Outside the cave the ocean was brighter, warmer and safer. The cave or the creature within had effected each of the Rebels far more than they might have suspected.

“You…are…worthy” Anyar pronounced.

While the ferocious cephalopod thrashed and writhed, Lyla swam close enough to grab Lamar and Klyn and hauled them out of its coils and toward safety. Then, as it finally fell limp and died, its tentacles splayed all around the cavern, she breathed a heavy sigh of exhaustion and relief – and then remembered where she was, and that they weren't out of danger yet. She quickly patched her shredded suit with some emergency sealant, doing as much to keep her blood in as the sea out, then led the way out of the Anguillans' cave.

She was angry, angry that they'd been tricked and betrayed, angry that her worst memories had been dredged up and used against her. She swam out of the dark cave, her torn suit covered in red twi'lek blood, blue cephalapod blood, and black ink, and with fire in her eyes. 'You knew?' she demanded hotly, hardly caring about being worthy any more. 'You sent us in to fight that creature?!'

As Lamar was there trying desperately to escape suddenly the scene changed ad he was back in the cavern. Thrashing in the now dying grip of the creature. Looking around confusedly he was disorientated for a few moments. Had that really happened? Or no that's not how it went... My battle in the field was longer, and I only fled once the original squad was dead. I fled to the storm drain when the squad with the Moff showed up.

Anger started to rise in him. These fish people knew what would happen. We almost died due to not being prepared. Those FUCKERS! "L.1T. Permission to get me some fish for dinner?" He growled as he began swimming towards their leader Anyar.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:29, Mon 07 Feb 2022.

Klyn could feel all his muscle crying in pain.

That thing nearly crushed him to death.

He shouldn't have expected something else from those savages.

And they played with their mind while feeding them to their ... he didn't know... god ? holy beast?  Whatever.  That memory cut even deeper than all this beast did or could have done.

They had no right... And how did they know?

"We are ANGRY, that's quite certain !"

“Angry…bad” Anyar replied to Klyn. When Lamar began to swim closer to Anyar many of the Anguillans moved to surround their leader.

The leader looked to Lyla “Piscator” he named the beast, the Anguillan’s speaking and comprehension of Basic appeared to be improving very rapidly as learnt through listening to the Rebels talk.

“You defeated the Piscator without fear, fear is the Dark side. You are worthy. A different metal fish came fifteen tides ago and killed sixteen Anguillans. Then eight tides ago a larger metal fish landed and is still there with the killers” he paused and scrutinised Lyla’s reactions to this “Then other strangers came here five tides again and were found worthy. They promised to protect us against the metal fish in ocean.”

Lyla caught Lamar by the flipper. 'Hold on. Let's hear what they've got to say first.' she growled.

Worthy!? Lyla choked and spluttered on her outraged responses as Anyar refused to admit he'd done anything wrong in sending them into that trap, all for some Force nonsense. Without fear? She'd been crukking terrified, that she and her team would be killed by that thing, that their mission would fail and the Rebellion be broken. But her shock stopped her saying something she'd regret, when she realised Anyar was finally giving useful information, of a sort. She reminded herself that humans and Squibs and Anguillans and all the rest had different morals and different ways, that they had to be tolerant and patient and try to get long peacefully, and, most importantly, that some of them were just jerks.

Casting off the idea that the first lot might have taken the test, and not taken it so well, then taken it out on the Anguillans, Lyla sighed and said 'Alright, where can we find all these strangers and their metal fish? All three lots. Are they all still in your ocean?'
This message was last edited by the player at 00:50, Wed 09 Feb 2022.

Klyn had trouble to settle down, despite Lyla's orders.

But the last bit of information did catch his interest.

Lamar was pissed, but he was a soldier as well. His orders were to wait, he'd wait. But he seriously wanted to carve up some sushi. "Understood LT. But you should know what they did demands blood!" He stated emphatically.

He suffered enough with the past deaths of his family, but to have to relive it so vividly. That was evil incarnate. And these people knew what was going to happen.

'And they spilled that blood.' Lyla replied to Lamar after hearing Anyar out. 'Sixteen Anguillans. I won't blame them for trapping and testing us after that loss. I don't like what they did either, after what I saw— But cruk to a bad trip in a cave and fighting some squid monster! Letting it go is how we show to ourselves that we are worthy.' she said firmly, hoping to resolve their bad feelings about this and move on, theirs as well as her own. She'd been around the Galaxy too many times to hold a grudge, and the Twi'lek knew it was better to ride the storm that fight it, as their old saying went.

“Your own fear and hatred is what you saw. Question yourselves to who is responsibly for that?” Anyar looked at the unsettled anger of Klyn and Lamar with a frown “anger and fear are unworthy” he proclaimed.

The Anguillan fielded the simpler questions with forthright answers “the first group were much like yourselves. They came on a metal fish that flies and explored the oceans then left. We did not make contact with them” the eel like alien then shook his head “the second group was much larger and we decided to approach. When we did they killed”

“The third group is still here” as Anyar said this a group of eleven individuals in similar spacesuits to the Rebels swam toward the gathering of Anguillans. They all wore especially large helmets “greetings I am Iych-thae and we are Pilgrims of the Mother Jungle.”

Groaning, Lyla tried to rub her lekku tchun through her dive helmet, wondering if it was the side-effects of the drugs giving her this growing tail-ache, but doubting it. 'So not helping your case here, mate.' she muttered. There was letting it go, and there was putting up with blatant gaslighting. She answered the question with a curt 'You are, and your drugs, for triggering our trauma. But let's move on before you make it worse, okay?'

She compared Anyar's account to what he'd just said a moment ago, gave up, and observed 'I think you're getting your metal fish mixed up there. And you said the other one stayed, now you say it left? Never mind, we'll work it ourselves.' she concluded, before Anyar did anything inconvenient like try to talk or change his story again.

So, it was with some relief that someone else showed up. Pity it was the Ithorian priests, who'd been almost as cryptic. And it was pretty suspicious that they'd turned up two spots on the pirates' trail. What was going on here? 'You! You contacted us at Dega! You tried to show us the planet and give us the brochure.' she announced in surprise.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:09, Thu 10 Feb 2022.

Klyn was not in the mood for philosophical chit chat, especially one that would reject the blame.

But the arrival of the third group prevented him to cause more trouble.

"Well... that explain the ithorian language mixed with their own...

And I was spot on when I said this was the kind of planet our Ithorian 'friends' would be interested in." said Klyn with a small grin, the tension slightly receding for the time being.

Having not met the Rebels face to face the Ithorian was surprised by Lyla’s pronouncement “ah you are the mercenaries” he presumed but put no malice in his choice of words “perhaps you can put your profiteering aside this once and help us? The fate of this world is in your hands” Iych-thae words were spoken slowly and carefully. He waited patiently for a response to his query.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:14, Mon 14 Feb 2022.

'We're not—' Lyla started, but stopped, since correcting him would only risk blowing their cover, and the misunderstanding served to cement it. Still, she had to wonder where and how he got that idea, since she'd given nothing away about them when they'd spoken at Dega. 'Sure, consider our profiteering on hold. Not like we were getting paid anyway... So, ah, can you tell us more about this fate of the world being in our hands?'

Shaking with anger, Lamar simply said, "I had to relive the deaths of my wife and son L.T. Something I never want to relive as vividly as I had to. I already have to live with it every night, and I suffer nightmares due to it. This will just aggravate that!."

He was nearly shouting at the end of his statement, and turned away to try and get himself under control. Unseen he was streaming tears under his helmet.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:15, Wed 16 Feb 2022.

