The hopper landed on the asteroid. Built into the asteroid was a durasteel door. A small viewport set in the middle of the door provided a limited view of the other side, a two metre by two metre room. A small control panel on the door is on the outside.

Now clad in her spacesuit with helmet designed for a twi'lek's weirdly shaped head, Lyla went to the hopper's own tiny airlock. This was it, one small step for a twi'lek, one giant leap of crukking faith that this was going to work. The airlock entry, though brief and apparently unobserved, was the most alarming part of this so far for Lyla. There were too many things that could lethally wrong in the vacuum of space, and she'd had no more than a quick lesson in EVA practice back on Isis, and a little zero-G play as a stowaway kid. The sooner she was back planetside under breathable air, the better. 'You ready?' she asked Klyn.

The landing was a bit rougher than he intended, but they made it. And it was the important thing.

Klyn quickly followed Lyla to the outside.

"As ready as we can be" he answered, moving toward the control panel.

Opening the airlock wouldn't be too hard, but making it so that it did not tell it had opened to the main unit, that was tricky.

He started to work on the controls, as time was a crucial factor.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:57, Wed 21 Mar 2018.

Moving with great care, terrified of hurtling out into space, Lyla clambered outside the hopper's airlock and held onto a handle protruding from the outer hull so tight she thought she'd crush the steel. She secured a cable to Klyn's suit, checked it, then another to herself, then stood by for back-up or rescue in case anything happened to him. 'Just tell me what you need.' she said softly.

As Lyla watched over him Klyn overrode the sensors connected to the airlock door and then activated the controls. The airlock opened with a swoosh as the atmosphere escaped and more ice crystals formed on the rocky asteroid.

Inside was a two by two metre room. The airlock door into the station had the same small viewport. A glance by Klyn and Lyla revealed a hallway with three stormtroopers in it.

Lyla was hoping not to have to get into a firefight this early, or at all, but it wasn't to be. Of course, the Stormtroopers would guard the airlocks. She doubted they could lure all three Stormtroopers into the airlock and blow it, and breaching the base would get them noticed. She looked at Klyn, wishing they had another person and another gun. 'We can surprise them, hit 'em hard and fast. You take the one on the left, me the right, then we go shares in number three.' she proposed.


OOC: Are they facing us, and have they seen us yet? If we open the door and the fire, can we surprise them?

Klyn nodded, as they had little choice.
But it would be a very close call with 3 troopers...

He quickly checked his blaster to tune it to their current situation.
(personalized modification could it be done for Lyla's weapon too, as we have the time)

OOC: I already have one of your mods, +1 damage on my blaster rifle.

Lyla quickly rechecked the positions of the Stormtroopers, making sure not to be seen herself, before backing up and crouching. She had her DC-17m ICWS raised and ready in blaster rifle configuration with one of Klyn's little enchancements, training on where a Stormtrooper's gut would very shortly be. 'Get it up fast and quiet, if you can.'


OOC:
Perception 13, rerolled to 23
Stealth 25
Initiative 8
Point Blank Shot +1/+1
Dastardly Strike: Successful attack on opponent denied Dex to Reflex moves them -1 step on condition track.

Before they charged, Klyn thougth of a little plan.

What if he could force the inside door open? The troopers would be sucked into the vaacum, but it most certainly would raise an alarm...

Is there a door, closed or even better sealed, on the other side of the troopers?

Could it be possible to trigger the opening without raising an alarm?  I suppose it's not a complete computer access that could be achieved?

If not, Klyn will ready himself for battle.
init 11... damned...

OOC: it's different: personalized modification is a standard action and only work for one encounter. +1 ATT, +2 DMG.

OOC: In that case, I definitely want it. :)


On a thought, Lyla extended her blaster rifle's telescoping muzzle until it snapped into place in its sniper rifle configuration, though she left the stand and brace folded so she could hold it like a blaster rifle. What she lost in accuracy, which she didn't need so much of at this point-blank range, she more than gained in pure stopping power. 'Klyn, what can you do with this? I need a stabiliser.'
This message was last edited by the player at 13:04, Sat 24 Mar 2018.

