IC Star Wars: Clone Wars - Blackwolf Company [Saga Edition]

[Felhammer]

OPENING CRAWL (http://www.starwars.com/games-apps/star-wars-crawl-creator/?cid=5677089ee4b0ba64cb22df3c)

http://photos.imageevent.com/afap/starwarsavatars/Star_Wars_Logo.jpg


EPISODE I


WHEN DROIDS ATTACK



The Republic is besieged on all sides by the droid armies of the Separatists. Fearing the war may drag on for years to come, Chancellor Palpatine has created a special division of elite soldiers known as the Blackwolf Company whose mission is to hit the Separatist Army when and where they least expect it!

In a stunning move, the Company has snuck through a Separatist blockade that surrounded the world of Mirial.

While resupplying the local insurgency, the Separatist general - RORK SYA - attacked the insurgents base, capturing most of the rebels. Blackwolf Company must free the captured rebels and find their ship if they ever hope to leave Mirial alive… (http://www.starwars.com/games-apps/star-wars-crawl-creator?cid=56770cd2e4b0d1293d13381b)


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http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/swtor/images/e/e0/Mirial.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20121031031342

Alin Char, Captain of the Third Platoon, ordered the 33s to Mirial in an effort to resupply the local rebels and destroy a droid manufacturing plant. The Separatist fleet high in orbit never saw the Lobo coming thanks to the slick piloting of the droid named Geedee Wunsix-Four. The team was supposed to make contact with a local rebel cell lead by a native by the name of Rachvu near the a sprawling forest known as Kaqoti. The good Captain had sent the team with rifles, armor and grenades as well as, if not more importantly, the Republic's promise to help liberate Mirial from the Separatists' iron grip. As the crates were being hauled off the Lobo, the area was suddenly bombarded with blaster fire! Your position was overrun by well over a hundred B-1 Battle Droids and eight AAT-1 Hover Tanks!

The Separatist forces were lead by an up-and-coming General by the name of Rork Sya. Once a wealth Banker in the Banking Clan, Sya abandoned his day job once the Clone Wars began. Your dossier on the General states that he prefers to take to the field with overwhelming numbers and is very overconfident. With little hope of victory, the rebel leader, Rachvu, told all of you to flee into the forest and that his troops would cover your retreat.

The team ran and ran through the forest before coming to a small brook about seven kilometers from the rebel base. While catching their collective breaths, the team suddenly hears the sound of a hover tank slowly making its way towards them as it violently pushes over trees and shrubs. The party dives into a mangled clump of foliage.

Ahead of the tank are three B1 battle Droids. The three of them are complaining bitterly - and loudly, "Why did the general send us into the woods again?"

"To find the rebels who escaped, dummy."

"Are we sure they came this way?"

"No. Maybe. Who knows?"

"This forest is big, they could be anywhere!"

"Anywhere?"

"ANYWHERE!"

"Well obviously not here."

"It could take weeks to find them!"

"Weeks!?"

"Even longer if we have to keep dragging this big thing with us!" The droid kicks the tank that is having a bit of trouble knocking down an old growth tree.

A droid inside the tank pops his head out of the hatch and yells, "Don't blame the tank you slacker! Blast the tree so we can move!"

The three B1 Battle Droids gather around the old tree and start shooting it with their blasters.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron pressed a finger to his lips, and whispered quietly.

"Alright, we have a few options that are up for debate. Firstly, and what I want to do, is get closer, and ambush them, taking out the Tank commander first, and take that tank for ourselves. Secondly, we could sneak around, and avoid the patrol, and try to find somewhere to base down for the time being. Third, one of us Jedi could show ourselves in the thick brush, and lure the droids away, giving everyone else time to get in position behind them. Whatever we do, we have to decide fast, we don't know if there are any probes out here as well."

Auron watched the droids carefully, best as he could, as he waited for his companions to respond, one hand on his lightsaber.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Rieker was a little bit busy getting twigs and leaves out of his hair. Fatigues and forest gear really don't help when the wearer hasn't been this far in any sort of woods in years.

He did, however, manage to speak up. Quietly. "Well, I can hotwire that tank in, uh..." He counted on his fingers. "... 5 minutes, tops. Wouldn't surprise me if they just slaved the controls directly in - probably don't even have a local encryption or even a complex safety lock."

"Plus," he concluded, "that big gun there's pretty nasty. Give us a fighting chance against the other tanks if we have to fight them. Not saying we do, but you never know."

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

The Duros Kaldo strokes his rifle lovingly. "I could do for some action," he whispers, pointing his rifle at the droid tank commander. "Just give me the signal."

Aiming his rifle at the Droid Tank Commander or B1 2, to ignore cover; Readying an attack against the droid once battle is joined.

Initiative: [roll0]
Attack: [roll1], [roll2]

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix Four

Geedee nods, taking his blaster pistol off the belt on his waist.

"I'd appreciate having a new ride," Geedee says, "Let's take that thing."

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"We need to get behind the tank, besides that big gun, it has the Anti-Personnel blasters on the front. B-1's are stupid, probably to reduce mass production costs, and rely on quantity over quality. Small patrol like this should be relatively easy to take out without any injury if we do this right. Lets also see if we can't keep the data-pack of one of the droids intact, or even one of the entire droids. With some luck, or skill, I believe we have both, we might be able to get a droid map of the area, as well as some of their routes, and who knows what else. Unless there's any objections, everyone pick a target, and get ready. We need someone to volunteer to get behind them, I don't remember how many droids are inside, but we can safely assume at least one gunner, and one pilot. If there are no objections, I'm gonna work my way behind it with whoever volunteers, I'll signal with a comm beep when to open fire, unless you are forced to, try to hold fire till then.

Auron move carefully and quietly to try and flank the tank.


Initiative: [roll0]
Steakth Check: [roll1]

Two moves, depending on which way the tank is facing (little hard to tell, once it's cleared I'll move my A to the right one)
If North: Auron moves from T5 - U6 - V7 - W8 - X9 (Ending on X9)
If East: T5 - S6 - R5 - Q4 -P3 - O3

[Wyntonian]

Fandomar Utoya
Fandomar fumbles out his blaster, a heavy, awkward thing he's unused to shooting. He whispers as softly as he can, deliberately using only one mouth. "I think I can drive it, if we can take out the droids. We just can't let them bring the main gun to bear on us." He rolls over and aims carefully at the tank commander.


Going to ready an action to aid another (Kaldo) on his attack. If this roll beats a Reflex Defense of 10, add +2 to your roll.
[roll0]

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Rieker nearly stumbled out of the bush after Auron made his move. He yell-whispered as he skulked behind the Togruta. "Wait for me, wait for me, somebody's gotta bail you out-"


Rieker is sneaking behind Auron, with the aim of getting behind the tank. My squares are going to be vague until we get confirmation on which way the tank is facing.

Initiative:
Stealth (spending force point): [roll]1d20+1d6+2

[Dudeons]

Fandomar Utoya

"I think I can drive it..."

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"Yeah, if you get behind the wheel before me!" Geedee says, blinking one of his photoreceptors at the Ithorian as though winking. He gets up and hustles over to the bush where Auron and Rieker went. He points his pistol at the tank's pilot droid, ready to take a shot at it.

Moving to V9.

Stealth: [roll0]

Using the 'Aid Another' action on Kaldo's attack.

Aid Another: [roll1]

[BramsesII]

Niika

"Couldn't we just try to..." Before Niika can finish her sentence, everyone has already taken their positions, poised to attack the droids.

The jedi shakes her head. Since everyone seems to be sneaking to flank the droids, the human stays in position and attempts to create a diversion. She reaches out with the force to a nearby rock lying nearby, attempting to launch it into a copse of trees nearby to distract the droids.

Niika will try to use the force to move a small rock in L5 3 squares west to I5 as a diversion:
Use the force check: [roll0]
Stealth check to remain hidden: [roll1]

[Felhammer]

The droids all look up when they hear a something move in the trees ahead of them. The Droid commander stretches his hand out and yells, "THE REBELS ARE OVER THERE! BLAST 'EM!" The other B1 units turn around and start shooting into the woods to the north-west. Seconds later, Kaldo takes aim and blows the head off the droid commander while most everyone else uses the distraction to sneak south.

Niika's distraction robbed the Droids of getting a counter attack. So you guys are back up! :smallbiggrin:

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Litha]

"Well, at least they're shooting the wrong way, and the cannon is down unless one of them climbs up into it."

Auron says as he starts to close his eyes, but sighs.

""Ugh, still to far away. Mmmm."

Auron spends a second thinking before creeping forward, his blaster in hand, and takes a shot at B1.


Stealth [roll0]
Roll to hit [roll1]
Damage if hit [roll2] Energy damage

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Standing rooted to the ground, a thin but wicked smile creeps over the mercenary's gray visage as he sees the destruction wrought by his trusty rifle. He takes aim and fires once more, this time at the droid in the center of the grouping, grateful for the distractions his allies have and continue to create.

Aim as two swifts to ignore cover, Attack B1 2 as standard.

[roll0], [roll1]

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"Bullseye!" Geedee exclaims, even though he only provided suppressing fire at best. He takes aim at the nearest battle droid and blasts it.

Taking two swift actions to Aim.
Using my standard action to shoot the B1 in M10.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[BramsesII]

Niika

Since the others seem to be doing pretty well blasting the droids, Niika decides to make herself useful in a different way. The young jedi takes a moment to center herself before reaching out through the force in an attempt to sense if there are other force users nearby.

Full round action to do an active sense force check

[roll0]

[Felhammer]

You sense a dark presence in orbit around Mirial. You have never felt this presence before.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

The office jock winced as blaster fire rang out and machine parts went flying. "Ah, blast it. I guess we're going loud!" He wasn't bitter - more just confused and nervous. Instead of moving further, he decided to take a pot-shot at the last remaining droid out in the field. Give 'Mimi' a chance to shine.

"Okay girl," he muttered at his custom blaster, cradled in both hands. "Don't break my wrists, okay? You're feisty, I know that. Just, uh, be gentle?" Rieker raised the blaster's nozzle curtly over the bushtop...


Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Felhammer]

The B3 droid watches in horror as his fellows are culled. "You'll pay for that, Rebel Scum!"


Two Swifts to aim.
Attacking Geedee [roll0] // [roll1]

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Raising his blaster once more, a untrained hand as it was, Auron let lose another blue blast, aiming for the last Droid outside of the tank.


[roll}3d8

[Felhammer]

With one well aimed shot, the Togruta nails the battle droid's center mass, sending him flying away. The tank has not moved since you began fighting; likely it only had one droid inside. As you slowly creep up on the battle droids, their markings become clear - all four them were assigned to this tank. Two of the droids outside the tank were gunners, while the third was the pilot. The commander remained inside the tank and was, thankfully, destroyed with a vicious assault by Kaldo. The Armored Assault Tank looks to be in working order, complete with a heavy laser cannon, two light blaster cannons and a missile launcher. Inside the passenger compartment, the 33s also find two bandoleers filled with smoke grenades.

AAT-1
Speed 6
Crew 4 (skilled)
- heavy laser cannon (gunner): +4 ATK; 6d10x2, 2-square burst
- two light blaster cannons (gunners): +4 ATK; 2d10x2
- missile launcher (gunner): +4 ATK; 6d6, 2-square splash; [roll0] Missiles Left

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron sets about gathering up all the equipment of the Battle Droids, the blaster rifles, powerpacks, and anything else they might have.

"Never know when we might need these. So, what do ya'll make of this tank? Serve us well enough?"

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Rieker was ready to celebrate. Almost. His attention was caught by the scorchmarks on Geedee's armor. He winced sympathetically.

"... I'll, uh... yeah, probably. Definitely gives us an answer, after I tune up the repulsorlift. Just give me a sec with Geedee - he looks like he could use some love from a fusion welder."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee clasps one right and one left arm over his chest, clutching the burned area. His outer left arm grips a bush for support as he lowers his blaster. That was one of the nastiest hits he had taken in a long time. Seeing that the combat is over, he steps out of the bushes, putting his pistol back at his side.