The Anguillan leader shook his head in confusion “the ocean you come from must be a very hateful and bad place for you to bring such evil inside yourself” Anyar was upset by the continued display of hatred and anger shown by Lamar “our people are peaceful, those who are filled with anger will fail the rites of the Conch-tar they must go to another ocean and leave us in peace” he explained. He genuinely believed that the dreamstate of the Conch-tar was a test against fear, because to be overcome by fear was the dark side.

“Do you respect Alluuvia and its sacred life or do you choose to kill this planet?” Iych-thae asked Lyla. The Ithorian was upset by Lamar’s anger “your fear and anger are your weakness. The Anguillans are not hostile. They seek to protect their world and their young from the Empire, just as you have lost your loved ones they want only to save their own” he explained, his speech slow and his twin mouths almost hypnotic in sound.

"Well, maybe... but they really have the wrong way to make friends..." replied Klyn, still upset.
But not willing , nor ready, to explain why.

"They lived the dreamy life here, too bad reality came and said hello".

Lyla reached out to lay a hand on Lamar's shoulder, though the water and the suits made contact impossible and her sympathy harder to convey. She spoke softly 'I know, Lamar. I saw my parents, my whole clan and way of life, incinerated in a heatstorm, all over again. But anger doesn't make the pain go away. It just makes it fester.' She had to wonder, had it been easier for her? Her foe had been bad weather, the impersonal forces of nature, of fortune and fate, that one could not get truly angry with. Was it the Twi'lek philosophy to go with the flow, or simply the Twi'lek physiology that let her shake off the drug faster? Or was it because she'd been a child at the time, it had been much longer ago, she had had longer to become accustomed to the grief and pain. 'Save it for the pirates and Imperials, alright?' she asked softly.

But Anyar, it seemed, did not know when to shut up, and his continued excuses, his attacks on her team, provoked a very present irritation in Lyla. So much for asking Lamar to put away his anger. She rounded on Anyar, pointing and declaring 'Your rites of Conch-tar are what fills people with anger! ...Ah, cruk it. Let's just drop it, alright? We'll save your tails for you, you won't even have to thank us or pay us, then we won't have to bother each other again.'

She returned to Iych-thae, who also wasn't helping. 'You should've asked me that before we landed.' she answered bitterly. 'Our fear and anger are natural reactions to being drugged, tortured, and traumatised, then being blamed and belittled for it. If you lot are looking for a Dark Side, then look in the mirror. If you want to save this world, then tell us how and where to find the bad guys.'

The Ithorian was honest with Lyla “The rites of Conch-tar was unknown to me. When I went into the cave I saw this world tainted and its natural beauty destroyed. Its power is unknown to me and I did not known that you would face anything different” Iych-thae responded to Lyla’s bitterness.

“As Anyar has told you others besides yourselves have arrived at Alluuvia, the Empire is here!” he continued “I have watched their scouts who survey this world. If they are still surveying then they have not yet reported their find. Perhaps you could delay or stop them?” he suggested.

'The Empire?!' Lyla exclaimed sharply as she heard the first new bit of intelligence in a while, and realised this was about to get a whole lot worse. 'They're supposed to be investigating the pirate attacks, but they've done stuff all on that front. They've still got their star destroyer, the Brazen, in orbit over Elrood.' she outlined, recalling the background intelligence from the briefing. 'But maybe they're using the pirates against Radell and are trying to claim Alluuvia for mining...'

Back to the Ithorian, she said 'We came here looking for pirates, by the name of Chalmer Trillili and the Scourge. What are they doing? Are they working with the Imperials?'

Lamar was not mollified, but he was a soldier, and knew they couldn't be like the Empire and just start killing. He shook with anger, but kept silent though he did acknowledge Lyla's comforting hand.

The vision was different from what actually happened. but he didn't know why or if that was significant. He'd have to get himself calm before he could analyze the vision and figure it out.

The Ithorian replied to Lyla’s question by adding his own confused musing “and who are you employed by?” he let the question hang as he tried to comprehend the other information provided by Lyla “I have travelled to Dega may times I have observed that it is a hotbed of criminal activity. If your search is for pirates then you were in the right place then. I have heard of the Scourge, I would assume they have a base on Dega as well as having a large fleet. Their leader Chalmer Trillili flies a YT-1300 freighter”

“Radell Mining Corporation destroyed Dega” the pilgrim of the Mother Jungle picked out another tidbit of Lyla’s diatribe “we must stop Radell from claiming Alluuvia and destroying it as well”

“On our starship we discovered this world by following an Imperial expedition. The Empire will surely ruin this world as quickly as Radell Corp” the Ithorian stated sadly.

“The Anguillans are peaceful, they respect their world and take good care of it.”

'Ourselves. We're freelancers.' Lyla declared quickly, deflecting Iych-thae's question about their employer. Not being sure if they could trust or depend on the Ithorians or Anguillans, she didn't want to give away their connection to either RMC or the Rebels, especially if they didn't think well of Radell, as later came clear.

'They had a base on Dega and they had a large fleet. Past tense.' she corrected Iych-thae. 'We're looking for what's left. Are they here?' she pushed for more information. She elected not to remark upon how the Alabak's Gold, a Wander-class jump freighter, only looked like a YT-1300 from certain angles and was in fact a tad smaller. It would only confuse things further, and so she just hoped that wouldn't happen to to look up it.

'Radell aren't here.' she snapped. The scout was no fan of mining corporations that devastated planets and ecologies and peoples, but the Ithorian seemed to worry about what a company that wasn't present might do than what the Empire that was here would do and so much worse. It was a question of priorities and getting them straight. 'The Empire and Imperial Mining Ltd are. Can you just give us the coordinates of these ships so we can go deal with that?' she ended testily. Getting the run-around from both the Anguillans and the Ithorians had done little for her patience.

The Ithorian seemed convinced by Lyla’s lies and shook his big head at the Twi’lek “fighting the Empire will not stop them” he bemoaned the way of the mercenaries he was facing “they must be convinced to leave the planet and not to return” he explained.

“Someone else has been here. They came before the Empire, it may have been your pirates but I doubt it. Anyar says that they explored the world. The Anguillans made not contact with them and the visitors left” Iych-thae then look quizzically at Lyla and the Rebels “why do you think the Scourge is here?”

“The Imperial have a mobile base here, attacking the base will only bring war and bloodshed to Alluuvia” the Ithorian warned “you must think beyond your own greed and profits” Iych-thae was clearly good natured and wanted to help the planet and its inhabitants.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 09:37, Fri 25 Feb 2022.

'Asking nicely has never stopped a tyrant or a conqueror yet.' Lyla snapped back, annoyed at the Ithorian's naïvety. Ideals were fine, right up until you ran into someone who didn't have any. At some point, you had to fight, when they gave you no other choice.

'Yeah, we followed the coordinates of the first group, the explorers. They were attacked by the Scourge right after they left here. We came to find out what happened, and see if the Scourge had a base here. Didn't expect to find Imperials though.' Now she said it out loud, she started to wonder if this had all been a terrible coincidence. The Scourge might've just gotten lucky in ambushing the Gray Griffins, before the Empire ever showed up. And now her team had followed the wrong lead and stumbled across a secret Imperial base. She didn't know if that made them the luckiest or the unluckiest unit of Rebels ever. But either way, this was a bust. They should leave while they still could, report this to Rebel Command and RMC for them to decide how to deal with it, and try to pick up Trillili's trail again. Leaving the Imperials behind to exploit this world and its people, no matter how difficult, rankled her. But what choice did they have? They weren't welcome, their aid wasn't wanted or asked for, and she didn't fancy taking on an Imperial mobile base again either, nor proving she was any more worthy. In any case, she needed to confer the team and away from Anguillans and Ithorians.

'Done. No greed or profits here, and no attacks. Now, if you have nothing more helpful to add, we'll be heading back to our ship to make plans. We should be out of your fins soon.' And she couldn't wait to turn her tails on this place.

