Trying to fake engine trouble is always a tricky matter.  It is particularly difficult when of the vehicle is in motion.  Forim adjusts the fuel burn ratio, flooding the engine.  The speeders built and safety equipment causes the engine to shut down entirely.

The speeder skids to a stop, spraying dirt and mud and water all over.  It may take you a few minutes to dig the speeder out, especially if you want to clean the air intake grills on the front as well.

There is an unpleasant silence from the commlink after reporting engine trouble.  Then the other commlink opens up.  The long range civilian commlink with some static, and then a woman's voice speaks.  "Rissk, report."

Meanwhile, the TIEs break off their escort and begin a long, lazy circling pattern.

In reply to The Force (msg # 611):

"Should I answer that as well, might add to the ruse. I did tell them he had been "terminated"... I guess she is checking on our story ?"

-

Forim curses again as the ship goes down and says "Sorry guys, I am thinking this mission is cursed...


Might as well, things can't get any worse.  Maybe he was a turncoat"

"Ah.. Mayor, Sergeant Rollier again as I said Rissk the bloody was terminated by the rebel force. He disobeyed a direct order and engaged the rebels in hand to hand combat, alone... We are returning with his corpse."

"I suggest Green Flight return to a higher holding pattern as we are chasing up a possible rebel survivor and it will go to ground with a possible strike mission in the vicinity."

Anders Flown rolled no successes, 1 threat using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3c 2a 2b.  Decep.
Take the threat as strain.

-
This message was last edited by the player at 21:46, Wed 13 Dec 2017.

There is another long pause. The TIE fighters continue to circle. Those of you with an eye for starfighters and their tactics can see that they are in a difficult position.

TIE fighters, like other space superiority fighters, are fast. Even moving at minimum speed to maintain air-speed velocity, the orbit these TIEs are making is several kilometers across. Most of the time, the fighters' cockpits are oriented away from the speeder. They keep 'eyes' on their target with sensors, which relay excellent combat data such as speed, direction, and condition of a target. Most starfighter sensors are programmed to ignore any target smaller than a starfighter and slower than a missile. Usually, humanoids are ignored. If these fighter pilots are really on their game, they could be using heat-tracking to monitor your positions.

You have a minute or two or muse on these thoughts as you wait in vain for the response to come from your looted commlinks.

Anders gives a shrug before adding "Lets at least get the speeder back in one piece and mobile. I am not very good with a spanner, but I can give a hand with a shovel and clean out the front."

Anders hops out and gets to work while keeping the comm device close. He also takes a few moments to study the enemy fighters.

Anders Flown rolled 5 successes, 1 triumph using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3d 1p 4a.  Piloting - Space roll.

-
This message was last edited by the player at 05:43, Fri 15 Dec 2017.

Xyklo peers up from the speeder, clutching his rifle.
”I dunno. I think we may only have as much time out of the vehicle as it takes those TIEs to do a half sweep. If they’re looking at us when we’re out, the games up.
I can use a spanner, but it will take a while..”
Turning to Forim, he raises his antenna questioningly, and glances at the pilots console.

OOC: has the engine cut? Because hacking the passcode to restart is probably beyond us!

"What we need is a place to hide from those scanners.  I have tried everything in my book to divert their attention away to get us to safety.  I am open to any and all wild suggestions...".  He shakes his head to Xyklo - repairing the ship is a no go for multiple reasons...

ooc: how good are their life form detectors: Can we bury ourselves in dirt and be effectivly hidden from their scanners?  i am thinking about blowing up the speeder and in the smoke / heat cloud burying ourselves in the now lose dirt.

Xyklo grins at Forim.
”That’s good, I’d rather go down fighting than performing engine repairs on one of their crappy speeders!”

He glances at Rolliers body.
”I’m guessing they saw the speeder just died. One of us could dress as Rollier and call them down for an evac? Then we ambush them...”
It sounded implausible even as he said it, but his next best plan was to wait for their fuel reserves to run low and make a dash for it!

Anders passes on the observations he made of the Tie fighters and whoever was guiding them. He though their behavior was strange, but was at a lost as to how it could benefit them at the present time.

-

Xyklo gets twitchier and twitchier as they sit in the broken down vehicle. Eventually he utters a shirt stream of harsh clicks and whirs.
"Screw this. They could be calling for more assistance. I'm gonna make a break for it, see what happens. If they follow and close, I'll try to engage them from the treeline and keep 'em busy.
Captain." he salutes Forim sharply, before sliding out of the car window when at least one of the TIEs are facing away from them, and begins a hard dash for the cover.

Xyklo arrives, weaponry clanking, his snout raised to suck in any extra oxygen, the muscles beneath his carahide screaming with acid. He'd done his fair share of running drills, but it never made training to lactate threshold any more enjoyable. Rolling into some bushes he gasps for air while laying out the blaster rifle in case of pursuit...