"The best kind of love," Geedee says in response to Rieker, leaning against a tree, "Even better than a woman's."

He pulls Panza off of his belt, bopping the nose to activate him. He passes his tool kit over to Panza.

"Give Rieker a hand, will ya?" Geedee says, sitting down. Panza beeps calmly as he starts looking over Geedee's torso.

Panza will Aid Another on any Mechanics checks Rieker does on Geedee.

[roll0]

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

The battle was over too quickly, but Kaldo would not be surprised if reinforcements were already en route. The Jedi Auron was unlike any Jedi Kaldo had yet met, faster than even the mercenary Duros to collect the weapons off the carcasses of their prey. However, the Jedi had neglected the carcasses themselves, which could prove valuable, either as parts to be scavenged or, if they were relatively intact, as droids to reprogram and use or sell whole cloth.

While the others tend to their allied droid, Kaldo turns his attention to their enemy droids, and, quickly realizing that they possess remote processors, abandons hope of reprogramming them to serve their needs. Instead, he will attempt to remove the processors themselves, as each is the most valuable component of the droid, and the central computer that operates the droids would have no doubt noticed the clipping of four of its fingernails.

However, doing so requires time, as Kaldo well knows, and it is unlikely they'll have a day to use in this fashion. He drags one of the droid's bodies over to the tank and hauls it inside, and will continue to repeat that process until all four droids are inside the tank. As he works, he says, "We should get on the move. These droids have remote processors, and reinforcements from the central computer are likely already dispatched."

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Ltihal]

"I thought the Separatists got rid of those after the battle on Naboo so that the entire army couldn't be shut down at once. No matter, once we're done can you see about trying to pull any maps, or at least patrol routes out of the droid's memory? I may speak Mirialan, but I've never been on this planet before, got no idea where we are. When we're ready to move out, I'll take care of the tree. Niika, what do you think we should do next?"

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Auron's point is well reasoned, and perhaps his initial assessment had been too hasty. However, Kaldo is too proud to consider that he might have been wrong in his first reading of the droid carcass. "They should have, but all those resources had to be put to use somewhere. Upgrading the entire army would have simply cost too much." He is, of course, making this explanation up to justify his previous rationale, but nevertheless, he does another scan of the droid's systems, and looks to see what information he can glean from an examination of the processor. If the droid is using a remote processor as he initially believed, then it's unlikely Kaldo would find anything--the droid's memory banks would be minimal at best, and the information it would need, like maps, would be stored on the central computer.

Mechanics (take 10): 17
Use Computer (take 10): 17

[Felhammer]

The battle droids are all fully autonomous. The electronic materials used in their construction are very cheap, which leads to the droids developing... Unique personalities. Regardless, their droid brains could house useful intelligence if hooked up to a computer. It takes Kaldo ten minutes to jury rig a set up but once it is completed, the droid's brain reveals a detailed map of the area as well as markers indicating several points of interest. Of note are the town of Cek, the Droid Manufacturing Plant and Ft. Tuzu.

http://i.imgur.com/wqcC42S.png

[Wyntonian]

Fandomar Utoya

Fandomar shudders at the violence and holsters his gun as he makes his way to stand, arms folded and looking at the tank. "I'm unfamiliar with how these droids recognize each other. If we stay inside the tank, do you think they'll let us by?" He sympathized with the injured droid, but unless it had a heartbeat he couldn't help it.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"Whatever floats your skiff, buddy."

Rieker cracked open his toolbox went to work, as the squadmembers with more presence hashed out a plan for how to proceed. 'Love' would be a good way to describe how he goes about Geedee's broken bits - his welding was careful, sensitive to the raw electronics and innards sticking out of the droid's chassis. A little more insistence on a clean working space and an operating room, he could've been a bonafide droid surgeon.

More than once, he asked an imaginary nurse for a scalpel.

Midway through the repair, he piped up. "Just the tank, no. That's asking a lot, even for these things. If we reprogram the tank commander, then we can have him up top as our, uh, 'security clearance.' Probably wouldn't take me more than an hour and a pound'a spare parts."


Repairing Geedee with my super awesome mechanics score (please don't make me look dumb, dice)

Repair = [roll0]

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

While he is disappointed to have been wrong, Kaldo is pleased by the prospect of reprogramming these autonomous and independent droids. To the right buyer, they would be significantly more valuable intact than apart. It is a simple matter to download the map to the tank's computer, but Kaldo also starts searching the droids' memory banks for communication and identification protocols. "It may be that simple, but they might also communicate using their internal comlinks. If we can set ours to their frequency, not only should we be able to pass in the tank, but we might also be able to eavesdrop on their conversations," Kaldo says. He also examines the settings on the droids' internal comlink.

Having found the answers he sought, Kaldo begins the work of reprogramming the droid commander to recognize him as its master. Once that is complete, he'll repair the droid so that it can function effectively.

Both use computer and mechanics have +7 modifiers, for results of 17 taking 10.

[Felhammer]

An hour passes rather quickly for the 33s. The squad busies itself with repairing Geedee, harvesting information from the B1 droids, reprogramming one of said droids and repairing him. When all is said and done, the commander droid look at Kaldo and nods, "Roger, roger." The droid then informs the team about which frequency the Separatists are using. When you listen in, you hear idle chatter, most of it focusing on droid squads announcing the fact that they have not found the Rebels in sector x.

After a few minutes, a deep, guttural voice comes over the comm, "This is General Sya, why has Commander 44 not reported in?"

A B-1's voice responds, "I... Don't know... Sir. Tank 565 was assigned to sector 4. They haven't reported in for almost an hour."

"WHAT!? Why did you not report this?"

"Eh... I... Ah... They said they were having trouble with the terrain..."

"IDIOT! COMMANDER 44, can you hear me!? Come in!"

The captured and reprogrammed B1 shakes in fright, "The General sounds angry, master. What should we do...?"

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo thinks quickly on his feet. Deception is not his forte, but perhaps there is something to be said for telling the truth. Well, part of it, at least. "Tell the General that your tank got stuck in a tree, and that you only just now managed to get it free. Tell him that you are continuing your search for the rebels now."

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron shoulders one of the droids carbines, and hands the other to the know functional, and loyal B1.

"Here you go, if we're gonna have you around, you may as well be able to fight. The main roads are likely going to have constant patrols, we likely won't be able to patrol those reliably. To our west is the enemy fort, on the main road, and even with this tank, I doubt we can fight our way through there, sneak maybe, but I don't know how hard that'll be. I think our best bet is to avoid the fort all together by heading south, and stopping in the village. We'll likely be able to get some supplies, and information there. Once we have a place to rest, resupply, and maybe get a report to the Council, we can see what to do next. The town, with it's manufacturing plant, is also likely to have a heavy droid presence, and we just don't have enough intel for any big moves."

[Felhammer]

"Ahhh..." The Droid looks at Kaldo then replies, "We were stuck... On a tree. Sir... We... Ah... Eh... Just managed to break... Free."

The General is furious. "Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! You know Admiral Menduuz is in orbit! He has Dooku's ear! My promotion hinges on bringing those rebels to justice! I will not accept failure, commander. If you do not capture the Rebels, then I will be forced to melt you down and sell your parts to Weequay junk dealers!"

The transmission ends abruptly. The B1 droid looks over at Kaldo, then the tank, then Kaldo again before saying, "Ahhh... We need to find the Rebels, master."

[Wyntonian]

[Fandomar Utoya]
Fandomar grunts through four mouths. "This seems to be going too well. Were I pessimistic, I'd start to be concerned." He looks around, scanning the treeline for an ambush.


Perception [roll0]

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Rieker sighed, as he wiped burnt-out welding embers off his fatigues. "Don't jinx us. Last time I said something was going 'too well' over a cup of Jawa juice, I got to see what four hours of overtime looks like."

It doesn't take long for him to pack up his tools and shoulder them onto the tank's cargo compartment. That, and the pile of droid salvage.

Then, suddenly, it occurred to him, just as Fandomar began a hunt for possible ambushes. "... they don't have linked sensors, just voice. If we *don't* get spotted and forced deeper into the woods, we have enough explosives to make them *think* we're somewhere we're not, and they wouldn't be able to tell. We could set up our own ambushes and we could feasibly keep it up!"

[Felhammer]

With the Tank's on-board Electrobinoculars, Fandomar is able to see that some trees are being mowed down, most likely by a tank, about three klicks to the north west. He cannot see the tank itself, only the trees it is pushing over as it slowly ascends the forested side of the mountain range.

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo ignores the B-1 droids concerns. "We managed to handle this tank and these droids with the element of surprise," Kaldo says. "If we can keep that on our side, we may be able to take on more. And, of course, having a tank of our own certainly helps things. I agree, we ought to get to town and gather some intel on the fort..." His voice trails off, then he turns to his B-1 droid. "Quantify and qualify the strength of the Separatist forces on the planet, to the best of your ability." While the droid speaks, Kaldo takes up the main gun of the tank, deferring to one of the trained pilots to drive it.

"[Kaldo] drags one of the droid's bodies over to the tank and hauls it inside, and will continue to repeat that process until all four droids are inside the tank." -- the droid carcasses are already in the tank.

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

During the repairs, Geedee tunes his own internal commlink to the Seperatist frequency, listening in on the conversation. Later, Geedee checks himself over after Rieker's repairs.

"Good as new," he says sarcastically, getting to his feet. He picks up Panza, lifting him up to his back as he puts his tool kit back on his belt. He jogs over to the tank, climbing into the hatch and finding the control console. He looks over the controls as he takes a seat, extending or contracting his limbs as necessary to enable himself to pilot it. Geedee beeps at the tank in Binary as he gets comfortable.

"Hey there, big girl. I am going to be piloting you today. I might be a bit rough, but you will have a great time. Promise."

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"Right, if I'm remembering correctly, most configurations of the AAT carry four people inside, commander in the turret, two gunners, and the pilot. Then there's six hand-holds on the outside. If we want our trick with the droid to be convincing he'll likely have to ride in the turret, that leaves three of us inside, and three of us outside. I'm not a bad shot, but most everyone else here is better then me, and I can't really drive, so I'll take one of the handholds."

Auron said before igniting his lightsaber and using it to finish clearing the tree that the tank was stuck on.

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

"If we're on the outside," Kaldo says, getting out of the big gun, "Won't that be a dead giveaway that something is amiss?" Nonetheless, he moves to a handhold, cinching himself to the hold with his belt so that he can have his hands free to use his rifle.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"Short of some stealth droids, they're slower and louder then basically anyone we can have ride outside. We'll hear them coming, can get off, and hide, even if it's just behind the thing, or in the bushes."

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo nods his approval of the plan, and to indicate he is ready to leave the area.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Rieker had, meanwhile, already clambered up to the anti-personnel post and made himself at home in it's cockpit. "Don't flirt with the tank, Geedee. You're too good for her."

[Felhammer]

The squad slowly makes its way through the forest in the captured AAT-1. The woodland is full of old growth trees that must either be chopped down or gone around. Thankfully with two jedi, such obstacles prove facile. The 33s give the occupied Rebel Base a wide berth, for fear of being spotted. Once on the road, travel becomes much easier and faster. The team crests a hill, below them is a small village, no more than a hundred homes and a few shops. Many green skinned people walk to and fro, going about their day. To the west, a large black dam can be seen, which holds back the water of Lake Aravp. Blue liquid spills out of the various shoots and vents in the dam, which feed into Lake Wuku below. The village sits on the banks of Lake Aravp . Many small fishing boats are out on the lake, each manned by large crews hauling in nets full of otter-like creatures.

Do you want to take the tank into town, or hide it in the forest and go into town on foot?

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

As they near, Kaldo indicates they should hang back. "I'm hesitant to abandon this tank--no matter how well we disguise it, it's possible it could leave our control. Soon enough the Separatists will see our ruse with B-1, here, and they'll send a team to dispatch it. However, the way I see it, we have three options on our approach.

