The feeling of an instant weightlessness hit the crew and passengers of the Reliance, and then returned to normal as the inertial dampeners compensated for the ship exiting hyperspace. It has been a day and a half since they left Coruscant, so this was an expected hyperspace transition for the next jump. But, after a few minutes, the ship-wide comm crackled to life.

  "CT-4805, CT-101, K1T1 and Jedi representatives, please report immediately to the Captain's quarters."

  As the participants arrived, Captain Batch and another person stood in the chamber on the opposite side of the fold out conference table. He spoke with a tall cone-headed Cerean, with close-cropped blonde hair and khaki tinted eyes, wearing a Republic Fleet lieutenant uniform. They were reviewing a holographic planet floating above the conference table. Several columns of glowing gold information scrolled up into the air above the holo-projection disc sitting in the center of the table.

  The Captain hit some keys and the planet shrunk as it zoomed out to show a star system with a handful of planets and a large asteroid belt. He pointed to a spot between the asteroid belt and the fifth planet as he spoke. "Lieutenant Nozu, we need to revert here, get the coordinates and jump the nano second you have them plotted."

  The Cerean nodded his tall head, and pressed some buttons on his own datapad as he replied, seemingly unfazed by the time demand. "Right away, Captain." The lieutenant hastened out of the room, acknowledging the others with only a passing glance.

  The clone captain stood tall and spoke in a smooth accented, but authoritative voice.  "Have a seat everyone. Our mission has been.. altered."

  He waited for them to settle in somewhat before he continued. "We have new orders from Military intelligence. They have decrypted a series of hyperspace communications and discovered that Separatist General Daas Boggus arrived at the Bissian system in the Inner Cluster Sector of the Inner Rim region." He motioned his hand toward the holo-display indicating that was the system in which he was referring.

  "He is high on the priority list to capture or eliminate for war crimes against the Republic. He took over the Bioweapons division from General Lok Durd and is considered extremely dangerous. He arrived in the system on a Providence class CIS carrier, which dropped him off with a Geonosian transport and then the carrier left the system. We do not have any information on what he is doing in this remote planet, but we need to find out and stop him by any means necessary. The Reliance is the nearest available ship in the area, and we are plotting a course to take us there now."

  "The planet Bissi is loosely held by the CIS, more of an agreement under threat, given their proximity to several Sep held territories. Intel suggests the Bissians don't have any Separatist military bases on the planet, but they do have a small fleet of Delta-6 fighters owned by the planetary defense forces. So we have several choices to make, seeing as how we are heading into a difficult position to begin with."

  Batch paused to look around the room at the Clone leaders, the Jedi and their droid. His gaze roamed from one to the next in rapid succession, before returning to face the holo projection. "Intel doesn't have an operative in the Bissian system, so we are unclear of the strength of patrol craft and planetary defenses. Going in with guns blazing could be dangerous for us, and could also reveal that we are after Toggus and cause him to flee the system. We have to come up with another plan. I did ask MI to come up with a cover for our ship. This is a transport and can be used for commercial purposes.  That is one possibility, and we hope when we return to realspace in the target system we will have that option hammered out for us. I'm sure you have plenty of questions, and I've given you pretty much all that I have. The rest, the people in this room will need to decide on how we execute the mission going forward."
 

"Captain Batch is right; we've got no fighter cover, and I've only got one platoon of clones with us. Might be enough to pull off a quick raid, if we're lucky. But we can't secure much more than a building, and most of them have never seen combat. I don't feel comfortable going in with the full platoon until we know where Boggus is and what sort of firepower we're facing. I'd bring Charlie's squad and maybe one other if we want to keep things quiet. If you want a full-on attack, the full platoon. But it's ultimately up to you. We are at your command."

Listening quietly to the captain, Tarrin's face turned to CT-4805 before he looked to Jini for a few moments to gauge whether or not his input was welcome.  Seeing that there was no disapproving look, he turned back to address everyone else.

"I agree with you, Sergeant," he stated with a respectful nod.  "Committing our forces to a full-scale attack will do us very little good if we are attacking in the wrong direction.  Perhaps we would be best suited to having a smaller team run reconnaissance to figure out the location of General Boggus?  Once located, we could then commit to an attack with more troops to reinforce and surround his location.  If we do it in this manner, I believe we will be able to both mask our intention due to smaller numbers as well as prevent his potential escape."

While the Miraluka was not as studious as Den, he did have a knack for understanding the flow of things including the potential actions of others.  It stood to reason to him that if they approached General Boggus cautiously with a smaller force there would be far less chance he would bolt for no reason.  After all, he probably came to this planet for a reason.  Perhaps some mission to follow?  And he would likely not want to abandon it unless absolutely necessary.  They could take advantage of that kind of mindset.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:19, Wed 15 Mar 2017.

The clone maintained a parade rest as everyone settled. Then got to the work of pulling information out of the captain "What demographic information do we have on the Bissian system? What value does it have economically? I haven't been many places on the inner rim where a half dozen armed and armored men can walk around without question and I've never seen a planet where that many identical twins in plain clothes would not draw attention. We seem to have good intel on the transport he took, do we know where he landed? Even generally?" He thought for a moment over the clone forces on board. "We might need the rest of the platoon for extraction after we have captured the General. Keeping them on standby to rain hell on our location is probably our best option."

   Captain Batch pulled up the information, which scrolled up in bright gold lettering over the planet. "The planet is dry, 88% land with very little water just in the pole regions. Basically they are a bureaucratic planet, lots of forms for everything. We can use this to an advantage if you get the right forms. Economically they do enough business that they take care of their needs with a few luxuries for the upper class, but compared to the core worlds, they are a backwater planet. They trade raw material, mostly alloys and polymers, and manufacture parts for various systems. Some mining in the equatorial region, which is dotted with several large, mostly dormant volcanoes."

 The holo projector comes up with more information in shiny gold lettering in Galactic Basic, overlaying the planet's image:


Bissi Type: Terrestrial

The planet is a typical rocky planet with a molten core orbiting a star. It has an Oxygen - Nitrogen atmosphere and harbors life.

Terrain:Cave

The planet is dominated by an immense network of caves running throughout the crust. These caves are often caused by volcanic activity, and some of the activity in the equatorial regions are ongoing, areas can quickly become dangerous as lava and toxic gases return to fill the caves they created.

Temperature: Temperate

The planet has a yearly average between 8 and 18 degrees Celsius, which is within comfortable temperature bands for humans and other life forms.

Gravity: Standard

Standard gravity is that which is most common on Core worlds, and therefore most comfortable for most species. Standard gravity includes several gradients of true gravitational pull, but is placed within this convenient grouping.

Atmosphere: Type I (Breathable)

A type I atmosphere has a proper mixture of oxygen, nitrogen and other gases so that humans and comparable species can breathe it unassisted.

Hydrosphere: Arid

The planet is 88 percent covered by land. The planet has very little standing liquid, and  little moisture in the atmosphere. There are a few large lakes and seas, but there are no great oceans. Much of the planet's surface is desert, and wastelands of volcanic ash.

Length of Day:36 hours   Length of Year: 255 days    Starport: Stellar Class

This type of starport can dock and service almost any class of ship. There are 2  shipyards in the immediate area, and they can handle minor repairs and modifications. There is a regional Customs office at the main starport in the Northern Polar region in the capaital city of Zidava, and another in the southern starport of the city Tohkt.

Population: 600,000 Function: Administrative/Government

This world is bureaucracy at its largest. The main industry is the orderly (or at least managed) operation of a government, business, or other large institutions.

Government: Loosely tied to the CIS, though it is out of the way to be much use for strategic value and has been left largely alone. They have signed treaties for trade and defense with Manaan and Cona systems

Tech Level: Space

This is the stage of most planets within galactic civilization, and is characterized by hyperspace travel, droids, blasters, and an efficient industry.

Charlie takes in the data picking the important bits out with the ease of long practice. "I hope he was here for a diplomatic mission because otherwise this is impossible. This lists two starports but that doesn't rule out the possibility of there being a landing bay at a base using the caves as an easily accessible hidden location. If he's the head of the Bio-weapons division then a set of tunnels under a desert is about the safest place to do business I would think."

He asks the captain "Sir, with that much volcanic activity, poison gas, and I assume sand storms. There must be a common head or face covering that my men and I can where while we are planet side."

He looks over at the jedi "Unless one of you have a feeling where we should set down, I expect we should head to the capital. Try to get our droid access to a terminal that has records or logs of the planet's dealings with the Sep Military." He kept his gaze on the Jedi, clearly expecting confirmation. He didn't really know how the force worked but it would not be the first time a Jedi walked up to a map, pointed to a random bit of featureless desert saying that was where the target was, and were proven right a few hours later.

Kalyx scowled hard at the displays. He wasn't keen on beaurocracy or caves, but he had a duty to fulfill. The concept of bio weapons was something that didn't sit well with him.
At Charlie's words he nods thoughtfully.

