Fiarr wandered into the garage still examining the blaster rifle in her hands.  When she saw the others she held it up.  "This is what our sniper was using.  Standard E-11 rifle but the scope is one of the upgraded x8 jobs.  Very nice indeed."

She didn't mention the other thing she thought she'd seen.  It might have been her imagination.

Mika comes up with another thought.  "Why not use the buzz-bots as a gas grenade delivery system?  That way, we could hit multiple targets from multiple directions."

"Could work."  Kyvarr responded to Mika's suggestion of the droids.  "Normally I'd say using gas grenades in the open is a waste of time.  But if the gangers have set up a blockade, that means the're reasonably close together and a bombardment of gas might work.  Can your droids actually launch the grenades without getting blown up?"

Heigren takes one of the blaster pistols, not a heavy one and asks if anyone can spare a power pack for it.

"I was thinking. If we're going to pick up Three from the hospital, that would be a great place to release Idaya. She'll be safe there."

"Eleven, you listening in?  Can these M4 droids prime and drop grenades as well as carry them?"

When Heigren asked about ammo for his pistol, Devon rummaged in one of the pockets of the belt his holster was attached to and tossed a powerpack over to Heigren.
"Have my spare.  Share the wealth, guys - since we're going to be going up against the gangs again, I want everyone able to shoot back.  And someone grab carry a spare to give to Three when we collect her."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same about ditching her at the hospital - its neutral turf and we're going that way anyhow.  But... could we get her on board for at least the spaceport assault?  She's a damn good shot with that rifle."

Dohr nodded. I too like the idea of using the droids. Keeping people out of harm's way is always good. However can we trust them to deploy the grenades with enough accuracy? They were after all not designed for anything like that. And I share Kyvarr's worry about using gas in the open. But they are all we have a the moment and since the gangers are not trained soldiers, the gas might work very well in causing confusion."

"Gas grenades are commonly used for dispelling riots.  Many are designed to be used in open spaces, though en masse.  Any being stocked by a civil policing force would be used - and designed - for precisely that purpose.  In addition, M4 droids are designed and notorious for delivering their messages even in zones with moderate to heavy conflict.  They are programmed for accuracy.  They require it."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:06, Sun 23 Mar 2014.

"Yes of course. But with accuracy I also meant... Are they capable of making a decision in the middle of the flight? Does their programming enable them to make tactical decisions? Would they know the best spot to hit with the grenades? I am sorry having to ask these questions, but my knowledge of your kind is limited at best, as you can see."

"Then again, with gas grenades it probably does not matter that much."

"Never heard of a messenger droid making tactical decisions.  Not without a lot of modification.  What about remote piloting?  Could Eleven fly them?"

"Getting the grenades to explode shouldn't be an issue for the droids.  We just dial up the timer fuse to thirty seconds.  Even if a grenade goes off early it won't hurt the droids.  Problem is depending on the size of the blockade we don't really have enough droids.  How many grenades can we fit in each droid and can they fire them one at a time?"

"Trust me - that wont be an issue.  Eleven can handle the programming for that - it'll be fine."
Devon paused, thinking. 
"if we had enough gas masks for everyone I'd suggest simply gassing a whole area then wading in to take them out whilst they cant breath.  As it is, I expect we're going to have to be a bit more devious - I imagine they have heavy weapons set up in surrounding buildings - Was it Hammer who suggested hitting a heavy weapons emplacement and using it against them?  How do we make that work with what we have available?"

"Difficult to make a plan until we know what we're faced with.  If Eleven can't get us recon we'll need to check the place out ourselves.  We can use the droids and bikes to check things out from a distance.

That means we should get there.  The sooner we see what we face, the sooner we can work out how to smash through."

"True but we can lay some groundwork."  responded Devon.  "For now, lets load everything into the truck and get moving toward the hospital and meet up with Three.  Everyone make sure you have something to shoot back with in case we hit trouble on the way.  Lets get outta here."


As he helped load their looted kit into the truck, Devon said to Kyvarr
"Here's a thought - those gas grenades are impact detonated right?  So how about we load them into the M4s, arm then ONCE they're loaded and then all the M4 has to do is eject them when it reaches a target." He looked at the Cathar soldier. "I'm not that great with explosives... so you tell me if it could work."

Kyvarr considered.  "Wouldn't want them going off to early.  The pressure of the gas would damage the droid.  But. . .if we increased the sensitivity on the pressure plate, we could make it so the grenade exploded as the droid ejected it."

She left the weapons for others.  She could use the rifle but figured it would be better given to the droid.  She grabbed a spare heavy pistol if there was one left.  Didn't hurt to have a backup.

Once the gear was loaded she climbed in the back of the truck with the prisoner.  She knew the Zeltron was watching her but she thought he might be too. . .soft.  She confirmed the prisoner was still stunned and her bindings were secure.

Flash took one of the heavy blasters and a blaster pistol.  "No point me taking a rifle.  Can't use it on a swoop."  He climbed on his swoop and waited to move out.

"I will speak to her when she wakes up.  She'll have little reason to trust us.  To her way of thinking what we have done here is totally unreasonable and probably feels I betrayed her trust.  But we'll see.  Perhaps when we return her gear and bike as she left them and set her free in a safe zone she'll be willing to listen."

Heigren sat quietly and slightly dejected in the back of the truck.  He'd made the unconscious woman as comfortable as he could.  Now he just sat and stared at her.  He didn't even offer a flirtatious word or gesture to Kyvarr when she climbed in.  He kept going over his meeting with Idaya over and over.  Why hadn't he been able to get her to believe him?  To trust him?  He'd offered nearly unconditional trust in the building but he couldn't get her to trust him back.  She was lying here no cuffed and stunned because he'd failed to get through to her.