Option one: abandon the tank, disguise it, and approach on foot. This gives us the most flexibility, but also runs the risk of us losing what might be our most valuable asset. On the other hand, if the Separatists are tracking the tank, it'd be better for us if they find it and we're not near it. I'm not one for talking, but whoever is, you'd be able to make up whatever cover story you like.

Option two: enter Aravp in the tank, with B-1 in the turret. This will give us the cover of working with the Separatists, but that may alienate any rebel sympathizers who would be otherwise disposed to help us. Again, whoever's good at talking might be able to talk our way into or out of whatever situation we see the need to be a part of or from. Any Separatist sympathizers would be more likely to make their presence known to us.

Option three: enter Aravp in the tank, with someone else in the turret. I suggest myself, naturally. This will make it clear to any rebel sympathizers that not only are we against the Separatists, but also that we are formidable and worthy of their support. Of course, they might also interpret it as us being a part of the Separatists, but I think that would be less likely. Again, our talkers could probably spin quite a web no matter what. This option also paints a target on us if there are Separatist sympathizers there.

Anyway, that's how I see it. Thoughts?" He looks specifically to the two Jedi to decide their course of action.

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee parks the repulsortank off to the side, allowing Kaldo to give his thoughts.

"I prefer having a set of repulsors whenever I'm doing business on planets," Geedee says, looking back towards Kaldo, "Besides, why would the Seperatists drive a tank into town with someone fleshy up top? That's what the townspeople will think, right?"

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

"That's the idea. The question is, do we want to present as Separatist or Rebel?"

[Wyntonian]

Fandomar Utoya

"I think I can talk to the locals, the rebels wouldn't be as strong as they were if they didn't have popular support. It might take some finesse, though. Perhaps we should park the tank somewhere outside and send a few of us in on foot to get a sense for how safe the village would be."

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"I say that we split up. Half of us stay with the tank and our B1 friend, the other half goes in on foot, does some scouting, and either contacts Republic sympathizers, or gets us supplies so we can move on. If Niika or myself go, we should probably leave our lightsabers, the Separatists likely have eyes in the village spying on the locals, might even be how they found the rebel base. Geedee, it might be best for you to be one of the ones to stay with the tank, you aren't one of the droids generally associated with being with the Republic, and anyone willing to help us, or at least harm the Separatists might not because they suspect a trap with a battle-ready droid around. Sorry, just the way things are. We'll have to be careful though, the dam will be the most likely area to have a public Separatist presence, people get to uppity they can just blow it, flood the village, maybe the town, and quite a bit of the forest, wouldn't put it past them to do it just so other areas don't even think about getting uppity. If we find support, and can safely do so, it might be a good idea to spend some time working on the tank, and the B1....I can't keep calling him that. Mmmm, how about I call you......Flick, everything intelligent needs a name after all, even the Clone Troopers, identical at birth, give and gain unique nicknames. Someone has something better go for it, just don't want to call him "Droid, it, or 44" anymore."

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"I'm perfectly happy to stay in here. This engine needs tweaking like a gundark needs a slug between the eyes. ... so do the targeting computers. And the hydraulics.

"... actually, everything could use a tune up. If you end up going to the village and getting supplies, I'd appreciate all the junk you could pull. Easily make this thing top of the line with a couple pounds of durasteel."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"I'll hang here," Geedee says, folding his four arms behind his head and putting his feet up on the control console, "I imagine they'd be jittery about anything that doesn't have a fleshy covering."

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

"I'll go into town. I'll be looking for a junk dealer anyway, someone to take these droid parts off our hands." He suddenly gets very jealous. "Rieker, make all the tune-ups you want, but don't anyone touch my droid parts. They all have designs on them for when I return, either sale--and I'll split the credits up fairly--or repairing them. They're mine. Same for the B1." He emphasizes the droid's identity as machine to Auron, better not to get attached to it. If Kaldo can find a buyer, he'll sell the working B1 droid as well, after he's downloaded its memory banks to his datapad and wiped it.

[BramsesII]

Niika

Niika has been following the group silently, distraught over the presence she felt during combat. During the droid reparations, she spent some minutes meditating before turning her attention to her surroundings to play scout. She doesn't find the right moment to discuss what she felt with Auron, but she makes a mental note to do so in the future. This dark presence is not something that should be advertised throughout the party.

When the time comes to decide how to enter the town, Niika quietly listens to everyone's ideas before speaking up. "The plan sounds solid. I'll join you, Kaldo. If you don't feel comfortable I can do the talking."

She unhooks her lightsaber from her belt and hands it out to Auron. "We don't want to advertise the presence of jedi here. Unless you really want to come along, I suggest you stay here with the tank. I'd feel better if you're holding on to my lightsaber."

The young padawan then turns to the others. "Fandomar, will you be joining us as well?"

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron nods, and puts her lightsaber in his pack, along with his own.

"I should probably be one of the ones to go, I speak Mirialan, and not everyone speaks basic, I may have to translate. I trust our lightsabers more at the bottom of my pack then in the tank, nothing in here is near as valuable as them so we can just dump it all out to get them. Oh, and Kaldo, remember we're hear not as tourists, or adventurers, or travelers, but soldiers under order of Captain Char. As long as we need that droid, we're keeping that droid, and beyond that, it'll be a valuable asset to the Republic, sell it to us after the mission of you must, but do remember that droids are intelligent beings, and that we have one on this very team. However, do remember that as this is a military operation, as Jedi, Niika, and myself are commanders in the Republic, and may someday be generals. If I give an order, which I usually don't, I expect it to be followed. If you're a merc I can see to it that payment is reduced, or withheld, any here as volunteers should know that not following the chain of command can result in being made to leave Blackwolf, and maybe even the military entirely. So, we aren't selling that droid, we aren't even looking to sell, till our mission is done, we have reacquired Lobo, and we've reported back to Captain Char, and for Niika and myself, likely the Jedi Council. From there, we'll let them decide where ownership lies. If you have a problem with that, get out of the military."

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Suitably chastised, Kaldo stands silently fuming. He doesn't see the sense of leaving the lightsabers behind--they could easily be concealed in a backpack in case of emergent need--but he doesn't voice his concern. If his commanding officers happen to find themselves defenseless in battle, well, that's their problem. He starts preparing a mental argument in favor of his ownership of the droid--salvager's rights and repairer's rights to start--but knows it will fall on deaf ears, here. He'll do better to wait until the situation planetside is resolved and make his case to the higher ups. Suffice it to say, his generous offer to split up the credits for the sale of the droid, intelligent being or no, has been silently withdrawn.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Rieker watches Kaldo sulk with a bit of 'stolen office tool' guilt gnawing at his conscience. "H-hey, I won't touch your stuff, honest. I can make do with reroutes... buddy...?"

In the middle of all this potential hostility, though, the meager mechanic really didn't have a dog in any fight. He just wanted to fix things. Not metaphysical or social dilemmas, but actual factual physical THINGS that need welding and a good screw tightening! What was he to do about screws loose in people, anyway, recommend them to HR?

As much as he wanted to untie this knot, he just groans to himself after a while. It wasn't his specialty. So, he puts himself to 'better' things - working on the tank's engine block.


If we have a day's worth of time (and brave people'd like to donate 1,000 credits worth of scrap), I want to use Tech Specialist to upgrade the tank's Dex by 2 (increasing Ref Defense and Attack by +1 by proxy). Holding Mechanics rolls until we have the time/money to do it.

[Felhammer]

The 33s drive the tank off into the forest to conceal it, then split in half.

The team headed to the village walk along the cobblestone road. The journey to Aravp is speedy and pleasant. A few blue birds hop along the road with you as if joining the team, if only for a few minutes. Once inside the village proper, the masses scurry away the moment they spot you. Most seems to dash down alleyways, while others rush into stores and homes, slamming the doors behind them. Most of the homes look old, perhaps hundreds of years old. Made from wood logs. The stores are made from modern building materials, most seem to be prefabricated in nature. Only one shop remains open, more of a fruit stand than anything else. It is run by an elderly Mirialan with a thick white beard and sunglasses on. He sits next to a Dejarik game board. In his hand is a cane, he gently taps it against the cobblestone road to a beat that none of you can hear. He seems completely oblivious to your presence.

All is quite on the tank front for the first ten or so minutes. After that, the groups spots a patrol of four B1 Battle Droids is walking down the Voz Road, headed in your direction. They are still a few minutes away from your position.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal] Village Team

Auron, with his pack still on his back, approaches the man.

"Greetings sir."

Auron said, in Basic, before continuing in Mirialan.

"You want to play a few rounds of Dejarik. We are not from around here, and you are the only one here that did not flee us on sight, and I find that Dejarik is a game that is as much about learning what kind your opponent is, as it is oneself. If you do not wish to play, or talk, I will leave you be."

[Felhammer]

"You do not sound like you are from around here, young one." He motions for you to sit next to him. The game is booted up and the two of you play. He seems to have had great skill but makes several tactical errors, most likely due to his inability to take the whole game in visually. As you play, he offers Auron an apple-like fruit, "Where are you from, little one? Our village is not often trafficked by off worlders.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron waves away the fruit, trying to remain polite.

"Thank you for the offer sir, but Togruta such as myself are carnivorous, outside of some gene-modified plants or rare mutations, we can only eat meat, or pre-prepared supplements. As for where I'm from, I was born on Shili in the Expansion Region."

Auron plays skillfully, though he has less experience then the old Mirialan before him, he has played Dejarik most of his life, using it as a way of relaxing, and passing the time, as well as to meditate a little.

[Felhammer]

He sets the apple-like fruit down, "You will have to forgive me, young one. I do not see as well as I used to..." He trails off and silently plays the game for a few minutes before speaking once again, "You should be wary of the General, his anger is most... Painful." He fidgets with his glasses, "Why have you come here if not to eat the finest shuura this side of Naboo? They do not call me the Shuura-Man for nothing. Have you come here to browse our village's wares? I can assure you none have fruit quite like me." His practiced pitch rings hallow, as if a great sadness has befallen him. He tries to hide it but Auron's jedi senses pick up on it.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"Well, some of my companions might like to try some of your fruit, but for me, I'm here for a variety of reasons, most my own. Right now, my focus is on what has you so sad, I can hear it in your voice, so please, tell me what has the....'General', done to you? We may not seem like much, but we may be able to help, even if it is just a shoulder to cry on."

Auron played the game a little less aggressively, trying to draw it out.

[Felhammer]

The old man sighs mournfully. "The Separatists came to this world and occupied it. The government tried to resist but what match were they for the might of a galaxy-spanning confederacy? Most Mirialans were cowed by the General's displays of force - marching armies through towns, constant stream of military vessels in the sky... I was not one of them. When General Sya broke ground on his new Droid Manufacturing Plant, my family, my friends and I - plus hundreds more from Cek - protested its construction... I was a fool to believe Sya would be civilized. He sent his Battle Droids in and slaughtered us. Those few that survived were sold to Zygerrian Slavers. I was too old and feeble for the Zygerrians, so General Sya..." The old man removes his sunglasses, revealing a ghastly sight. His eyeballs have been burned out of his skull, the flames from which melted all of the flesh around his eyes sockets. "He took a plasma torch and did this to me... Then he sent me home to serve as a warning for all the those who would dare oppose his reign."

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry adjusted the viewfinder inside the main turret as the droids approached. "... oh boy. Company."

He reached for the internal comm system. Or for his actual squadmates if they were closer to reach. "Attention, all hands, we got four bots a click off the bow. Please advise."

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron barely held back an angry growl, only just keeping his anger in check, though one of his hands now clenched his leg tightly. He took a moment to suppress the rage so his voice would remain level, and he wouldn't do something he would regret, even now as a Padawan he had issues holding back his anger. A large part of him wanted to get his lightsaber out of his pack, and hunt down Sya this very instant, but his training kept him calm enough to remain seated.

