Heigren stood.  His gut felt like it was on fire when he stood, but his legs still worked.  Damn, he hadn't hurt this much since he'd picked up that Talosian Sampa Virus from that Hutt's private harem girls.

Seeing Mika scrounging for medkits he shoos her away.  Brought everything we need in my pack.  Droid had a pack too.  Full of medical gear, repair tools, explosives, contraceptives, everything.  It's one deck down where we found the others.  Take what you need.  I'll get my own supplies.

Alpha Team - Freighter 3, Deck 8 - Amidships

As the doors opened, the fire commenced.  B2-CC9 immediately positioned himself, the shield protectively before him.  Behind him Devon opened up with the grenade launcher.  He only got off a few shots before the launcher ran dry but he'd lobbed two into the cover on the right hand side.  Nobody was moving on that side.  Devon dropped his launcher and pulled out his blaster rifle.

Hampered by his shield, CC9 was having trouble aiming and shooting his heavy blaster.  So far he'd hit nothing other than durasteel.

The return fire from the Imperials wasn't proving too successful.  Two shots hit the shield, but others hit bulkheads and doors.  A single shot came in on a sharp angle and scorched B2-CC9's leg armour, leaving a deep gouge but caused no real system damage.  Another pair of shots fly past the shield and Devon gasps as one shot catches him in the chest, burning through his armour, though luckily the armour too much of the power out of the shot.

Noting the stormtrooper who had hit Devon, CC9 took careful aim and fired, hitting the trooper in the abdomen.  The trooper grunted and fell backward behind his barrier.  He came up a moment later, still shooting, though smoke rose from his armour where he'd been hit.


OOC:  So on the left side you have a wounded stormtrooper and an uninjured Imp.  The starboard side there is no movement courtesy of a double stun grenade sandwich a few rounds ago.

CC9, your shield has taken a few hits and probably wont last much longer.


Freighter 4 - Deck 9 - Bridge

Mika rushed back down the stairs, traversed deck 8 and then quickly descended to engineering.  She found the chief engineer there still cursing, but his injured comrade was gone.  The two Imperial prisoners looked unconscious.

---

Battle status
Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 87/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 115/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 83/140HP
Freighter Alpha 1 - 40/40SP 60/60HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 3 - 0/40SP 60/60HP <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - Reactor Offline Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
System Patrol Craft: *UNKNOWN - Not on sensors*


TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

B2-CC9 - 12/25VP 13/13WP
Devon - 37/50VP 6/12

Mika - Uninjured
Heigran - Seriously injured
PK-24 - Undamaged

Xil - Stabilised
Grayrhynn - Dead
B1-AE3 - Destroyed
B1-AE5 - Destroyed

CC9 advances step by step, concentrating fire on the stormtrooper.  That guy's gonna be in a world of dead when CC9 is done with him.  The blaster scorching on his leg plating doesn't seem to hamper him significantly but he knows that if that bolt had damaged a knee joint he'd be in a very different state.  This needs to be stopped, fast.  As he advances he yells out at the top of his volume control, "YIELD AND LIFE!  FIGHT AND DIE!"  He will cease firing if they do but he absolutely doesn't expect them to - or, rather, doesn't expect the stormtrooper to.

Getting no useful information out of the engineer, Mika bypasses the fellow and starts her own analysis of what's needed to get the ship to jump once they get to where they're going.

07:48, Today: Mika Trake rolled 36 using 1d20+16. Repair check.

OOC:  Got to love those natural 20's on a skill check.  :)

Mika quickly looked over the systems.  Engineer Solwin hadn't got much done since Mika had left but that was to be expected as he was doing the work of four and she'd only been gone a few minutes.  A quick inspection revealed what the Engineer was trying to do, get rid of the damaged panels then testing each circuit to see which were functional and which was not.  It was the standard approach but it was too slow.  Even with four people it would take at least half an hour.

Another thought occured to her.  They controlled the bridge so why not just turn on the power and see if any bridge systems were functional.  A diagnostic from the bridge would be faster than this manual work.  They might even meet the deadline, if she had more help.

