As the opening crawl vanishes into deep space the camera pans down to a lone Nebulon-B frigate in rout to an unknown destination. As the ship slowly passes your vantage point it singles out one of the passing windows zooming in, through the glass to a clean white briefing room with several benches wrapping smoothly round a holographic projector seated on a riser in the center of the room. Next to the projector is a man standing at attention dressed in an Alderaanuan ship officer's uniform, and a small yellow-and-silver astromech droid that whistles softly as it interfaces with the computer system. Standing in front of the projector is Captain Verana (a man that you have all met with individually prior to the beefing). Sitting in the benches are a mix of creatures that appear to have come from across the Galaxy.
The Captain begins, "Thank you all for coming. You have been gathered be here today because each of you has expressed your distrust of the newly formed Empire and have taken action,” he says as he makes eye contact with each creature in the briefing room, “to restore the freedoms that we have lost.” He pauses for a moment before continuing, “Our benefactor shares your distrust and has begun organizing individuals like yourselves into a resistance against the Empire.” Pausing once again to consider his words carefully, “If you wish to continue your fight, not as individuals, but as the beginning of a movement that
will change the fate of the Galaxy, I present you this opportunity. If you are willing to help relay that groundwork of freedom, at the risk of great peril possibly even death coupled with the potential of great rewards, please stay seated. If what I ask of you is beyond your willingness to be involved, please see the lieutenant who is waiting out in the hallway.”
The Captain folds his hands behind his back and stands at attention for a few minutes allowing any the opportunity to leave. As he waits one human gets up and exits the room leaving seven creatures seated around the projector. A short time later the Captain continues motioning with his hand to the man standing behind him, “This is former Imperial Admiral Gilder Varth. He has just recently joined us here. Varth is in possession of valuable information pertaining to the clandestine activities of the Empire.” Turning to the formal Admiral, “you have the floor.”
With a brusque clearing of his throat, Gilder Varth begins to speak, wasting no time on pleasantries. “Before the Empire decided my conscience was a liability,” he says, “I was involved peripherally in a top-secret plan known as the Sarlacc Project. While the details of the project are unknown to me, I was involved in the transfer of large sums of credits and resources to the project. Whatever the project entails, it is taking up a lot of the Empire’s time and effort. Moreover, I believe that this Sarlacc Project is destroying the lives of thousands of sentient beings; casualty reports crossed my desk on a regular basis.
“Unfortunately, I don’t know much more than that. However, during my brief brushes with the project, I discovered that the Imperial Navy was hiding the program’s existence from the Senate by transferring resources through secondary sources. Resources were routed through the Corporate Sector, through fake contractors, and through the criminal underworld to keep a trail from leading back to the project.
From some unseen queue the projector springs to life, and the blue-tinted hologram of a Hutt appears to hover a few inches away from the projector’s three curved prongs. “One such secondary source was a Hutt crime lord named Darga. Like all Hutts, Darga is a slimy gangster whose love of credits is exceeded only by his love of power. Part of my job involved transferring resources to Darga, and in turn arranging for Imperial agents to take control of other resources from the Hutt’s organization. These were not simply transfers of credits. The items being traded were not specified, but physical resources were definitely being exchanged. Though it’s not much, this is the only lead we have.
“Captain Verana has charged me with helping to uncover more about the Sarlacc Project, and he has authorized me to use you as my agents. We need you to travel to the planet of Cato Neimoidia and find Darga the Hutt. See if you can learn what he is trading in and how it relates to the Sarlacc Project.”
"Questions."