Beacon Company

Beacon Company was the name of the first campaign run by the Beacons of the Galaxy.

The Condor
In 3,950 BBY, one year after the conclusion of the Dark Wars, a desperate Republic created the Beacon Company initiative to purge the rampant crime from the Outer Rim. They offered skilled individuals (often criminals) generous rewards (and often pardons) to man an elite force sent into the reaches of space in an effort to solidify the Republic's expansion effort.

One of the incipient missions of the fledgling Beacon Company was to recover information from a Republic outpost on Mon Calamari with which the Republic had lost contact during the Dark Wars. This crew included Bendarin Fellspire, Kavel Caranthyr, Kyja Avery, Zanno Takali, Frocukkabukk, Kosta'ken, and Ves Trano. The operation was overseen by Admiral Velikan of the Republic Navy, and the party's division was led by Captain Renarus of the Condor.

Upon arriving in the Mon Calamari system, the Condor came under attack by agents of the Exchange Syndicate, led by Tarask Kahzan. The ship was crippled in orbit and plummeted down to the planet's ocean-covered surface, where it became lodged deep in the water.

The few surviving members of Beacon Company fought through Exchange soldiers to the bridge of the Condor, where they confronted and defeated Kahzan and his men, at the same time rescuing Admiral Velikan and a Republic officer, Furvus Malos. They executed Kahzan's crew and took him prisoner. This plan was widely regarded as a bad move by all except its primary proponent, Kosta'ken.

In an effort to escape the ship, Beacon Company began moving towards the lower levels of the Condor where the mission's submersibles were stored. In the maintenance levels, they reassembled an astromech droid called T2-44, and met a service droid called TD-12. While T2, now Zanno's property, was rather independent and quirky (to put it mildly to the point of falsehood), the friendly TD was reprogrammed by Bendarin Fellspire and soon became a force for good in the group. Beacon Company also encountered a Republic prisoner held in the brig, a Sullustan dressed in a grey jumpsuit, though they were unable to release him in time (see Hol'dorr).

When they reached the submersible docking bay, they encountered an Exchange-paid Mandalorian mercenary named Roordrak Berin, who attempted to commandeer one of the submersibles; the party thwarted his effort, and he used his jetpack to escape into the ocean. The surviving crew members of Beacon Company claimed one of the submersibles -- unfortunately, the submersible had some inconvenient size constraints, and some of the survivors had to be left behind.

Deepridge Station
The party made it to the surface in the damaged submersible, abandoning it in the water and swimming to a nearby island. They encountered Berin on the island, and they resolved to join forces with him to escape the planet (due in no small part to the urging of Kahzan). The party discovered a Mon Calamari biological research base called RC-B2M, and they were able to use the base's equipment to find the exact location of Deepridge Station (despite an altercation between the base's administration and Zanno Takali).

The party took one of RC-B2M's submersibles down to Deepridge Station, which was discovered to be a listening post. The station was ravaged with battle scars, and the party was unable to find any survivors. They did, however, discover a secret lower level in which Sith corpses were held in force cages; apparently, a group of (possibly rogue) Jedi (led by Vultan Riken) had been interrogating them to discover information about an artifact called the Mind Collector.

At this time, Berin took the opportunity to wipe the Deepridge Station computer, erasing all records (for reasons later uncovered). He blasted out one of the windows and surged through the water with his jetpack, leaving the party for dead. They managed to escape aboard the submersible.

Coruscant
The scientists at RC-B2M offered the bedraggled party a shuttle with which to reach the orbital station; there, the party was reacquired by a Republic Thranta-class warship called the Breach. Admiral Velikan (having been, unbeknownst to the party, bribed by Kahzan), turned on the party and asserted that they were Exchange spies who had compromised the mission. The party was imprisoned on Coruscant, with the exception of Captain Renarus, who was esteemed enough to avoid scrutiny.

Kahzan chose this moment to inform the party that he had arranged for a rendez-vous on Nar Shaddaa (expect to see those words quite a lot) with some of the Exchange higher-ups, and that unless the party found a way out of prison soon, they'd miss it. The party, realizing that a meeting with the Exchange might be the only way to clear their names, agreed to help, though there was another plot-important reason: Kahzan knew that the Exchange held information about the disappearance of Vultan Riken and his rogue Jedi (information that Berin had recently wiped from the computer systems of Deepridge Station).

In the prison, they met an odd fellow by the name of Zeppy who claimed to have been T2-44's previous owner. This has, to this day, remained unconfirmed.

Either way, T2-44 arrived at the summons of his master and busted the party out of jail, at which point they stole away in a freighter that they dubbed The Astral Tortoise, tragically losing Republic officer Furvus in the process. Aboard, they found one of the Tortoise's crew members asleep in the cargo hold -- his name was Dreyo Vin-Saar, and though his time with the party was short indeed, his impact cannot be understated. In a word: 'Heh.'