“To help us convince the Imperials to leave, there must be a profit?” the Ithorian challenged Lyla “are you so consumed with greed that you can not see the beauty here that needs saving?”

Lyla stared, utterly dumbfounded, wondering where on Alluuvia he kept getting that idea. Was there a credit stuck to her helmet or something? Eventually, she realised he'd misunderstood her again, since her frustrations and desire to get away from here were making her terse. But eventually was not now. 'Huh? What? No!' she stammered exasperatedly. Then she surrendered to the inevitable before going for broke. 'Oh, cruk it... We came to this world with no anger, no greed, no desire but to do the right thing. Instead, we've been threatened, drugged, betrayed, attacked, and hurt, and we've been insulted, mocked, and obstructed. You're still doing it. We've been so patient, but we're not taking it any more. If our presence so offends, then we're leaving. There is no beauty on this world, there is only ugliness and evil. Especially in that cave. Before you judge others, how about you confront the greed in your heart,' she pointed to Iych-thae with an accusing finger at where she figured an Ithorian's heart probably was, 'And you the anger in yours.' she added to Anyar, and could only guess where the Anguillan kept its heart or whatever.

Her rant done, Lyla turned and swam away, clapping hands on Lamar's and Klyn's shoulders to get them to follow as she said wearily. 'This is getting us nowhere. The Scourge aren't here, the Imperial base isn't part of our mission, and we'll get killed if we try to make it our mission. We'll report it to Radell and Command, and they can send someone fluent in Mystic Crank to deal with it. Come on, let's get out of this madhouse.'

Ithorian remained clam during Lyla’s diatribe. He was a visitor to Alluuvia just as Lyla was and had not threatened, drugged, nor attacked them, he’d only asked for help “help if you can, we all have a responsibility to the galaxy. If you choose to go then you should” he watched as Lyla swam away, the peaceful caretaker of the galaxy’s face was sad.

Not turning or looking back in any way, Lyla gave a dismissive wave from over her shoulder and led her team back to the Alabak's Gold and its airlock. She was done with this place. But once they were at last back inside the ship, had shed their swimsuits, and returned to the cockpit, she had more orders to give. Just one bit of business to take care of. 'Klyn, power the engines, lift off the sea bed, and bring us around, 182 degrees. Lamar...' She paused, for a moment in which to reconsider her course of action, but she couldn't think of anything more right. Right for her team's morale, and right for future peace on this stupid planet. No one else should have to suffer such pain again. Her voice was colder and crisper as she continued 'Get on weapons. Target that cave. Get rid of it.'

Lamar had had the chance to calm down, especially as he saw Lyla get upset. So when he received her order he hesitated. "L.T. That's not the way. You kept me from killing them when I was angry, I feel I should stop you from making the same mistake. If we fire now there will be casualties. And we'll be doing what the Empire did. Take a breath and calm down. Think about this and then make a decision."

Lyla gave a long and level look at Lamar. She was a little irritated, not because he'd questioned her orders but because she'd come up with this to satisfy Lamar and Klyn, to give them justice. They seemed to have swapped places, with him now trying to be the voice of cool reason, and she appearing to be the hothead. Was it true? Maybe the events in the cave had affected her more than she'd thought, only her pain was older and colder, her anger more patient and practical. 'I am calm and I did think about this.' she said firmly. 'Next time they try this shit, they'll kill someone, or someone will kill more of them. They won't stop until someone takes away their torture pit. This is bringing peace.'

She slipped past him to the laser cannon targeting panel and stared intently at the screen, but Anyar and Iych-thae and other Anguillans still seemed to be milling about the cave entrance like they had nothing better to do. One of them had even gone inside, no doubt to check on their squid monster. Maybe they expected their pet Piscator to still be alive. 'Come on, you morons. Move!' she urged in a low voice.

But the more she waited, the more her anger and frustration faded, dwindling away without resolution. At last she turned away with a heavy sigh. 'Cruk it. Just take us out of here. Make an orbit while I run passive scans for the Imperial base, so at least we've got something to show for this.' While she worked, her eyes found Lamar's again. 'I thought you wanted that? "Demands blood", remember? Bringing down that damned cave seemed like a good compromise.'


OOC: Perception 28, looking for the Imperial base
11:20, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 28 using 1d20+9. perception.

Looking at Lyla, he nodded. "I did. And someone helped me realize that I was overreacting. They said 'Letting it go is how we show to ourselves that we are worthy.' So I'm returning the favor and helping the next one who needs it." He gently patted her shoulder as he slipped into the pilot's seat. "Taking us out of here aye L.T."

He will then begin taking the Gold out of the water and head for space.

As Lamar threw her own words back at her, Lyla scowled in self-recrimination, but then her expression softened into a crooked smile, but her eyes showed her gratitude. 'Sounds like a real wise character.' she agreed ironically. 'You should listen to her more often... But thanks.'

Cracking a sardonic grin he quips, "She has her moments. Let's get out of here."

Lamar, barring anyone stopping him will take the ship into orbit.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:19, Sat 12 Mar 2022.

The ships took off and left the planet Alluuvia. In orbit they located a stationary base, however it was much smaller than what the Rebels had seen on Sedri.

What type, and faction is the base?

The base was an Imperial MFB-4 Mobile Repulsor Base. It was two hundred metres in diameter. It had a landing pad, a shield generator and laser cannons.

Seeing the Imp base he pulled it up on the viewscreen at his console. "L.T. We got an Imp base on scanners. Must have been on the other side of the planet when we arrived as I didn't notice it then. What do you want to do?"

'That's the one.' Lyla confirmed, leaning over and examining the sea base and remembering their last experience, however long ago. 'We infiltrated one of these on Sedri, only much bigger. Hmm. It might be easier to sabotage, but we're the only ones with this intel, If we go after it and fail, the Rebel Alliance and Radell will never know and it could grow into something bigger and badder.'

She rose and paced the cockpit, thinking and trying to scout a trail through the web of choices, the limits of mission parameters, and the haze of uncertainty. 'Our mission is to secure this world for Radell. We can't do that until that base is gone. And Radell can't claim it while pirates are taking their ships and cargoes and ransoming their crews. I don't want their interdiction field yanking us out of hyperspace while we're making a getaway from here.'

Turning to face the team, she laid out their options and her plans. 'So, I'm for returning to Elrood, updating Todkal on the situation, and communicating this intel to Rebel Command. We can learn what's been going on while we've been out here, then make plans for dealing with the Scourge and their gravity well projector. Chalmer Trilili is an ex-Rebel, a traitor, and that makes him our problem.'

'It does mean bending our mission parameters a bit, but I'm not dying for a company's bottom line. What do you say?'

Lamar had to admit to himself that he did want to destroy that base, but he also needed to survive to finish his personal mission. As such he was all for being cautious. "Sounds like a plan L.T." He said seriously to her. "Count me in if we can come up with a good plan to kill that base."

'Done.' Lyla agreed with relish. No one had objected, so she made the commander's decision. 'Plot a hyperspace jump to Elrood. Make it so.' she confirmed, pointing dramatically at the screen.

As Lamar plotted the course he felt a disturbance in the force, as if someone had crossed the streams, but shook it off. "Sure thing L.T." Turning to the astromech droid. "Bill! Wanna help me plot this course? I bet I'll finish first." He said with a grin to the feisty little droid.

From orbit the two Rebel ships began to plot their course back through The Drift. Before they were completed both of the starships sensors detected the approach of a fleet of ships. The fleet consisted of ten ships, two larger ships and eight smaller escorts. Also in orbit the ship sensor detected an Ithorian Shepherd-class shuttle, a smaller herd ship.

Then if things weren’t getting crazy enough for Lyla, Lamar and Rynn the warning light on the life support system on the Wayfarer blinked twice then went out.