"And yet the Separatists claim to be representing the interests of the Outer Rim worlds supposedly given less representation then they deserve. What a load of dung. All of this, the occupation of your planet, the war, all of it greed, and the twisted desires of beings that want only to see others suffer. I've heard stories of the Separatists assassinating leaders of neutral worlds, and attacking them outright just because there's a profit to be had."

Auron turned his head away from the game slightly, no longer paying as much attention, instead diverting his energy to simply keeping his anger in check, a Jedi should never give into their anger, and if he ever hoped to be a Knight, he would need to suppress his angry tendencies.

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee was driving the tank when Rieker's voice came in over the comm system.

"Fly casual?" Geedee suggests jokingly. Panza smacks him in the side of the head and beeps at him in annoyance.

"This is a TANK, not a starship! This one is not suitable for subtle movement or flight!"

"In that case," Geedee says, rubbing the side of his head with his outermost left arm, "I suggest we slam the accelerator and open up with our ridiculously superior firepower. In that order. What do you say, doc?"

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Rieker tapped his chin. "... that's tempting. Do we still got our 'commander' in the hold? We could try to bluff our way out of this."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"I believe so," Geedee says, "Until Kaldo finds a buyer in the village, I suppose we could try a little puppetry."

[Felhammer]

The friendly B1 up in the turret comments, Those droids are coming closer... What... Should... We, ah, do...?"

The old man at the fruit shop sighs, "There is nothing you can do little one. You are but a child. You should find what you are looking for and leave this world before the General hurts you as he did me."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"Calm down! You look just like them; they won't suspect a thing," Geedee reassures, "Ask them how the hunt for rebel scum has been."

[Felhammer]

The droid squad nears the place where the tank is hidden. As they do, they one of them calls out, "Hey look! There's a tank!"

Another pipes up, "I wonder if the rebels attacked it..."

The friendly BB calls out, "No... We're, ah... Doing... Uh... Fine. How's the, eh, hunt for the rebels, uhhh, going...? "

"Rebels...? We're on patrol. We have to keep our eyes out for rebel sympathizers!"

"Hey, wait a minute... Why are you back here? aren't the rebels to the north?"

"Uhhhh..." The Friendly B1 looks down inside the tank for help.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry whispers from the lower compartment. "Field repairs. The rebels hit the right repulsorlift with a grenade. There's, like, three of us 'droids' down here fixing it."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Panza grabs Geedee's tool kit and moves over to the right repulsorlift. He makes a ruckus of banging tools around and shouting orders in Binary, adding to the illusion.

[Felhammer]

The B1 friend looks down at the 33s, then at his fellow droids, then down, then up once more before responding, "Field... Repairs. Those darn Rebels caught us. Took out our... Uhhh..." He looks down again for confirmation, "Repulsorlifts. Yeah, repulsorlifts. They took out our repulsorlifts!"

"Well that makes sense. Do you need me to call in some mechanics?"

"No, we, uh, eh, ah, have it under, ah, control." The loud noise and binary calls thunderously boom out of the tank's hull.

"Well... Alight then."

The droids march off, headed into town. Once they are out of earshot the friendly B1 comments, "That was close. Should, we, uhh, blast them with the tank? before they get to the village?"

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee extends his outermost right arm back to Panza, giving him a high five.

"Sounds good to me!" Geedee exclaims, flexing his hands together as though he was popping his boneless knuckles, "I'd love to test out this baby's firepower. Man the cannons!"

Panza bleeps irritably at Geedee.

"If we shoot them, their general will learn that the rebels have hijacked a tank and will send more soldiers down here!"

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"I'm inclined to agree. The personnel cannons alone'd probably be heard down the road. Bad for business. It might - just might - be better to jump on them on foot."

Just to check, Ry pops up out of the main hatch to see how far the B1's went. "And don't tell me you don't wanna leave your girlfriend alone."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"I'm not that kind of man-droid," Geedee says with a chuckle, "Also, that double negative is melting my logic circuits. Ow."

Snarking completed, Geedee waits for Rieker to report how far the droids had gone.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron looks at the rest of his group, stopping in Niika longest, before turning back to the old man, leaning in close, and whispering quietly.

"I'm afraid that our business here has already put us in conflict with the General, and in order to finish it, we'll be in conflict with him again. Nothing you can say can change that, only change the what, where, when, and how."

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"... okay. They're far enough they won't see us. Last chance for regrets."

The mechanic grabbed his pistol and slid down the tank's front to the ground. "Okay 'commander' - I'mma need you to sit in the tank and not do anything. If you don't do anything, I'll give you an oil bath. Sound fair?"

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee follows Rieker out of the tank, adjusting his scarf as he lands and unholstering his pistol.

"Panza! Stay with the commander and keep your sensors active. If anything funny comes along-" Geedee taps the side of his head to indicate his commlink, "Let me know."

Taking my second wind, adding four hit points in preparation for the upcoming battle.

[Felhammer]

The friendly B1 nods his head, "I like oil baths!"

The Droids are 18 meters away.


The old man smiles as he gently puts a ball into Auron's hand, "Been saving this for months. Make sure he finds it..." The old man then whistles and calls out, "Get your muja fruit! Get your muja fruit! Fresh as a newborn!

The old man gave you a frag grenade.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron slips the frag grenade into a side pouch on his pack, and turns back to the man.

"Thank you, we will see to it that it is put to a good use."

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"Good. That's great. Remember - don't do anything."

And like that, he's off clambering into the bushes. He follows behind the droid patrol in the brush, sneaking as much as he can without tripping over underbrush. It's just like the farm back home - except the farm is now a temperate forest with alien trees and bugs and strange leaves and-

Well. He wasn't a big fan of nature.


Time to do the sneaky sneak. Stealthing up to the droids at half my full movement speed, dropping a force point here.

[roll0]
Then add:
[roll1]

[Felhammer]

The droids listless march forward, completely oblivious to Rieker's ploy...

[BramsesII]

Niika

Niika keeps quiet as Auron talks to the man, staying in the background. There is no point in everyone crowding in to hold the same conversation. Instead, the young jedi keeps her eyes peeled for anything that seems out of place in a town like this one.

Once Auron is done with his conversation, Niika turns to him and whispers. "What's your feeling on this town?"

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee also sneaks after the droids, keeping a short distance behind Rieker.

Stealth: [roll0]

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

The mechanic-in-training skulks behind the droid column until he can get to cover. He mutters to himself, "Alright... yer gonna hate me for this, Mimi, but we need to be quiet."

He's talking, of course, about the blue-tinted grenade hanging off his belt. Never jump into a war with droids without ion grenades as an option. ... he told himself at the recruiting office.

Oh boy.

"... here goes everything."

He unholsters the grenade and flings it towards the mass of B1's...



Moving up to P7, tossing an Ion grenade at N8. Throwing a force point at the attack because even with denied dexterity to reflex, it's a tossup otherwise. Two points left.

Attack: [roll0]
+ Force Point: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"It seems safe enough a place for us to rest, resupply, and get some more information, but considering how much they've already suffered, someone might report us just to avoid another crack down by Sya. Regardless, we need to rest, and get information, this is our best chance for quite awhile."

Auron whispers back.

[Felhammer]

One well placed, if miss-thrown, ion grenade proves more than enough to deactivate all four of the droids on patrol.

"You got them! Great job!", screeches the friendly B1.

Ok, what are you going to do now?

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo has watched the conversations between and involving the Jedi with relative disinterest, but now disagrees, and so voices his disagreement. "The best place for us to rest would be back with the tank," he suggests, "And what information are we looking for, exactly? It's not like the Separatists are going to share their battle plans or troop numbers with the occupied and oppressed."

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"Well for one thing, they'll know things hidden around here we don't, paths the Separatists can't or don't use. Second, the tank provides no shelter for several of us because of, y'know, handholds, and besides that, their interiors are designed for droids, and don't care much for comfort, not exactly easy to rest. Third, any rebels that escaped or weren't there to get captured might seek or have already sought shelter here. Fourth, they might not have it in military terms, but look at the map, quite a bit of this area is farmland, the farmers, and the villagers will likely have noticed the size of, and frequency of regular patrols along the nearby roads. Knowing that we can at least figure out what, and when it's safe to travel. Just remember, we have one tank, the local forces, let alone across the rest of the planet, have seven more, we need to be cautious, and move carefully. Besides that, it gives us time to come up with an actual plan, get supplies, finish repairing Geedee, work on the tank, and a myriad of other things besides."

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Though he longs to be back with his droid's, the paranoid Kaldo nods, checks his rifle absent-mindedly, and waits for the Jedi to find new people to question.

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee walks over to the droids, inspecting them to make sure they were deactivated.

"Looks like we don't need Kaldo's salvage, doc," Geedee comments, picking up one of the carbines as he holsters his pistol. He collapses the stock and shoots it at a nearby tree, getting a feel for it's higher firepower.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"I wasn't even sure that'd work. Oy." Rieker pulled comically at his collar.

"We're gonna have to take everything. That's another missing patrol, and I can bet they're already getting sick of us insurgents. Help me carry this, will ya?"

Even if B1's weren't that heavy, Ry was already have problems pulling, well, a corpse of a droid off the road.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron rises from the Dejarik table, and shoulders his pack.

"Do you know of anywhere we could rest, or stash...something quite large nearby? We need some time to get supplies, and discuss our next steps."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"Sorry, doc. I'm not exactly a labor droid."

Geedee activates his commlink, connecting him to Panza.

"Hey Panza! You know how you love carrying things? We've got a bunch of things that need hauling over here. Think you could lend a hand?"

After a short while, Panza shows up. Without so much as a bleep, he stacks up three droids and lifts them all over his head. He starts marching back towards the ship, relatively unfazed by the weight of three battle droids. Geedee places his newfound rifle between the top two droids on the stack Panza was carrying and goes over to help Rieker with the last droid.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry grumbles. Not because he got shortchanged, buuut... well, the flaws of being a skinny, pale human trying to carry a sand-tinted skeleton through brush and barely succeeding. Sometimes, he envied the mechanical form.

It doesn't take long for he and Geedee to drag the droid (which he presumed to be the squad head, if the markings are to be believed) and a few of his weapons back to the tank, avoiding the road as much as he could. When he gets back to the tank, his fingers itch. He's already back in the 'fix me, fix me' mindset he was initially running on when this started. Which was to make this tank the best improvised command base he could jury-rig.

If only he had spray paint.

[Felhammer]

The team by the tank drags the extra droid carcasses over to the tank's hiding place, dropping the bodies in some nearby bushes since there is little room in the already tight tank.

The old man in the village points down the street to a log cabin about fifty feet away. A sign on the outside depicts a bed with a woman sleeping comfortably atop it. As the team nears the building, they see the door crack open, then quietly slam shut. The two jedi and Kaldo can practically feel someone shivering in fear behind the door.

[BramsesII]

Niika

Niika nods a friendly greeting to the man as the group heads towards the log cabin. Once they've arrived at a hastily closed door, the young jedi looks at her companions and shrugs.

"Something bad obviously happened there. I suggest we approach whoever's in there with caution. We wouldn't want to scare them off."

[Felhammer]

A soft, child-like voice calls out from behind the door, "Go away. We don't want to deal with any of you Seppie scum!"

A loud clank can be heard, followed by heavy foot falls, followed by an older woman yelling, "Fiza, NO! How could you... We don't say such things..."

The door flings open and a Mirialan woman drops to her knees and grabs Niika's leg as she begs, "She's just a girl! She didn't mean anything by it! I... I will punish her! I promise! Please don't take my daughter away! PLEASE!"

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron responds quickly, though quietly, speaking in Mirilan over basic, hoping to help calm the woman by using the planets native language.


"Calm down, calm down. There's no need to punish anyone, we aren't with the Separatists, and we aren't in this village to try and cause trouble, or take anyone away."

Auron offers his hand to the woman grabbing Niika.

"Please, before you attract the attention of any Sepratist sympathizers, or moles around here, if there are any."