Even as she thought it, three more engineers rushed into the room.  These had to be the reinforcements Devon had promised.

"Where do you want us?" one asked Mika.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:25, Tue 02 Apr 2013.

This message was deleted by the player at 13:22, Thu 04 Apr 2013.

Devon grunted and staggered as he was hit, some random part of his mind deciding that whoever it was who said that the waiting was the worst part was clearly an idiot - Devon would take waiting over getting shot any day.

Straightening up with a grimace, he joined CC9 in directing his fire at the last remaining storm trooper - the sooner they finished this fight, the sooner Devon could go back to waiting and not getting shot...

"Eleven here," Cor states in a neutral tone over the Talon comms.  "PK-24 is currently en route to move Grayrhynn's body to the airlock.  He has access to the Talon comms and will respond to your commands."

Alert: Alpha Team

As B2-CC9 continues his advance, the stormtrooper shouts "Fall back." to the others.  The Imperial next to him takes it very literally, practically tripping over his feet in an effort to run back.  The stormtrooper is more measured, activating a grenade and then grunting in pain as a shot from Devon caught his in the shoulder, penetrating the armour.  The stormtrooper still manages to maintain his focus, throwing the grenade at the advancing pair before retreating, keeping his body low so the durasteel bulkhead acts as a barrier.

B2-CC9 acted instantly and decisively.  He caught the grende square on his shield, then slammed his shield on the ground, kneeling behind it and instructiong Devon to do the same.  The droid braced his shield for the blast, a blast that did not come.  He waited for a few more seconds, in case the stormtrooper had deliberately set the timer long to trick them into raising their shield.  But no explosion eventuated.

Swiftly, CC9 spun 180 degrees and grabbed the grenade and quickly disassembled it whilst keeping the shields between Devon and the grenade.  By the time it was safe, the Imperial and stormtrooper were gone.


OOC:  CC9 you can tell the grenade was real, it just failed to arm.  It was a dud grenade, not just some trick.  Maybe you should give the stormtrooper the batch number so he can register a complaint!  ;)
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 06:25, Thu 04 Apr 2013.

OOC:  The GM pointed out some oversights on my part, so I've deleted the previous post and am re-posting with some modifications.....

"Glad to have you, welcome aboard."  Mika says to the new arrivals.

It occurs to her that she should've insisted on the PK droid remain behind.  He'd be the obvious choice for re-engaging the power, assuming they could make it simple enough.  But she could think more on lessons learned later, there was too much to grind on such things now.

"Engineer Solwin here and his team have been doing damn fine work down here, but we're running out of time and need to get a handle on things now.  We'll bring power online.  We may short a few systems, but if we can get the hyperdrive online and make the jump, we can take our time with the rest of this."  She looks to the wounded engineer who's standing by to engage power, "You good?"

She notes the close quarters...  "You two," she indicates two of the engineers that had arrived with Solwin, "Stay here and help Solwin.  The rest of us will go up to the bridge, run diagnostics and see what's broke."  She wasn't moving things along fast enough...  screw it.  "Engage power." she says to the injured engineer.

'Jeez...' mumbled Devon as he forced himself to uncurl once the enemy grenade failed to go off.  One arm clutched protectivily across his chest, he staggered round  the barricades and aimed at the two comatose defenders he'd KO'd earlier with the grenade launcher.

'Little help with these two?' he asked CC9 as he kicked the enemies fallen guns out of reach.

CC9 helps Devon get the pair into binder cuffs.  He's not really likely to win any awards for Most Expressive Droid Ever but given how roughly he handles the foe he's cuffing it's clear that CC9 is angry.  An angry B2 isn't a terribly encouraging thing.  "No prisoners from this point onward," he states in his monotone.  "Enough warnings have been given.  Shoot to kill - take Imperial Navy out first to thin out the herd, then concentrate fire on any troopers."

With the prisoners secured and somewhat uncomfortably tossed aside CC9 heads for the turbolift.  "I will head up first to draw their fire.  It is unlikely they will risk using grenades in so close quarters but they have shown themselves to be staggeringly stupid so far, so we cannot preclude the possibility."  He briefly assesses the shield and, knowing it will fail soon, says nothing on the matter.  There's not really anything to say; they don't have time to repair it.  Looking the turbolift shaft over he notes the rungs of the service ladder.  "Follow me up in five seconds."