Over on the Alabak’s Gold Tera and Klyn had no such troubles with the life support, their only worries the approaching fleet.

'Oh, who the cruk wants us now?' Lyla sighed exasperatedly and leaned forward to the sensor display to investigate this new fleet and new reason for not leaving. But no sooner had she started than first the air supply, and then the temperature controls, and then the gravity shut down. 'Damn it. Shoulda known Radell would loan us the junker. Okay, someone get life support going again. I'll see who this is.'

She returned to the sensors, scrutinising the data and silhouettes against known ship types. Ten ships! The Scourge hadn't had this many, even before they lost more than half. Imperials? If so, it confirmed her instinct to get the hell away. And the Ithorians, they had terrible timing as usual.


OOC: Perception 27

Seeing the approaching ships, Lamar commed the Wayfarer. "L.T. are you seeing this?"

He began scanning to identify the ships approaching, while simultaneously looking for a place to hide two ships. There was an asteroid belt, the question was how volatile was it, and how long did they have?

The Wayfarers scanners identified the fleet as IML, Imperial Mining limited. The fleet consisted of a mining rig, a supply freighter and eight TIE fighter escorts.

After checking out the new ships on the scene, her lips pursing in a look of concern, Lyla commed a reply to the Gold. 'Yeah. Looks to be a couple of IML mining ships, and an eight TIE fighter escort. Looks like I had the right instinct about turning around and taking our tails outta here. We don't need them and the pirates.' she noted. 'Let's tiptoe away and find some place to hide and watch them. It'll give us a chance to repair life support too. Bloody thing's just broken here.'

"Aye, aye L.T." Lamar responds as he takes the Gold towards the nearest moon. Figuring if he can get close he'll get lost in the ground clutter of the moon.

13:59, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 15 using 1d20+9.  pilot.

As the Imperial fleet flew closer, the Rebels took evasive action.

OOC I’ll need Stealth checks from both pilots to hide the ships. See Starship Stealth rules for modifiers.

Starship Stealth (SotG 18)
• Use as Stealth, vs Use Computer of ship trying to find you
• Add your vehicle’s size & DEX modifiers, and take a –5
penalty if you’re not trained in Pilot.

Lamar was a good pilot, but this ship was not small. She also didn't maneuver as quickly as he liked, and left a broad signature. That said he maneuvered her towards the moon, he watched nervously at the Imp ties to see if they followed...

14:53, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 7 using 1d20.  vehicle stealth.

The evasive manoeuvres of the Gold were not enough to fool the scanners of the Imperial mining fleet. The Imperial fleet did not change its course however the TIE fighter began a flight route to intercept them. The fleet’s command ship, the mining rig hailed the Rebel ships “this is IML Berea-3 identify yourselves and your purpose here?”

'Cruk cruk cruk—' Lyla cursed, frantically reaching for the communications system and for a good reason to be out here. But then she stopped, and remembered: thinking up a lie for being where they should not was her usual problem, but this time around, they had every right to be here, and these were miners, not Stormtroopers. Calmly, putting on a weary and workmanlike tone, she answered 'Hey, IML Berea-3, this is the RMC Wayfarer, just scouting out worlds on behalf of Radell Mining Corporation. Looks like we're too late to this one, so we'll just be on our way...  Uh, we don't seem to have a claim on file, but you know bureaucracy, right? Can you send us a copy of your claim or deed, just so we've got something to show our bosses when they ask why we skipped a planet? Don't want them thinking we're slacking off.' she elaborated, adding weight to her lie and hoping she could at least confirm a few things, like whether this was a secret mining operation or not.


OOC: Deception 12, rerolled to 28

“Wayfarer we are reporting to Supervisor Mehlohtt at Aluuvia Mobile Base. Any claim will be recorded there; we can escort you to the base to file the correct datarecords. My crew will mining for samples as soon as possible after landing”

As Lyla spoke she began to feel woozy and found it harder to concentrate on what she was hearing over the comms.

OOC Everyone on board the Wayfarer takes 2 hp damage and moves -1 persistent step on the condition track due to the toxic atmosphere.

WTF?

OOC message #43 above, the life support is not working.

Starting to feel light-tailed, Lyla gripped the back of Lamar's seat for support, steadying her body and focusing her mind to think through the fog, just as she might resist poison, drugs, or injury. Lack of oxygen, increasing carbon dioxide, was essentially the same process, and would end the same way if she was not careful. 'Uh, maybe another time, Berea-3. We're having a little technical trouble over here, so we'll deal with that then be outta your hair. Good luck on the mining and give our regards to Supervisor Mehlohtt, okay? Wayfarer out.' Lyla closed the channel as soon as she politely could. While she seemed to have convinced them via comms, she wasn't sure how long her story would last on the ground. And with the trouble the ship was having, she didn't want to have to be sucking CO₂ while on the run for TIE Fighters.

'Alright, what's going on with the air supply? Where's life support?' Lyla queries her two more technically minded team-mates.

Feeling light headed as well, Lamar said, "Not sure L.T., getting an LS malfunction warning light now, and you or someone else needs to take over flying this brick so I can go s=check it out."

Provided someone takes over piloting, He'll move to the Life Support system to diagnose and fix (if possible) the system.
13:03, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 18 using 1d20+12.  Mechanics with -1 due to condition track.
13:03, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 21 using 1d20+12.  use computer with -1 due to condition track.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 08:22, Sun 12 June 2022.

'Alright, I'll, uh, keep her flying straight and keep an eye on those IML ships.' Lyla agreed, taking Lamar's place at the console and immediately regretting it, owing to the warm feeling one got in a recently vacated seat. Ignoring it, she focused on the controls and screen, and didn't interfere with either, since the course was already set and had only basic piloting skills. With time to spare and clear her head, she shook off the light-headedness, at least for now.

OOC: Shake it Off: spend 2 swift actions, move +1 on Condition track back to normal

“Maybe you’ll be luckier next time, IML Berea-3 out” the mining rig cut off communications and continued its trajectory to the water planet to begin its mining operation. It would likely result in the death of the Anguillans, the destructions of their planet and for the Rebel Alliance a great loss in resources for their much needed fleet and the loss of an important ally in the RMC.

On board the Wayfarer breathing was becoming difficult and everyone’s movements were sluggish. Lamar switched over to the life support systems and soon discovered the problem. The life support had been programmed to cut off all oxygen and add a high level of carbon monoxide.

OOC Everyone on board the Wayfarer takes another 5 hp damage and moves -1 persistent step on the condition track due to the toxic atmosphere.

"Found the problem L.T. *cough cough* Looks like sabotage. (wheezing breath sounds) Fixing it now."

OOC Roll Mechanics.

Though his vision was getting a little blurry, his head starting to pound, and he was having trouble breathing, Lamar had worked on both LS systems in general and the Gold's type in particular before. His hands flew along using the tools at his disposal to quickly reset the system and fix the sabotage. Would he be in time though that was the question...

18:09, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 28 using 1d20+11.  Mechanics with -2 due to condition track.

'Sabotage?' Lyla exclaimed in surprise, then stopped herself as her head started to spin. She resumed her light, steady breathing and processed this disturbing news, thinking back over recent event. It took a bit longer than she liked to put it together, especially since she really should have suspected this much sooner. That Squib had been too generous. 'No one's been on this ship since... Where's that new droid?' Careful not to move too quickly, Lyla rose and checked her blaster rifle and headed out.


OOC: Spend 2 swift actions, move +1 on Condition track back to normal.
Going on a droid hunt, Perception 24.
16:22, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 24 using 1d20+9. perception.

The life support systems for the Wayfarer were reset and oxygen began to be pumped back into the air. As Lyla went to leave the cockpit their troubles were not over as more warning lights began to flash and the artificial gravity and the lighting system both cut off. Lamar and Lyla were thrown into the air as the cockpit was plunged into darkness.

