's worth.

     Yeah. What I thought. So, we'll skip the political stuff. There's been  a
few times what people who had friends or family get detained went to  OPS  and
asked what was up, and then they went to some Thaereian patrol and asked  what
was up. You do this, from what I hear, first thing what happens  is  you  fill
out form after form after form. OPS, used to be, would start looking  for  the
missing person while you did a few forms, but not a whole load.  Thaere,  they
don't look until every form is filed. Perfectly. They don't want to go out and
do this stuff, you gotta understand. They don't care. Watch their  faces  when
you want them to actually do something. They roll their eyes, they look  away,
they check the clock - - anything to keep them  from  dealing  with  you.  Not
good, you ask me. Not good.

     But you fill out all those forms - - and this is true for  every  one  of
the people I've talked to who went and talked to the Thaereians about  finding
someone who'd gone missing - - and within 24 hours, you get a  call.  Case  is
unsolvable. Sorry,  we  can't  help  you.  No  clues  on  Cularin  as  to  the
whereabouts of your missing individual, and our branch is autonomous from  all
the other branches in the system. No, we won't coordinate a search. We're here
to protect you, not to make search parties. People leave planets all the time.
You want another base to do some searching, you go to that base and  you  fill
out their forms. No, we can't transfer your forms to them, because their forms
are different. And so on, and so on.

     In other words, they look just long enough to know that the person's  not
on the planet and then they stop looking. And you know how they know  so  fast
that the person's not on Cularin? It ain't a sensor sweep. My friend  Jex,  he
sat outside the Thaereian warehouse  in  Hedrett,  near  the  groundport,  and
monitored their transmissions. Didn't listen in, just checked to see what kind
of data was being sent. Nothing showed anything like a search.  Just  standard
transmissions for the whole day. No particular effort  made  to  find  anyone,
near as he could tell. But 24 hours after he finished the  forms  they  commed
him and said, "Your brother isn't here." How'd they know that if  they  didn't
do anything? Huh?

     Look, I gotta go. I talk too much, and I don't need more  trouble'n  I've
already got. So you just leave, and I'll leave, and we can both walk  careful.
Cause there's bad things going on, and the worst of it's at night.

     [The preceding was a transcription of a recorded voice-only  conversation
posted to the Cularin holonet by anonymous sources earlier this  week.  Thaere
has not acknowledged any of the charges made, except to verify that yes, crime
is down on Cularin.]