The Emperor's Merry Band

When last we left our Merry Band of Mutinous Poets they had decided that rather than fighting against or going around the Imperial machine they would become a part of it. Fortunately for them monolithic institutions such as the Imperial Army are a breeding ground for officers and agents looking for a way to make some credits and establish petty fiefdoms. One such officer happens to be assigned to Tatooine, Lieutenant Willas Halo, a former non-commissioned officer whose ruthless knack for population suppression saw him bumped up to CO status. The Merry Band has little trouble locating Lt. Halo and his goons as the imperials have set themselves up like archaic tax collectors in the middle of the Brazen Bazaar.

Edward, the intrepid droid, decides to approach the Imperials as a humble, wayward droid seeking a purpose in life, a way to fulfill his programming. The Imperials, while not quite taken in by his humble-farm-droid routine, see a possible solution to a hiccup in the elaborate extortion racket they have been running across Mos Gerrhon. Lt. Halo sends Edward to Sergeant Shamel, one of his more competent cronies, who quickly lays out a possible droid chop-shop where Edward and the other members of the Merry Band can prove their usefulness. Now it is time for the Merry Band to get down to business.

The set-up was simple really. A droid chop-shop in the slums of town known as the Squats. A small band of petty thugs worked inside a converted speeder garage hacking apart stolen automatons and selling their various purloined parts. With a little help from canny Id and some exceptional positioning on the part of Arri the Merry Band unleashed a torrent of destruction upon the unsuspecting gangers. As gangers dropped like flies to Edward and Arri's blaster fire the T'Surr stormed the floor carving meat and cleaving bone with his vibroblade, until a death rattle and the hiss of cooling blaster barrels the chop-shop was cleared.

Quite satisfied with themselves the Merry Band pilfered the fallen criminals at their leisure, of course this was after putting out a fire that had started a midst the furious salvo (and narrowly avoiding the catastrophic combustion of several droid power cores). Their enemies fallen and the pockets lined the Merry Band proudly declared their operation a success to their new employer. Sgt. Shamel seemed pleased, but proceeded to inform them that now the real work begins...