OOC: Today: Xyklo Voozul rolled 1 success, 3 threats using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3a 1d 3s.  Athletics.
Happy to take a whole load of strain unless Force has other plans?

“Xyklo has the right idea, Flight Commander, we’re out of options sitting here.”
Roger gets out of the speeder and, blaster drawn, follows the verpine.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:36, Thu 28 Dec 2017.

After a brief, splashy run the rebels make their way south.  They arrived in a thick forests of thin trees about 2 to 3 m high.  There aren't many brushes, but there's plenty of reeds and long grass.  It's still very wet here.
The TIE fighters continued to circle.  They have either not noticed you running, or have decided that circling the crash speeder is more important.

Forim nods and says "Lets make a break for it" and sprints to the trees.

"Lets make a shelter that will protect us from thermal scans and give us a break to rest up and start fresh tomorrow.  Its going to be a wet night, but that will mask our body heat." as he starts looking around for some kind of materiel that he could build a lean to with

In reply to Forim Luk (msg # 624):

"I will provide security... That was weird I did not expect them to let us go." Anders finds somewhere that gives him a good look back along the path they took into the trees and then waits blaster at the ready.

-

The Rebels lurk in the wet forest for just a moment once they all arrive. The organics catch their breath, and the droids restore their servo temperatures. You hear a loud roaring noise and glance back to the north.

A Raptor shuttlecraft soars over the landscape, on its way towards you. The shuttle hovers over the soggy field where the landspeeder is, and its swing-doors open. Black rope-lines fall, stopping just short of the ground. A squad of Stormtroopers begin sliding down the lines. They land on the wet surface and fan out. Some of them briefly investigate the crashed speeder, while others keep their eyes outwards. A perimeter is formed.

The Raptor descends further, until it is only a few meters above the ground. The repulsorlifts spray water all around, creating a halo of mud and relative dryness near the speeder.

Three Imperial Army soldiers climb out and hop down. They rush out of the repulsor-press, their shiny black boots getting soaked with mud. Two of them are tall males, and the other is a little shorter and pudgier.

The last one out of the vessel is a human woman. She is wearing a plain coverall and has blonde hair that, in the right light, seems to have blue highlights in it. She also hustles over to the speeder. While the three soldiers are inspecting the speeder, she begins scanning the horizon. For a moment, she seems to be looking directly at you.

"We need to go...now. I think that lady may have seen us." Anders looked at the others, the whole experience had been unnerving and he still felt uncomfortable when he thinks back to the woman looking in their direction.

Lifting his gear onto his shoulder Anders looked for a way through the undergrowth.


-

Zeic stays still in the cover and looks for possible retreat avenues.  He watches her carefully to see if there are any other indications that they have indeed been spotted.

"Steady..." forim whispers.

Xyklo stays low, his rifle aimed at the woman who was already spooking him out.

He glanced at Anders moving out and raised a questioning antenna at Forim, again looking for his call. Part of him still wanted to stand and fight, but they were few and this shuttle probably had long range comms.

OOC: what’s the range to the woman?

Long range. She is a Nemesis,
so 2 upgrades.
 
The Raptor dropship slowly rises into the air. It stops about two hundred meters up, hovering on repulsorlifts.

Meanwhile, the Intelligence officer and the Imperial army officers are shouting at each other. It is unclear whether they are arguing or just shouting to be heard over the Raptors' engines.

You notice uncomfortably that the Raptor seems to be orienting itself towards your forest cover. Its forward-facing guns swivel downwards.

1d1c check. use a skill of your choice, and explain how it applies in your post. failure results in damage, threats result in strain. despair will have an effect relevant to the skill you chose to use.

Anders stays hidden watching the ship and its passengers. He waits until there is a group consensus as to what to do.

Watching the shuttle Anders can feel his heart sink as the ships guns point in their direction.

-

With some hard thinking and stress, Zeic quickly considers the situation and ascertains the best place and direction to escape to based on cover and the capabilities of the raptor.  "As best as I can tell, this is the best way to go."  he starts moving that way unless countermanded.

17:32, Today: Zeic Plirr rolled 2 successes, 1 threat using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3a 1p 1d 1c.  warfare.

Xyklo crouches deeper into the undergrowth, whirring softly as he draws a sight on the eerie female.
"Ah shit...  shit..  that's bad Captain. Forim. Flight officer Forim. Sir.

Not just the fucking craft, the woman too. Permission to fire sir," his antenna twitch, stressed out he can't shake the feeling of something dark and irrepressible closing in.

OOC: Today: Xyklo Voozul rolled 4 successes, 1 threat , 1 despair using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 4a 1d 1c.  Steath.

Forim nods toward Zeic and whispers "Go go go before we get blasted, this should have worked.  How can they be tracking us!?!"

ooc: Can I make a check to see if I suspect someone is a spy?  Upgrade the difficulty one extra time because Forim is so trusting.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:24, Tue 16 Jan 2018.