When asked by Dohr for advice on how to stay alive she replies in a flat tone.

"Don't stop, don't drive predictably, don't get out."

There comes another shot but Devon's reflexes are adequate to the task.  Barely.  Fragments of road kick up at the impact of the bolt.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:16, Tue 25 Feb 2014.

"Shot fired.  Repeat shot fired.  South side, parallel to Seven's position.  No fix on the shooter though he has elevation."

"Southern rooftop, lone Wookiee, probably male.  Wielding a light sniper rifle, possibly hunting rifle."  The droid's voice is sharp and quick.  "Extreme caution advised."  CC9 is painfully aware that he is unarmed.  An unarmed battle droid is like an R2 unit with no tools installed, like an Ewok without a stick, like a Twi'lek dancer without an audience.

"Seven, head up towards the wookie for distraction. I'll join you", Arin said in to the comms and pulled his swoop in to a steep climb. "Two, Ten, CC and Doc, keep on moving through the kill-zone and keep your eyes peeled." Turning the accelerator full on, Arin felt the airflow while shooting up in a high angle. He made evasive moves on the way up and pulled the blaster pistol with his other hand. The only thing was, he could only hope, there was no more snipers around.

Kyvarr listened before speaking.  "Single shooter, low yield weapon.  Either a lone shooter, a distraction or bait."

She seemed to ponder for a second.  "Get us through doc, as fast as you can.  A rifle wont do much damage but he could have friends or trying to lure us out of our vehicles."

""I noticed the shooter too. Seems to have his sights on you, Seven. And roger that, Five." A single shooter seemed most unlikely looking at the multiple speeders littering the street, but Dohr agreed with Kyvarr. The Wookie was probably a bait or a distraction. As the gunman was aiming at Rian anyway, the doctor decided to ignore him completely and concentrated on doing what both Five and she were saying. It was his job to get the through and the others' to keep them safe from any ambushers. "I hope you are right Hammer and he only has a small caliber sniper rifle. This tin can does not provide us much of protection, but it does make us an easy target."

17:52, Today: Dohr Veen rolled 24 using 1d20+6. Pilot roll.

"Yeah." answered Devon as he wrenched his bike through another evasive turn, then almost stood it on its tail to get some altitude under him.  As he screamed upwards away from the street, Devon applied all the tricks he would use to dodge fire from a stationary turret in a dogfight - he may have been riding a swoop and not piloting a fighter, but the principles were the same...
"If they can shoot someone off their bike, then the rest of you have to stop for pick up - keeps us in one place.  Five - I'm gonna dive back down when you hit him, just say when.  I'm the distraction, you take the shot."

Levelling out of his climb and pulling another tight turn to throw the aim of anyone trying to line a shot up, Devon risked a brief glance down to get an idea of the lay of the land.

Spot roll:  16

Heigren rubbed his sore head and looked embarrassed as he got back into his seat and collected his datapad.

"Only side roads are narrow alleys that would slow us down.  We need to go forwards, back or stop."

"Do not slow, do not stop.  We need to get through before any trap is fully closed."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:53, Wed 26 Feb 2014.

Fiarr sat quietly.  She'd checked her blaster was fully charged and ready to go.  Now all she could do was wait.  She wasn't about to stick her head out the back for no purpose.  For now she was reliant on her Kel Dor driver and escort riders.  If she needed to start shooting they were in serious trouble.

Flash grumbled to himself as Arin rushed off to play hero. . .again.  He kept quiet as this was not the time or place for such things.

"Ten take point, I'll stay at the back.  Steer the best path for the vehicles and they will follow you.    Doc, CC9.  Stay in formation with Ten.  I'll do my best to watch the sides for more attackers."
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:03, Thu 27 Feb 2014.

"Breaking formation is ill-advised," CC9 states before adding, "Acknowledged, Two."

What occurs next happens in a flash - literally. Arin doesn't even see it coming.

As his swoop rises from its place in the formation the shooter must have registered Arin as an active threat. Whatever the case there comes the powerful retort of a blaster shot and a bolt of energy slams into Arin's chest - a downright brilliant shot. The ex-Imperial is slammed with the rifle bolt as if he'd purposefully flown into it.