The stormtroopers were patrolling the hallway and would be expected to check on the airlock as part of their routine but at this time Klyn and Lyla had not be detected.

Klyn considered using the airlock to defeat the stormtroopers. Klyn would need to override the pressure lock and then open both doors at the same time. Knowing technology Klyn knew that the sudden loss of pressure would cause a base-wide alert with the life support computer automatically sealing the nearest blast doors. Then if they were lucky the stormtroopers would be blown out into space. Then they would need to shut the airlock and sneak into the base.

OOC Personalized modifications only work on a power weapon you use, so can't be used to change Lyla's rifle.

"Just in case we fail to get rid of them at once, I will jam their communication" said Klyn.
"For the attack, what do you have planned? Should I open the door when they come to check it? But it might take them some time and we kind of are in a hurry. I doubt we can remain invisible while they do, anyways."

'Good idea.' Lyla agreed on the matter of jamming. It was a good safety net.

'If the door opens unexplained, they'll be alerted and ready. Let's just shoot them before they get their guard up, hard and fast. If you can't get a shot, give me covering fire, and I'll take care of it with this bad girl.' She patted her sniper rifle affectionately. Yeah, it was a girl now. 'You ready? Open the door on my mark... '


OOC: So, hoping to take them by surprise with my Stealth 25 check.

Huddled together in the airlock Klyn generated a jamming signal and Lyla set herself up to ambush them at the door. It all now depended on their speed and skill.

OOC It's your surprise round and then roll Initiative. Initiative of 7 or higher and post your round 1 actions as well.

Before even the door had fully opened, Lyla aimed and fired in one automatic motion, hoping her powerful sniper rifle blasts would drill through the surprised Stormtroopers, even accounting for the clumsiness of using it in such close quarters.


OOC: We rolled our initiatives earlier.
Initiative 8
Point Blank Shot +1/+1
Surprise! Round: attack 16 + FP 3 = 19, damage 13
Round 1: attack 15, damage 19

Dastardly Strike: Successful attack on opponent denied Dex to Reflex moves them -1 step on condition track.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:22, Wed 28 Mar 2018.

Klyn was as quick as Lyla and fired twice.
His upgraded heavy blaster doing some big damage on the poor troopers.

init: 11
surprise: 20 to hit, 16 damage
r1: 21 to hit, 18 damage

PM

Quick and aggressive both Lyla and Klyn entered the base, their blasters blazing. The stormtrooper guards fell before they were aware the base was being assaulted. The efficiency of the attack did not allow the Rebels safe entry into the base as at that moment a base-wide alert was sounded and sirens blared in the hallway.

"Well, that went smoothly" said Klyn, grinning.

A short lived grin as the alarm surprised him.

"What?  We did nothing!"

Lyla looked up from her rifle sights and smoking muzzle at the three dead Stormtroopers. 'I am actually surprised.' she returned to Klyn, rising and stepping into the station proper.

Right before the sirens went off. Of course it couldn't go smooth. 'It wasn't us.' she said hastily, almost like a defence. 'Must be the others. Damn it. With luck, this will draw the Stormies away from us. Come on!'

Lyla switched her ICSW back into conventional blaster rifle mode, then hurried up the corridor. Consulting her map, there should be a T-junction at the end. She'd discreetly peek both ways before heading left toward the Main Generator.

Using his wrist comlink, Klyn contacted the others.

"What the hell did you just do?  And please, don't tell me what I fear you did, in fact, do..."

As the siren continued to blare Lyla raced further into the base. The pair of Rebels made it safely into the hallway and to the next T-junction. When they turned to look toward the Power Converters and the way toward the Main Generator another squad of three stormtroopers stood on guard at the cross roads.

OOC The stormtroopers are at the cross road just before room #15 the Power Converter.

Stealth check to avoid being seen as you look around the corner.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:16, Sat 31 Mar 2018.

Lyla was a skilled huntress. She was not going to be seen by her prey, until it was too late. In any case, she quickly ducked back into cover around the corner of the tunnel wall. She signalled "three Stormtroopers" to Klyn.


OOC: 19:44, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 27 using 1d20+11. stealth.

How far away are the Stormtroopers?
This message was last edited by the player at 01:57, Mon 02 Apr 2018.