"It would be great if we could get General Boggus without any troops. No firefight means no innocent civilians get caught up. Better yet, if we could learn about the Separatists strategies without them realising it, we could potentially aid other conflict zones," Kalyx didn't rate himself as much of a tactical savant, but he felt obliged to offer some help here.

At least caves meant good cover for getting tight.

K1T1 listened as the Clone troopers and the Jedi exchanged ideas, attempting to formulate a tactical plan of its own.

"Sir, do we not have a database of stratagems already in current use by the Separatists against the Republic? If such is the case, a short surveillance of their routines should permit us to see what sort are in place, and how we can defeat them." the feminine voice paused a moment, then continued. "I do agree that finding a way to a data terminal will be an excellent way to discover what the Separatists plan to do on this planet, however."

The Clone Captain responded to Charlie. "We have plenty of vac suits with oxygen. I believe we have several rebreathers with out equipment loadout. You can check with our Cargo Master, Crewman Salyx to be sure. He's usually at either of the stations next to the forward docking ring. He's the only Ugnaught on board, you can't miss him.. well unless he is behind anything above waist height."

"I mostly mean to use as a disguise, not strictly for protection, Sir" He smiles at the joke about the alien "Sir!" he says in feigned shock "I believe we were instructed to avoid those jokes, everyone can't be regulation height after all."

  The ship's captain responded to the droid. "There aren't any more normal strategems for the Seps. Since Dooku was killed in the Battle of Coruscant, our intel shows they are in chaos. We can't rely on their typical plans since we don't who has control of what at this point. The good news is they are on the run and won't be able to muster much in the way of military resources against us. But that doesn't mean that this group won't be dangerous or have something bad planned. Finding them might be difficult, but this being a bureaucracy there should be an electronic trail to follow for his visit if anything else. Unless he came under an assumed name, in which it will be much more difficult to locate him."

Considering for a moment, K1T1 tilted it's head slightly, then asked. "Captain, would it not be safe to assume that the General would come here under an altered identity? Coming here under one's own name would certainly make people wonder as to what business a General would have here on the planet. He would still leave a trail, it would simply be more difficult to track down. Do we know when the General arrived in-system?"

  The Clone Naval officer, thought about it and shook his head. "It all depends on how many people he had with him. If he didn't have squad of droids protectors he might be able to assume a fake identity, but trying to hide battle droids and such would be more difficult. He would have to try to get past customs, but it is possible. We were able to confirm through the comm traffic from the CIS carrier that he did indeed board the Geonosian transport and head down to the planet. According to the report he arrived there 46 hours ago in system. How long he took before he actually landed on the planet, we are not sure. The comm traffic indicated he was headed there, that's all we know for sure. We should arrive at the Bissian system in just under 6 hours. We do know the model of the ship, so that's a great lead to find out more information. Unless they altered the transponder to a fake one. Speaking of which, if we do go with pretending to be merchants, we will need to alter ours. As the resident computer expert, can you work with our ship engineer, Lt. Chirris to make that modification once we get our cover from Military Intelligence "

  The Mon Calamari answered the clone squad leader. "Trooper Charlie, you are somewhat correct. Although, not all Jedi have the same expertise in all aspects of the Force, the same way not all the soldiers all have the same skill expertise as other soldiers. Knowledge in the Force spans many different elements. That being said, the Force can reveal to me a direction of a person or object. I also have the knowledge to track things that I have learned as well without the Force. Our younger Jedi also have their own talents. We will aid with all that we can in the mission."

Kalyx keeps quiet at Master Jini's words. He still has no idea how to use the force in such subtle ways and suspects his fellow padawans are ahead of him in this aspect of learning. Instead he busies himself with taking notes on the ship type and spaceport locations. He also tries to record any independent satellite and radar installations, just in case the ship landed somewhere in the wilderness.

  K1T1 stopped a moment and processed the information that the Republican Naval officer had given out, and brought a metal finger to its chin and tapped the metal lightly before the female voice spoke. "Perhaps once we arrive in the system, we can speak with Bissian Spaceport Control and request information on a vehicle that matches the description of the Genosian transport and find out its flight path to the surface."

  "I would be happy to continue working with Lieutenant Chirris on any modifications that she might want to make to the ship."

Den listens and watches the others around him. He is no tactician and is leaving those discussions to those who are more in the know.

Charlie looks at the droid and then at the captain "We are acting covertly on a Sep held planet. I think asking flight control about the ship that a Sep general landed on would be tipping our hand. There may be a way to do that surreptitiously but I cannot think of a way that would not draw unwanted attention."

Den asks innocently, "Is it possible K1 could covertly look that info up once we land, whether honestly or through slicing?"

   Jedi Relliri nodded in response to the human padawan. "Yes, I'm sure K1 can try and covertly get information from the spaceport, and we can perhaps ask around as well if needed. That is standard operating procedures for a search. But, until we get closer, that much of the details will be dependent on what we find in the area."

  ========== SCREEN WIPE TO BISSI SYSTEM ARRIVAL from hyperspace =================



  The Reliance dropped out of hyperspace just inside the asteroid belt of the Bissian system. Itit picked up hyperspace comm messages from Republic command as it moved inside the rings of the 5th planet to keep long range sensors from picking them up.

  They were given credentials of a ship from the allied world of Cona, the Burson's Edge with transponder codes. They also receive a forged ship manifest of generator turbine pumps, and a whole list of small parts for machinery.

  Scans of the area indicate that there is very light traffic, which isn't very good news as they will be able to scrutinize the ships a little closer.

  Lt. Chirris asked for K1T1's help in modifying the ships transponder codes to match the signature of the Burson's Edge, as the rest of the crew prepared to head to the planet of Bissi.

OOC: K1T1 can roll a group check with the ship's engineer. She has 1P 2A for the computer roll, so she would just add a boost to K1's roll with a hard difficulty 3D. So I believe that would make the dice pool. 2P 2A 1B 3D

Ooc; I need everyone to roll one force die for the destiny pool.

  Here goes nothing...
_______
OOC:  13:49, Today: K1T1 rolled no successes, 3 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2P 2A 1B 3D.  Ship's Transponder Modification.

Kalyx paces, or lopes, around the back of the bridge as he waits to see if the codes will hold up. He thought of himself as a cool and considered sentient, but at times like this his lack of ability to do anything always put him on edge.

Things would be better when they were planetside, he told himself.

Den feels helpless on the ship. He folds his arms over his chest while they wait for an answer from the port.

    Captain Batch commed the engineering officer assisting the Jedi's droid slicer. {Lt. Chirris, we need a report. Our time is limited before someone coming out this far appears and shows us hiding and that will jeopardize our cover. We must move soon.}

  The fleet lieutenant was working on the engineering console in the aft section and responded. {Sir. K1 was unable to modify the transponder, it is hard coded into the memory core and cannot be changed without wiping out the ships computer core completely. We have managed to block a number on the code, which gives us a different identity. I've checked the Republic Ship Registry it appears to belong to the Indupar Institute of Political Sciences by the Indupar Ministry of Education. Indupar is in the Ado sector of the Mid Rim region. It is a CIS affiliated planet currently. We can try blocking another number to get another id, but it...}

  A voice interrupts on the captain's comm from the Cerean co-pilot, but is far enough away where it can't be heard very well. The captain responded, {Alright Lt. Nazu, take us out now. Chirris, we are out of time, a ship just came out of hyperspace in sensor range. That alternate id will have to do. We are heading to the planet.}

  The shipwide comm activates. {All watches, man battle stations. Department Leaders and Jedi group please report to the bridge.}

  [Private to CT-101 Charlie; CT-4805 Boss:  a private comm comes to the two clone leaders {Sergeant Boss, Trooper Charlie. Do you have any training in firing laser cannons? We have some new gunnery recruits, but they aren't battle tested and I might need them for emergency repairs. Let me know if you can assist on weapons. I }. OOC: I believe one of you does have some skill in that, and the other has a decent ability score so you would work as well as the new crewmen.]

Hearing the ship wide alert, Charlie stands from the table where he is playing cards with his squad "The game will have to wait gentlemen. Make your pre-combat checks, full armor for the moment, if this ruse doesn't pay off be might see a proper battle yet." He heads off out of the room sub-vocalizing into a private comm channel.

[Private to ChosenOne: "Ten four sir, I have rudimentary training in gunnery emplacements and I have some techniques I think will carry over." I'm 2A1P in gunnery, Brace and Barrage both apply to gunnery but not really laser cannons.]

The clone sergeant speaks into his commlink as he walks onto the bridge. "All squads, secure the entrances. If we get boarded we'll give them a fight."

[Private to GM: I have no skill in gunnery, but I do have 3 agility, so i could probably do that.]

K1 heard the order over the loudspeakers and watched the others move about to their battle stations or wherever they were supposed to be. The Droid moved towards the bridge at an accelerated pace, unsure of just what it might do to assist...

