His companions busy exploring inside the silo Mallox examined the control box. The controls were simple enough and Mallox was successful after a few tries in turning the lights on. As soon as he’d managed that though the control suddenly shut him out. No matter what he did he had lost control, someone had taken control of the building by remote.

At the moment that Mallox realised it was a trap the open door slammed shut and the silo was magnetically sealed. His head was then turned again by a shout as four men began to scramble along the sandy ridge toward the old landspeeder.

Silo

OOC Here's a front view and top view of the silo. The control box and Mallox's location is marked in red on both pictures.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:56, Sat 11 Aug 2012.

Mallox cursed under his breath. His companions were trapped inside the building. It would have been wiser to pull back as he was outnumbered 4:1. But he was never one to work the odds. And he and his companions had spent too much time working together to abandon them.

He drew his Deathhammer. Mallox pinned himself to the wall and hoped it provided some cover. He rushed a shot against the four opponents.

The four men ran at a full sprint toward their speeder that was until one of them was staggered by the blast from Mallox’s Deathhammer. The man swayed and yelled out in pain. He did not stop running however, more desperate now to reach the landspeeder than before. His companions seemed to take the interruption in their stride. Two of them encouraging him onward and offering their support whilst the other slowed his pace to return fire, swinging their blaster rifle off their shoulder to shoot at Mallox. The blast from the rifle harmlessly hit the silo wall as Mallox made a small target of himself pressed against the corner. All of the men carried rifles and were wearing blast helmets and vests, much more seasoned fighters than some of the thugs Mallox had seen around Mos Eisley.

As the firefight ensues Mallox's comlink buzzes to life and Lyla's voice is heard "Mallox, what's going on?"

Mallox's eyes narrowed. He shouted at the attackers, "Turn and run, and you'll live." Mallox shouted to the side as if shouting to his men. "Men, flank the enemy by running around the building."

His comlink crackled to life. "Four men attacking. They might be looking to take the landspeeder. Break out!" Mallox replied as he fired on the first man.

Hit again the fleeing man collapsed to the ground. His companions are quick to snatch up his arms and drag his slumped body into the old speeder. The last of the men lobbed a grenade at the silo in the hope of slowing any threatened pursuit. Such a long throw was too difficult for the man to do with any accuracy, the grenade hitting the ground and going off with a whoosh which showered Mallox in gritty sand but he suffered no harm.

By the time the dust settled all of the men were in the landspeeder and the engine was roaring as they prepared to make their getaway.

“Don't let them get the speeder! We don't want to pay for it” Mallox heard Lyla yell into her comlink. After this Mallox heard the sounds of blasterfire inside the silo.

Mallox tried to flip the last few sequence of switches on the control panel. He gave up and fired the blaster as he saw the men climb on board. "Hurry up!" Mallox shouted into the open comlink. "There isn't a lot of time before they leave."

Now aboard the landspeeder the pilot is intent only on getting away, steering the landspeeder away from Mallox and the threat of the other men with him. The speeder swerved slightly as Mallox accurately shot the pilot but the man kept conscious and regained control after a moment and continued to get away. The rifle wielding man continued to blast at Mallox from his position in the back of the speeder. His shots were fruitless however as he blasted sand and the silo walls.

“We're locked in! There's no way out!” Lyla shouted back.

Mallox turned his attention to the control panel. He was not a technician by any means, but computers were different. He pulled up his sleeve and exposed the minicomputer on his wrist. "Let me try this..."

The control box didn’t respond to Mallox’s attempt to operate it but Mallox was clever enough to work out why. Someone has tampered with it and wired an override control to it. Mallox found a small box attached beneath it which must be receiving a remote signal from somewhere else. Before Mallox could take advantage of this new information however the rifleman in the landspeeder fired one more shot before the speeder cleared the ridge and was away. The blast hit Mallox in the back and he instantly lost consciousness.

Mallox thought he was tucked in safely near the wall. But the shot from the rifle hit him hard.

PM