Deep in his morose state Heigren offered no thoughts on gas and grenades and droids.  Such things were outside his area of expertise.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:13, Mon 24 Mar 2014.

Fiarr made no move towards the various weapons.  Her trusty pistol and the scoped rifle she found were enough for her.  The other rifle could go to someone else.  Kyvarr or the droid, maybe Dohr.

She walked over to the Aratech 74-Z speeder bike Devon had found.  "Want me to take this?  I don't think Kyvarr's leg will be up to riding a swoop."

Listening to Heigren's words, Dohr nodded. "She did seem to like what I said earlier before the… pacification. So it might be good if I were there to calm her down when she comes to. However, I guess the driving responsibility still falls to me unless someone else wishes to take the seat."

The doctor turned to Kyvarr. "If you do not mind, I would rather have you up front riding shotgun now that Fiarr needs to ride her" Dohr pointed at Idaya. "bike.  She is bound and Vyn has a weapon. He will be fine with her. And I hope the fact that she is still alive will tell her we still have no intentions to harm her. My meagre driving skills will not allow me to shoot and pilot this thing at the same time, so I would appreciate someone who could encourage the gangers to point their guns elsewhere."

"The Chiss female is armed, healthy and clearly capable of independent thought.  She is also not within our jurisdiction or responsibility.  It would be prudent to leave her with her weapons in the police station; we have no need of her and she is clearly capable of defending herself from a bunkered position."

Mika sighs.  This may very well be the worst shore leave she'd ever heard about.

"How's this for a plan?  Time is in limited supply and until we get a look at the space port, we don't know which way to jump.  We also have an unconscious woman on our hands and a team member at a hospital somewhere.

I don't think we want to split up, not until we know what we got to face.  For that, we need to get to the space port first and do what we got to do there.  Then we can see about picking up 3.  For the woman, CC9's right, we leave her in the station with her gear and stop wasting resources on something we don't need to waste resources on, we stop standing around and make some headway to getting off this pathetic excuse for a shore leave planet."

"That plan sounds suitable.  If Three can commandeer a vehicle we may be able to rendezvous somewhere close to the starport in order to save an additional journey."

"We cannot leave her here unconscious. That would be the same as squeezing the trigger ourselves. But if you wish to wait here until she wakes up and then give her the news, I might as well join Vyn in the back of the truck. But as has been said by many of you already, we do not have the luxury of time in our hands. Therefore I suggest we head out and let Vyn handle the Chiss until we reach the spaceport or at least a proper observation point."

"And to be honest, I would really like to have another pair of hands holding a rifle on our side when we hit the barricades. Especially a pair so skilled. Naturally that is fairly far-fetched as she may be quite annoyed by how things turned out. But it does not hurt to ask, does it?"

"No!"

The single word came from the Zeltron like a blaster shot.

"I gave Idaya my word we would leave her somewhere safe.  I intend to keep my promise.  Leaving her in a building which is likely to be attacked again soon with only a few power packs is not safety."

"We have to pick up three so we should drop Idaya there.  If you decide not to go to the hospital I will take Idaya there myself on her swoop.  I'll walk if I have to."

"OK" said Devon loudly. "First:  If people cant talk and drive at the same time, I'm gonna insist we do the 'drive' bit.  But I want us to co-ordinate properly this time - have all bikers got a commlink?  No?  Ok - I want at least one commlink per vehicle, so we can talk whilst we're on the move.  Doc, can you give yours to Fiarr?  Vyns got a comm, so you'll still be in contact."

Devon gave them a few moments to get organized then started his bikes engine and  took the lead as their little convoy made its way out of the ruined ACE station and toward the hospital to collect Sheila.
"Second" he said once everyone was under way.  "Vyn promised we would leave her some place safe, and we're not gonna make Vyn a liar.  If she wont co-operate, we'll ditch her at the hospital.  Vyn - if she wakes up before we get there, talk to her and see if you cant get her on side.  Offer her safe passage off planet with the rest of us, but she's to follow orders and NOT argue."

Devon glanced over his shoulder at line of vehicles following him.
"Third - we have four bikes now so I want a decent defence if we get ambushed again.  Two - you got rear guard.  Fiarr, Ten - take the left and right flanks - ok?  now lets get to the hospital without anyone getting dead.  Hey Vyn, if our friend wakes up, keep your comms open so we can all hear whats said."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:11, Tue 25 Mar 2014.

The convoy moves out, heading towards Det Akari General Hospital where Sheila is located.  Devon redistributes the comm so that every rider except Flash has one and every vehicle has one.  This way everyone except Flash could talk as they travelled.

In the back, Idaya remained unmoving.


OOC:  In an effort to move to a point where Sheila and Idaya can join in, I'm going to be posting the next thread tomorrow latest.  In the meantime, everyone can talk as the convoy moves (including Sheila and Cor as they have coms) except for Idaya and Flash.  For ease, post in this thread, not the comms thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:50, Tue 25 Mar 2014.

Mika finds herself disagreeing with the decision to detour to the hospital instead of heading directly to the space port.

The upside to going to the hospital allows them to rejoin with one team member and to drop off the woman in a safe location.  The upside to going to the spaceport also allows them to rejoin with one team member and to regain the asset of having a space ship handy, assuming they could break the siege and if they can't Sheila wouldn't likely tip the scale.

But at least they were moving and that was better than standing around trying to figure a direction to go.