Kalyx is still on the bridge. He stands tall, watching the displays and scanning arrays intently. In his mind he is a calm peacekeeper standing at ease in preparation for the coming mission. Those who stand near him can hear the purring growl emanating from his throat.
"Captain. Shall we make a move to the shuttle?"

  On the ship's bridge, Batch opened the comm on the arm of his chair to the ship's engineer, {Lt. Chirris. We won't get far transmitting orders for delivering goods with an id of an educational ship. We need to get the forms that MI sent us modified so it doesn't show us delivering goods, and instead we need something that matches the ship id. Can you and the K1 unit modify them? I have sent the electronic forms to your station. We will need to transit them soon, I will go as slow as I can without drawing suspicion.}

  He turned to the Trandoshan, "Shuttle? We only have escape pods on board. Is that what you mean? You can board those pretty quickly if things go south. I wouldn't wait on the pods because if we get into a battle, those can get damaged and you would have less protection."

OOC: The roll for modifying the forms for landing permits is going to be deception, against average difficulty to avoid any suspicion. 2D. Group roll, so several people can work on the reason for visit (each giving a boost), etc.

Den nervously looks around. Being blasted in space was not high on his priority list. "We could be students here to understand the specific policies that are being implemented during the conflict with the Republic." he suggests.

  Jini nodded. "That is a good idea, Den, but probably too specific. I think that we just need a good reason for them to let us land and not bother us. The general idea about the how their bureaucracy works should be sufficient for clearance, I believe. Too many specifics in a deception leads to a better chance of someone finding a fault."

  OOC:  Please go ahead and roll the check (anyone can K1, Den, Tarris and if not I will roll it in a couple hours for the group). You can take the success and explain further if you want, or just leave it a general study of Bureaucracy is fine if you don't want to elaborate. If successful you can get down to the planet and if not, well.. more complications.

Den nods. "Then just the planetary bureaucracy and day to day business, then." He waits for the response and knows this plan will work.

That should do it. We're in. What do you guys think we should do with the advantages? Have them direct us to land on an empty platform?

12:00, Today: Den Jaxon rolled 2 successes, 3 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3A 4B 3D with rolls of 7(A), 3(A), 2(A), 6(B), 5(B), 6(B), 1(B), 4(D), 2(D), 6(D).  Cunning.

  T1, Den, Tarrin and Jini consulted with the Gada Chirris on changing the form to fit their new transponder code for the Induparin vessel. The modified the form to allow them to visit the capital and learn about how the bureaucracy works on Bissi. K1 was entering the final information, as the rest checked to make sure the documents looked plausible.

  The comm went off, again and the Captain's voice rang through the speakers. "We are approaching orbit, are you ready?"

  The lieutenant hit the speaker button on the console. "Yes sir. We should be ready to transmit any minute now."

  It took only about twenty seconds for K1T1 to complete the changes, and he closed the document and hit the send button on the Engineering console to transmit it to the bridge. The Engineer added, "All done Captain. You have the documents."

  "Very well, lieutenant. Let's hope our changes get us permission to land. Check over all systems in case we have to go in hot."

  "Aye, captain. On it."

SCREEN WIPE TO RELIANCE BRIDGE

  The Cerean transmitted the documents and broadcast the transponder codes for the ship. There was a painfully long wait, though it was probably less than ten seconds when the reply came back. An automated recorded female voice, intoned cheerfully, "This is Bissian Spaceport Control Center. You are cleared to land, transmitting coordinates and traffic navigational lanes. Please follow all air traffic rules and regulations included in this transmission. "

Kalyx turns to Den and gives him a toothy grin.
"Great. That could've gotten messy. Let'ss get our best student headss on for landing then. You reckon we can push thiss a bit further? Maybe get a look inside the spaceport an get Kitty some place to have a look for where our General went?"

  The Reliance entered the Bissian orbit and descended through the hazy tan atmosphere of the arid planet. The huge volcanos around the equator stuck out like gaping wounds in the planet as the ship angled toward the Northern hemisphere following the path given to them.

  Batch turned to the tall, young human woman at the sensor console on the bridge.  "Crewman Leamore. I want scans of the planet all the way down logged and saved. Mark any settlements and we will compare them to what is listed on the planet to see if we find any descrepancies. When we get to the spaceport, I want a detailed scan of the area, the perimeter and any security forces around the outer areas."

 The Captain then hit the comm button on his command chair. "Crewman Salyx. Have you found out what they need to clear customs at the spaceport?"

 The Ugnaught responded in rough basic, his voice was gutteral and snorted some of the words. "Yes. They go through detector screening for weapons, only. Then they can access spaceport general area from terminal."

SCREEN WIPE TO SHIP LANDING at the ZIDAVA MAIN SPACEPORT

  The transport ship Reliance landed on the dark charcoal tarmac, several hundred feet away from the outer terminals of the spaceport. (OOC: long range to the terminal and long range to the perimeter fence) The area in this region has much more vegetation, but still lots of dusty, dry plants around. The city is near the polar sea, so the air is not as arid here. There is a grove of evergreen trees between the ship and the perimeter fence. The spaceport terminal is triangular shape with several hangar bays in the upper section and connector walkways along the lower sections that expand to connect to the ships' docking ports or ramps.

  Boss went down to where the Jedi were and spoke with Commander Relliri. "Commander, with you permission. I would like for me and Charlie to recon the perimeter fence and see if there is a way to breach it so we can get our arms and armor out of the spaceport. Perhaps we can find a way to shut it down temporarily.. and transfer items to the outside after a ground team secures some transportation. I'm sure we will be recorded if we enter the spaceport and our faces are public and we can't risk trying to get through the spaceport. Not unless we can disguise ourselves. But for now, we need that information anyway."

Kalyx nods, patting the hilt inside his coat.
"Yesss. I'm not losing thiss baby.
Maybe if we can get Kitty inside the spaceport she can give uss a temporary blackout?"
He looks from Jini to Kitty, to the Boss, and back again.

"Or perhaps we can slice an outage?" Den looks over at K1.

   K1 didn't hesitate in her answer to the young Jedi's question.

  "If I can find a terminal that accesses the system, there is no limit to what I can affect, Padawan Jaxon." she replied while she looked to the Trandoshan a moment, then continued. "Public kiosks do not have system access, however. I would prefer a terminal in use by an employee in order to find out more about the General and his whereabouts."

Charlie followed boss into the room, "Are weapons not allowed in the city? Obviously we can't have our armor but civilian clothes and respirators or other environmental gear should suffice as a disguise."

  Boss messed around with his helmet, as he listened to CT-101 and gave him a sideways glance. "From my understanding the Bissi allows non-military blasters if they are registered with a permit. Which we don't have or any id we can present either without blowing our cover. So, we don't want any undue attention. Are you talking about breathing mask to look like an injury that requires it for a medical condition, or to make us look like an alien needing a mask because they can't breath oxygen? We don't look anything like Kel Dor or Gands, but I'm sure there could be some near-human species that uses them."
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:33, Tue 28 Mar 2017.

Charlie nodded at the input "It is a desert world, respiratory problems in the lower classes from sand storms and such may not turn heads. It is probably not a ruse that will work for all of us traveling together, but I've seen decorative scarves and other face coverings on desert planets to keep the dust and sun off."

He thinks on it a little more "This is a major space port there have to be ways smugglers use to move contraband in and out. May be that the easiest way to get everything out of the port is to just hire a local smuggler as a guide. Any way I can imagine to breach the fence is going to draw about as much attention as running through the port in full battle gear. A city or district wide power outage might be broad enough as to not raise suspicion to our arrival specifically but that is a big mission to put on kids just off of their training."

  The Mon Calamari fixed her round black eyes on the clone trooper. "These young Jedi may be novices, but can handle themselves. I am a Jedi Knight, I can get over the perimeter walls carrying some equipment. Provided they aren't extremely tall, and based on what I saw from the bridge I could get over them. I just need to know what sensors or vids they have along them. But I do like the idea of getting someone to bring in our weapons, or perhaps pay someone to get a few boxes through security at least."

  "He has a point. We'll go in unarmed and see about getting someone to get our equipment in, or find another way. Alright Charlie, grab your bucket and let's get in our civvies. I'll grab the ventilators. Commander Relliri, can we meet you and the others in fifteen at the forward docking ring?"

  If Jini says its okay, the Clone sergeant grabs his helmet and heads off toward the cargo hold where his equipment is.

Den nods and stands, looking at Jini. "I imagine you'll be taking these until we're inside?" The padawan holds out his lightsaber to Jini.

  "Yes, 15 minutes, Sergeant. We will be there."

  She then turned to regard Den and the other padawans. "Yes. All of you hand me your lightsabers. I will meet you at the docking ring. I have a plan. Let us hope that there is not a security droid at the weapon scanning area." She hurried off down the hall without further explanation.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:35, Fri 31 Mar 2017.