Nar Shaddaa
The party made for Nar Shaddaa aboard the Astral Tortoise.

They also found an emotionally traumatized droid called TX-11.

Notably, the party discovered that Zanno Takali's father had been assassinated by ex-assassin Kosta'ken, and Kyja Avery also got buzz-sawed by T2 for trying to help.

They arrived on the Smuggler's Moon and found it to be just as scummy as everyone'd been saying (though not devoid of hairless Twi'leks, much to the titillation of Bendarin). Disguised, they joined Kahzan for his meeting with the Exchange (a crime boss called Khal Noose), and they discovered that Riken and the rest of the Jedi had been sold to the Exchange by some traitorous Republic soldiers, but that the Jedi had been intercepted and stolen by a Rakatan warlord named Ryvor, who reigned over a small slave civilization on the world of Draethos. Now thoroughly resolved to get to the bottom of this Jedi nonsense to redeem themselves in the eyes of the Republic (if not to save the Galaxy), the party (now including T2, TD, Kahzan, Ves Trano, Dreyo, and the PCs -- haven't you been listening?) made for Draethos.

Draethos
Draethos, a primitive, rocky world, had only one Republic outpost. The party would've been detained there were it not for the deceptive efforts of Zanno Takali, who convinced the station that he was the Grand Admiral of the Republic Navy.

Finding Ryvor wasn't terribly complicated; he controlled almost all of the technology on the planet and lived in a rocky fortress. The party carved through his forces due in no small part to the deadly Force-use of Bendarin Fellspire, who drew dark power from the reservoir of dark energy in the fortress.

The party encountered Ryvor, who was rather intimidatingly riding a rancor, and who would've been pretty fucking scary were it not for the fact that he apparently made "peeka-pocka-pooka" noises; they dispatched him without much hassle. They also found two of the four missing Jedi there: Vultan Riken and Syra Revol (who was actually the master of Kavel Caranthyr). They revealed that Tos Merikader, another one of the Jedi, had been killed when they first tried to escape Ryvor, but that one of their number, Azkal Rahm, had absconded with all of Ryvor's dark artifacts, including the Mind Collector. Azkal had always exhibited some dark traits, and there was serious concern that he was going to try and use the Mind Collector.

When the party returned to the Astral Tortoise, they found that the Republic had uncovered Zanno's ruse; Ves Trano had been taken by Republic forces. The party was able to fight through the rest and escape.

Now knowing that they needed to return to Coruscant to rescue Ves, Captain Renarus contacted the party in secret, saying that he had critical information about Ves on Rhen Var, and that they needed to meet him there.

Certain parties pushed for the group to return to Nar Shaddaa for some reason. These parties and their urgings were swiftly ignored.

Rhen Var
The Astral Tortoise made for Rhen Var, where they were led deep into an ice cave. There, Kahzan pulled the trigger on his plot -- he'd bribed Renarus to gather the party somewhere where he could get all of the Jedi together at once. Jedi were very valuable to the Exchange, and he had a particular distaste for them wandering around ruining his plans (which had, sometime in the past, involved the artifacts -- more on this later). The party found themselves surrounded by elite warriors, and Kahzan left them to die. Of course, they did not, and though Kahzan injured and captured Syra Revol and Vultan Riken, the party did successfully flee the planet.

Nowhere In Particular
Out in the middle of nowhere en route to Coruscant, the party got in a massive argument about whether or not they should return to Nar Shaddaa for some reason. Galactic historians still aren't entirely sure what all of the fuss was about, but it was enough to drive Bendarin Fellspire to cripple the hyperdrive and quit from the ship aboard an escape pod, stranding the party in Nowhere in Particular.

To make matters worse, Dreyo had been injured on Rhen Var, and was in the medical bay. Naturally, the only reasonable response to this expenditure of medical resources was to strangle Dreyo in his sleep; this act was was performed by a man who, at times, was indistinguishable from the walls against which he so frequently leaned, and it is said that, after the deed was done, the man became one with the wall and was never seen again.

Dreyo's death was a somber affair, and the party found themselves reminiscing of days past.

The party was liberated from the vastness of the void by the Iron Maiden, a freighter owned by Captain Jason Karkano, a former Mandalorian. Finding the Astral Tortoise to be too far gone for repairs, the party boarded the Iron Maiden and set off for Coruscant.

It was here that Zanno Takali lost his speeder bike, for it was supposedly too big to fit aboard the Iron Maiden.

Coruscant (Again)
The party made for Coruscant aboard the Iron Maiden. They had two goals: to uncover details about their framing, and to rescue Ves.