Being violently thrown about the ship was even worse when she couldn't even see what she was being thrown into, with no chance to react or orient herself. The flickers of sight granted by flashing warning lights confused before they helped, and the lack of gravity just made it worse, as she couldn't even stop when she collided with the floor. Up, down, left, right, light, dark, all became meaningless as Lyla's universe briefly collapsed into utter chaos and panic. And worse, she banged her right tail on something.

At last, with her flailing arms, she managed to snatch a hold of something, anything, and arrest her tumbling, and then recover her wits. 'Ow! What now?' she complained, convinced the whole damn mission had gone sour ever since they'd arrived at this goddess-forsaken world. Fishing in her utility belt, she unpacked a glow rod and activated it, illuminating cockpit and corridor with its beam of golden-hued light. 'That's better.' She found her field kit and tossed a second glow rod to Lamar before she headed off in search of the new droid...

"Damnit what now!" Lamar shouted as his headache eased with the arrival of oxygen, but the loss of all power and gravity. Hearing the question from Lyla Lamar grew red in the face, though mercifully no one could see it in the dark, as he realized he had been taken in by the little droid and was too trusting. "Damnit B-11. If you keep this up you're going to either be scrapped or wiped! What the hell is wrong with you?"

He began making his way to the primary power supply to begin tracing the fault and seeing where the little droid had done his damage.

02:58, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 19 using 1d20+7.  Acrobatics with the -2 from his damage.

Both Lamar and Lyla were disorientated and in the dark. It took a moment to stop tumbling and light up their glowrods. Then swimming through the spaceship the pair tracked the errant droid firmly stationed in front of the power supply. Extended from it’s manipulator arm was a blaster and also extended was it’s arc welder.

The astromech droid aiming a blaster clinched it. Cruk, yhe astromech droid having a blaster clinched it. Highest Exalted Ruler Slythor had set them up and double-crossed them – twice!

Unwilling to debate the droid while their lives were on the line, Lyla whipped up her blaster rifle and aimed at the astromech, the shifting shadows no impediment to her twi'lek eyes...


OOC: Low-light vision, ignoring concealment from darkness
Initiative 9
17:21, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 9 using 1d20+6. initiative.

Even with his head aching and the lack of oxygen he had suffered, Lamar was at heart a survivor and immediately ducked into cover, pulling his blaster while doing so. "B11 please. I don't want..." Unfortunately before he could finish blaster bolts flew.

10:10, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 21 using 1d20+3.  initiative -2 from condition.

As predicted by Lamar the agromech droid was not here to make allies but to sabotage the starship and if possibly most likely kill everyone on board. Lamar’s plea for peace was lost in the blasterfire as B11 opened fire and shot him.

OOC B11 hit ref 26 for 17 damage, that exceeds Lamar’s threshold so he move down to -5 condition track.

As soon as the droid fired, Lyla reacted, putting it in her sights and firing a hot blaster bolt at B11, before she threw herself behind the corner for cover. To deal with droids in future, she figured she ought to start carrying an ion pistol, but she had to survive this one first. 'That's it, B11! she shouted back, angling for another shot. 'You're fired!'


OOC: Point Blank Shot +1/+1
Attack 26, damage 15
16:37, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 26 using 1d20+9. attack.
16:37, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 15 using 3d8+4. damage.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:05, Wed 13 July 2022.

Lamar went down hard with a blaster bolt to the chest, though he wasn't dead, he was out of this fight. Coughing blood he tried to make his way into cover, trailing a massive blood trail. "L... T... I... think... I'm... done... for..."

Lamar crawls his way into cover and will likely pass out.

In retaliation Lyla shot at the droid B11, however Lyla was unaccustomed to zero gravity. Her shot went wide hitting the bulkhead of the ship. Lamar wounded crawled out of sight.

OOC -5 penalty on skill checks and attacks rolls as in zero gravity.

Roll for Initiative

Alerted, Lyla risked a glance to the side, checking on Lamar, then frantically tried to grab hold of something to steady herself and tried firing back when she could, both without much success. Cruk! This was bad and getting worse. She cursed for herself for being complacent about the droid. If they'd survived bounty hunters and Imperials, only to be killed by a droid saboteur, she'd never live it down.


OOC: Initiative 10 (inc. -5)
Attack 10 (inc. -5)

02:53, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 20 using 1d20.  initiative. +5 -5 for wound penalties.

The beat up agromech droid absentmindedly chirped and whistled as it’s blaster spat blaster bolts at Lyla. The droid hadn’t seemed to excel at anything but now it looked like a surprisingly successful sabotage or assassin droid.

OOC Lyla is hit for 19 damage.

Lamar can attempt to play dead that will be an opposed check, Lamar rolling Deception.

I’ve rolled Initiative for next round, R4-B11 rolled a 16 so you will go first if you get higher than 16.

Lyla spat a curse as she felt a blaster bolt strike her back, sending her spinning again. 'No, B11, you are scrap metal!' she yelled, firing wildly back at the agromech. With it so close to the power supply, she didn't dare switch to autofire, let alone toss a frag grenade. She definitely needed an ion pistol.


OOC: Does the -5 penalty to skill checks apply to Initiative? I've either got a 20 or a 15.
16:56, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 20 using 1d20+6. init.

Point Blank Shot +1/+1; -5 attacl
Attack 13, damage 12 @ B11
17:01, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 13 using 1d20+4. attack, PBS +1, -5 for zero G.
17:02, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 12 using 3d8+4. damage, PBS +1.

Despite their close proximity the blaster bolts were hitting the ships rather than any combatants. A dazed Lamar floated through the ship, not fooling anybody that he was unconscious despite his best efforts to play dead. The sabotage droid did not pay any heed to the human, focusing its shots at the persistent and tough Twi’lek but to no avail.

OOC Yes the -5 is all everything, skill checks, defences, attacks rolls etc

B11 rolled an Initiative 17, make your rolls take your actions.

This is a tough encounter, deliberately so!

Catching sight of Lamar out of the corner of her eye, Lyla didn't know what he was playing at. He didn't look that badly wounded, not by the standards of their usual battles, let alone dead. But if he had some plan in mind, she wouldn't disrupt it by asking. She just wished that, whatever it was, he would hurry up and do it.

But by touching the walls and arresting her spin, Lyla had finally slowed enough to get a good aim at B11, and wasted no time firing a blaster bolt that, she hoped, would drill right through the little tin traitor.


OOC: Initiative 12
Point Blank Shot +1/+1; -5 attack
Attack 20, damage 17 @ B11
20:33, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 20 using 1d20+4. attack, PBS +1, -5 for zero G.
20:33, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 17 using 3d8+4. damage, PBS +1.

As Lamar drifts closer to B-11 He waits to get within striking distance with his datapad. Once there he attempts to grapple the droid so he can shut it down.

21:17, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 11 using 1d20+4.  Acrobatics with the -5 from his damage.
22:23, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 28 using 1d20+8.  use computer -5.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:23, Fri 29 July 2022.

The droid continued to ignore the floating Lamar, who made a flailing and unsuccessful grab at the droid. Lyla’s shot was a near miss, hitting the bulkhead behind the droid. With slow precision the droid lined up another shot at Lyla and blasted her squarely in the chest.

OOC Lyla is hit for 20 damage.

Lamar is at -10 penalty to all checks, -5 on the condition track and -5 for zero gravity. His Grab attack is -11, as all Grabs are at -5 then Lamar gets to add his BAB +3 and Str +1. I rolled on his behalf his modified check was a 1, he needed to beat B11's REF defence.

Frustrated Lamar tried again, yet again failing and getting further away from the droid as he overshot.

Rolled a 10.