Kalyx reluctantly hands over his customised hilt.
"I'm going to see if there'ss any spare flight suitss I can grab. Reinforce the disguise.
And a scarf maybe,"

He sets off at a swift lope towards the crew quarters

Den sighs as the lightsaber is taken away. He does not like parting with his new weapon and responsibility, but it must be done for the sake of the mission. "I would imagine wearing padawan robes is a bad idea. I'll put on something less conspicuous."

  The clones head to their quarters to make themselves look like civilians and the Jedi go to make themselves look like students. The crew help out with clothes and suggestions on how to dress the part and critique their disguises. After the time is up they all meet at the ship's forward docking ring. The comm officer summoned a hover tram from the spaceport and then crew heads down the access ladder that extends down to the tarmac.   

OOC: Please roll two skullduggery group skill checks, one for each group (Clones & Jedi). The difficulty will be 1D, but the results will add to the deception check when going through security. Both groups get +2B from the crew helping out.

 Since all the destiny pool is dark side I'm going to have to spend 2 to upgrade each group's check.

 The final dice pool for both groups is 3A 2B 1C unless I missed a skill rank or talent, though I doubt anyone has skullduggery talents. Anyone for either group can roll them.

After some coaching to get the new clones to not look like they were standing at parade rest all the time and a trip through the engine room to get the costumes to look roughed up and lived in the clones actually looked like they might just be a work gang from the outskirts of the city or some similar group of work-a-day folk. They head down the ladder in a disorderly line as they make it to the bottom Charlie finishes a story about how he narrowly evaded being caught in a bathroom with a bit of spice.

07:25, Today: CT-101 Charlie rolled 4 successes, 4 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3A 2B 1C with rolls of 8(A), 4(A), 6(A), 4(B), 3(B), 1(C).  Skullduggery.

Den has a new outfit on, but it feels odd and so skin tight. He stands, arms folded over his chest uncomfortably. He waits until the end to join the others out at the tarmac.

09:08, Today: Den Jaxon rolled 3 successes, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3A 2B 1C with rolls of 4(A), 1(A), 4(A), 2(B), 5(B), 9(C).  Skullduggery.

  K1 quietly followed the Jedi padawans down the ramp and onto the tarmac of the Bissian spaceport. It noted the new dressings and other ornamentations both groups were warning or adorned with and committed them to its memory.

  "This unit reports ready to continue, Master Jedi." K1 said.

  The tram stopped and picked up a few others from a YV-666 freighter, before stopping at the Reliance group. Boss, Charlie and his squad, the Jedi and K1T1 went in through the sliding doors and got seated and filled up the remaining seats of the tram. The YV-666 crew was an assorted group of different species. Two were muscular brown shaded Nikto females in heavy clothing, an older male Nikto with a tomato skin tone, a young, bald Sullustan with a gray complexion, and a tall Bothan female with long peru colored hair. They all talked with each other in the back of the tram, but hushed their tone when the new group boarded.

 They took off and headed toward the terminal through a tunnel and arrived at the terminal transit loading platform. The terminal was only slightly decorated, and was fairly clean, but worn from extensive use. The inner and outer spaceport walls were all made of large blocks of duracrete. The blocks were bronze-amber in color throughout, which matched the hazy beige tinge of the atmosphere. Most likely the duracrete mix came from the planet's similarly shaded rocks. The floors were made of a light grey decorative quartz-like stone with thin, black streaks like rivers and estuaries flowing out from the stone.

  The loading platform funneled out through one exit and that forced everyone to go single file through a short tunnel that scanned everyone that passed through. Two Gotals in security uniforms armed with blaster pistols holstered on a belt watched intently at each person going through. A digital screen directed people with electronic devices and comms to put their devices in a bin to be scanned separately. The station with the bins was sitting to the right where the security guards were, just before the scanning tunnel.

  Jini stayed behind, holding a bag full of items and told the rest of the group to move ahead over her. The rest of the group passed the security tunnel without issue, but the K1 unit was stopped for additional scanning by two other security guards on the other side of the tunnel. Those security guards, a broad Mirialan man, and a young human woman, also armed with blaster pistols, directed K1 to the side. They scanned him with a hand scanner and asked him a couple of questions. "What is your designation? What is your primary function during your visit to Bissi?"

[Private to Jini Relliri: My original plan was to have them scan the bag of lightsabers.. and then claim they were for the students science experiments for their cirriculum (using Force influence to deceive them).. unless you have another plan you like better.]

Jini moves towards the scanner and places the bag into the bin.

"My students require these devices for their studies. We cleared them with customs before our arrival."

Den tries his best to remain calm. This was not moving as smoothly as he thought it would, considering the efforts in disguise and not carrying anything that would set off alarms.

  Other than Jini, the others passed through the security tunnel and entered into the spaceport plaza area. This is a oval hub connecting to several other terminal gates. In the center is a round area with a large information desk and kiosks, with several security guards behind durasteel walls with a transparisteel top border around it at head level.

  There are a few olive shaded potted plants sparsely decorating the area. The spaceport exit is in the center of the left, wide side of the oval. Several shops of all sorts, from travel baggage to jewelry and speeder rentals surround exit, opposite where the terminals come in, but a few small shops also sit between the terminal gates.

  The biggest decoration are holographic advertisements for all sorts of consumer products, but nothing nefarious or sleazy like on major cities in Hutt space.

  K1 is still conversing with the two guards at the exit of Terminal gate A10 where the group just emerged.
 

OOC: The group noticed that there are no droids working any of the booths of information, security or even in the shops which seems unusual for a city of this size.

   K1T1 followed the Jedi dutifully as they passed through the first security checkpoint and into the oval hub that was the spaceport plaza. The droid said nothing while it observed the architecture and noted the information desks and kiosks, at once both noting and discarding them as possible sources of information. As had been mentioned earlier, these kiosks were not likely to possess a connection to the internal information network that would be required to gain any information about their target.

   K1 had been scanning an advertisement on the decorative holographic terminal when the two Spaceport Security members approached and one began to scan over her metallic frame. "What is your designation? What is your primary function during your visit to Bissi?" She'd heard them ask.

   "My designation is K1T1," she said to the female officer, "A 3P0-class protocol and interpretation Droid."

   She turned to address the broad-shouldered Mirialan with her next answer. "My primary function is to serve as a teaching assistant to a class of students under the supervision of an Instructor. If you require more information, you are welcome to speak with her. I believe that she is escorting the students further into the Spaceport."

   The Droid pivoted on one heel and looked in the direction of where the Instructor and her students were located.

  The wide Mirialan glanced up from his handheld readout over to the students, and just mouthed a deep 'harrumpph' at the droid's explanation.

  The thin woman examined the droid, her light blue eyes scrunched up as if trying to focus on the automaton, causing her dark skin to wrinkle around her flat nose. She straightened out the two tone blue padded security armor that was a little too big for her narrow shoulders, as she spoke to her fellow guard. She snapped her fingers loudly to get his attention. "Nezy, did you find anything on the scan?"

  Nezy appeared disappointed, and shook his head negatively. "Nah. Clean."

  The woman nodded, and seemed to contemplate something, tapping her narrow chin with a slender finger. She gave a slight shrug and continued speaking. "Students, I see. Well, generally droids are frowned upon here. Long history where they put good people out of work, and all."

  She turned and called out to the padawans, waving her hands wildly, and somewhat excessively to make sure they noticed her. "You three, there. Is this your droid?"

  The three verified that the droid was with them.

  She yelled back, pointing at them and then the droid. "Then you and your instructor are liable for anything it does wrong. Best be keeping a close eye on it."

  The woman was interrupted as the scan alarm went off. She pulled a Bothan from the line, putting a hand on her blaster. It was the same Bothan on the tram with the YV-666 crew. "Please step over here, uh, Miss." They proceeded to scan her as well, and ignored the droid after that.

  K1 was free to go, but, Jini was still being held at the other side of the gate.

 

   K1 listened to the Guards, noting the interaction between them. Although the woman appeared to be reasonable, her counterpart would be one to beware of. Droids were not well thought of at the best of times, but it sounded like this world would be harsher on mechanical beings than most.

   "My apologies, Officer" K1 spoke in a demure tone.

   She waited until the Officers were distracted by the alarm and were dealing with the suspicious Bothan before moving back to where the others were. She did make a note about the Bothan, tagging the facial features and committing them to memory before she moved away.

   "I apologise for the delay, students," she said, her voice almost carrying a note of annoyance. "It seems that my kind is even less welcome here than in most places in the Republic. Shall we continue?"

After spending the first ten minutes in the second hand flight suit futilely pulling at the material in an attempt to stretch the span across his shoulders, Kalyx had finally gotten used to it, with the help of unzipping the chest section, when the security at the spaceport put him right back on edge. He folded his arms, digging his claws into his triceps, to stop from fidgeting.

