Still enraged Chu-Shkar pivots in the water and attacks again, though his attack doesn't seem too coordinated.

13:30, Today: Chu-Shkar rolled 24 using 2d10+11.  damage.
13:30, Today: Chu-Shkar rolled 13 using 1d20+7.  attack.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:08, Sun 28 May 2017.

Tera spoke as she swam towards Karak "Karak, cease this foolishness. Your words have driven a large division between Sedrians. The Fish killers are gone, the golden sun is dispersed, all that is left is you. I don't know why you chose to take this path, but you were never going to prevail. The Force that unites and binds us all together, is far stronger than the one that divides. Let Odrion go and return to your home. Choose to return to a righteous path."

In reply to Tera Inkari (msg # 295):

Getting tired of being bounced into various walls swam closer to the force user and bracing his wrist he fired a shot at close range.


20:53, Today: Rynn Culmar rolled 17 using 3d8+8.  Damage .
 20:52, Today: Rynn Culmar rolled 23 using 1d20+5.  Attack.

To the end and without fear Karak stood against the Rebels. The Sedrian priest had harnessed the power of the Golden Sun and bent it to their will. The power filled him but his physical body still had its limitations. The harm caused to his flesh and bones from harpoon, axe and blaster overcame him, his eyes rolled and his arms went limp. Odrion kicked himself free as Karak’s arms loosened. Rekara rushed forward to him and offered the Rebel dignitary aid.

Pek and Fala looked to each other, Sedri was in their hands. They regarded each other with mutual respect as they began to debate the future.

Above the new crater a few Sedrians swam over to look down at the Rebels and the defeated Karak. Further away the wreck of the AT-AT Swimmer had sunk to the ocean bed; no Imperial Seatroopers were in sight or near it. The Sedrian city of Fitsay was without the Golden Sun to power its alien technology dark and quiet. Things would be forever changed for its inhabitants.

Lyla lowered her rifle, stunned to see the demise of Bishop Karak, fallen from power and fallen from grace, and now just fallen. 'Well, you got what you wanted,' she sighed, remembering Karak's minion's rabble-rousing when they'd first come into Fitsay, calling for the power of the high priests to be broken and the Golden Sun to be shared with the people, even if he'd only wished it for himself and the Imperials. 'Your lies came true. The Golden Sun is for everyone now.' she reflected on the irony. They'd saved the Golden Sun, the centre of the people's faith, technology, military, and political authority, at the cost of destroying any power it had and dispersing it across the seas... Perhaps it would be a good idea not to hang around too long while the Sedrians wondered about that.

She scanned her team, checking to see they were all present, alive, and well; though they'd taken some beatings, they were still conscious and able to move. Lyla in particular was on her last legs, and was looking forward to a long bacta bath to get her broken body back in shape. But there was still business to take care of yet.

'Make patrols for fish-killers! Don't let them sneak back into Fitsay!' she urged the watching Sedrians, reminding them of who their true enemy was before they got any ideas. Karak didn't seem to have any diehard supporters left, or at least none who'd admit to it.

Tera swam up between the two Sedrians "You know...now the golden sun is gone, but its absence should make this place less interesting to the fish killers. They may well leave you alone. I don't know what the future might hold for Sedria...but I know that together both of you can work it out. I'm also pretty sure the rebel alliance will try to help."

Chu-Shkar calmed as the Sedrian fanatic fell, and as he stood there looking at the body he had only one thought on his mind. When can we get off this cursed planet. He hated being wet, he hated the lack of technology, and he wanted to get back to his computers.

Turning to Lyla, he gave a look that said he was exhausted and done. He motioned for the ship, and turned and swam back towards it.

"So that's it" commented Klyn.
"The bad guy is dead and we survived." he added, not really happily.
"What a waste of potential... Because of his greed his people lost the very thing that could have protected them from any invasion.
Now that power is safe, but they probably just went back to the stone age..."

He left the talking to those suited for it.
Himself just felt tired and disappointed.
He didn't like underwater places, not did he really understand nor trusted all that 'magic stuff' but he really wanted to learn about their technology, and it would be near impossible now.

So he followed Chu-Shkar.
'now, where did we put those bacta patches?'

Rynn checked himself, worried that last slam into the rocks hurt something. He patted his body suit down, and thought he might have found a small hole. "The rocks might have put a slow leak in my suit. I should get back to the ship too and check it out." The ubese explained.

Lyla waved Rynn, Chu, and Klyn off as they returned to the ship; it was clear they couldn't wait to get back and get off planet. For her part, she thought she'd spotted a rather nice desert tropical island she wouldn't mind lounging on for a few hours.

She paddled over to Pek, Fala, and Tera, adding after her friend 'The Golden Sun's not gone. It's just all around you now.' she reminded the Sedrians, trying to give them a little hope and direction for the future. 'You'll find a way to use it again. But this time, it'll be for all the whole world. And you'll be stronger for it.'