OOC: Edited due to GM input.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:00, Sun 07 Apr 2013.

Devon was rummaging in the kit CC9 had insisted they all carry.  "Just gimmie a second to at least get a patch on this first, yeah?"

Digging out the medical supplies, Devon winced as he gingerly explored the wound burned into his side.

CC9 nods.  "Follow me up after necessary repairs, then."

With that he starts climbing up the turbolift shaft to dessssstiny.  At the top he wrenches open the door enough to shoot through and starts firing on anyone within sight.  If nobody should be within sight he'll get up, ready his shield and start blasting the first Imperial he sees.  It's not the most physically secure way of doing this but, then, there's no really good way of assaulting a bridge with this particular layout.

*9 Minutes until jump deadline*

Alpha Team - Freighter 3, Deck 9 - Bridge

B2-CC9 climbed through the top of the ladder and then up the ladder to deck 9.  The doors were closed but not sealed.  From inside he could hear someone barking out orders, the same voice that had been giving orders the whole time.  As CC9 opened the doors he heard the sound of blaster shots - stun bolts, at least two, but none were near him.  They sounded like they came from the far side of the bridge.

Rounding the turbolift, shield and blasters in hands and came across a suprising sight.  The stormtrooper was lying on the ground twitching, aftermath of multiple stun bolts.  CC9 could only summise he'd been stunned by the others.

The two remaining men were in Imperial navy uniforms, one a private the other had the uniform of an Ensign.  Both threw their weapons away when they saw CC9 and dropped to their knees.

"We give up." said the Ensign.  "He wanted us to fight to the death so we stunned him." nodding towards the stunned trooper.

Devon joined CC9 a few moments later, having quickly treated the worst of his wounds with a medpac without success.  He'd have to leave his wounds until a real medic had a look at them.




Bravo Team - Freighter 4, Deck 9 - Bridge

Having issued her instructions, Mika left for the bridge, her engineers in tow.  As they moved, power began to slowly kick back in, by the time the reached Deck 9 full power had been restored.  Heigran had already brought up a diagnostic display and Mika looked it over.  Suprisingly the freighter had taken very little damage to her primary systems.  Numerous secondary systems were out and she'd spend a lot of time in a space dock but navigation and hyperdrive were fully functional and stuctural integrity was holding.  Even the shields would take little work to get online.  The only important system she needed back were the ion drives which needed quite a lot of work.  Many of the main lines between engineering and the engines had been severed.


Space

The first freighter reached the jump point and with a quick flicker of pseudomotion, vanished into hyperspace.  On board the Nightshrike, Zyra heaved a sigh of relief as she saw it go.  Already Arin and Flaah were moving to regroup with Mark and Sheila.

Checking the status of the other two freighters she saw that Freighter 3 was still moving under its own power and was about four minutes from the jump point.  Freighter 4 was still being towed by the Nightshrike and would take around 8 minutes.  It would be down to the wire to see if the last freighter could get systems online in time.

---

OOC:  Allllmooooost there!

Battle status
Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 87/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 115/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 83/140HP

Freighter Alpha 1 - Jumped to hyperspace

Freighter 3 - 5/40SP 60/60HP <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - Reactor Offline Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

System Patrol Craft: *UNKNOWN - Not on sensors*


TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

B2-CC9 - 12/25VP 13/13WP
Devon - 37/50VP 6/12

Mika - Uninjured
Heigran - Seriously injured
PK-24 - Undamaged

Xil - Stabilised
Grayrhynn - Dead
B1-AE3 - Destroyed
B1-AE5 - Destroyed

"Lead, this is Five. Packet One underway. Will return to pick the next one from you. Over." Arin had decided to report and thus seize the initiative from Flash.

Mika engages the intraship comms to talk to the engine room.  "The ships in surprising good shape, all things considered.  The main problem are the ion drives, focus on those."

She looks to the two engineers on the bridge, "Keep at the diagnostics and help them isolate where the cables are cut if you can."