When the woman had yelled at them about Kitty it had reaffirmed his doubts about droid rights here. With so much buearocracy here they must really hate them to avoid at least utilising them. Unless they were truly kept as slaves out of sight in some kind of administrative prison...

Kalyx growled softly

He turned back to Jini and shrugged, clearly unsure as to how to help. If it looked as though the Bothan had distracted the authorities well enough, he signals the Jedi to kick the bag along the floor to him.

Jini Relliri:

Jini moves towards the scanner and places the bag into the bin.

"My students require these devices for their studies. We cleared them with customs before our arrival."

  The shorter of the two Gotal guards eyed the Mon Cal and shook his horned head, while taking his blaster out of its holster. The taller one followed suit, but they didn't point it at the Jedi Knight. "What? Customs don't clear nothin' prior to being scanned, 'less you're in government ships, but then you dock in government hangar not public spaceport. What is in the bag, lady? Metal cylinders, what are these things?"

OOC: Kalyx, the security guard has the bag in his hands, so she can't get it by yet. Besides sending it down the tunnel would set off the alarms, it is one giant weapons detector. There is a conveyor 2' wide and 1' tall to move her bags through after they are cleared. She could possibly send it through if they are distracted.. but we'll have to see how it plays out first.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:32, Thu 06 Apr 2017.

  The Jedi Knight stared directly into the short Gotals' orange eyes for several seconds. Then she gave her best confused look, opening her bluish, webbed hands in a gesture of peace and to demonstrate she wasn't any trouble. "Those are plasma rock cutters for our geology experiments. We are cutting into rock to view the history of geologic phases of this planet's development as part of our science cirriculum for government Geological agencies. What I meant was we filed this with our docking papers to the spaceport, which I assumed went through your customs. I apologize for getting the departments mixed up. They aren't any more dangerous than a small arc welder. I can put them back on the ship, but I would hate to not finish up their cirriculum. We did come an awful long way to visit your world."


OOC: FLIPPED A DESTINY POINT FOR PLAYER GROUP TO DECEIVE guards.

  The Gotal seemed a bit confused, looking at the contents of the bag and back to the Mon Cal.  He nodded his head as she explained to him what the devices were and their purpose. He shrugged and mouthed. "I thought that's what they were, plasma cutters, 'course. Alright, well move along please." He put the bag in a bin on the conveyor and sent it through to the other side. That allowed the Jedi Knight to walk through the scanning tunnel and then into the terminal plaza. The guards in the plaza allowed her to retrieve her bag and join the rest of the group without further incident.

The Jedi joins up with the group and begins walking slowly towards the center of the spaceport. "They have better security than I anticipated. Worrisome. But we're in. Now we need to find where he's hiding. Me and the sergeant have arrived at an agreement on what we plan to do. However, this trip is not just to accomplish the mission, but to make sure you learn something. What would all of you consider to be the best course of action?"

"We need to find where our target it. It will be difficult to plan much else without knowing that first." Den says, looking up to see if he's on the right track.

   "I believe that I will be on the lookout for a terminal that will afford us access to the Spaceport's mainframe. From there, I should be able to discover where this man is located." K1 said

OOC: Please make a group perception check, whoever can. 1P 2A 4B 2D to find the administrative area of the spaceport.

 K1T1 rolled no successes, 6 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1P 2A 4B 2D ((10(P), 8(A), 3(A), 6(B), 2(B), 5(B), 2(B), 2(D), 5(D))).

- Can't roll successes for love, money, or a Droid oil bath...

  The group milled around the spaceport, appearing as if looking at the shops, but actually searching for something that might have computer terminals with access. Some of the group headed toward the refresher areas and tried to locate the non-descript doors that are usually associated with the administrative areas of the spaceport. They check several port terminals and can't find them or anyone they noticed that is station personnel. It appeared that since there are no workers around, the entrances must be outside of the terminal area completely in another building.

  OOC: Anyone in the group can figure something to do with all those advantages to gain an advantage other than accessing the administrative areas. You can do an awful lot with that many.

Charlie surveyed the refresher area he had the rest of the squad within sight spread out across the area. He had been watching the various patrons for a pretty long while he had noticed a few hard looking men make their way into the area one or two at a time, they looked like they were just having lunch or any number of mundane tasks but at this point the first ones to have arrived had gone from having lunch, to reading the paper to, browsing a small shop. He probably wouldn't have noticed except for that is basically what he had instructed his team to do.

The last of the hard looking men finally arrived (apparently) because he went directly to a plain looking guy in a beat up flight suit, sat down and started reading his paper. The man reached over and grabbed the man's foam coffee cup from the table between their lounge seats. He shook it, discreetly peeked in through the sip opening, and sat it in the chair next to him. The guy in the flight suit appeared agitated at the man's response and his knuckles whitened on the data slate he was reading. The man gestured to the room and the other hard looking guys moved to slightly more obvious positions. The guy's face blanched and he calmed down his final remakes were clearly clipped and venomous even from where Charlie was watching. The man appeared to take no notice and calmly stood and walked away. The other men departed shortly there after.

Just before the guy could get up to leave himself, Charlie walked up and sat in the chair the hard man had occupied. "Clearly that could have gone better." he said and then explained how they could potentially help each other. After a lengthy chat and a bit of a demonstration to prove their identity, the clones returned to the group with their new acquaintance in tow.

"Everyone, this is Mori Otagan. He has fallen on some tough times and is willing to help us with our... customs issue. In exchange for a fee that I'm not qualified to negotiate"

OOC: Smuggler acquired. I took some liberties but I figured it was better to leave the narrative open for a side quest. I wasn't really sure how much cash we had on us and Charlie is hardly the best Negotiator on the planet.

  Mori was a reddish skinned Sakiyan with a large head and pointed ears. His dark green eyes were sullen, and he was slack in his stance and seemed uncomfortable. "Well, I don't have the contacts to get the stuff you need through, but I can get you to someone who can help. If you can give me a finders fee, I'll take you to him. What can you give me?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:31, Tue 11 Apr 2017.

  The blind Jedi apprentice heard Charlie and walked over standing in front of the Sakiyan. He nodded his head in a greeting that appeared like a respectful bow. "I am understanding you want us to pay you to find something we can probably find by walking in just about any cantina and asking around? I can do that for free, and find several offers and negotiate. You would like to bring us to one person you know, who could give you money for sending business his way. You should negotiate your fee from him and not us. Take us to this contact and I will give you twenty credits, only if we find he is capable enough, and if you can tell us where we can find a data port with access to flight records in this place we can use discreetly."

  <a href=”http://orokos.com/roll/505626”>Negotiate finder's fee</a> 3eA+1eP+2eD+1eS+1eB 3 successes, 2 advantage

This message was last updated by the GM at 21:09, Wed 12 Apr 2017.

  Mori, licked his lips and looked back and forth between the group and nodded. "Okay. Deal. A dataport with any access like that would be in the admin section. It is accessed from the sublevel of the parking garage. The access door to the stairwell to the admin area, I believe, requires a badge to scan in. I'm not sure what other security they have, never been there. That's the best I can give you. You want to go to my contact now, or try to get in to the admin section?"

"I don't think the contact is going anywhere." Den chimes in, looking at the others. "If we're close to the admin section now, we should do that now. Does that make sense?"

   "If I might be so bold, young Sirs..." K1T1 replied, the tone of the female vocabulator just above a whisper, "Is there not some way we can...acquire...such a pass?"

Standing with his arms folded, in a flight suit and coat, Kalyx looked every bit the Trandoshan bodyguard. The fact that he had kind of lost contact with his team while he practiced Jedi mind calming exercises to deal with his growing tension, was starting to undermine his cover. If it went on much longer he'd have been better off dressed in the shabby get together of a spice junkie spooked on glitterstim.

Fortunately he was broken from his trance by an altercation just off his right shoulder. An elderly Wookiee exited the nearby bar with half a bottle of Jubjaw beer. Spaceport security might be entitled to control alcohol consumption in public areas, but they came down on the Wookiee hard, grabbing his fur and yelling in his face. No wonder the poor guy reacted.
In no time at all there were two humans and a Klatooinian wrestling the Wookiee to the floor. Kalyx looked on, a wave of guilt passing through his body. Why did this always happen? He had never wished harm on one of them, yet those walking rugs always made him feel ashamed.

Kalyx bunched his clawed hands but no way could he intervene. Blow their cover already. Distraught he looked at his feet. It was at that point that a small rectangular object bounced across the floor in front of him. With a flick of his eyes he ensured the guards were distracted with their intended victim, before covering it with his foot.

He risked another glance over at the old Wookiee as he was marched off in cuffs. In truth it was an act of masochistic self abuse, but it helped galvanise him.

Scooping up the badge he looked back to his team, and put it on the table in front of them.

   K1 watched as the scene unfolded and the old Wookie was set upon by several of the Spaceport security men. "Oh my..." she whispered in surprise, as a metal hand rose to cover her mouth in surprise.