[Felhammer]

The woman looks up and wipes the tears from her eyes, "Yes... Indeed. I will punish my daughter. Thank you, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to punish my daughter appropriately.

She leans in to the Jedi and quietly whispers in Milrialan, "Meet me in the cellar. The entrance is behind my house. 1183."

If you want to be sneaky, make a stealth check!

The back yard of the inn is covered in grass, sprinkled with just a few snow patches. The cellar door is more of a hatch, really. A standard issue keypad is next to the door, complete with number buttons.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron nods, and turns to Niika and the others.

"Lets spread out, see what you can find on your own."

Auron heads away from the cabin at first, and ducks to the side between two houses, and sneaks his way back around to her cellar.

Need to remember that as a Togruta I can reroll stealth checks (must take second result)

[roll0]

[Felhammer]

The team heads to the backyard as covertly as possible. The entrance to the cellar is more of a hatch than a door. It is cold, industrial steel, which stands in stark contrast to the relatively rustic nature of the village. A cool breeze blows by. As you look up into the sky, you can see the sun is slowly setting in the west. The radiant red and pink color of the sky is reflected in the water of Lake Wuku. A standard issue number pad has been bolted onto the hatch.

The friendly B1 pipes up, "Uhhh... There are four Vulture Droids and a Sheathipede-class shuttle coming out of orbit. They appear to be headed towards Ft. Tuzu."

You suddenly feel very cold.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron looks around, uneasy. This cold wasn't right, it didn't come from the air but from his other senses. To him, that could only mean something dark, and he well knew that a Sith Lord led the Separatists, and through him, he had at least one assassin, and who knew what else was out there.

Putting the code into the door quickly, he slips inside, while doing his best to reduce his presence in the force by increasing his force defenses. To those that knew how to look for it, force sensitives were beacons, 'brighter' then others around them.

Use the Force [roll0]

[Felhammer]

The hatch opens with a hissing pop, revealing a narrow corridor lined with a steel ladder. The lights are off down below... You hear the soft pitter patter of boots shuffling on steel.

It is indeed a person strong in the dark side of the force. The person in question seems to be traveling in the sky, headed north west of you... Perhaps to Ft. Tuzu or Cek.

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Taking his cue from the Jedi Auron, Kaldo heads back to the main street, looking for a merchant that sells droid parts and durasteel.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

That sealed it, Auron was heading down into...a bunker? Maybe? Whatever the case, it was either a trap, or rebels that avoided capture, maybe a smaller and separate cell, or perhaps even Republic moles set up. He wouldn't know till he went in, so down the ladder he slid, after digging his lightsaber out of his pack, and moving it to an easier to reach pouch with the frag grenade.

[Felhammer]

A hooded Mirialian greets the two Jedi. "I am Onowi. My sister told me you were the mercenaries that have strolled into town? I must ask, is your team larger? My sister said you numbered three yet I only see two. It is very dangerous out there. Spies every where. Drones fly overhead, they see everything. This is the only safe place in the village. I urge you to find your friends and bring them here. Her voice is confident but that confidence belies a sense of fear.

Kaldo walks around the village but finds it to be locked up tight. No one is outside, everyone seems to have scurried off, fearful of his presence. There is a small junk merchant in town. The sign on the door says closed. When he looks into the darkened shop, he sees stacks of droid parts and mechanical bits scattered about along with... Movement. Someone crawling on the ground, barely visible.

The friendly B1 in the tank pipes up, "We're getting a transmission from the fort. Should... I answer it!?"

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"Greetings Onowi, my name is Auron. Some of us are mercenaries, but not all of us. We all have different reasons for coming here, and a task we must complete before we can leave. As for the rest of my group, they're....somewhere nearby, and hidden, they have something with them we can't really bring into the village, it will definitely be spotted."

[Felhammer]

"The General does not like interlopers. His spies have likely already informed him of the fact that off worlders have come here. I do not know what your objectives are - and whether you are bounty hunters, Republic soldiers or mercenaries - but regardless your presence has attracted attention - attention that will put likes at risk. The droids will soon arrive. You must hide your friends or else they will be drawn into a fire fight. Innocent people could be killed. This base - such as it is - is secure. I will hide you here until the morning. Then I am giving you the boot. Go do what you need to do outside of this village. We don't need or want heroes." She pauses for a moment as she turns her back on you, "Heroes only get their friends and family killed. Or worse."

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo knocks loudly on the door. "Open up or I'm coming in!" he shouts, waving his credit chip in front of the window.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry pokes his head out from behind the tank's repulsor bay. He didn't even hear the first thing the hijacked B1 had commented about. "Uhhh... yeah, sure, patch it in. Play it cool, I'll tell you what to say."

He rolls himself out from under the tank with a grumble. Didn't even get that much time to fix things. Any hint of a crisis hadn't dawned on his absent-minded brain.

[Felhammer]

The movement inside stops when Kaldo calls out. There is no reply however.

In the tank, B1 patches the communication through, "Attention Battalion Four, all forces have been ordered to Ft. Tuzu. Apparently the Hunter has arrived and you are being put under her command."

The friendly B1 screeches, "Th-the HUNTER!? Oh noooo!"

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"The Hunter?" Geedee repeats, "Who's that?"

[Felhammer]

The-the Hunter is a MAD WOMAN! She kills droids for just speaking to her, or just standing in the wrong place! Every droid in the army knows she is pure evil! She served out in the far reaches of the Corporate Sector putting down small rebellions."

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

With no patience for suffering fools, Kaldo kicks down the door. "Hey! I'm a paying customer. You've got Durasteel, I've got credits. This is as nice as I'm going to be about it!" He crosses the threshold and starts looking over the wares.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"Huh. Sounds like my ex..."

Then he realizes what exactly the B1 was screeching about. His eyes go wide. "... oh hell."

He leaps up (or stumbles, depends on your point of view) onto the tank and clambers for the main gun. "Commander, get on the steering column. Geedee, tell your assorted girlfriends we gotta to motor. We need to get to Tuzu."

Thankfully, Ry kept his commlink on him. He radios for Kaldo as he checks the ammo feed. "Rand? Come on, buddy, talk to me, talk to me...!"

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo hears Rieker coming through on the comlink. "I'm getting that Durasteel you wanted, what's up?"

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee grabs his rifle from the battle droid pile before he tosses Panza at the top of the tank. Geedee clambers up after him, dropping into the hatch and taking a seat as he starts up the tank. He shares a few choice bleeps with Panza as he gets into position.

"Girlfriends?! Does he think me and this tank are a pair already? Does he think you and I are a pair?!"

"That is not important right now! Drive the tank!"

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"This village may not want, or can handle, as you put it, heroes, but your planet needs it. The C.I.S will rip apart this planet for everything of value, over decades if they're allowed, and then abandon it, a husk with blackened skies, and ashen fields. They sounded the drums of war, and there's only two responses to the drums of war. Cowering from them, or fighting, with or against the sounder matters not. Besides, the only family I've ever known is more then capable of caring themselves, and whatever you think, though we will draw any fire away from bystanders where we can, we will be made to fight. There's no avoiding it, either get out, hunker down, or arm yourselves. Your world is not abandoned."

Auron says in Mirilan before pulling his lightsaber from his pack.

"If you want to keep this village out of harms way, we'll need to get our supplies, and move out after a short rest. Any information, or help you can give will allow us to move faster, quieter, and finish our mission here before this village is wrapped up in it. I want as few people to die in all of this as possible, but I won't let the Separatist systems tear apart this world, it's culture, it's history, and most importantly, it's people because of their blind greed."

[Felhammer]

Kaldo walks into the unlocked shop. The lights are off. A shadow stumbles backward and darts out the back door. At the same moment he is contacted by his allies. The store is a bearly organized junk heap. Through al lthe clutter, he finds a few pieces of dusrasteel that look to have come off some old landspeeders.

The friendly B1 nods, "We're ready to move, sir. Where are we going?"

The Mirilaian woman sighs, "I hate heroes but I hate this war even more. If you take your war out of this village, I will give you an old decommissioned seraph landspeeder. I will have the little one put are some medical supplies in a speeder for you. As for intelligence..." She looks down, "We don't have any. We aren't allowed to leave the village. The General imposed the law upon us after the riots. If you need weapons, find Zik. He's a Devronian smuggler who breaks the blockade on a regular basis. He usually lands somewhere near Mt. Yom. The rebels often dealt with him when they needed weapons. For our part, we just needed food, medical supplies and basic equipment that have become scare since the Separatists have come here.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"Some frosty lady called the Hunter is coming down to the fort with a Vulture escort. It's spooking the commander real bad. Give us your coordinates and we'll be there to shove an energy shell down her throat before she guts you like a Caridan carp."

Ry points out to the road in a slowly building panick. "Just drive onto the road! We'll get some directions in a sec!"

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"Right...if it's all you have, keep it, I'm sure we can find some elsewhere, with the village cut off, you'll need them more. We'll stay for awhile, and leave before the sun rises, if we succeed, I'll make sure someone gets your landspeeder back to you, maybe with some extra food or medicine if I can work it. Hopefully we can drive the Separatists away entirely, but....there's someone new here, someone that is possibly going to be more dangerous then Sya ever was. Keep your heads down, and try to smuggle a little less, this area could get bad. The rebels base that was north of here was hit, anyone that wasn't killed or captured has scattered. Keep your head down, and stay safe. Hopefully this stupid war won't last long."

Auron turns away from her and climbs back up, exiting the bunker to go wait by the fruit stand where he opens up a line to all the other party members that don't know about the bunker.

"Alright people, I got us a place to stay for awhile to rest, and the landing site of a smuggler we can look into for other supplies. I won't transmit the information, could be hacked, I'll be waiting near the path in for you. Keep your heads down, move as quiet as you can, and get out.....friend, and his charge covered and hidden, the area is regularly swept by drones, and likely has moles, it'd be spotted to easily."

Stealth roll for quietly speaking into comms? [roll0]

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo takes the Durasteel and leaves nothing behind, then heads out to the path leading into the village, reuniting with the Jedi. He radios their coordinates to Rieker.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry relays the coordinates to the commander point by point, and then to Geedee, hoping one of them can interpret a map and figure out where they're going.

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee, as a pilot droid, quickly figures out the coordinates in relation to their current position. He then slams the accelerator and speeds off to the location indicated by said coordinates.

[Felhammer]

The friendly B1 screeches, "NOOOO! We can't go to the fort! The Hunter is thereeeee!"

Geedee pilots the AAT to the coordinates and picks Kaldo and the two jedi up. He then drives the tank over to a particularly dense section of the forest near the lake, with a thick canopy overhead so that drones flying over cannot make visual contact.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry pops the main turret's hatch upon arrival. He forgot to clean the grease splotches off his cheeks. Or off most of his upper body.

Actually, there seems to be a more poignant thing to note - where did his shirt go? "Hey! How'd the village turn out? Good?"

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee hops out of the tank's hatch, taking a seat on one of the tank's secondary blaster cannons. Panza sits beside him, clutching tightly to the cannon for support.

"Any customers, Kaldo?"

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo shakes his head. "Wasn't able to find a buyer for the droids, but then, I didn't really look. Did manage to find some durasteel, though." He passes the materials off to Rieker to make the modifications. A quick count of the droid corpses tells him that there are more now than there were before. "How did things go here?"

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry's smile gets a little bit bigger. Fresh parts, finally. Thankfully, there are two sacks of droid parts tied to the inside hold of the tank, one labeled for Rand in particular. "Eh, good, I guess. Took out a whole squad of clankers by myself. Yep."

"We also were able to stay undetected. For how long, I can't really say, but hey small victories."

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Not knowing the details of the event, Kaldo raises an impressed eyebrow at the tech specialist. "Well done," is all he offers in praise, but he does add, "If I can give you a hand with those upgrades, let me know." The mercenary Duros is always keen to expand his skillset, and working at the elbow of a specialist of Rieker's apparent calibur can't hurt.