She looks at the wounded Heigren, "You doing okay?"  (Assuming he is,)  "Get on the board and punch in the hyperdrive calcs that Zyra sent us.  Also, check the atmospherics, I don't know how much air was lost when the ship was holed, but I'd like to keep breathing for a bit."

On the Talon comms, "Ten here.  The hyperdrive and astrogation look solid, but the ion engines are down, working on it.  Otherwise, the ship's going to take some serious refit time to get her up to specs."

She moves back over to the engineers on the bridge, "Got locations on the cuts yet?"  If so, she'll take one of the engineers with her and head down to work on it.

The result isn't one that CC9 had calculated for but the droid makes a swift reassessment.  He doesn't lower his weapon but he doesn't fire either.  "An intelligent move.  You will be restrained for security reasons but you will be released unharmed."  CC9 speaks over the Talons comm.  "This is Alpha Lead.  Freighter secured, minimal casualties."

Without lowering his weapon CC9 addresses the private and ensign.  "You have calculated well but have placed yourselves in a tenuous position.  Unlike your colleagues you have fired directly upon an Imperial stormtrooper.  Because you surrendered you are guaranteed safe release to a populated area but if the stormtrooper lives to report this incident you will be unable to rejoin the Empire."  He lets this sink in for a moment before continuing.  "Do you desire the stormtrooper's death, do you intend to defect, or would you prefer both?"

The ensign looks at the super battle droid, thoroughly confused.  "D-d-defect?  To who?  I don't want to go anywhere, or kill anyone.  I just don't want to die.  I'm just a freighter pilot."

He goes silent as the stormtrooper starts to stir.

"Understood Five.  We're almost there everyone, keep it up."

Heigren whispers to the nearest engineer when Mika is out of earshot.  "You can do all those things she asked me to do right?"  He was many things, but an engineer was not one of them.

"Understood."  CC9 then leans down, pulls the stormtrooper's helmet off and shoots him in the face until he stops moving.  "Restrain the prisoners and we will escort them to the temporary brig," he says to Devon, and then speaks over the Talon comm again.  "Alpha Tech team, restore all power and functionality to this freighter and get it moving to the jump point immediately."  He keeps the two Imperial navy boys covered while Devon does his work.

'Nice an easy, boys' says Devon as he advances on the two Imperials, careful to stay out of CC9s line of fire as he does it.
'Lets have no sudden heroics, yeah?  You stay cool and the droid doesnt do to you what he did that trooper...'

Wincing at the pain in his chest, Devon made sure the Imperials had no weapons within reach, then cuffed them.
Via the privacy of the Talon comm-link he says to CC9:
'we better collect the ones we left downstairs too.'

"That is where the temporary brig is," CC9 clarifies on the same channel.

Once one of the engineers had found the fault with the ion engines, Mika and her engineering team went to work.  While it was difficult repairing drive lines in zero-g, the engineers far preferred it to engaging in combat with the Imperials.  It took a little less than five minutes to get the freighter under it's own power while other engineers had restored atmosphere to decks 5 through 9.  They didn't waste time trying to restore power to the hulled decks, instead beefing up power to the shields and force fields so the ship would survive the hyperspace jump.  As they neared the jump point, Mika stood on the bridge, checking and triple checking every system.  The other two freighters had already jumped, but she wasn't alone.  The Nightshrike was nearby, loading Mark and Flash's ships into their docking ramps.  Arin and Sheila were patrolling for enemies and the transport ship was flying nearby, ready to evacuate the team if needed.

All checks were complete, every contingency planned.  Mika gave the order and the hyperdrive levers were pulled.  With a quick burst of power, the ship jumped.  One by one, the fighters and transport jumped until all that was left was the Nightshrike and various escape pods full of Imperial prisoners.  Satisfied, Zyra ordered their flagship to jump.

Half an hour later, on a backwater planet not controlled by the Empire, the Talons left the freighters in the care of Rann.  The black marketeer was to remain with the ships and start arranging for their repair and sale.  The civilian engineers remained with him, but the Talons were free to return to base, mission complete.



*THREAD CLOSED*