'Ow! Cruk!' Lyla spat a curse as she endured the hot pain and stink of burning skin, as she struggled to stabilise herself again. Why was this so hard?! Had they fought and survived the Empire and bounty hunters and everything else, only to be defeated by one rogue agromech?

Then she knew: she was too angry, too frustrated, too scared. The Anguillan trap had unnerved her more than she'd wanted to admit. She was pushing against the droid, the ship, and the lack of gravity. She was trying to fight the storm, when she should be riding it.

Lyla closed her eyes. She took a steady breath. She calmed herself She sacrificed one bad moment, to buy herself a better one. When she opened her eyes, she simply waited until her spin brought the droid back within her sights, and she fired, right at the centre of its cylindrical form.


OOC: Do we need to roll Initiative again? If so, I got a 20.

Second Wind: heal 14 hp

Point Blank Shot +1/+1; -5 attack

Attack 23, damage 15 @ B11
15:11, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 23 using 1d20+4. attack, PBS +1, -5 for zero G.
15:11, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 15 using 3d8+4. damage, PBS +1.

The onslaught from the pesky agromech droid continued as it fired again at Lyla, blaster bolts searing her already injured flesh. It was not all one sided however as Lyla shot the droid, the old droid looked battered but not destroyed.

Lamar floated aimlessly, his hands flailing and failing to gain any grip on the droid or any part of the starship.

OOC Lyla for 14 damage from another hit. Begin next round, B11 only rolled 10 for Initiative so a change to end this before the droid can shot again.

Lyla had dared hope that was it, that B11 was done for. But she was, as B11 proved by shooting her, completely wrong. The shot was a narrow miss, grazing her arm yet sending her spinning out of control again and throwing off her next shot. One or two more hits like that and she was done for; she needed a new tactic. But what? Lamar was in as bad a shape as she was; she couldn't leave him to the droid's mercy.

'Lamar, if you've got something, do it now!' she hissed over their private com channel.

'Oi! B11! You need us alive!' she yelled at the droid. 'You need us to get past the Imperials. Not like you can beep Basic at them. You let us leave, you get to take this ship back to Slythor! Or forget Slythor and take it wherever you like! You need us, you don't need him!'


OOC: Got the initiative but my attack is not even close and not even action points will help. And because this damn droid can't miss, next round, I'm done for.
15:48, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 16 using 1d20+1. initiative.

Point Blank Shot +1/+1; -5 attack; Attack 10, miss
15:49, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 10 using 1d20+4. attack, PBS +1, -5 for zero G.

Deception 16, rerolled to 26
20:58, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 16 using 1d20+9. deception.
20:58, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 26 using 1d20+9. deception.

Using Commander ability to give Lamar +2 bonus on attack roll on next attack

EDIT: Spent one Destiny Point to make that last attack miss, taking no damage. Revised my post and called it a grazing shot.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:46, Wed 24 Aug 2022.

"Sithspawn!" Lamar muttered to himself as he decided this wasn't working. He pulled out his blaster, aimed for B-11 and fired...


01:15, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 6 using 1d6.  force point.
08:35, Yesterday: Lamar Danar rolled 12 using 1d20+5.  blaster shot with PB shot, aimed, command bonus, and injury penalties
01:21, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 18 using 3d8+3.  damage .
Total 18 to hit
18 damage
(wow the dice roller likes 18 today...)

This message was last edited by the player at 22:54, Wed 24 Aug 2022.

“Correct Slythor is an organic and I do not need him” B11 bleeped in response. Lyla realised that deceiving a machine was difficult “I do enjoy my duty, killing you will prove to be very satisfying” the droid replied coldly.

However confident B11 acted his shot went wild and Lyla was unharmed.

OOC Both Lamar and Lyla missed. Lamar has a further -5 penalty due to zero gravity, however a 18 is a miss anyway.

B11 also missed his attack.

Roll for Initiative. B11 rolled a 10, so higher than that and you can shoot first.

So now he speaks, damn it. 'And scrapping you will feel crukking great!' Lyla cried as she spun around and the droid came back within her sights. In three, two, and one. She fired, sinking a hot blaster bolt right into the stinking little trash can.


OOC: Initiative 19
21:54, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 19 using 1d20+6. initiative

Point Blank Shot +1/+1; -5 attack; Attack 10, miss

Spend another Destiny Point, score an automatic critical hit: 30 damage
21:59, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 15 using 3d4+4. destiny point: damage.
21:59, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 15 using 3d4+4. destiny point: critical damage.

First to shoot Lyla’s blast obliterated the sabotage droid. The beat-up old agromech droid was blasted into scrap metal.

OOC R4-B11 is totally destroyed, the damage was enough to reduce its hp to 0 and higher than its threshold.

Lyla fired another shot into the broken droid to make sure, then watched as its smoking, holed shell flew and bounced off the wall in the zero-G. Only then did she stop worrying the droid had some trick up its cable sleeve. 'We gave you enough chances, B11.' she sighed ruefully at their betrayal. But she couldn't feel guilty over doing the right thing.

She released her rifle, then dove for Lamar, unpacking a medpac mid-flight. It wasn't just concern for his condition. She knew she couldn't fix the ship, but she could fix the mechanic who could. She caught him, then pulled them both into a reasonably stationary position. 'Hey, Lamar! You okay? How many fingers am I holding up?' she quizzed him, holding up three and a half (the half was bent), before slipping on an interface visor and working on applying the medpac.


OOC: use medpac, Treat Injury 25, heals your level + 10 hp

Lamar felt sad, betrayed, tired and pain. His vision was blurry from the pain and damage, so it took a minute for him to respond to Lyla. "Six? Wait when did you get six fingers?" A few seconds later Lamar mumbles, "Why did he do that. We were friends..."

Obviously not well, he floated there confusedly.

'Last trip to the bacta tank, do you like it?' Lyla answered flippantly, while wondering what kind of head injury seeing a fraction under double signified. 'Alright, who's the president of Corellia?' she asked, though truthfully, she had no idea herself.

'Some droids are just built bad, I reckon.' she mused, then injected Lamar with coagulin to help stop bleeding, as his body couldn't do it on its own in zero-G.

Lamar just looked at her like she had two heads, which given his injuries she might...

Just as the rebels had the saboteur defeated and the ship back in their own hands the Wayfarer's computer alerted them to another threat “sensors have been detected three ships heading this way.”
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:26, Thu 29 Sept 2022.

"No doubt the empire thinks we need "help"." Lamar mumbled as he tried to find the section of the ship that had been damaged. Seeing triple wasn't making it easy.

Two heads, two head-tails, eh, close enough. Lyla slapped a bacta bandage on Lamar's wound and called it "that'll do". She started packing up, because they didn't need more junk floating around this ship. 'No doubt, but I'm not interested. This mission is a bust and every second longer we stay here threatens to make it worse. Come on, let's get the frack outta here.'

Fetching her glowrod, she made her way back to the cockpit, getting on the communication system, opening a private channel to the Alabak's Gold. 'The droid turned out to be a saboteur, a parting "gift" from the Highest Exalted. We're, well, we're crukked. Let's jump back to our last safe point, make repairs and work out what we're doing next.'

At the cockpit Lyla got her first sight of the three approaching ships. One was a heavily modified YT-1300 freighter, the others a skipray blastboat and an enormous Kuat Drive Yards Super Transport VII. It was easy to identify the blastboat as the same they met earlier during the pirate ambush in the Drift. However there was now only one of them, after the others were destroyed on Dega.

The rebels were caught between the Imperial and the pirates!

Feeling a little better, though by no means ready for another fight, Lamar sighed as he watched the approaching ships. "Well, we could try asking the imperials for help from the pirates." He said wearily.

What does the bacta bandage do for mechanics?