Kaldo easily passes the aid another check with a +7 modifier and taking 10 to both Repair and Use Computer.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Kaldo gets a thumbs up for his troubles. "No worries. I was able to do some rerouting and a little work on the engine block anyway. Tighten up the firing arc on the main cannon, play with the swivel pieces on the anti-people turrets, screw with the maglift, ah you're not paying attention anyway-"

"With this-" he lifts up the scrap bag to show- "this baby'll be able to turn on a dime, and do all the neat tricks you want it to. Gimme the rest of the day to tinker and it'll be ready to go."

With fanfare and a cocky grin, he invites Kaldo into the engine compartment to give him a rundown of how the Seppie tank actually worked...


Fecking around with the tank for the last time! Applying tech specialist with the scrap that we have to cover the costs and make a Mechanics 20 check. Increasing vehicle dex from 16 to 18. And applying a force point on top of my roll so this passes either way. This is the last point I have, please god let's have a level up soon.

[roll0]
+
[roll1]
+
12

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"Well, I know the location a smuggler that regularly runs the Separatist blockade lands to do business, a upgraded tank like this one would be worth a pretty plenty, might give us enough to get everything we need to get the Lobo back, and free everyone. Course, there's still the issue of the manufacturing plant, before we consider selling any of the droid parts, or the tank, we should use everything we can to take that out, and strip it bare. Also, got us access to an old landspeeder, might come in handy at some point."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee and Panza hop off the tank and follow Rieker to the engine, assisting his tinkering if possible.

If Rieker is doing the Tech Specialist thing, Geedee and Panza shall both use aid another on said thing.

Geedee: [roll0]
Panza: [roll1]

[BramsesII]

Niika

While Geedee and Rieker are making repairs, Niika looks at Auron. "Auron, do you have a moment? There's something I'd like to discuss."

Once she's sure that none of the others can hear, the padawan speaks to the Torgruta in a soft voice. "Earlier, during the battle with the droids I reached out with the force. I... sensed something... someone. A terrible power, a strong presence of the dark side. I sensed it in orbit high above the planet." Her expression turns to a very worried one. "We need to get off this planet pronto. We don't want to run in to whoever I sensed up there."

She pauses for a moment, then continues. "I uh... I'd also like my lightsaber back. I have a feeling I'll need it."

"Well, that's fine too. Oh, I'd like my lightsaber back, though. I'll just stuff it in my own pack if necessary."

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Whispering so (probably) only Niika could hear him, after agreeing to listen for a moment.

"I sensed it to, when some drones and a shuttle were flying in the sky. My ability to sense with the force isn't well refined, so I'm going to out on a limb and say that whoever it is, has come planet side."

Auron passes Niika her lightsaber, and tightens his cloak around him.

"But we do have a mission to finish, and to finish it, we'll probably have to confront this...presence directly. I don't know if we can win, but we can make sure everyone else succeeds at the very least."

Stealth for quiet talk *Just in case*[roll0]

[Felhammer]

The winds pick up and a storm brews over the course of the night. The air is chilly, well below freezing by midnight. The night passes fairly uneventfully. Hyenas and vultures can be heard rocketing through the sky. In the dead of night, the friendly B1 also notices a Platoon Attack Craft traveling along the northern stretch of the Voz Road, going from the captured rebel base to Cek. When the sun finally crests the hills to the east, the team can clearly see that the heavens opened up and blanketed the land with a half meter of snow. The ivory white snow contrasts with the bright green pine trees of the forests surrounding Like Wuku. By mid-morning, the mechanics have completed their upgrades and have greatly improved the potency of the AAT-1 tank.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"Guys...we should probably get to the town soon, I've got a bad feeling about that transport."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee leans against the tank, wiping imaginary sweat off his forehead. Panza is hanging off his belt once again.

"Sounds good to me, kid," Geedee says, "I've been dying to try this thing out."

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry's voice reverberates from inside the maintenance cabin. "One sec, one seeeeeeeeeeeeeeec-"

Click. The tank's repulsors roar. The engine backfires like a Tarisian fuel-injected swoop. Smoke rises from the exhaust ports until the fusion-motor revs itself to a steady growl.

"Hah. Fixed it. Somebody fix me another cup of Jawa juice, I'm running on fumes." The mechanic crawls out of the maintenance hatch with a groan. Knuckles raw, fingers sore, eyes sunken in. He had been on that engine most of the night, huddled against it between bouts of below-zero weather.

But he's not worse for wear. Still missing his shirt, though.

He hangs off the side with his feet dangling, fighting yawns. "Point me in the right direction and we're ready to fly."

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo had spent the night at Rieker's side, but seems no worse for the wear. Sleep had never been an essential part of his upbringing, after all. He checks his rifle, then nods his assent.

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee climbs up to the tank hatch, opening it up before turning to the other soldiers.

"All aboard who's coming aboard!" Geedee calls down, clambering into the pilot's seat. He starts up the tank and waits for the others to get into their positions.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry huffs. "And I'm back on the anti-people guns again. Force help us-" He follows Geedee's example and crawls back inside the tank, this time into the compartment containing engine subrouters and the secondary cannonry controls.

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo takes up his position at the foremost handhold, lashed to it with his belt so as to be able to use his hands to fire his own gun.

[Felhammer]

The party rushes into the tank and drives it straight up the side of the wooded hill and back onto the road proper. After a few minutes of high speed travel, they barrel straight into the center of town. The local population - who were going about their day relatively peacefully - scream in terror at the sight of the AAT-1 tank and run as fast as they can for shelter. The party can hear many people yelling, "They are are her kill us all!" "The General has come to kill us!" "Dear gods, why today!?"

One person, a woman, wearing makeshift battle armor walks out from an alleyway and levels a grenade launcher at the tank... "Get out of here, you damn droids or else I will blow you straight back to the factor you were assembled in!"

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

Auron sighs and rubs his temples, he took a nap, and everyone else decided it was a good idea to just barrel through a village in the tank.

"Put that thing away before you kill us."

Auron calls out as he drops off his handhold, unclipping his belt, lowering his hood, lightsaber hilt clipped to his belt opposite his pistol.

"We need to get through here quick before we're reported, and before there's another sweep of this area, if you have anything you need, or can tell us about the occupation tell us now, because odds are we won't be coming back here, though if everything works out superbly, you might not have to worry about Battle Droids for a long, long time."

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry pops the middle hood just as Auron finishes. He snorts grumpily. "I'll get a paint job on it next time, fine."

"But he's right - we're not Seppie supporters. Quite the opposite, actually."

[Felhammer]

The woman slings the grenade launcher onto her back as she derisively sneers, "About time the Republic came here. You must be the group my sis was talkin' about last night. Good for you. There's a seppie patrol headed towards us from the west, along the road. They aren't expected to arrive for another fifty minutes, which is why everyone panicked when your tank came from the north (i.e. the wrong direction) and ahead of schedule. They usually come in one of those long transport tanks, don't know what you call them."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"Didn't think that one through," Geedee mutters. He parks the tank as Panza beeps at him from his belt.

"Of course not. If you thought anything through, then you would not require me, would you?"

"Don't be that droid, Panza."

"Anyways, we should remain here while the others deal with the villagers. After how much they have dealt with Separatists, I bet they are trigger-happy towards droids."

"You're right. Let's wait here."

Geedee leans back in his seat, propping his feet up on the control console and folding his four arms behind his head.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]


[EVERYTHING BELOW IS IN MIRILAN, IF I SWITCH BACK TO BASIC, I WILL NOTE IT IN ANOTHER THING LIKE THIS, CAAAAAAAAAAAPS]
"Far as I know, the Republic has been funding, and supporting rebel cells across the planet with smugglers, and blockade runners, the last time I saw the status map, we didn't have a port nearby that was safe to stage an offensive, though I've been focused on my training more, things could have changed. I'm not going to lie, even if your planet was freed tomorrow, this is going to be a long war, whatever happens now could potentially have repercussions that you don't see for years to come. We don't have much time, so I'm gonna lay our options out nice and barebones.

1) We can leave, and head back north to ambush that seppie patrol there, and not endanger anyone, or anything in the village right away, though I can't say about long-term
2) We can hide here, and ambush with the villages help, I don't like this option much at all, but it's an option, and it's your village, you deserve a vote
3) We can head south and intercept the patrol, and draw the seppie attention away from this area, best option in my mind, but there are more, to us, unknowns south of here

There might be other viable options, but I've not considered them. I should warn you now though, someone new has recently come to the planet, someone that could be more dangerous then Sya from what I've heard, so take that thought into your mind. I just want to head south, but before my companions get snippy, I'm honestly unsure about several of them, not the other Jedi though, so giving you time to debate now is, in my mind, the best option before we address the rest of my group.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"We call them... long transport tanks. Actually, I think they're called MTTs - Mobile Troop Transports. Trade Federation spec. Not sure if Baktoid makes them or not, but they got the same janky circuitry as this AAT."

He taps his chin, a solution already beginning to brew in his head. "... they 'usually' come that way? As in, they bring the MTT in first, then deploy troops from it, instead of escorting it on foot?"

[Felhammer]

"Your galactic politics do little to help people here on this world, right here, right now. You can console yourself by saying we can't help you right now because there are more pressing concerns but that doesn't mean people aren't suffering here." She spits on the ground and walks up the the jedi, "My sis wants you out of the village. Can't say as I disagree with her. Droids can kill the lot of us with ease. I am one of the last rebels left after you lot got the base attacked and my friends captured. Why would you head south? Ain't nothing there save for forest. It would be hard to lure them off the road. Probably be better to ambush them before they get here, or after they leave." The young woman looks up to Rieker and says, "They disembark about a quarter klick before arriving, march in and march out, then re-embark about a quarter kilck outside of town.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]
Still in Mirilan
]"Guess what, we're here, not elsewhere doing what we can. My homeworld, my family, is in the Expansion Region, which is still corporate dominated. Wanna guess who the Sepratist leaders are? Corporations who became to greedy to resolve this peacefully, my homeworld could already be occupied, my family cowering or dead, and yet I'm here helping you're village, and you're people. The Republic is outnumber by the vast factories and mines of the Separatists, we can't be everywhere, Jedi are rarely spared away from the big fronts, yet I chose to join this company, instead of getting a posting in my home-sector to defend my people." We head south because to north we have to go through the Fort before we can reach the town, and continue operations. People are suffering all over the galaxy, and there aren't enough Jedi to go around, so either we can move on from whose to blame and get to trying end this, or we can fight about it. So, we're going to ambush them after they leave, then use the southern road to get to Cek, and hopefully we can make sure the droids don't bother this village for awhile yet, maybe we even do enough that the Republic can drive them off the world entirely."

The Togruta crosses his arms, intimidated and stares down the rebel.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry ponders the tactical side of this. "Huh.... hrm..."

While Auron continues, he takes a moment to think about... things. Drawing maps in his head. Calculating relative numbers, statistics, the relative velocity of tank cannons. He turns back and forth over the tank's chasis in a curious way - the kind of curious that can come across as nearly possessed.

"Hey, Geedee..." He mutters down. "...y'think this thing could handle an ambush against a supply convoy? Fire out from the forest onto an open road far enough away from the village, catch'em off guard? That might get that 'hunter' to come to us, and give the villagers a chance to hoof it."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee swivels his head around to make contact with Rieker.

"With this thing? No problem," Geedee says, "We could take on tons of clankers in this thing."

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Attention then turns to Rand. "And you, Rand man - think you can slice up enough droids to make up the difference if this hypothetical ambush suddenly becomes a viable plan?"

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo looks at the mechanic. His black Duros eyes stare blankly at Rieker, and for a palpable moment he is silent. Then, he starts laughing, and his laugh grows to a boisterous guffaw which lasts for several seconds before finally subsiding as he regains composure. "Yes," he says, grinning widely.