The Rescue: The party discovered a big Nautolan man named Frubs, a former engineer for the prison complex that Ves was being held in (The Vanguard), and he revealed a ventilation network that would allow the party to drop in pretty close to Ves's cell.

The rest of the party was occupied with the investigation, but Kyja, eager to find Ves, and Kosta'ken, eager to assist Kyja, insisted on going through with the rescue without the full crew. Feeling responsible, Jason Karkano lent a hand.

Kyja and Kosta infiltrated the facility with Jason watching with a sniper from a nearby building. They retrieved Ves, who had lost an arm (and who had been tortured by Rahm), but were discovered in the process; they were met with heavy resistance. Jason rushed into the facility to rescue Kyja and Kosta, only to discover that an old nemesis had also arrived: Roordrak Berin. Jason engaged Berin in a duel to the death, allowing Kosta'ken and Kyja to escape. He was overwhelmed by Berin and the soldiers; he was taken prisoner and soon after executed.

The Investigation: The rest of the party discovered some of the corrupt Senators who were in on the plan with the Exchange, including Gaetok Hrakk. They also found out that Azkal Rahm had been getting his hands dirty with the Mandalorians, and the party ended up infiltrating a Mandalorian meeting to recover information about Rahm's movements: they found out that he was amassing forces on Dromund Kaas for some sort of invasion. Were it not for the deceptive skills of Zanno, who managed to convince a room of Mandalorians to go do something else, the party would have surely failed in gaining this information.

Notably, Kavel Caranthyr found that Azkal Rahm was actually on Coruscant, and he briefly battled him within the old Jedi Temple; he was overwhelmed, and Rahm fled to Dromund Kaas.

Also, Furvus reappeared, now patently Zabrak and, after a period of reflection, having honed his potent Force abilities.

The Vindicator
On their way off of Coruscant, the party was apprehended by a contingent of Kahzan's Exchange forces, and they were overwhelmed. They were taken prisoner aboard a cloaked cruiser ship called the Vindicator. Slowly but surely, the party worked their way through the mess of Exchange leaders aboard the Vindicator and began to formulate a plan to take over the ship.

They discovered a clone of Jason aboard the ship, controlled by Kahzan, who tried and failed to subdue them. The clone was grown by Doctor Zanni, a blue Twi'lek in the employ of Kahzan.

They also befriended Riona, a Cathar commander who was in control of a mercenary force on hire for Kahzan. She agreed to help them take down the ship.

Zanno befriended Tyzen, a member of Hol'dorr who was working with Kahzan, and became decently good at fencing in the process.

Dromund Kaas
Aboard the Vindicator, the party executed their plan: they stormed the ship with Riona's troops, and they made it to the bridge, where Zanno was able to utilize his swordsmanship to impale Kahzan through the throat with a vibroblade, putting an end to his manipulative influence. Now in control of the army, the party located Rahm's temple complex on the surface and moved to take it down. A powerful Dark Side spell from Lord Vitiate concealed the Sith civilization on the other side of the planet; the Republic had no idea how close they’d come to discovering the immense threat.

On the surface, they discovered an amalgam of the Sith Remnant, the Revanites, and the Mandalorians, and it became clear that Rahm was impersonating Revan as a ploy to wield these forces against the Republic. The armies were locked in the jungle, and the party infiltrated the base.

Inside, resistance was tough, but they managed to break through the Dark Jedi that guarded Rahm's chambers -- Kyja sacrificed herself for the good of the party, and Ves was gunned down in the jungle. The lovers became One with the Force and were reunited in death.

In the inner sanctum, the party finally unearthed Rahm's plan: he'd used the Mind Collector to gather his forces and to enslave the ghosts of dead Jedi (including Syra Revol and Vultan Riken), and his power would be undone with the destruction of the artifacts. The party battled and released the corrupted spirits of Syra Revol and Vultan Riken, and in a final showdown, they slew Azkal Rahm.

It is unclear exactly what happened next; some say that the burst of power at Rahm's defeat dazzled the party; some say the Mind Collector recognized its imminent peril and attempted to save itself; others say that Revan himself interceded and delivered the fatal blow. Regardless, the party found themselves aboard the Breach and was filled in on the facts: the Republic had tracked the Vindicator to Dromund Kaas and had helped finish off the last of Rahm's forces. They rescued the party and bombed the temple complex -- Mind Collector and all -- to high hell. The group would later discover that the Collector survived the blitz.

Curiously enough, these forces were led by General Frubble, previously known to the party as Frubs, who had disguised himself to track their movements without attracting the attention of corrupt Republic officials. The party was, of course, pardoned, and praised for their heroism and persistence, even when the Republic didn't have their back.

Finding the galaxy awash with new possibility, the party went their separate ways, embarking on new adventures...