As quickly as she saw the stormtroopers Lyla ducked behind the wall.

OOC The cross roads and the stormtroopers are 250m away.

OOC: That seems quite far. It would 166–167 squares away, Long range. Good sniping range for me, anyway. :) Is it possible to get closer without being spotted?


Holding the position, Lyla waited for Klyn to finish the call and back her up. While she could snipe them from this range, there was too much risk of one escaping around the corner to raise another alarm. She needed a second gun, or a closer location.

The asteroid had been hollowed out into a Verpine colony. Many Verpine perhaps hundreds would have been able to live in the asteroid before it was made to house Research Station Shantipole. The corridors were not uniform or straight, many indentations or changes in direction were apparent. Sneaking up or getting closer to the stormtrooper might be possible but it would get harder the closer they got, or another route might be found elsewhere in the colony.

Notified about the situation, Klyn thought out loud.

"There is no way I could fire at such distance.

While I'm probably not as good as you, but I learned to be stealthy on many occasions. So we could try to get closer before firing at them.  The alarm could help us by keeping them somehow distracted, or on the contrary put them on edge.

We could try another route. Going left would reunite us with the others, but that's probably the area where most troopers will go... I hope they will be ok...

The right path would bring us toward a maintenance shop where we might find something useful, but we will get very close from the hangar with the canon and the TIEs...

And we would have to go through living quarters too.

I fear it's too risky and too long. I suggest we stick with our 'shoot them' plan. At worse we are spotted and the alarm raised... Wait, the alarm is already raised..." he finished with a ironic smile.

'I'd say "run and gun", but that's way too much running for us while they're gunning for us.' Lyla sighed. 'They're between us and the Main Generator, and it's going to take way too long to work our around this maze of a base, and we'd just run into some worse problem... So yeah, let's hop between those niches, get as close as we dare, then get into a shootout.'

Lyla switched her DC-17m ICWS into sniper-rifle mode again, then, peeking to be sure the Stormtroopers were looking away, scampered down the corridor to the next niche and beckoning Klyn into hiding in another.

"In that case, may the force be with us." said Klyn as he followed her

instructions.

stealth 18

The Verpine colony offered enough cover for Klyn and Lyla to edge their way closer to the cross roads, bringing them about a third of the way along the tunnel. The stormtrooper guards remained at their posts. Klyn and Lyla did not see any Verpine or any other Imperials.

OOC You are now 110 squares away from the stormtroopers. Getting any closer will require another Stealth check from whoever tries it.

Lyla scanned for the next nook, whispered to Klyn 'Give me the word when they start to turn.' then quickly took off down the tunnel, too aware she was getting closer now, that were boots were scuffing on the asteroid floor, that the troopers could suddenly turn and sight her...


OOC: Stealth 15, +2 if Klyn can give me an aid another.
09:40, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 15 using 1d20+11. stealth.

Ready: shoot if they sight us.

Klyn followed Lyla's instructions and moved carefully, ready to give her the go when he spotted any wrong movement.

Slowly and steadily the pair began to inch closer to the intersection and the stormtroopers. Creeping forward one by one the sound of their approach was masked by the sirens and flashing lights hid their shadows.

OOC Range is now 80 squares, it's getting trickier the close you get. Actions?

Lyla dared not risk another advance and make her sniper rifle moot; they'd already halved their distance, and at this range, she had no worries. Nestling into the niche, she drew a bead on the furthest Stormtrooper, steadied her breathing, and put all thoughts of killing a man out of her mind. The first time was always the hardest, but after that she'd discovered she was okay with it after all. This was war, they were the enemy, she had no choice. Focused and calm, she pressed the trigger...


OOC: 80 squares is Medium range. With Far Shot, reduce to Short range. With DC-17m ICWS's targeting scope, I take no penalty. :)
Keen Shot: If they have concealment, I take no penalty.
Aiming: I ignore any Cover bonus to their Reflex Defense.
Dastardly Strike: Successful attack on opponent denied Dex to Reflex moves them -1 step on condition track.

Initiative 25
Attack 23, damage 13 @ the Stormtrooper furthest from us.