[Felhammer]

The lass stares into the togruta's eyes and confidently whispers in the language of this world, "Grand promises and good intentions won't bring my father back." Switching back to basic she calls out, "Alright then, you lot ship out. May the Force be with you." Turning her attention back to the jedi, Oweia whispers in Mirialian, "We have a small medical facility in the ship that is buried under the town. If you get injured, come back here under cover of darkness. Make sure you aren't followed."

The tank is revved up and the 33s head out down the southern road. Once they are a klick away from the village, the tank slows down and heads off road into the forest.

[Durmatagno]

[Auron Lithal]

"Alright then, we get in position to ambush the droid patrol before they reach the village. We'll open with the heavy firepower from the tank, then everyone not in charge of the tank, use it for cover, and open up with your own weapons. We'll wait for the patrol to have it's back to us, most Seppy vehicles, like this tank, have the weakest armor in the back, right near critical system, use the tanks main gun to try and hit the back of the transport, maybe we can even stop it from opening and letting out it's droids, forcing them to flee, or slowly cut their way out into the tanks hail of blaster fire, and our own. Worst comes to worst, I have a frag grenade I can lob in there to take out a big group as well. I'll let you lot decide where to be."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"Alright, time for some ambushing!" Geedee says, eagerly looking down the sights of the pilot-operated repeating laser cannons as he gleefully prepares to gun down some clankers.

"A relaxing moment for once? Excellent. Now we just have to sit here and wait for targets to come into our crosshairs."

"That sounds boring."

"No need to be childish, GD. Just keep your photoreceptors peeled."

"♫I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves-♫"

"Will you focus?!"

"I am focusing! This helps me to focus. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Geedee's vocabulator makes some odd rasping sounds, like a bad imitation of a human clearing their throat, "♪Everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves...♪"

Panza gives an electronic sigh as Geedee sings to himself and prepares to gun down Seppies.

[BramsesII]

Niika

Niika, having been quiet during most of the proceedings, takes up a position behind the tank. She grabs her lightsaber in her left hand and focuses on her breathing. After a short moment she speaks up.

"I'm ready. I'll try to get in close. If that doesn't work, I'll... think of something."

[Felhammer]

The party readies themselves and lay in wait. After thirty minutes, the Multi-Troop Transport comes lumbering down the road. Just as it passes the hidden AAT tank, Geedee pushes on the accelerator to barrel out of the dense woodland and line up a shot for the main cannon!


Surprise Round! Everyone goes!

Round 1: You guys won initiative!

So... Take two turns worth of actions (surprise and turn 1) to speed this along!

Those of you not in the tank, place your icons in the areas with the red dashed lines (that way you could hie yourself in the brush (so as not to be seen by the tank as it drove on by).

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Once the party had got into position, Kaldo had disentangled himself from the tank and now crouched in some shrubbery ahead of the road. He fires repeatedly at the tank, aiming for the vital parts.

Surprise Attack: [roll0], [roll1]
Round 1 Attack: [roll2], [roll3]

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"The fun begins," Geedee says, tossing his scarf over his shoulder as he aims the tank's weaponry. He fires a missile at the enemy transport before following up with the laser cannons.

Surprise Round: [roll0]
[roll1] x2
First Round: [roll2]
[roll3] x2

[BramsesII]

Niika

Without any ranged weapons, Niika decides not to charge out just yet. There's very little point in attacking a multi-troop transport with a lightsaber. She grasps her lightsaber tightly in one hand and waits. When she notices that everyone seems to be missing their targets, she reaches out through the force to Geedee in his tank, sharing a brief vision of the near future to help him aim. Then, she resumes waiting.

Draw lightsaber during first round

Using Enlighten on Geedee as only second round action. (swift action)

Use the force check: [roll0]

Geedee may use the result of that roll instead of an attack, skill check or opposed check before the start of Niika's next turn. He can also use it in place of one of his defenses until the start of Niika's next turn.

[Durmatagno]

[Auorn Lithal]

Kneeling in the bush, eyes closed deep in concentration, hand outstretched towards the Huge multi-troop transport, Auron summoned his abilities in the force, and tries to force the massive transport into the brush, and trees to his south-east.

As the success of this determines what I do next, I'm doing it on it's own
Also, using a force point on my this check
Way I'm moving it (all six are being used if possible)
1x SE Diagonally
Everything else straight south into the brush near Auron

Use the Force (Move Object) [roll0] + [roll1]
Damage if this succeeds/If the brush/trees are enough to do damage in this case :P: [roll2]

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry's voice buzzes through the tank's internal comms as blasters scream and missiles lock on. He sounds strangely straight-laced. "Alright, Jedi - give the tank a wide berth. Go for any stragglers. I'll cover you if they start deploying escort-"

*FuuuuuuuuSHOOOOOOOSH FUUUWOM FUU FUUUWOM* So THAT's what he was doing the drive over. He was hypercharging the laser elements in the heavy repeating cannons. Huh.

"And don't hang around near the MTT. Shrapnel's a work hazard."



SURPRISE ROUND: Applying 'Personalized Modifications' to increase the base values of the repeating cannons - accuracy by 1 and damage by 2.

FIRST ROUND: Shooting many blaster!
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] x2

[Felhammer]

The tank careens to a halt as it is beset upon by the 33s! With the thunderous sound of driving pistons and the hissing-snap of releasing hydraulic clamps, the storage rack of the MMT shoots out of the tank and deposits 12 battle droids onto the field of battle! From the looks of it, the tank's carrier compartment is about a half full, so there are only 56 B1 Battle Droids on board rather than the normal 112!


The droids aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer. They stopped the tank facing away from you, which means they can't us their cannons!

I rolled for it too! They had a 20% chance to do it right but... No, the commander panicked and decided to drop off the soldiers first. I now know what it is like to be General Grievous :smallsigh:

Round 2 begins!

[Durmatagno]

(I only ever took my first action from the surprise round because I don't have the book that says what category that tank fell under, guessed huge (AAT is only large, funnily, my roll would have work on that :P, so I'm just going to say that Auron decided to wait for it to open up, and now, well, ;))

[Auron Lithal]

Auron, frustrated by his inability to move the bigger tank, ducks down, grenade in hand, ready, and waiting for the opportune moment. Thankfully by not using a blaster or his lightsaber, he hoped the droids would think that the tank is the only ambushing force.

[roll0]

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"That didn't work so well," Geedee says, aiming the laser cannons at the tank, "Now, once more, with gusto!"

Using the laser cannons.

Attack: [roll0] Using the 23 from Niika's Enlighten roll.
Damage: [roll1] x2

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Although Kaldo can hear the sounds of droids being deposited, he can not yet see any of the droids, and so takes another shot at the large transport itself.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Another communication comes through the pipeline. "I'm gonna get us closer to the battle droid column, do a little target practice. Hold on!"

The tank swerves to the right and fires positional repulsors. Not so much of a lurch, more of a clean drift that leaves the tank's cannon locked onto transport. And AP repeaters aimed at the deploying droids.


Moving the tank three squares to the right. Aiming autofire at a 2x2 square containing droids B7, B8, B0, and BA.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] x2

[BramsesII]

Niika

Niika frowns as a whole bunch of droids appear from the troop transport. Realizing that there is not much she can do she reaches out through the force in an attempt to focus herself. Then, she again tries to share a small vision of the future with one of her comrades, this time with Rieker.

Swift action to spend a force point to return enlighten to Niika's active force powers.
Using enlighten on Rieker - Use the force check: [roll0]

[Felhammer]

The battle droid commanders inside the tank continue to panic as they frantically shove more troops out onto the battlefield. The pistons pull back and release with machine-like efficiency. Half of the already delivered droids rush over to the south to attack the tank, while the other rush around the tank to take up firing positions that could easily see them blast Kaldo, the tank and the jedi.


Cover taken into account for their attacks.

Battle Droid v Niika [roll0] // [roll1]
Battle Droid v Niika [roll2] // [roll3]
Battle Droid v Auron [roll4] // [roll5]
Battle Droid v Auron [roll6] // [roll7]

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo grins as the droids draw near, putting themselves into his weapon's sights. His gloved thumb flicks the switch on the side of his rifle as he drops into a crouch, and soon a spray of blaster fire spits forth against the assembled droids.

Autofire (NO45): [roll0], [roll1]

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee continues firing on the enemy tank with the laser cannons.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] x2

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Rieker sprays more blaster fire around the transport, attempting to thin their numbers proactively by blowing up the whole dang transport.



Attacking the transport with laser pew pew pew.

Attack: 1d20+6 (shakes fist at the cosmos)

Damage: [roll0]x2

[BramsesII]

Niika

Lacking sufficient training to take on a large number of droids, Niika decides not to act just yet. Like before, she again focuses to center herself before reaching out through the force, sharing a small vision of the future with Rieker.

((Yeah, charging out there is suicide. Might as well repeat my action from the last round.

Swift action to spend a force point to return enlighten to Niika's active force powers.
Using enlighten on Rieker - Use the force check: [roll0]

[Felhammer]

As the tank gets pelted by fire the tank commander can no longer shake off the assault and wait for his troops to be deployed. The pilot of the vehicle slams on the accelerator, pushing the tank forward at great speed. The droids being deployed are mowed over by the impressively large tank. Th remaining battle droids try to give covering fire to the fleeing tank by unloading into the AAT.

Pilot Skill: [roll0] :( Ok, the tank cannot move at +1 speed and goes down one on the condition track.

Attacks on the tank:

[roll1] // [roll2]
[roll3] // [roll4]
[roll5] // [roll6]

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"Oh no you don't-"

Rieker puts his own foot down and pushes the tank to follow. It slides out its position in the brush and pursues the MTT from behind, repeating blasters firing in tandem.


Moving six to the north-east, firing on the transport.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]x2

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

With the tank giving chase, Kaldo stays behind to mop up the remaining battle droids. More scavenge for him.

Pew Pew Pew vs B6: [roll0], [roll1]

[BramsesII]

Niika

As the troop transport turns tail and runs, Niika decides that it's time to reveal herself. She leaps out of the underbrush, using the tank to hide herself from several of the still remaining droids. Running around the tank, she draws and ignites her lightsaber and lunges at the droid in front of her.

Move action to P8
Attack on B1:

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

She manages to hit the thing, but unfortunately it is only a glancing blow.

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Piloting the tank into position, Geedee continues firing with the laser cannons.

As the pilot, I'm pretty sure that only Geedee can move the tank. Nonetheless, I move it the same way as MadMaeve described. Then I shoot the other tank.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] x2

[Felhammer]

Under a hail of blaster fire, the enemy tank is obliterated. With smoke from the tank slowly wafting into the sky, the party makes quick work of the remaining battledroids.

What do you want to do now?

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo smirks. "Well, that was easy," he says. He starts gathering up the droid remnants. "If we can find a place to lay low, we can rebuild them, and reprogram them. Our own battle droids against the Separatists battle droids. I'm sure there will be more forces en route, though. Did somebody say something about a safehouse?"

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry pops the top hatch of the turret. He only catches the last part of that conversation. "Probably! I'd be more concerned about retaliation forces. That was just one transport. Plus, I'm not even sure how long we can stay down here doing this before we get ratted out."

He then considers. "... check the scrap heap for any salvagable comm stuff. Let's see what they're thinking. That also means you-" he directs into the tank, towards the team's droid friend. The other, other droid friend. "-Mr. Commander. Check their communications and see what they're planning to do."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"Another perfect performance," Geedee says, leaning back in his seat and folding his four arms behind his head. He patches his internal commlink into the Seperatist network, listening in on the communications along with the droid commander.

[Felhammer]

The friendly B1 shivers and shakes, "Uhh... Sir... The enemy is... Scrambling their bombers! The General wants to destroy all remaining rebel forces... With maximum carnage! OH NOOOOO! We have to get out of here!"

[BramsesII]

Niika

Niika puts her lightsaber in her pack again and is about to examine the transport when the message of bombers comes in. The shock is visible on her face. "Bombers? We have no... The village." She claps her hand in front of her mouth. "We have to warn them." The young jedi looks at the B1 droid.

