No, Mr. Fett! I expect you to DIE! (Star Wars Bond Part 3)

And now we enter the ‘modern’ era of Bond, with a succession of (comparatively) short-lived leading men portraying the role. Overall, I am less familiar with these movies than the ‘classics’. This might have something to do with the fact that, they seem to get increasingly more complicated (plot-wise) as the decades roll by. As you’ll see below, some finagling (major and minor) was needed to convert these to a form usable in a Star Wars setting.


The Living Daylights

This adventure has the Agents rescuing an Imperial defector- only to have him quickly recaptured by 'the enemy'. In investigating the matter, the agents discover that the 'defector' was actually running a spice smuggling ring- using Imperial money he was /supposed/ to have been spending on weapons from an arms dealer (who is also in cahoots). To cover his tracks, the General seeks to turn the Agents against a rival Imperial general- getting them to kill him and thus pave the way for the villainous general to cover up his misdeeds. The investigation eventually leads to a desert world under Imperial occupation. There, the agents must team up with local nomads to assault the Imperial military base being used as the drug-smuggling headquarters.


License to Kill

In this adventure, a drug lord severely injures a friend and fellow agent of the heroes before fleeing back to a 'neutral' planet, outside the influence of the New Republic. The agents must go 'rogue' to bring this crimelord to justice by infiltrating his organization and bringing it down from the inside. Mixed in with all of this is a false religious 'front operation' for the drug lord and a climactic chase scene involving gigantic space-tankers hauling drugs mixed in with their explosive cargos.


GoldenEye

This is a rather problematic movie, in that the plot revolves around a satellite weapon that fires an EMP Burst- as with 'world threatening' plots, satellites aren't a huge threat in a universe where space travel is common and satellites can be (relatively) easily found and destroyed. You could go with the whole "cloaked" satellite, thing, but I already used that ploy in Corusca Stones are Forever. So something new will have to be used here. Also, to be done WELL, there should be a set up far in advance of this mission- a friendship should be established with a fellow Republic Agent and an effort should be made to make that person trustworthy and valued. You'll see how this comes into play later...

The agents are assigned to destroy a chemical weapons facility (controlled by the Empire- or at least a faction thereof). During this mission, their fellow agent (and old friend mentioned above), is killed by an Imperial Officer. The heroes manage to escape and destroy the plant. All of this should happen quite a while prior to the actual "GoldenEye" mission- to the tune of at least a year (preferably more)- as a separate short adventure or even as the prologue to another mission.

After a few years (and many missions in between), the agents are sent on a mission to investigate a suspected member of the emerging "Janus" Crime Syndicate agent. Despite the heros' best efforts, the Agent manages steal a prototype shielded starship capable of withstanding EMP. This same ship is later used to kidnap Imperial scientists at a remote research facility-which evidently was producing some kind of EMP weapon. This is detonated to cover the escape (made possible by the shielded ship). After doing some poking around in the underworld, the good guys finally encounter the man behind Janus, their former friend and partner, now seeking revenge for the supposed loss of his parents due to the Rebellion (and by association, New Republic). His plan is to launch an EMP weapon against a major New Republic banking hub- destroying or disrupting electronic records for billions of institutions. The result would be a major financial collapse. After several adventures, the plot climaxes onboard a seemingly innocent looking space station in orbit of the banking world- upon which the 'GoldenEye' EMP has been mounted. Here, the agents must destroy the weapon and stop their former friend, once and for all.


Tomorrow Never Dies

The plot here involves a Galactic Media mogul who wishes to expand his 'empire' into new territory (say a remote sector of space ruled by an isolationist government NOT allied with the Republic or Empire). Working with corrupt officials among the isolationist government and by stealing Republic Military code devices, the Mogul intends to trigger a war between the republic and the Isolationists (we'll call them "Isos")- a war which would eliminate certain Iso politicians allowing his puppets to take control. As a 'bonus' this war would mean good for ratings on his networks. Utilizing a stealth ship, the Mogul fakes an incident between a Republic Frigate and Iso starfighters, resulting in destruction on both sides and steps being taken towards war.

Into this twisted plot are sent a team of Republic Agents- investigating the Mogul Network's 'exclusive' knowledge of this incident. Along the way, the Agents pick up an ally in the form of an Iso counterpart. Together, they manage to track the Mogul down to his stealth ship and struggle to stop this instigated war from going any further.


The Galaxy is Not Enough

Much like GoldenEye, this adventure works best if some forethought is given. The (seeming) villain here (Renard) should be introduced in an adventure months or even years prior. He should be grievously wounded and 'obscurely killed'- only to resurface here, very much alive.