There was no way Klyn could hit with his heavy pistol from such a range, so when Lyla started shooting, he ran - careful not to cut Lyla's line of sight - toward the imperials to get close enough and, only then, to fire.

OOC: I don't know if we have a suprise round, but if we do, his action his to move (run if allowed) and his first round action will also to run until he gets in short range.


This message was last edited by the player at 10:14, Sat 07 Apr 2018.

Co-ordinated and determined to reach their objective Lyla and Klyn executed their assault against the trio of stormtroopers. The first fell to Lyla sniping shot as Klyn charged along the tunnel toward the stormtroopers blaster pistol in hand.

OOC Stormtroopers are at Range 80 for Lyla and Range 56 for Klyn. Surprise round is over. Stormtroopers act on Initiative 5, if you beat you can post round 1 actions.

It was probably a bold move as the troopers will have an easier time to hit him too, but he knew he had very little chance to hit from is current position.  And it could focus their attention to him while Lyla did her shooting.

init 18
Run again toward the troopers.

Klyn's idea of running right at the Stormtroopers armed with only a pistol surprised Lyla, but it seemed to be a good one – it surprised the Stormtroopers as well, and probably made them think the Rebels had a lot more people behind him. She quickly used the opportunity he'd bought her, whipping her scope to the next white-armoured 'trooper and blasting a hole through him. She glanced at her new rifle. Damn!

Before the battle got beyond her, Lyla emerged from hiding and ran after Klyn.


OOC: I rolled Initiative 25 in my last post.
Attack 28, rolled a 20, critical hit!
Damage 10, critical damage 28, total damage 38!

Move 6 squares closer.

As Klyn rushed the stormtroopers Lyla picked them off with her rifle. The last stormtrooper standing let his rifle fill the tunnel with blasterfire. The hail of blaster bolt were too many for Klyn to avoid.

OOC Round 2 ranges are Lyla 74 and Klyn 32.
Klyn takes 9 damage.
Character Status updated

As Klyn was hit, Lyla spat a curse, stopped in her tracks, and quickly set her sights on the Stormtrooper responsible. She fired another shot, then hurried after Klyn again.


OOC:
Attack 24, damage 13 @ the Stormtrooper
Move 6 squares along

Klyn winced as the burning pain of the blaster hit moved along his arm.

It didn't stop him to get closer and fire in retaliation.

hit 20   Dmg 21

At a dash both Klyn and Lyla shot at the last stormtrooper. Under the volley of blasterfire the Imperial was beaten to the ground. The Rebels had won the cross roads. More hallways lead in every direction and the entrance to the Power Converter was in sight ahead.

Hurrying on, Lyla caught up with Klyn at the intersection, quickly scanning each passage for more Stormtroopers who might have heard the shots fired. 'Damn, Klyn, you've got some tails.' she praised him, sighting the blaster burn on his arm. 'D'you want me to patch you up now, or wait until we get into Main Engineering?'

She checked her map, identifying the Power Converters directly ahead, and pointed. 'Next up, Power Converters. Main Engineering is just left of them.' They were almost at their target, but Lyla was concerned they hadn't yet heard back from the other team. She hoped they were okay.

"Well, that hurt a bit, but we couldn't afford the risk one of them could be a smart one and go for backup. That way, I was pretty confident they would focus on me."

He winced a bit as he moved his arm.

"Thankfully, they aren't very good at shooting." he added with a smile.

"Now, let's move. We will check on the others when we reach out objective."

He picked one of the helmet to take the radio out, hoping to be able to bypass it and listen to their communications.

The stormtrooper's helmet was disassembled and Klyn extracted the stormtrooper's comlink. The chatter on the comms indicated that the base was on Defstat Two. It was clear that the Imperials knew something was amiss. A technician on the base's scanners had picked up a suspicious unidentified object approaching the base at about the time they approached with the asteroid hoppers. Alongside this one of the airlocks had malfunctioned evacuating the atmosphere in that region of the base. Security and repair personnel had been sent to deal with the problem.

"Bloody hell" swore Klyn.
"They had better sensors than we expected, and the others have indeed been a bit too carefree.  They don't seem to have spotted us - yet - but it would be nice to find a place to hide those corpses.