'Of course,' Lyla sighed in complete and total lack of surprise, 'When it rains, it fracking floods... And they took their damn sweet time getting here. Who knew pirates were so tardy.' Lyla surveyed the situation, not liking any of it. Imperials on one side, pirates on the other, outnumbered on both. 'Nah. All signs point to them working together. This isn't the first time either of them have been here. So I'm for running. We're scattered, our ships are trashed, and we're more than outnumbered. This isn't a fight we can even hope to win.' she warned, talking to Lamar beside her and those on the Gold. There was a time to boost morale, and there was a time to give a frank assessment of how fracked they were.

Lamar maneuvered himself over to the area B-11 had been sabotaging. "First we need to restore gravity and power or we'll lose air before they can take us." Lamar was still obviously injured but seemed to be trying to push through his pain to get the job done.

Do I need to make a check to get to the area? We're not in combat.
Also I still need to know what the game mechanical benefits of the Bacta bandage are.

As Lamar began to restore gravity and power to the starship it became apparent that running was going to be incredibly difficult. The pirates enormous ship was projecting an artificial gravity field, jumping to hyperspace would be impossible!

OOC Bacta bandage, do you mean a medpac? Make a Treat Injury roll DC 15, You gain hit points equal to character level, +1 for every point the check result exceeds the DC. Using a medical kit grants a +2, administer on yourself -5 penalty.

OOC: Lyla already treated Lamar, in msg #90. My mention of a bacta bandage was just a cosmetic description as part of using my medpac. My Treat Injury 25 healed Lamar by your level + 10 hp.

No power, no gravity, no life support, no escape, no hope. Lyla was beginning to wonder what the whole goddess-damned point of all this, when it seemed like fate and the Force and the entire universe conspired against them. This whole mission, since at least Dega, had been a shitshow. 'Cruk it. Let's just play dead. I mean, we are dead in space, so it shouldn't be too hard. Maybe we'll get lucky and get something working by the time they worry about us. So, how can I help?'

"Help me restore the power and get gravity back first. Then we can fix things in the propulsion system. Damn droid really did a number on us." Lamar said grumpily.

Okay but does it (the healing I received) help offset the three injury levels I have? I'm at -10 to everything right now.

'Right.' Lyla agreed, ready to work, then looked around. 'What do I do?' Cruk, she wished she'd had time to learn all this stuff, medicing and mechanics and all the rest, to be in all places and do all things like she always seemed to need to be.

She looked again at Lamar and how badly hurt and weary he still was. Before they could fix the ship, they needed to fix the mechanic. 'Listen, you rest there a tick, get your strength and breath back. Let me be your hands, tell me what to do. I might not know how to fix this, but I can follow orders.'


OOC: No, it's just regular healing with a medpac and my (barely trained) Treat Injury skill. To move up your Condition Track, the only normal way is to rest a bit, by spending three swift actions (or two if you have Shake it Off like I do) to remove one level. Sounds like you need 4 rounds, and Lyla's Treat Injury took up one of them.

I'm untrained in Mechanics, but I'll try an Aid Another anyway. Just scraped through and contributing a +2 to Lamar.
10:58, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 11 using 1d20+5. Aid Another.

Lamar began telling her what to look for and when finding the fault how to fix it. When necessary he would move himself over to examine anything questionable. Both knew they were on limited time, but one of their two saving graces was space was big. Time might be limited, but they did have some of it. The second was, even injured, Lamar was still a hell of a mechanic.

22:40, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 22 using 1d20+10.  mechanics.
Normally +13, with a +2 from assist, +15, injury -5 = +10
This message was last edited by the player at 06:44, Fri 25 Nov 2022.

When all seemed lost and no action however desperate would allow them to escape then a huge serpentine body suddenly appeared behind the Impasse. The serpent flapped its gossamer wings and opened its mouth wide and breathed a huge cone of superheated gas on the ship’s unshielded flank. Star Wing nodded its huge head toward the Rebel’s ships. The Star Dragon’s attack has disabled the gravity well projector, at least temporarily.

Keeping in mind the old saying 'more haste, less speed', Lyla worked slowly and carefully, yet still as bloody fast as she could, to follow Lamar's instructions and get the ship working before the pirates arrived. It was still one of the tensest, most time-sensitive moments of her usually hectic life. But she connected one gadget to another widget, saw some lights come on, and felt a little relief. Step by baby step... 'Good job.' she told Lamar encouragingly.

She was glancing around at the monitor to check the pirates' progress when she was stunned to see the Star Dragon make a sudden reappearance. Not that she was questioning their rare good fortune, as Star Wing took care of the gravity well projector. 'By the goddess. Looks like aiding a fellow traveller paid off... How's the ship looking? With that interdiction field down, we can make a getaway now, but if we have a shot at destroying it completely, we should take it.'

"I can drive or shoot, which do you want. I'm hurt either way, so may not be as effective, though I'm a better pilot than gunner. When it comes to ship weapons that is." He said tiredly.

Depending on what Lyla says he will head to either the gunner seat, or pilot seat. Just let me know which I need to roll.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:21, Thu 01 Dec 2022.

'You drive, I shoot.' Lyla confirmed quickly, throwing herself into the gunner's seat. Flicking switches, she activated the targeting systems and powered up the quad laser cannon. 'I can't fly worth a damn, but I can sure as hell shoot anything. At this range, hopefully we can surprise them... And don't forget, you've got a twin laser cannon there.' She drew the crosshairs over the container ship and fired, hoping to wipe it from space while she still had the chance.


OOC: Initiative 20
Targeting the Impasse.
Using quad laser cannon, attack 20, damage 26 × 4 = 104
With Far Shot, my range category is reduced by one at short, medium, or long range. And if they're within point-blank range, Point Blank Shot gives me +1 attack and 4 damage.

Lamar wasn't quick, but he did get to the pilot's chair as fast as he could. strapping in painfully he fired up the engines and began to move them away from the imperials and the pirates. He also flicked on the recorders and made a log of the presence of the pirates and the imperials for use by the rebel propaganda department. "Imperial navy helping pirates!" He could see the headlines now. Not that the Imps would let such things out on their broadcasts. But the scream sheets that the rebels put out would be able to get some of the info out.

"Not going to stick around, but our trajectory will give you one pass at the ship. Take your shot but don't expect me to stick around." He said with a pained voice. I'm gonna need a bacta tank when we get back. He thought to himself.

As he was piloting past he hoped he got some good shots of the Imps not firing on the pirates. And his skill hopefully even injured would be enough... Doing the calculations for hyperspeed were tough without a computer, but he was injured. As he reached for the switch for hyperspeed, he hesitated for a sec. were his calculations right? Steeling his nerves he flipped the switch...

14:39, Today: Lamar Danar rolled 18 using 1d20+4.  pilot.

Strapped into the gunners seat Lyla watched space fly by as she opened fire on the disabled ship. Lasers spat from the cannons raking across the hull of the unshielded pirate ship. The Imperials gave chase on the Rebel ships, not firing on the pirates. In working in concert with them.

Injured and weary Lamar flew the ship on an escape trajectory. On their flank came the Wayfarer a salvo of proton torpedoes unleashed upon the pirates then both Rebel ships made the jump into hyperspace and away. The fate of the pirate ship and Imperial ship unknown.

OOC Destination?

OOC: A nearby safe system, to regroup and hopefully get someone onboard not injured. Then back to base. Where we will decide on the next step.

As the Alabak's Gold hyperspace jumped away, Lyla could only cross her tails and hope that, between her quad laser blasts and the Wayfarer's torpedoes, they'd put paid to the Impasse. She did not want to have to encounter that thing again. Once she was sure they were in the free and clear, she switched off the lasers and rejoined Lamar at the co-pilot's seat. 'That was way too close.' she said, 'Closer than usual, anyway. Now, let's meet the others at the rendezvous co-ordinates, make sure we're not in imminent danger of blowing up or being followed, then head back to Elrood to report to Radell, resupply, get patched up, and get new intel. People need to know the Imperials have Aluuvia.'