This plot begins with Republic agents recovering money stolen from a prominent Corporate executive. Unfortunately, the funds were booby trapped and the exec is killed. Sources point to this being the work of Renard, thought dead. And signs point to him threatening the daughter of the Corporate Exec. The agents are therefore assigned to protect this daughter (Elektra). After foiling attacks and uncovering the theft of an Imperial superweapon (a grav-shock torpedo capable of causing tremendous planetary damage), the agents actually find that Elektra is behind the whole thing, with Renard her willing servant. The adventure culminates in a showdown with Elektra followed by a race to stop Renard from launching the weapon against the mining operations of a rival corporation- see, the whole thing had been a ploy to to drive up the value of her own company by demolishing the mining operations of a rival. A sub-plot of the whole thing involves a personal vendetta between Elektra and one of the Republic Agents' superiors- who Elektra holds responsible for the abuse she suffered when kidnapped by Renard during her childhood.


Die Another Day

As much as I loved this movie (and Halle Berry in it), I find it hard to translate- not because of any plot deficiencies, but rather because its plot mirrors other bond movies in regards to yet ANOTHER satellite being used to wreak destruction- as was done in Diamonds are Forever and GoldenEye. But if you can get past this cliché, then the following might work.

There are two ways to handle the set up for this. The first could be to have the 'prelude' to this adventure happen over a year before the actual body of the adventure. The second could be to run the adventure much like the movie, with the Republic agents being captured and held by the enemy for over a year. In fact, this would be one of those great places to 'let the cards fall where they may). If the characters manage to escape, then postpone the rest of the adventure for a year (game time). If they are captured, then run things as seen in the movie- with the agents being held, tortured and eventually returned to the New Republic as part of a prisoner exchange.

The prelude involves the characters thwarting a young Imperial officer (named Moon) who is dealing in smuggled goods. They thwart this and (apparently) kill moon. As mentioned above, they either escape or are captured. In either case, over a year passes before the plot continues...

The agents are eventually sent on the trail of an enemy Agent, following him to a tropical resort world and an odd "Gene Therapy Clinic" run there. The trail eventually leads to a young corporate tycoon who is developing a satellite network that will (ostensibly) be used for directing sunlight for agricultural production. After an encounter with the tycoon at a luxurious "ice hotel" (built for his satellite unveiling), it is discovered that the tycoon is none other than Moon, who had undergone radical treatments to heal and assume this new identity. His plan (which admittedly has changed a lot from the source material) is to use his seemingly innocent satellites (now in position over a vital, New Republic agricultural world), to kill the New Republic Chancellor, visiting the planet for some reason or another. The adventure culminates in a duel onboard Moon's control ship.


Casino Royale

While the premise of this story is solid enough, it is really geared more towards a single player- moreso than most other Bond movies, even. Still, with some modification, it could work for a group. The overall premise is that the New Republic agents are sent to a gambling resort (perhaps Cloud City or The Wheel at Ord Mantell) in order to bankrupt an enemy agent/terrorist who is trying to win at a high-stakes Sabbac tournament. At least one of the heros will actually be participating in the game. In between rounds, however, is all manner of intrigue as the terrorist attempts to eliminate his rivals. This would culminate in a final conflict with the terrorist- either the characters going after the terrorist (if they lost the card game) or the terrorist coming after them (if the characters won).

A sub-plot of the whole story would be the Character's government contact in all of this (Vesper), who seems to be on their side- and might even romance one of the characters- but who is ultimately out to steal the money for herself in order to pay off debts to a criminal organization (SPECTRE).


Quantum of Solace

This adventure picks up on the tail of the last, tracking down the SPECTRE agent responsible for Vesper’s betrayal in the last adventure. Before they can question him, however, another traitor in New Republic Intelligence kills him. The trail leads from there to a powerful eco-businessman (Greene), who is curiously buying up seemingly worthless land from the dictatorial government of a remote world. As it turns out, Greene has actually found rare minerals there and intends to use his possession of them to leverage a coup of the planetary government and gain control of it for SPECTRE. The whole thing culminates in a battle with SPECTRE agents and soldiers of the local government in a remote, new eco-hotel that is not yet open to the public. Questioning Greene, the players discover leads to more SPECTRE agents…and thus the saga continues.

There is a whole sub-plot running through the adventure about the character’s own agency thinking they have gone rogue. This could work into the adventure organically- if the players screw up once or twice, their own boss might try to pull them out, resulting in the players actually HAVING to go rogue to finish their mission.