< Everyone please roll initiative and declare initial actions. >
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:40, Thu 27 Feb 2014.

Arin felt the pain, but even through it his instincts and training as a combat pilot kicked in and he rolled his swoop in to a dive towards the convoy. "It's a trap! Everyone forward at best speed - we need to get out of the kill-zone!" And despite the situation, the ex-Imperial sounded rather calm and concentrated. The blaster bolt in to the chest might have been a potential reason for being concentrated as it hurt like hell.

Flash grumbled in his native tongue.  "[Language unknown: I tienre.  Iean ut kormenwhe erealltin popl, ro beunfo hi sanectain ne stane?]"
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:57, Fri 28 Feb 2014.

Fiarr snorted but said nothing.  She waited to be needed.


Inititative: 24.  Pull out a natural 20 when there is nothing for me to do!

Despite knowing better, Dohr couldn't help but cast a look at the two speeders heading towards the ambushing Wookie. He wasn't happy about the move as it left the rest of the convoy, namely the truck he was driving, less protected. It was also fairly dangerous for the two guys piloting the bikes. Yet he could see their point in trying to take out the single shooter they were aware of as quickly as possible. It wasn't really wise to leave a sniper alone unless one was moving fast enough to get out of his range in just a few seconds.

To make the glance worse, he managed to do it at the very moment the Wookie squeezed his trigger and the bolt hit Arin. Apparently the ambusher had considered Five a bigger threat than Seven. The shot was dead on perfect hitting the human in the middle of the chest, but for some reason Five managed to stay on his bike. Either he was extremely lucky or was wearing some kind of armor Dohr had so far missed.

Looking at the situation to the side of the speeder truck cost the doctor some of his concentration and valuable seconds too. Turning his eyes back on the street ahead, it took him a couple of heartbeats to get back into the mode he had been just a moment earlier. He then accelerated a little, but didn't want to go flat out as the situation didn't seem quite that bad yet. He'd rather risk being hit by a single gunman than crash the four of them into a wall at top speed.


12:27, Today: Dohr Veen rolled 10 using 1d20+8. Initiative. Well I'm glad it wasn't a natural 1. :)

Mika calls into the comms, "Sure thing 2."

Mika revs up the swoop a bit and shifts to take the lead, wondering why Flash thinks she's the best one to trip whatever trap lies ahead.

OOC:  I'm under the impression that we're not posting to the secure comms thread at this point as everyone (Cor in spirit) is back together.

Kyvarr couldn't see much, didn't see Five get hit.  She just knew the sniper was clearly distracted as no shots were hitting the truck.

"Keep going, full speed."


Init - 10
This message was last edited by the player at 20:59, Fri 28 Feb 2014.

High above the fight, Devon winced as he saw Arin take the hit.  From up here, he had no idea how badly hurt Arin was - but the ex-Imperial hadnt fallen off his bike and sounded calm enough over the comms, so Devon presumed it couldnt be TOO bad.  Perhaps the shot had simply winged the bike.  And sure, maybe Arin was being slow on the uptake today - Devon had pointed out it was a trap before the shooting even started... but that didnt mean Devon wanted anyone getting hurt.

Devon had no intention of putting himself any closer to that sniper - who's aim seemed to be rapidly improving - than he had to.  As long as they weren't forced to stop, they should be fine - and from the comm chatter it sounded like most everyone realized that.

If this bike was armed, I could strafe that frakking sniper and get him ducking... Devon told himself in frustration.  Better get creative instead - see if I cant ambush the ambusher.

"Seven here - Five, get out of there.  I'm going to try and get behind that sniper and take him out."

Turning the bike away from the fight, Devon shot away and dived down a side street.  As soon as he was hidden from the sniper by a building, he reduced speed and started to loop back, careful to stay below the rooftops but well above street level and wary of further ambushes.
Hopefully that was convincing and the wookie thinks I bugged out when he hit Arin...

COMBAT!

Gunning their engines the entire convoy moves forward at speed - the swoops are hampered, of course, by needing to stick close to the truck but nonetheless the whole fleet rushes forward through the kill-zone toward safety on the other side.

Their rush is not without consequence.