They are, however, sending people at the other airlock.
"

Using his com, he called the others

"Whatever you did, you attracted some attention: they are sending people toward your position."

Lyla overheard the comm chatter, cursing in Ryl at the news. 'We're lucky they didn't shoot us down just to be safe.' She chimed in on the comlink to the Airlock 2 team, adding after Klyn 'Security and technical personnel, they might not know they have intruders, but they suspect it. Get out of sight! We're almost at Engineering.'

Sighing, she considered their option, singular. 'We can't help them from here. Let's finish our part of the mission first, then work it out.' Quickly, she dragged the corpses out of the intersection and around the bend, out of direct sight of passers-by. 'We can hide them properly when we take Engineering. Let's go.'

Switching her ICWS back to rifle mode for close-up, automatic fire, she crept to the Power Converters...


OOC: Stealth 14

The bodies of the stormtroopers were left beside the power converters then the pair entered the main generator room. A large boron power generator was unattended in corner atop a metre thick slab of permacite, with two duplicate computer stations facing it. A pressure pipe led directly from the generator along the ceiling toward the power converters.

Advancing swiftly, Lyla stole through Power Converters and Main Engineering, angling her blaster rifle to cover each door, corner, and cranny for sign of Imperial opposition. To her surprise, there was none – the rooms had been left unattended. 'Huh. There's a relief... Alright, Klyn, set the explosives to blow this joint. Hide them behind the generator if you can, we don't want anyone coming in and being a hero. Ackbar said a thirty-minute fuse, but I'd like something a bit more comfortable. You do that, I'll clean up and keep watch.'

She slipped back out and hurriedly dragged the bodies into hiding, so as not to draw the suspicions of any patrols. Judging by appearances, the Imperials seemed to have Stormtroopers to spare after the invasion, but few technicians to properly take control of the tech. Which should work in their favour, she hoped.

Watching the door, Lyla activated her comlink to report to the other team. 'We've reached Engineering, Klyn's planting the bombs now. What's your position and status?' Despite her misgivings, her side of the mission had worked perfectly, which came as a stunning relief. She could only hope the others had gone so well...

They had managed to reach their destination without too much trouble.
At least on their side...

The sooner they were done here, the sooner they could join the others so he quickly began his study of the generator to find the best position for the explosive to cause a maximum of damage.

He also checked the explosive to see if he could do something about the timer.


.

22:41, Today: Secret Roll: Klyn Cors rolled 15 using 1d20+11.  know techno.]

The setting of the cubes of detonite was simple work for Klyn. He was able to use four of them and was sure it would be enough to destroy the generator, leaving Klyn with two cubes extra. The timer could be set quicker but the longest Klyn could manage was thirty minutes.

Lyla interrupted Klyn before he could have a chance to set the timer. 'Let's wait until we hear back from the others. I don't want to still be looking for a ship out of here in a half hour's time.'

Is there any computer access nearby?

The comlink buzzed "STUCK on the outside now. LOOKING for another entrance."

'How the cruk did you get stuck outside?!' Lyla burst out, unable to contain her shock. They'd come so close to a perfect run, she could feel it. She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up... Suddenly, the meaning of the sirens came all too clear.

She quickly consulted the map and the winding routes through the asteroid. As well as they'd gone so far, she didn't Klyn's and her chances of completing the whole mission with just the pair of them. 'Never mind, head to Airlock #1, it's closer to our current position. Don't breach it. We'll reunite, then fight a path through to the Computer Room to get the files and see if there's any prisoners still here. Then we'll work out a rescue and escape.' Because they shouldn't plan too far ahead.

"Outside??" echoed Klyn, as surprised.
This was, in fact, much worse than he expected as they couldn't avoid the incoming imperials.
He hoped they had not left to many hints of their presence...

He listened to Lyla's order while searching for a computer access to try to do the second part of her plan more quickly.

Closing the comlink, Lyla shook her head and tails at the news. 'They're stuck outside...' she repeated, dumbfounded. An already risky, desperate plan had been ruined before they even got in the door. May be the Force with them? Some days, it seemed the Force was actively conspiring against them.