OOC: Yeah, what Lamar said.

Still looking pale, Lamar nodded. "If we can I'd like someone to take over piloting at  the rendezvous. I need sleep and a bacta tank. Think we'll be sent back LT? To free Aluuvia?"

Lyla yawned and rubbed her eyes, then slid her hands up over her head to pull on her tails to try to keep herself awake and alert. Cruk, when was the last time she'd slept? Not including the time she was drugged, of course. She probably still had that cephalopod venom and seaweed poison combo kicking around her system, slowing her reactions and her wits. They all needed time to recover. 'Right, we'll get Rynn or Klyn to take over. And... yeah, I think they'll want us to. Rebels and Radell want that damn planet. Don't know when we became corporate troubleshooters, but that's how it is. Hopefully, they'll at least send us a cultural advisor or Ithorian liaison to deal with the locals. Not sure I could stand to again.'

The Rebel ships were on the far side of the Drift was their initial jump to hyperspace was only a short one. The immense stellar dust cloud was beautiful to view but difficult to pass through. Able to follow the same path through as they came the Rebels made ten more small jumps before they reached the Elrood-Derilyn trade route and was only three hours from Elrood.

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 13:52, Tue 13 Dec 2022.

After their rendezvous, Lyla ordered Lamar to go rest in his cabin and had Rynn take over piloting. Fortunately, they seemed to have made their getaway, even if not necessarily a clean one. During the journey back to Elrood, Lyla rested and reviewed her mission notes, deciding o the next course of action. That action was heading back to Isis for R&R, but with that off the table... 'I'm thinking our next stop should be Shondra Del, our contact here.' Lyla suggested at their next meeting. 'The Imps will be all over Radell looking for us because I dropped their name to them, and Radell will just be shirty at us for not getting them their planet. We were supposed to contact Del at the close of the mission or if we got into trouble, and I'd say we've done both.'

With the others' approval Lyla transmitted a short message to Gwynn Dispatch. 'Hi. We're looking to get in touch with Captain Shondra Del of the Stars of Elrood. Tell her we're former business partners from Keyorin.' That last bit was the passphrase that should hopefully gain them Del's trust.

Once Rynn took over, Lamar headed to his bunk and passed out. (For the next 14 hours he's just unconscious.) He was not feeling well and had grubbed a bucket to put next to his bunk in case he needed to vomit. While asleep, he dreamed of his wife and child. Reliving the nightmare he experienced so often...

In response to Lyla message Gwynn replied “Shondra hasn’t stopped by but a freighter captain brought in a datadisk. I’ll send you the message” she explained and began sending over the details of a coded transmission.

Lyla furrowed her brow in a frown of concern, and then pursed her lips in thought, not liking any deviation from the plan. She had all kinds of worries about where Del was, what the message said, and what could go terribly wrong next. 'Okay, thanks, just let Shondra know we said hi.' Downloading the message, she tried to decrypt it with Rebel ciphers and opened it to read it. Please be good news... she begged the universe for a break.

When Lyla clicked the play button the holomessage appeared, Shondra Del was dressed in spacer clothing.

“Whoever intercepts this message, please deliver it to Gwynn Dispatch, a shipping business in Elrooden, on Elrood” tell the woman that this message is from Shondra.

“Gwynn, I must get this message to my old trading partners. You know where they’re from. Don’t give this message to anyone else” the message abruptly ended.

Five seconds later, the screen reactivated. There was a second message. The cursor blinked, whilst the computer waited for the password to the entered.

Lyla typed in ‘Keyorin’. Shondra’s image reappeared but this time she’s dressed in a Rebel flight suit. She’s in the cockpit of a Y-wing fighter, with a look of deep concentration on her face. Through the viewports several explosions can be seen, she was in the middle of a battle!

“Imperial shipping is taking a beating out here! This group of pirates has become a powerful force in the sector and they just roasted another mining shipment. They heard about me and want to meet to discuss terms of truce and mutual assistance, I don’t trust pirates, but they’d make powerful allies. They want me to meet with them on Korad. I’m putting down there. Meet me there as soon as you can!”

“What follows is the frequency for my Y-wing’s homing beacon. If you broadcast a message on the frequency you’ll activate the beacon and you can home in on me”

“If I’m not there, I’ll leave you a message. Use my decryption program. My Artoo unit will know where I went.”

“If you’re going by Bodrin system there’s someone there you might want to pick up, a Jedi in hiding in the mines during the winter shutdown. A Cathar by the name of Sylvar Kazat. They need to get off planet before the mines re-open. If you can help them out they might be of some use to you.”

“Shondra Del out”

The message ended and was followed by two long sets of numbers.

OOC As Lyla had already quoted the password in the last message I’ve assumed she ended the password when the prompt appeared.

Lyla played the message once, frowned, and then again, muttered 'Wait, what?' and then swore. 'She's gone to crukking Korad?!' She played the message a third time just to make sure she had heard it right. She groaned loudly, feeling just exasperated by the cosmos, and stomped about the cockpit. 'Korad. The dump planet in the paw of our squib mate Slythor, the Highest Exalted Ruler of Korad. That Korad. Cruk. If he's betraying her like he betrayed us, we've got to rescue her. From Slythor, or these pirates, or the Imperials, or all three. Cruk!' She thumped the bulkhead wall to expend her frustrations, then slumped down into a seat to fume some more.

'I don't like the Alliance getting in bed with pirates. Better if we can set pirates on pirates or pirates on Imperials, and keep out hands clean, but it's too late for ethics now. But at least we know what to expect on Korad, and don't need to activate that beacon until we need to, so we can stay quiet. Which is good because I plan to shoot that rat bastard Slythor on sight.'

'So, if the ship is good to go, I reckon we swing by Bodrin and pick up this so-called Jedi for some more muscle, then head back to Korad to clean up this mess. How does that sound?' she put her proposal to the team.

OOC: Knowing about Bodrin
15:22, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 12 using 1d20+10.  Knowledge (galactic lore).
Who are these new pirates?
15:25, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 22 using 1d20+10.  Knowledge (galactic lore).

The hyperspace jump to Bodrin will only take about four hours. Lamar’s recovery looks like it will take longer than that. So that left Lyla alone in the cockpit to do her research as the multi-coloured lines of hyperspace whizzed passed.

Lyla knew Bodrin was a rocky mountainous planet. It’s poor inhabitants working for the Elrood Quarry Corporation, another industrially owned planet!

Of the pirates Lyla recognised them at as a band known as ‘Khuiumin Survivors’, a band of cutthroats operating as mercenaries only taking jobs to kill Imperials.

It wasn't often that Lyla had a chance to be alone aboard the Alabak's Gold, so she made the most of it by putting her feet up and some music on – traditional twi'lek dance music, filling the room with bass electronic beats and siren whistling. It kept her awake and alert while she did her research. 'Another corp-owned planet? Sometimes I wonder if we can't just rebel against the corporations too.'

Of the pirates, she recognised the name with a happy laugh. 'Khoo-ee-oo-ee-oomin Survivors? Oh cruk, that worked?' She remembered the communiqué they'd found in the Scourge's computers on Dega, and how she'd responded...



Thank the goddess for forethought, Lyla thought. The Khuiumin hated the Empire, and the Scourge were in cahoots with them, so they weren't likely to work together unless Chalmer kept his allegiance quiet. But if she had sabotaged all prospect for an alliance between the pirates, then the Rebels may just have some friends here after all. It was one bit of good news lately. Well, it could be anyway...
This message was last edited by the player at 07:40, Mon 23 Jan 2023.

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