On the first floor up, in both buildings on either side of the street, three shooters wearing bright scarlet gang colours appear and open fire.  In the merest split instant the whole convoy can see their targets - the swoop bikes.  They're most likely grounded gang members looking for new rides.  Three unload on the northern-most swoop - Mika - and three on the southern-most - Arin.

Mika feels (and hears) blaster bolts roar past her, one so close that it scorches the cloth across her shoulders and singes her hair at the back.  Too close, too close!  These gang members are good.  If she weren't simply trying her best to escape she has the cold, dreadful feeling that things would have gone much worse for her. 

Arin doesn't fare so well.  Already knocked off-kilter by the hit that the sniper scored on him, his nosedive for the street leaves him desperate to escape and takes him right past two of the gang members on his side.  He feels a solid hit ram into the rear right thruster of his swoop and as it cuts out his bike goes into a spin.  As he struggles to regain control a second blast hits him - directly in the face.  His world ends in a flash of red as his brain is boiled instantly in its skull. 

Without a pilot to control it the swoop swings violently around to the right and slams into the side of the building, erupting in a small fireball - directly at one of the gang members' windows.  As debris rains down the burning figure of the man who shot Arin in the head falls, screaming, from the window, dying instantly as he hits the street.  Arin's last retaliation is also his final revenge.

The gangers on both sides of the street withdraw at the sound of the explosion and the rest of the convoy gets away clean.  Only Devon is left and as he watches the sniper aims and takes a shot at the last swoop in the convoy - Flash's.  It's a near thing, too, the shot zooming back the Duros's left side. 

Devon takes a single shot and his aim is true.  Shooting the sniper in the back he drops the Wookiee without a problem (he has the high ground).  The gang member drops to the ground without even a grunt, his (heavily modified) blaster rifle clattering beside him. 

Combat Ends.

The convoy reaches the safety of a wide, open laneway.  The place looks like a war-zone, with dead gang members, broken swoops and parts of law enforcement officer littering the street amongst the rubble and mess.  Nonetheless it seems free of people trying to shoot them in the face and up ahead they can see their target - the cop station.  It looks a freaking mess - someone's hit it with a rocket launcher.  Debris covers most of the door.  Some of the building is still intact, though, so there's no telling what - or who - might be inside.

< Everyone please head to Act 5.5.5: Law Enforcement Station; I'll leave this thread open in case anyone chooses to stop or otherwise react to something in this scene.  Spot Check for everyone except Devon (who's been left behind somewhat) and Arin (who is, sadly, dead). >

Heigren found his mouth agape, his eyes following the disaster, unable to look away.  It all happened so quickly;  the blaster shot that undoubtedly killed Arin, the out of control speeder crashing into the window bearing the shooter, the explosion.  It was over in a few seconds.  The Zeltron had no words, he could only stare.

"Five is hit.  Five is hit.  No 'chute."  Whilst they were not in starfighters he used the pilot's vernacular to indicate Arin couldn't have survived.

When he saw that the crash had scattered the ambushers, he suppressed a smile.  "Damn hero saved the day." he muttered to himself.  Then he focused on the mission.  They'd be time to raise a glass of ale to Arin later.

"Head for the target zone.  Don't stop until we get there."

"Frakk." snarled Devon as he realized what Flash meant.  Although he and Arin hadnt exactly got  along, for a moment Devon felt the temptation to storm the building the gangers were in, hunt them down and wreak bloody vengeance upon their cowering forms.

Instead he forced himself to focus on the practical.  He had a half a minute at best before the surviving gangers came to see what had happened to their wookie pal.  Devon steered his bike over to the slumped figure and quickly scooped up the rifle that the wookie had been using.  Slinging the weapon over his shoulder by its carry strap, Devon glanced down at the unmoving wookie.

"I'm gonna do you the best favour I can." he said.  "I'm not gonna check if your dead."

Gunning his bike forward, Devon circled above the road for a moment, squinting down.
It only took him a moment to spot what he was looking for, and to see that Flash had been right - there was no point staying here.  Devon opened up the bikes throttle and hurtled after his friends at top speed.

The body he had spotted had been missing most of its head, but Devon had recognized the clothes - the black racing leathers with blue trim that Arin had bought when they first arrived.
"Seven confirms:  Five had no 'chute."