  The Sakiyan watched the scene involving the Wookiee with only little interest. Shaking his oversized head at the turn of events, not noticing the id badge until the menacing Trandoshan put it down. Mori glanced at the id on small duraplast table near the Joree's Caf vendor selling caf and pastries, where the group was standing, off to the side of the spaceport central market area.

  He responded in an urgent whisper as he recognized what it was, "Where did you get.. how? Hide that thing before someone sees it." He looked around and it dawned on him it came from the scuffle. "It won't be long before they realize it's missing. You'd better hurry if you want to use it. I'll take you to the admin entrance."
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:11, Wed 19 Apr 2017.

Den can't help but look around suspiciously. This is not an ideal situation, needless to say, but this is part of his responsibility as a padawan. They have to find their target. "Lead the way then." Den says quietly.

The Jedi knight frowns.

"We will need to move quickly if we want to get the admin data, and we don't have much time. Sergeant, would you like to go meet the contact and make the necessary arrangements? We can upload the directions into K1 and head there on our own."

  The gruff Clone sergeant nodded and moved in close so as not to be overheard by anyone but the group. He seemed hesitant about the smuggler idea, but hid it pretty well. "Roger that Commander. I'll get our contact, and give this man his fee. If I feel like this contact is worth it."

  The Sakiyan led the group to the spaceport exit, across the speeder loading and loading area and over into the parking garage. The parking garage was made of a lower grade of similar duracrete as the spaceport terminals, but was much more dingy in appearance with inadequate lighting. Mori took them to the stairwell down to the basement level of the parking garage and pointed over to the right side where there was another stairwell, marked 'Authorized Personnel Only'. "That's the admin entrance over there."

  Boss turned to his second in command, CT-101, putting a hand on the man's shoulder. "Charlie, your in charge of protecting the group and making sure they get intel on our target. Comm me if there's a problem."

  With that the Sergeant spun on the heel of his boot and faced Mori, his face wary of the red-skinned alien. "Take me to your contact, and he'd better be worth our time.."
The clone guided the Sakiyan sternly to get him moving and the duo disappeared back up the stairwell to the garage ground level.

   The blind Jedi observed the conversations and their destination with some interest. He could tell the speeder garage wasn't well lit, the glow rod lights felt warmer on his skin in bright conditions and he felt very little of that warmth here. He also sensed some trepidation on the part of the Sakiyan, but that very well could have been because he might not get paid anything if the smuggler wasn't 'good enough' and that was a highly subjective interpretation of his ability to deliver. Of course, it would be hard to judge whether someone had the contacts to pull off moving illicit weapons through a spaceport, unless you were attuned to the Force or a master at reading voice tone and body language. But he had brought it up as a negotiation tactic anyway, so it was a moot point. Truth was they didn't have much of a choice, and limited time to do much investigation into who would be the most reliable 'smuggler' they can find.

  He was concerned about breaching the admin area, even with the appropriated ID card. The three Jedi looked too young to be spaceport personnel, except maybe Kalyx. Unless it was another reptilian race working there or one very familiar with that species, they probably couldn't ascertain his age. He sidled up to the Mon Calamari and cleared his throat to get her attention. He spoke with due humility when he stated his suggestions. "Master Jini, the three of us look a little too young to belong in the port offices, and droids are an oddity here, so perhaps we should stay outside until you give the all clear. Then K1  could go in and do his thing, and we should remain outside as a rear guard or at least an early warning of any trouble. I don't have a comm, but I bet the clones do so perhaps the two troopers can stay behind with us, and Charlie can accompany you."
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:53, Fri 21 Apr 2017.

  The fish-like alien nodded her scaly, bluish head. Her black eyes squinted at the blind man realizing he probably couldn't notice the nod. She felt a little anxiety at causing a scene and possibly having to enter combat with civilians, but she trusted in the Force. It has been shrouded in darkness, even moreso recently. Besides, they had other options to find the General. "Yes, that is a good idea. Charlie and I will scout ahead. K1, be ready to enter when we give the 'all clear' on comms. The rest of you, keep watch and warn us if anyone comes through the stairwell after us. But don't lounge around here to avoid suspicion."

  She turned swiftly, her silky, pearl robes swirled around her as she approached the id card reader on the door to the stairs. She waved the badge in front of it and the red light shifted to green, proceeded by an audible click of the locking mechanism. The duralloy door parted in the middle and receded briskly into each side of the door frame.

  The Mon Cal and Clone soldier disappeared into the stairwell. They saw a few people moving around while they peered into the offices to find a dataport that was unattended. They found an empty maintenance room, just two doors down. Jini went back up and opened the door. "K1, come down to the door at the bottom of the stairs and be ready to rush in when it is clear. We found a good spot for you to work you magic and get us the flight information."

  She went back down, and as soon as there was nobody milling about, she signaled the droid to come in and he slipped into the maintenance room and they shut and locked the door. She comm'ed back to the others. 'We're in, and secure now.'

OOC: group search roll with Charlie.  Spending the advantage to find an empty maintenance room for K1 to use with a terminal

http://orokos.com/roll/510062 combined search for available dataport: 1eP+2eA+2eB+2eD+1eS 2 successes, 1 advantage

   The Droid said nothing, but mentally noted the Jedi's request to move when the time came.  She watched as the Mon Calamari moved to the door, waved the passkey and slipped inside. K1 took the time to look over each of the Jedi Padawan's features before Master Rellri re-emerged. She turned and followed the alien and went down the stairs, the machine's feet making small 'klick-klacking' noises as she descended each step. A metal hand moved along the railing to keep her steady as she made her way down the stairs to the door at the bottom.

   "Understood, thank you." the Droid replied. K1 waited until the Jedi gave the signal, then the gunmetal grey form walked quickly into the maintenance room and the door closed behind her. She raised a hand, the long middle finger parted in the centre and exposed the data port interface link. The voice was calm as the Droid replied: "At your command, Master Jedi."

   Jini was relieved that there wasn't a window to this room, so they should be undisturbed and hit the door lock as the droid began connecting to the system. She peered back and her, and spoke quickly. "Let's do this as fast as possible before the guard realizes he is missing his badge. See if you can find out when the Separatist General arrived, and where he is now. He may have used a private or government hangar, but hopefully the spaceport tracked him on their scanning systems."

  OOC: You can make a computer check against 2D, and since there are mostly dark side points, I will spend one now to upgrade the difficulty to 1D 1C. Since Jini is aiding you in where to look, you can take a boost. So your opposing dice will be 1D 1C and additional postive dice will be 1B from Jini's assistance. I believe your dice pool is 2P 2A 1B 1D 1C

Den mills around impatiently for word on their progress. Being on a foreign planet, surrounded by possible hostiles on all sides, Den is feeling very uncomfortable. He takes a deep breath and tries to calm himself down.

   K1 interfaced with the data port and began to go to work. The wheels of the interface whirred and stopped, and the Droid leant slightly forward while she continued to work. The voice that issued forth from the vocabulator almost seemed to carry a note of annoyances as it reported.

   "I'm sorry, Master Rellri...I can confirm that a ship matching the identity of the General's transport landed on the planet, but not where, or when. There seems to be a block in the system that I cannot deal with at this time."


OOC: Starting to wonder about this - haven't rolled a success yet since the game started...

12:40, Today: K1T1 rolled 1 failure, 6 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2P 2A 1B 1D 1C with rolls of 11(P), 9(P), 6(A), 5(A), 5(B), 2(D), 8(C).  Find out when the General arrived, where he is now.

  Jini gave the Mon Calamari version of a sigh, a throaty oscillation that sounded like a growling reptile. "It is okay. I didn't think finding the General would be easy by any means. This is a government run installation, can you slice into other government departments or military databases. Perhaps we can find something there."

[Private to K1T1: That is a bummer. But your initial post was fabulous. You really set the scene given good description of the visual of a droid moving around down the stairs and across the hall. Great work!

  You were working off of the spaceport database, you can find a connection to the local military air traffic control which is separate, but also riskier and will incur 1 setback (I'm not sure if you can cancel this out or not. Some talents do). This will be a hard check, but you can make this since you are searching a different computer system. So 3D, but still get a boost from Jini who gives some suggestion based on her knowledge and experience of cities throughout the galaxy. So 2P 2A 1B 3D 1S* (*if you don't cancel it with talent) is the final]

   "Perhaps," the Droid pondered a moment as it considered several options in the time it took to speak the first word. "Although there is an information block placed in this system, if the government systems are tied together, there may yet be a connection that we can discover and use to our advantage. One moment, please."

   Using the interface, K1 moved through the system and attempted to find another government department that the machine could use to 'back door' her way to the information. The attempt took longer than she had allotted time she'd tasked to complete it, and a look in the direction of the Jedi showed what appeared to be what might be considered as hints of an elevated stress level. A moment later, the Droid was rewarded with a short pathway into the system that flashed green on her internal sensors with a "PERMITTED ACCESS" icon atop it.