The watching Sedrians responded to Lyla's call with replying barks and bellows. Some scattered to check on the safety of their undersea city whilst a couple of the warrior priests swam into the crater and restrained Karak with ropes.

Klyn, Rynn, Jason and Chu-Shkar make it safely back to the Alabak's Gold. The ship's sensor reading no longer detected the abnormal power levels or strange gravity wave readings. Getting off the planet should not cause any concern or difficulty now.

Fala and Pek accepted Tera and Lyla into their council. Also Mors Odrion and a much saner looking and smiling Rekara gathered with them. Mors Odrion nodded with Tera's words "I am willing to remain here on Sedri to serve as representative of the Alliance and to watch for further Imperial activity. However with the Golden Sun's power dissipated I see their interest waning."

"Fala and I will now serve as high priest jointly. We thank you all for your help and we would like to learn more of your Alliance and accept your offer" Pek replied to Odrion.

"My father will be imprisoned for his crimes and High Priest Cardo will be punished for his misguided deeds" Fala added.

Although the event had been cataclysmic the mood of the two young Sedrians was optimistic.

Seeing Karak being tied up, Lyla was embarrassed to realise he was still alive, having thought he'd been killed. Well, not killer her father made things easier with Fala.

She was a bit consternated to hear Odrion wanted to stay, after all that had happened to him. She got the desire to prevent Sedria was backsliding into Imperial clutches, but the planet now had little appeal for the Empire or the Alliance. Maybe he liked the sashimi? 'Sir, our orders were to recover you,' she noted, but "recover" was a very open-ended noun, 'Are you sure you wouldn't like to check in with Isis first?' She gave him an out, anyway.

Lyla was glad to see Rekara looking better, at least. Bringing her along had been unnecessary after all, but at least she'd been healed. 'And you, Rekara, what do want to do?'

Chu-Shkar got out of the water as he climbed into the ship. Shaking his furry body he scattered water everywhere, but felt much better Pulling the regulator out of his mouth he roared an expletive, though few could understand it. Finally he stretched and headed towards the cockpit.

Once there, he scanned the area searching for any power sources that might indicate an imperial presence still in the area. As he did, he saw the "swimmer".

Sending a com message, and making sure to use the translation algorithm he had found in the ships computer,  he asked, "What do we do with the Swimmer?"

Currently working in the med bay bare chested rummaging through the stock to find the much needed bacta patch - especially since he had now seen his wound and really didn't like what he had seen - Klyn interrupted his search at the mention of the imperial swimmer.

"The swimmer ! I had completely forgotten about it !  Chu-Shkar, Rynn, we are going to bring it to the surface and get all the spare parts and any useful bits we can from it!" he said, looking to be in a much better mood.

The pale Ubese sat with his body suit in front of him, a simple patch kit sealed the hole left by being slammed against rocks. He picked up the communicator when the message came through. "The ship can talk now? When did that happen?" He started putting on his body suit, before heading to the pilot seat to bring the ship closer to the swimmer so that it could be salvaged.

"Ah yes. Thank you for rescuing me" Mors Odrion replied to Lyla "with an Imperial garrison here I won't want to send any unnecessary transmission. If you have facilities onboard your ship I'd like to record a holo-disk with my report which you pass on to your superiors".

Ever faithful Rekara swam close to Odrion "I'll stay and help here" her smile was genuine "I can still feel the joy of the Golden Sun" she added.

Now onboard the Alabak's Gold the crew began to organise an scavenging trip to the sunken AT-AT Swimmer.

'I have a videorecorder, will that do? It's back in the ship.' Lyla suggested. It wasn't a holorecorder, but she guessed Odrion didn't need to send 3D models of anything. She was glad she'd left it in the ship, because it would be crushed and waterlogged now.

Odrion's words raised another concern. 'If the surviving Imperial garrison can't or won't leave on their own, they could still cause trouble for the Sedrians. We might have to do something about them later.' "Later" being when they were healed, reinforced, and packing some major fire-power; it didn't have to be right now. It was a task for a dedicated Rebel army, she figured.

She offered an open hand and a hopeful smile to Pek and Fala. 'Good luck running this place. May the Golden Sun be with you.'

She looked to Tera to see if she had anything to add. Otherwise, Lyla was sore and exhausted and ready to get back to the ship.

"The ship can't talk, but I earlier was able to find a translation program in the memory banks that allowed me to translate my speech, that's all."

"A videorecorder will be sufficient" Odrion agreed with Lyla "I don't think the Imperial Garrison will be causing much trouble for a while" he added as he swam out of the crater and saw the wrecked AT-AT Swimmer "the Alliance is in your debt again sergeant. I shall be putting my commendations in my report. Rekara I'll need to be updated on what's being going on" the young noble beckoned his aide over to his side and they began to talk in earnest.

