"Then all you can do is hope, they can take out the two coming for them. I can not call them off or send them anywhere else without knowing where the tunnel ends up. If you know, where, I can try to send them the other way."

Arin wasn't too enthusiastic about the odds.

The alien shrugged and fell silent.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:39, Wed 27 June 2012.

Oh, shit, here goes nothing.

"This is Lead. All, move to the northwestern corner of the compound. The tunnel exit is there. Cut them off." And now, let's just hope it isn't there.

Arin switched to external speakers again. "I'm going to get confirmation about the stormtroopers following my orders which should leave the front gate unmanned and send all of them to the northwestern corner of the compound. If one of you is a quick runner, I suggest you send him in to the tunnel and tell your people there to double back. Meanwhile, the rest of you will get ready to leave through the front gate and escape. And you know what happens if you get caught? It will be my ass on the line."

There was a silence for a moment then a voice on the comm.  "Lead, this is one.  Do you want me to go as well?  You left orders for me to hold the gate."

"Belay that." came the Sergeant's voice.  "Lead, I have the aliens in sight.  They're boarding a small cargo speeder in an alley just south of the co-ordinates.  We've blocked off the road so they may double back.  We're preparing to engage."

Unaware of the comm conversation, the alien looked at him curiously.  "Your sentiment is noble but foolish.  We are clearly not human.  How long do you think a group of us walking the streets would last?  We can't just book a hotel or walk into a grocery store without being noticed.  Another stormtrooper squad would hunt us down and we'd be dead.  You'd get yourself killed or at least courtmartialled for nothing, a futile gesture."

Out of the corner of his eye, Arin noticed one of the aliens, a Rodian female, kept looking off to his left.  Following her gaze he noticed she kept staring at the dead frog-like alien.  He couldn't tell why, the thing was clearly dead, a hole blown in his chest, but something kept getting her attention.

Seeing Arin was watching she looked away, guilt all over her face.


OOC: Just a reminder, you still have 3 stormtroopers in your squad, one manning the front gate and the two in the speeder.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:00, Thu 28 June 2012.

"This is Lead. Affirmative. Approach with caution." Arin let out a sigh and swapped to externals again.

"Your friends have been cornered by two stormtroopers. They are getting in to a cargo speeder. And as for you, I'm certain, you could have slipped away and hid somewhere, had you left here in time. Now, however, you might want to ask your rodian fiend, what is she so keenly looking at."

The alien looks to the Rodian and converses in a language Arin doesn't understand.  The Rodian speaks quickly and meekly to the leader who just nods and looks back to the stormtrooper, saying nothing.

Arin kneeled next to the carbine, examining the weapon without touching it. If something was going on, he wanted to know. Then again, he couldn't rule out a ruse either - that wasn't exactly what he was hoping for, but if the people there were still planning on something for him, he needed to know. He adjusted the audio augmentations inside his helmet to get a better vocal input.

Arin couldn't initially see what was going on with the alien, until he turned up his audio input.  Then he heard it, very faint voice chatter coming from the alien.  On closer examination, he noticed the alien had an earpiece comm which had partly fallen out of his ear.  Arin was no expert but it looked quite advanced, possibly security or military grade.  Far too advanced for a group of civilian refugees.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:16, Fri 29 June 2012.

Arin kneeled down and picked up the comlink. This was either a very good or an extremely bad idea, but he had to do it regardless. Crossreferencing the tactical data on the pad, he said in to the comlink, "You are about to be ambushed by two stormtroopers. There is one more at the front gate and someone, who has a couple of your friends stowed away and is waiting a lift out of here with them. I advice caution. They are approaching you from ..."

A male voice comes over the comm almost immediately.  "All teams check your positions, report. Unknown voice identify yourself."

Arin had to reconsider the scope of what was going on.  The way the person spoke bespoke multiple teams.  Was it an Imperial force, unlikely with an alien.  More terrorist cells?  A paramilitary force perhaps?

"You can call me a friend for now. I know some of your people are moving away from a warehouse in an underground tunnel and they are about to be attacked by two stormtroopers. Third stormtrooper guards the compound main gate. I am looking at some of your friends, you left behind, including a rodian female and a lady with white-striped horns and head-tails. And please, do tell your people not to shoot at me. I don't think, that would be a good way to start a friendship. I'll hand this communicator over to those with me in the room."

Arin walked over to the one who had done the talking and pushed the communicator in her hands. "Your time to do the talking to them. Feel free to say what you want, I'll be making sure, we're not going to be attacked by the stormtroopers."

Arin lobbed his helmet back on. This had every possibility of landing him to the spice mines of Kessel and he knew that too well.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:53, Fri 29 June 2012.

The alien accepted the commlink, stared at it then put it in her ear.

"My name is Raana.  Aryan is dead.  He died defending me and my people from a stormtrooper attack.  His colleague escaped with about a dozen of my friends, the rest were gunned down by the troopers.  Your friend is trying to evacuate the other survivors in a cargo speeder but apparently some of the stormtroopers are giving chase.  The person who says he wants to help you is the leader of those troopers."

She pauses for a few moments then speaks again.  "No.  No he hasn't."

She seems to listen intently for a little while then nods and holds the comm out to Arin.  "They want to talk to you."