   "It appears your advice was correct, Master Jedi. The information about the General's arrival and current location was being stored on a military system, rather than a civilian one. He is much more cautious than you thought he might be. Processing and downloading the information..."


20:45, Today: K1T1 rolled 2 successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2P 2A 1B 3D 1S with rolls of 8(P), 1(P), 3(A), 7(A), 2(B), 4(D), 5(D), 2(D), 2(S).  Finding a connection to a military air traffic control port

  The Jedi Knight paced back and forth from behind the droid hunched over the terminal screen over to the door, listening for signs of trouble. After what seemed like the tenth lap or so, she twisted around getting ready to head back to the door when she caught the screen in the corner of her eye as it displayed the 'access granted' notification. She reversed and leaned in just over the mechanical being's shoulder as she began to snatch the data from the system.

  Her wide nostrils flared as she exclaimed in her gravelly, alto voice, "Excellent, K1T1! Just what we needed. Now let's get out of here before someone raises an alarm over the missing security badge."

  OOC: Finally a good roll. Since you are on a 'roll' anyway, now we just need a stealth roll for K1, since the others are disguised they wouldn't need a roll, but K1 is going to a bit more difficult, a 2D roll since you are clanking around, plus a setback due to being here during working hours where more people are buzzing around. You get a boost for the group watching the stairs from above, and another two from Jini and Charlie trying to cover your escape. So total dice added to your normal pool would be 3B 2D 1S. I believe you have no skill ranks in stealth but a 2 agility that would make your pool:  2A 2D 3B 1S

  K1 began to disengage from the data port, the words "Roger, roger...disengaging." heard through the vocabulator in what sounded almost like a pleased tone in its phrasing. Once the Droid was free of the system, the index digit retracted, and the finger's two covering parts slid together seamlessly, making it look like the finger was no different from the others.

   She followed the Jedi precisely, following in the same footsteps and making much less sound than she had on the way down the stairs. Her sensors noticed a discarded cloak to one side, left behind by someone, near one of the refuse bins. She walked over to where it was and took a moment to don it around her mechanoid form. It wasn't a perfect solution, but on a planet where mechanicals was treated as 3rd class people, any attempt at concealment was better than none at all. K1 turned and stepped back to where the Jedi was, she followed the walk of the Knight precisely as they started up the steps.

   As they moved, the Droid realised that now that it was ascending the stairs, there was more control in the amount of weight that could be placed on the feet. Descending the steps, she had been forced to place more of the weight on each foot while it had stepped down and there was less control on the noise it made. As K1 ascended,  it could judge the weight it needed to place on the step in order to mask its weight. This gave the somewhat false impression that the Mech possessed the ability to move stealthily.

   It reached the top of the stairs right behind the Jedi, the only note of the Droid's passage was the soft 'click' of it's left foot on the floor while it rose up, then brought the other beside it. "Ready when you are..." came the soft voice of the vocabulator from under the hood of the cloak.

http://orokos.com/roll/511025  Stealth check: 2eA+2eD+3eB+1eS 2 successes, 3 advantage
http://orokos.com/roll/511025 
This message was last edited by the player at 18:26, Thu 27 Apr 2017.

   The group picked its way through the arrid streets of Zidava, along the smaller alleys on the outskirts of town to avoid a large number of people witnessing the K1 droid unit. They finally made their way to a dingy, duraplast structure with a rusted, plasteel sign that read, Weeping Wampa.  Unlike some of the other establishments they passed along the way, this one didn't have sign on the entrance that droids were not allowed so they made their way in.

  The proprietor, a tall human woman with very long, course brown hair double braided and hanging down the back of her reddish brown blouse, noticed the odd group, and stared for only the barest of moments. She returned promply to cleaning the glasses from under the bar. The place looked worn, but was kept fairly clean, which isn't easy in this environment. There were a few people in the bar, mostly sitting at the bar stools. They were quiet group, three human men, and a feline Trianii woman were at the bar, and a fifth person sat at a table near the bar, a short Zabrak with linear tatoo markings, with a large steaming mug of some brew. Most of them did stare at the group and especially K1T1 as he entered, his servos whining as he strode across the rough stone, tiled floor. They found a booth in the back right corner within an alcove, where the people sitting nearest the outer wall would be shielded from view from all but the very back of the bar. Jini led the way, knowing that would be the best spot to allow K1 to be kept from direct view.

  The cantina owner followed them to the table, with a worn datapad in her hand. She gave a half-hearted smile as they sat down. "Welcome to the Weeping Wampa. I'm Zovie, the owner of this place. Can I get you some drinks? We also have a small assortment of sandwiches and fried Keeto strips, nerf burgers as well."

Den smiles and nods to the proprietor, "May we have a few moments before ordering?" the young padawans asks. Once Zovie gives a non-committal shrug and walks away back behind the bar to tend to another patron, he looks at K1. "So, what did we manage to get?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:02, Tue 02 May 2017.

   K1 looked about and made sure that the owner was out of hearing range before she spoke quietly. "According to my findings, the General arrived on the planet at the Military Spaceport two solar days ago...He was tracked once more at 20:03 hours and headed for a set of coordinates-"

   The droid paused a moment, seeming to be looking for something. "May I have access to someone's datapad and a communications unit?" When they were placed on the table, the droid synched them together and connected to the Holonet. She quickly searched through public records, the information flashing past until a map appeared on the screen, with a pulsing red dot. The coordinates indicated that the location was near the planet's equator, with no buildings or settlements of any kind in the immediate area. K1 enlarged the map slightly and it showed the closest thing to any activity - a small mine, some 37.93 km away.  A further enlargement showed that the mining camp was between two massive volcanoes, both of them listed as "Dormant" on the screen. "He has not moved from this location since he arrived there."

   K1 took a moment and worked the datapad to uplink to one of the satellites which happened to be passing over the coordinates. What emerged was an image of a large network of tubes that likely once carried lava to the volcanoes. "I would logically assume that this is the 'Base' that the General is currently residing in. I would also assume that it is well defended, even if the exterior of the Base is difficult to discover."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:03, Tue 02 May 2017.

Charlie's commlink lights up.

"Charlie, our deliveryman is dropping off the package at the port now. It'll be delivered to a local warehouse, and he'll meet us there for payment. After that he can take us to meet our old friend, if you want."

  The clone trooper watched the people in the bar, seizing them up as potential hostiles. His threat assessment was low, but it was hard to tell. It felt strange going this long without his bucket. The readouts helped assess metal objects and heat signatures that he has to do by his own eyesight now.

  He was interrupted in his thoughts as the comm went off. He grabbed the handheld communication device out of the front pocket of his olive green jumpsuit. He spoke quietly so the rest of the patrons couldn't hear him, but loud enough for his crewmates pick out his words. "Copy that Boss. Better visit our old friend before he decides his vacation is over and heads back Coreward. How about a family reunion before we visit friends, though. I know a good spot for a group party. Weeping Wampa's got some good Keeto strips. You and your delivery buddy should try it out. Oh, by the way I think our old friend is making some visits of his own. We might have to take a trip to catch up with him. Perhaps your friend can just pick up the goods and bring it with us and we can all visit together? Save us some time, maybe lower the delivery cost, and use if for travel expenses. "
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:10, Wed 03 May 2017.

About an hour later, the sergeant and another man walk into the bar, the sergeant sitting down at your table. The man with him does not.

"This is Tylen Rhezzik. He's offered to take us to meet our friend."

Rhezzik is an average-sized human with a blond goatee and slightly spiky hair, dressed in the standard uniform of a local spaceport mechanic. He speaks in a gravelly voice that doesn't seem to fit for someone that young.

"Your friend says you need a ride for a reasonable fare. Borrowed a ship from some of my own friends, worked out the payment. Fair warning, I can only take seven of you with me."

He pulls out a holocron, which displays a G9 Rigger- a piece of junk by Core standards, though the armament is much better than the factory standards.

"Shrieking Acklay can't carry more than 8, and I am not getting flagged again. They love their skrogging regulations here, and you do not want to violate them. Got all your toys on board, though if customs finds those our party'll be over real quick."

"Get a box for your food. I'm leaving now."

  The Mon Calamari appraised the freighter captain and smiled as she finished up her drink. She stood up and addressed the newcomer. "That works well enough for us, I appreciate your efforts. Your proposal makes the most sense, since you have a local vessel. Let's go." She kept from saying more, since they are in a public area, but she had loads of questions for the local, especially about their droid-phobia.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:25, Wed 10 May 2017.

  K1 took a moment to disassemble the commlink and such before she rose from the seat and returned the equipment back to the Jedi, then stood ready to follow the Mon Calamari out of the cafe.

Den expected to be leaving sooner than this, but at least they are moving now. Before leaving the table, he looks the pilot up and down to ensure how trustworthy he is. He said the right things, but that doesn't mean much, especially on a hostile planet. Seeing the others get up, Den figures this must be real deal and joins them.