Pek and Fala were both in high spirits considering the final outcome. It seemed that the communion between the Golden Sun, Pek, Fala, Rekara and Tera had left them all enlightened and uplifted.

Once Odrion had been brought up to speed to made a report for the Alabak's Gold to take to Rebel Command "Sergeant Rahn take his to Commander Tallon and pass my thanks onto your crew" he handed to the recording to Lyla.

In the intervening time, Tera made a medical assessment of the team and started work on restoring them all to health.

She made a request of Pek and Fala, that she be allowed to communicate with the Golden sun and take a piece of dead coral with her to remind her of this world and its many wonders.

Chu-Shkar sat thinking about the recent operation, and was concerned about the base. If things had gone according to plan the base was sitting on the bottom of the ocean, but when did things go as planned?

"Before we leave planet, we should check and see if the Imperial base actually sank like we planned. If it's gone, then the Empire will probably abandon the world, but if it's still there, they might decide to reinforce it and punish the Sedrians out of spite."

Back on board the Gold, Lyla set up the videorecorder for Odrion, then left him alone to make his report in privacy, in case there was anything confidential or there were commendations for her and the team she'd rather be cool and act all surprised about. 'Will do, ambassador. And good luck. Don't get kidnapped again, yeah? We want to come back here for a holiday next time.' she tried to joke as she received the video-disk, then farewelled Odrion and Rekara, sincerely hoping they would be safe here alone. And where was he going to live on this water world? Eh, presumably he had something planned.

*

She surprised to hear Chu-Shkar speak for the first time, even if only through a translator. 'Hey, I can understand you! Yeah, let's do that. Show them we're watching them, that we're defending this world. We can always shoot-up whatever remains of the base.'

Afterward, walking through the ship, she peeled off the shredded remains of her wetsuit, hardly caring where or what she showed. She was just glad to be out of it after so long in the water. She stunk of sweat and salt, blood and blasters, and looked and felt like a mess. Standing in her bikini, her orange skin was mottled with bruises, cuts, scrapes, and burns, where she wasn't already bactaged up. She presented this grisly sight to Tera in the Sickbay, wincing at freshly disturbed wounds and aches. 'Well, doc? D'you think I'll ever strip again?' she said, hurting too much to put much humour in to it.

Tera sighed heavily as she saw Lyla. "You certainly believe in me earning my place here." Tera looked over the patches that had already been applied with a  critical and one might say disapproving look. "You should really leave all of that for the professionals." Tera took off all of the old patches and reapplied fresh ones. She stood back looking at her work once she was satisfied Lyla wasn't going to fall over. "Well...it'll do for now. I can give you some stims to keep you going until it's time to leave. When we do leave this place, we have one of two ways to get you back to your old entertaining self." Tera smirked "You know I keep saying it, but you keep ignoring me. Stop getting yourself injured just so you can spend more time with me."

She nodded to Tera "Ok, so you can spend the trip home in the bacta tank, or I can use the Force to make you feel better. Both have benefits and drawbacks, but both will be effective in healing your wounds. I'm opting for the force personally. I would be putting you into a trance that will help your body repair itself. If you need to fight on short notice I can absorb some of your wounds and replace it with my energy, but since it's rather painful, I'd prefer to avoid that if possible."

'I did leave it to the professionals – you. Medpacs are too expensive and hard to use for us amateurs.' Lyla protested, raising her arms and letting Tera get to work, trying not to wince. The treatment was taking the edge off the pain, though it was the edge on the pain that was keeping her conscious right now. She'd have a shower next to freshen up; bacta bandages were waterproof, fortunately.

'And babe, I wouldn't need to get hurt to get with you...' she teased flirtatiously, mainly for the sake of one-upmanship and seeing if she had the knack. 'Besides, I know you want me pretty.'

She looked around her patched-up body, considering the options. 'Whatever you think is best, doc, but I know I'd rather be asleep than trapped in a bacta tank for days on end. Unless you have a bathtub and beer option?'

It wasn't long before the Rebels were dry and their wounds starting to heal. The Alabak's Gold flew passed the wrecked AT-AT Swimmer and picked up any salvageable spare parts before leaving the ocean. The strange gravity waves that had hampered flight now absence Klyn and Rynn were able to fly over the location of the Imperial Garrison. They observed no activity in the air yet. The garrison was floundering but not destroyed, smoke trailed in columns off the remains. Sensors detected small power sources and movement. The Imperial would be busy recovering before they would be any threat to the indigenous Sedrians. They would need to get Odrion's message to Alliance Command, so there would be no chance to sun bathe on the beautiful beaches of the ocean planet. They needed to plot a hyperjump and get back to Neskroff.

OOC Continued in Strike Force: Shantipole.