On his stormtroopet comm, Arin hears Tarrin talk.

"Speeder is closing sir, they're trying to break past. . .GRENADE! Cover!"

There's a grunt and the sound of plasteel hitting duracrete then silence for a few seconds.

"Driver hurled a grenade at us, no injuries.  She's escaped past us in a small cargo speeder.  We are pursuing.  Recommend you call local police help to cut them off."
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:00, Sat 30 June 2012.

"I will handle that, sergeant", Arin said in to the comm and removed his helmet, picking up the comlink from the alien's hands. "Yes?"

The situation would require careful maneuvering, if he was going to het away with this stunt. Either he'd need to hitch a ride with the people he was helping or manage to remove any indication of him helping them. Either way, there was a risk of being captured by the Imperial Intelligence, though Arin wasn't sure, which alternative would pose the greater threat.

Arin listened to the earpiece comm.

The original male voice spoke, quiet but authorative.  "Troop leader, call me Alpha, please state your intentions."

It was quickly followed by a female voice,  "Trooper, as a gesture of your good intentions please address Alpha's query and also state what your orders were for your current mission, and the reason you are currently disobeying those orders.  All others, please restrict priority comms to private channels until further notice."


OOC:  On your tactical datapad you can see that Sergeant Tarrin and one of the troopers are moving at speed away from the area.  You can track the chase via the datapad (or you can comm your troops of course).  According to the pad your final trooper is still on duty at the fence where you left him.

"It is pretty certain, my days in the service of the Empire are over, thanks to the help, I've already rendered to you. The orders were to kill a terrorist cell, which I can not say, I would consider innocent civilians to be. I can help you shake the stormtroopers and save the rest of those, who are with me, but I ask that you help me to get out of here as well in return. I understand, you might not trust me, but I can track the movements of each stormtrooper on a tactical display I have with me. Two of them are in pursuit of the speeder while one is at the compound gate, guarding it an the speeder that brought us here. Any ideas? For now, they have no confirmation of me going rogue."

Arin looked at the datapad. "The two troopers in pursuit, can you shake them? If we take out the remaining trooper somehow, we can take the speeder that brought me and the squad here. I can also distract them for a while on the Imperial comms."

  "A terrorist cell.  Then either Imperial Intelligence is phenomenally stupid or they have lied to you.  I wish I were surprised.  Trooper, please contact your men and ask them to back off and follow at a distance, under the premise of tailing the 'terrorists' to see if they lead your forces to another 'terrorist cell'."

"I can understand your sympathies to innocents so we'll work on the trust issue. For the moment please relay the information as suggested to the troopers following my friend."

"If it comes down to it, are you also willing to help take out the two in pursuit and not only the one by the gate?"

"I will not fire upon the men under my command. I want you people to understand that clearly. I can, however, walk the one by the gate in to the building and disarm him or send him after the two with our speeder and tell them to tail you from a safe distance, but I will not purposedly fire upon them, despite whatever they stand for. I am sure you understand. As for Imperial Intelligence, it is an oxymoron."

"Troop Leader, please confirm you've slowed your troopers down!"  Her tone is gentle but firm.

"Moment", Arin said to the comm and put his helmet back on. He sighed, switched to the internal comm but kept the external speakers on as well and begun giving orders. "Sergeant, I want you to slow down enough to make them feel safe. We don't want them running people over on the streets. Keep on their tails and see where they are going - we're going to get them at their base of operations."

"TI-9782, come in to the building. I have a task for you." He'd send the stormtrooper guarding the compound gate in to the tunnels to check on the two stormtroopers, who had fallen in there. That way the coast would be clear for them to make a run for it.

Sergeant Tarrin's reply was crisp.  "Roger sir, falling back.  Might I suggest you task an aerial drone?  Our vehicle is quite conspicuous sir."

A moment later trooper TI-9872 arrived and came to attention before Arin.

"I understand not firing on your men. You will need to disarm and remove the comm of the trooper still left with you when directed however. Agreed?"


**GM Note:  You only hear this if you kept the comm in your ear when you put the helmet back on.**
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:16, Tue 03 July 2012.

Arin turned at the stormtrooper. "Advance in to the tunnel and locate the fallen members of our squad. Inform me of their status, once you reach them." Then he swapped to his Imperial comms. "Sergeant, you will have to do with the speeder for now. How you achieve that, it is up to you. I need you to track them to their base."

Arin closed the broadcast on the Imperial comms and the external speaker. "Alpha, if I can knock him out somehow, I can agree to that."

Trooper TI-9872 immediately moved to the tunnel entrance and climbed down.  About thirty seconds later his voice came over the comm.

"Sir, I have found five and nine.  Both are dead, looks like small arms fire.  They've been stripped of all gear except their armour.  I see four dead terrorists.  Most near the tunnel entrance from shrapnel wounds.  Tunnel is otherwise empty.  Do you want me to head out the other end sir?"

After a while the female's voice can be heard.  It is still quite calm.  "Troop lead, I suggest you terminate the trooper there; distasteful to you or not it is still the most sensible option.  If he is spared and your betrayal is known to the Empire then they will hunt you right across the Galaxy.  Your loyalty to your troops is admirable but flawed, and your position as a defector is precarious at best."