'Okay, leave the bomb, we have too much to do in thirty minutes now. We'll set it on the way back...' she proposed, and began checking the map and mission objectives. 'Map shows a straight run from here to Airlock #1; it's risky, but we can make it. We can even take in the Command Centre and Computer Room on the way. We probably should've done it this way from the start, but we didn't know what kind of numbers we'd face.'

'You got anything there, Klyn?'

use computer 18

The bomb placed Klyn stepped away before he activated the timer. There was a control panel at the main generator which Klyn began to interrogate to access the base computer. The access however was limited here but the attempt did highlight the areas where entry to main computer data files would be available. Klyn identified he would need to access the computer at the Communications Centre, the Command Centre or the Computer Room if he was to retrieve the B-wing data.

OOC That's rooms 3, 7 and 8.

"Well, as you said, we need to get to the center if we want to get a full computer access.  Chu would probably be better at it but I should be able to do some." he answered.

"I agree, we need to get to the others now that stealth is out of the equation."

He will do his best to make sure the charges are less visible before they leave the room.

'Thought so.' Lyla agreed laconically, and helped pack up. Once they were done, she led Klyn back to the Power Converters chamber, whispering 'We're close to the Command Centre now, so watch out and be ready to run.'

She took the north-east exit out of there (where north was arbitrarily defined as the direction she'd been facing when she'd first stepped into Airlock #3) and moved stealthily around the bend, looking ahead and behind for signs of Stormtroopers and ready to shoot if they appeared. First left should be Repulsor Beam Controls, first right should be the Command Centre. They'd be back this way soon.


OOC:
12:10, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 23 using 1d20+11. stealth.

Klyn followed her lead, whishing they had a way to know the imperials locations.
stealth 28

OOC: We have ears. :)
14:23, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 13 using 1d20+9. perception.
14:24, Today: Lyla Rahn rolled 11 using 1d20+9. reroll.
Okay, no ears. :(

The bombs left in place the two Rebels began to sneak in the direction of the remaining crew of the Alabak's Gold. The winding Verpine tunnels gave them enough cover to keep out of sight. They reached the left hand entrance and saw into the Repulsor Beam Control room. Four Imperial technicians were dismantling the giant computer which controlled the repulsor beams which protected the asteroid colony.

On the right hand side of the tunnel another doorway led into the Command Centre. Computer stations covered all the walls of the room and a central console was in the middle of the room. Data cables ran across the room and dangled from the walls. Many of the consoles have been dismantled or moved by the Imperials, there was twelve Imperials, various officers and technicians, all busy stripping the memory banks of the station's computer.

Sneaking past, peaking inside, Lyla bit back a curse as she saw what the Imperials were doing. Any longer, and they wouldn't have a Commander Centre or Computer Room left to raid. Regardless, she and Klyn were woefully outnumbered. Their only hope was to get the others into the station. So they could be slightly less woefully outnumbered.

She moved on carefully, aware the next junction was an X intersection. She peered around the corners before they would hurry quickly past to the tunnel leading directly to Airlock #1.

This was not good.

There was two possibilities.
First one: they were preventing any intervention on the repulsor to avoid the same fate he brought on the previous station.
Second one: they were planning the exact opposite and their time was getting very short...

He followed Lyla, hoping the rest of the team followed her orders.

They travelled passed the Repulsor Beam Control room and the Command Centre. The pair moved closer to the crossroads. As previously the crossroads was defended by stormtroopers but this time there were six of them.

Sighting the six stormtroopers, Lyla signalled Klyn to stop and bit back a curse. 'Six stormtroopers now, they must be raising security.' Hastily, she got on the comlink, and contacted the other team, 'What's your position? There are six stormtroopers at the crossroads, between us and you. I think we should ambush together. Move fast. We've got a lot more behind us.' Caught waiting here, Lyla was uncomfortably aware there were six stormtroopers ahead, and sixteen behind.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:59, Thu 17 May 2018.

Lyla rolled her eyes at that troublesome name from the last mission. How'd he get here? Maybe he'd been lurking on the Gold somewhere. 'Great, that's all we need. Okay, see if you can communicate back somehow. Maybe he can run some interference for us.' Interference being what he was good at.

OOC Continued in Meeting at the cross roads.