"They're coming for rebels, right? Are the orders to aim for rebels specifically or is it more of a 'destroy everything' sort of order?"

[Felhammer]

"Uhhh..." The Friendly B1 listens again, "Scramble the Hyenas. Carpet bomb the south eastern coast. I will not tolerate any more incursions. Kill all of those filthy rebels. Turn them all into molten slag."

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

The mechanic listens with a rapidly sobering perspective. "So... it's indiscriminate. Blast, I hate having a conscience."

"Alright - I dunno about you folks, but I feel responsible for what's about to happen. We have to delay the bombers, or at least get those folks to safety before the bombs drop."

He takes the commander by the shoulder when he finishes the radio relay. "I got an idea - try to radio in that the rebels are fleeing into the... uh... east, if we're going west, west if we're going east. Somewhere where we won't be. Get them to chase phantom menaces."

[Felhammer]

"So you want them to go... West, while we go east? Or was it east while we go west? Uhhh... Maybe you should handle this, Commander. I... Uhh... Uhhh..." The friendly B1 has a mini-meltdown as his bargain basement droid brain tries to parse through what Rieker ordered him to do.

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"Consciences are for medical droids, but I don't care much for being bombed." Geedee remarks. He switches his commlink to the 33s' frequency.

"Don't tease the clanker, doc," Geedee says to Rieker, "He's a simple model. You've got to give him something concrete."

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry slaps himself. "Of course. Hand me the commlink, commander. You've officially been demoted."

He looks to the other members of the party. "We need a decision. What direction are we going, and how are we getting the villagers out of here?"

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo checks his rifle, then picks up a dozen power packs from the destroyed droids. He couldn't care less about the villagers, but then, he wasn't in charge of the mission. He looks to either of the Jedi for direction.

[BramsesII]

Niika

Niika looks at Auron, but when it looks like he's not responding right away, she turns to the others. "We've got nothing to move them in. The best we can do is warn them about the impending air strike. Hm..." She pauses for a short moment. "We head back there, warn them, then run in a different direction from the villagers. As for the bombers... can you get them to strike our current position first? All we have to do is make sure nobody flees this way. That includes us, naturally."

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"Yeah, I can do that. Just one second."

Ry holds the commander's Seppie comm up to his mouth. He flashes a devilish smile as he searches through the comm channels for the broadest frequency. "Excuse me, Separatist high command. Hi. This is the rebel command. Nice to meet you. I'm not scared of your bombers. And we aren't scared of you. Because it seems like to me you're scrambling everything in an effort to wipe us out in one blow."

"That ain't gonna work."

He whispers down to the others. "If they take the bait, get moving. I'll see how long I can stall them."



IF APPLICABLE: using deception to try to goad the enemy commander into listening to me.

[roll0]

[Felhammer]

The screaming voice of a man comes over the com, "WHO IS THIS!? I WILL KILL YOU WITH A THOUSAND BOMBS!"

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Ry responds curtly. "Rieker Verreker, former slave, now an expert at ambushing your droids. Not that is hard. If you aren't tracking my signal now, your 'men' aren't doing their jobs."

[BramsesII]

Niika

The jedi gives Rieker a thumbs up and a small smile. When he's quiet, she speaks up.

"So, they're tracking the tank, right? I guess that means we'll have to leave it behind if we don't want to be bombed into oblivion."

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo frowns visibly at the idea of leaving the tank, but the logic is undeniable. "Each of us take as many droid corpses as we can carry. Actually... is that giant transport serviceable?"

[Felhammer]

The transport needs to be repaired to be useful, the repairs would take longer than a handful of minutes.

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo fumes silently at the poor planning by the officers, sacrificing the working transport for the non-operable one without sufficient time to repair the latter, but instead of complaining or remaining silent suggests, "Someone can drive the tank away while the rest of us work to repair the transport, so we can still move with haste from one position to the next--and carry a frakton of droids." He notably does not volunteer himself for either position, leaving the resident tech specialist the option to declare one way or the other.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

The brazen mechanic sighs. "Yeah, as much time as I spent making it purr. Lousy reality, forcing me to have realistic expectations."

"I can drive the tank out somewhere a little further. Not the fastest guy in the squad, but she's my baby, I aughta be there for her before she kicks the bucket. Geedee could probably take care of repairs."

[BramsesII]

Niika

Niika looks at Kaldo and arches a brow. "You value the droids that much? I hope you realize that they're coming in for a carpet bombing run. My guess is they'll turn everything between here and wherever we leave the tank to glass." She looks at the others and shrugs. "But if you guys really value the droids and the transport that much..."

"Just hurry up with your repairs so we can get moving and warn the people in the village."

[Felhammer]

You can see the bombers in the sky. They are way off but getting closer.

Meanwhile on the coms, "YOU'RE DEAD! DEAD! DEAD! I will bomb this entire valley if I have to! But..." The General's voice becomes less angry and more measured, "If you surrender, I would be merciful to the poor villagers..."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

Geedee climbs out of the tank, leaving the hatch open for Rieker.

"Good ride," Geedee says, patting the tank as he slides off of it. He turns towards Niika after he lands.

"I'd personally prefer a little cannon fodder between me and the Seppies. Throwing the enemy off our tail is just a bonus."

Geedee walks over to the transport, pulling Panza off of his belt and bopping the nose. Panza unfolds and lands next to him. Geedee grabs his tool kit and starts looking over the transport's damage.

"Let's get this thing running, Panza. We shot lots of holes in this can and now we're plugging 'em up."

Mechanics (Panza): [roll0]
Mechanics (Geedee): [roll1]

Consider Panza's roll to be the main one and Geedee's to be Aid Another.

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo shrugs. "Wasn't it you who said they were living entities? To me, they're just eventual cannon fodder, but if we're going up against a droid army, it might be good to have one of our own as well." He goes to help Geedee with the repairs, though as quickly as the bombers are approaching, it is probably better if they all just run for it.

Mechanics: [roll0]

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Hands clamber over the steering controls to the tank. She had one last ride in her, she did. Unfortunately, Rieker wouldn't be taking it with her.

But, even then, there were bigger things at stake.

"... merciful? Heh. That's funny. You expect me to believe that when I see bombers flying over my head. Anything we 'agree' to is death, because you're a petty, manipulative, moron of a tyrant. And not even a good one - a bargain bin holoshow villain. You're a kid playing with toys."

"Just remember - when you don't have droids to do your dirty work, when you're stripped of everything, we're coming for you."

He runs off with tears in his eyes. Whether it was for his baby, or the lives he'd be damning to suffer in the fight to bring this general to justice, nobody could really say...

[BramsesII]

Niika

Niika is about to point out the bombers in the distance when Rieker suddenly bolts. She looks at the others for a second before following the man. "Bah... Didn't expect them this quickly. Let's get out of here everyone!" She speaks up again while rushing after Rieker. "We have to.... warn th... the village... some... somehow..."

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Taking his cue from his commanding officer, Kaldo follows their retreat, dragging Geedee with him to shake the droid's attention from the other droids, back to its own survival. If the droid carcasses remain after the bombers run through, Kaldo will gladly scavenge, should the situation permit.

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"Oy! Hands off the chrome!" Geedee snaps, dropping his hydrospanner as he's dragged back. Panza grabs the tool kit and collects it's tools before running over to Geedee. Geedee smacks Kaldo's hands away and starts following Niika as Panza climbs onto his back. Geedee grabs the tool kit from Panza and attaches it to his belt.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

Fortune had it, Rieker wiped his eyes by the time he caught up with the group. He huffs as he leaps over a log and heads into the underbrush. "Does... d-does anyone have a commlink? A flare?" His head turns left and right, physically asking for help. "A... anything would help! Because he's... he's as mad as a rutting gundark!"

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"Me and Panza both have integrated commlinks," Geedee says, tapping the side of his head and Panza's with his two right hands, "What do you need, doc?"

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"Perfect!" Duck. He swings a right around an old swamp tree, slipping out of reach of a long, weighty branch. "Look for civilian frequencies! Tell anyone and everyone who can hear you to seek shelter! If... if we're lucky, we'll find a station in the village and get the message out!"

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"My range isn't too long, but I'll see what I can do, doc," Geedee says. He holds a hand to the side of his head as he focuses, cycling through all available frequencies and broadcasting the following message to each of them.

"This is Geedee Wunsix-Four. I am allied with the Republic. In a matter of minutes, the Separatists are going to attack this area, targeting you. I advise that you seek shelter immediately."

Use Computer: [roll0]

[Felhammer]

The party flees. Several minutes later, the bombers fly overhead. The Hyenas completely obliterate the road and everything around it for about twelve meters in either direction. They also zip away, headed east, dropping bombs indiscriminately onto the village. The bombers then break formation and head west, dropping the last of their payloads off along the area that was once a serene road before heading back home.

[BramsesII]

Niika

She keeps on running until she's sure they're safe. Once that is the case, she stops and turns to the others. "f... We're safe... F.. for now. Hope the villagers... huf... made it to a shelter." She looks at the others. "Now what?"

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

"Now what? Aren't you two in charge?" Kaldo says to the Jedi. He seems very annoyed for some reason, perhaps it the loss of the tank and his salvage within.

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"Should we go see if there are any survivors?" Geedee asks.

[MadMaeve]

[Rieker]

"... I'm a little terrified to know, I'll be honest." He pauses to take a deep, unsure breath against the nearest tree. Time to own up to your responsibilities.

He pushes himself off. His feet carry him in the general direction of the village. "Come on. Let's get moving. That means you too, Jedi. You're our insurance in case we run into their troops."

[Dudeons]

Geedee Wunsix-Four

"Don't be a protocol droid, doc," Geedee says, walking alongside Rieker and clapping his leftmost hand on Rieker's right shoulder, "They've already dropped their bombs. We can handle anything else, or, at least, I can."

[BramsesII]

Niika

The young jedi nods. "Right. Survivors should be priority number one. Let's see if we can find any before the enemy sends in a cleanup crew."

[Felhammer]

A few hours pass before the party feels safe enough to head over to the village. When they get there, they are confronted by a horrible sight. All of the buildings are ruined, complete wrecks. Rubble has been strewn across the area, bits of clothing and furniture liter the ground. Yet... No bodies. Not a single one. Where did they go? Had the Sepratists snatched up the bodies or disposed of them by some foul and insidious technology?

Suddenly, a hatch bursts open. Hidden amongst the rubble, a green-skinned native pushes her way out into the the bombed out ruin that was once her home. She looks around with a scowl. "Bastards, barely gave us enough time to hide."

The young woman, barely a teenager, is startled to see jedi and Republic soldiers loitering. "Well... Hello. We didn't expect to see you here... Ever again. Sorry about the mess..." She gives a half-hearted chuckle as she steps out of her home and into the street. She surveys the area and sighs, "They really did bomb us to smithereens, eh? Oh well, we can rebuild."

She looks back at the hatch and smiles, "We hid. Down there. I'm Ming, by the way. There's a freighter buried under town. It won't fly but it made for a convenient bomb shelter."

"You guys should go kick that general's ass." She pulls a set of electronic keys out of her pocket. Take my boat. It will get you to where you want to go... So long as it is around the lake. Kick the General's ass and free our world."

Out in the water, you see a small skiff. Silver in color, rusted slightly. A large, after market engine has been strapped to the back of it. Far too large for such a small craft. Built for speed, the added power from the engine would easily send you across the lake in a flash. "Take it. Take it and free our world."

[esorscher]

Kaldo Rand

Kaldo takes the keys. "You got it." He turns to the assembled survivors. "Anything else you can give us?"

[BramsesII]

Niika

The jedi bows lightly towards Ming. "Thank you Ming. It is good to see that you guys managed to survive the attack." She pauses for a moment. "We'll "kick his ass". I promise. I think."

[Felhammer]

Ming tosses Kaldo a frag grenade and a pouch with two medpacks. She bows to the Jedi before hopping back down into the ship, sealing the hatch behind her.