  The other two padawans are quiet and just follow the group, as does Charlie and the two clone troopers. Charlie directed the two clones to head back to the Republic ship and to update them on the current situation once the arrived back at the spaceport. That left Charlie, Boss, K1, and the Jedi group to join the freighter captain.

  Tylen took the remaining group out to the northern terminal where more of the local ships come in and out, and the security there is a little more lax, at least on departures. The arrivals still have to go through screening. His freighter is parked not too far from the terminal, but not connected either. The loading crew just completed the transfer and can be seen hopping in their own utility tram and heading back just as the group walks across the tarmac.

[Private to Tylen Rhezzik: I'll leave it to you to describe the ship and what they see on board and then flying out and over the terrain landing close to the nearest mining facility to make it look like you are going there, but then the group will have to walk several kilometers to the location listed without drawing attention. You can consider flying over the coordinates, but that would flag some attention, since its not in the flight path to any other settlement or town.

The cargo is secured with their weapons, now extra blaster rifles since the two clones weapons are in the containers. Standard blaster rifles. Not the upgraded ones Boss and Charlie has]

"Are we certain we can trust this pilot?" Den asks Jini quietly, ensuring there is no one else listening.

  The Mon Calamari turned her large black eyes to the young human apprentice, as she responded quietly. "I sense no deception or animosity in the pilot. I do sense some stress, perhaps a bit overwhelmed by something, but I don't believe he means us any harm."

  K1 slowed as the Jedi spoke, then added something of her own: "You must trust and believe in people, or life becomes impossible."

Den looks over at K1 and nods slightly, "I do understand. It is difficult for me. I've always found greater comfort in the libraries with books than I do with people." The padawan replies quietly. "This is something I must improve."

   "All great journeys begin with a single step." K1 nodded, imitating the young Padawan's soft voice level. "You have already begun to enter a much wider and more complicated world. One must be mindful of one's surroundings.

   "But I do envy you, young Jedi...you learn far more easily and adapt more quickly because of it."

   The crew entered in the aft section of the light freighter, it was a standard model from the Correllian Engineering Corporation shipbuilders. It had a main boxy hull, with a large cargo hold in the back and an outrigger wing to one side with a laser cannon turret mounted at the end. The ventral arm was folded up under the wing while it sat on the spaceport tarmac.

  The party clamored up the ramp to the cargo bay. Tylen hurried ahead and climbed the ladder up to the cockpit area and started the pre-flight checks, motioning the rest to follow. He sat down and began rapidly flipping switches and making adjustments to his instruments as the repulsor engines hummed to life. "Just in case we run into any snags, I could use a co-pilot and a gunner on standby, perhaps a sensor operator. The rotating turret is operated from there." He pointed back to a periscope that is hanging from the top of the cockpit in the center. It has a telescoping base that allowed it to be pulled down to head level with a wide screen for viewing the turret's cam, and handles with a built-in trigger on each side. There was a senson and communication console on the starboard side of the cockpit. The co-pilots seat was to the right of the pilot's, at the front of the cockpit.

  The pilot didn't wait to check that everyone complied, though they had a minute before he was ready to move the ship. He engaged the forward thrusters, and edged the ship out of the hangar bay. Once clear of the structure, he lowered the ventral arm as he maxed the repulsors, angling the ship upwards. He then engaged the sub-light engines and the ship rattled a bit before the inertial dampeners kicked in and the ship lurched to a moderate speed, clearing the spaceport and city.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:29, Fri 19 May 2017.

  K1 stepped into the small craft and moved quickly to a chair where one might buckle themselves in and not move during the voyage. She listened as the Humanoid speak about needing someone with pilot or gunner experience. Sadly, the Droid possessed neither. She did know a little about Astrogation, but with how things had gone for her lately, she thought it better if one of the Padawans, or even the Jedi, would take over in that regard.

   The Droid looked about the cabin while the others prepared the vessel for taking off. Shouted words were heard here and there, followed by the rising whine of the engine slowly powered up. K1 raised a hand as there was a flash, and the vessel suddenly looked very different, with different guttural voices speaking here and there. Harsh shouted commands ordered the ship to lift off, and the Droid thought she remembered a voice of authority commanding them to shut off their engines and surrender immediately...

   K1 started for a moment as the memory faded and she looked about the cabin quickly to see if anyone had noticed the Droid's behaviour. "Oh my..."

[Private to GM: I'm not sure if you'll go with this, but I figure that this might have something to do with the "Servitude" that K1 possesses. I might have mentioned before that the Droid has been owned before, and one of the former owners was a cabal of smugglers, slavers and general ne'er-do-wells that treated anyone that wasn't them like dirt (like a biker gang). In that life, K1 was treated badly, and called "Kitty" - part of the reason that she looks at people strangely when it is mentioned in her presence. If you don't mind as a bit of backstory, small little vignettes like this might show up when things get interesting.  If not, I'll scrub the text and drop the idea. ]

  The aquatic Jedi examined the others of her crew. The two clones were mostly ground or special ops soldiers, her padawans most likely haven't had a chance to fly and K1 was mostly a computer expert. So she approached the co-pilot's chair. "I have done a little bit of piloting, not much, but I can help out."

  She waited to make sure that nobody objected and then sat down in the chair, next to Tylen, and strapped in. She entered the coordinates that K1T1 found enter the ship's navigation system.

  [Private to K1T1: That's fine. You are free to do what you want within reason. As long as it is not something way out of character, I allow pretty much anything. I might make you roll a check or ask if you are sure after explaining consequences, but you can do as you want. The more creative the better! ]

Den quickly straps into his seat. He is not one to be in charge of much of anything on one of these things. He could probably count on one hand the number of times he's flown let alone learn much about them. Perhaps he can read up more about it once they return back to the archives...

"Don't touch that," says Rhezzik, casually brushing away Jini's hands from the console. "Activates the weapons systems, and that gets the locals real mad if we do it in this airspace."

"I've made a few modifications to this ship. Rigger's normally a piece of junk, but the Acklay is a bit more substantial. Navigation controls are down here," he says, reaching under the panel and pulling a jury-rigged box, attached by a couple of tubes and wires to the console.

"In any case, you've got somewhere to be, and so do I. Tower, this is Shrieking Acklay, permit number 817-KF81, requesting permission to take off. Uploading reactor data, hull integrity analysis, cargo manifest, flight plan..."

Rheziik takes about half an hour to receive approval from the control tower, but soon after he does the Rigger is airborne.

[Private to GM: I assume Rhezzik will take them right to the requested landing site, barring any other complications, then wait on board the ship while they head inside.]

  The Mon Calamari blinked her large aquatic eyes several times at the pilot brushing away her webbed hand.  But she didn't protest, and turned her large head to the side to look at him. "We are not going to head to these coordinates directly. We believe this could put your ship in danger. There is a mining colony about twenty kilometers northeast of the coordinates where we need to go."

  The Clone Sergeant, who headed up to the bridge as well as they took off, joined in the conversation. "Actually, Com.., um, Jini. I would like to suggest that we head toward the mining colony, as well. But, it's possible to divert at very low altitude toward the other coordinates and pull within a couple of kilometers and find us a nice spot to set down."

  He shifted his attention to the pilot, "That is, Tylen, if you can fly low enough for us to avoid sensor detection. We don't want to go directly there as she says, though I can't really explain why, as I mentioned before, about discretion. But, if not we will have to travel to the mining colony and bargain for a speeder to take us the 20 km, or we will be doing a very long, time consuming hike."

[Private to Tylen Rhezzik: In answer to his question, yes you can fly low enough to avoid sensor detection. This could allow them to get closer, but you will have to make a few average (2D) pilot rolls to navigate the terrain that low.  You also realize from the coordinates that this is in the Drakkus Badlands area. A place that is teeming with some very large predators and traveling that far by foot would be extremely dangerous even if well armed with blaster rifles.

   Also I'm going to say that only part of the money is given up front, the rest will be given after picking them up after their mission. So he would have a reason to want to hang around. Especially since the credits were spent on having the hangar personnel smuggle their equipment onto Tylen's ship, so he is barely break even at this point and is motivated to pick them up and collect the rest of his pay. ]

"Bit of a risk dropping off the grid. They like to keep things under watchful eyes here. I'm no ace, and this ship is not great for stealth. Maybe I can try to fiddle with something, reduce our signature."

[Private to GM: Can I make a mechanics check to reduce the difficulty of the piloting checks?]

"As a courtesy to you, I'll be landing as close as I can get without scaring away whatever you're after, so you'll be able to get back to pay me the rest of the money. Lot of nasty beasts out there. Those blaster rifles might tickle them while they're chewing you up. I've seen enough trophy hunters out here to know that only the lucky ones make it back alive. Which reminds me- is your making it back alive a condition of my payment?"

[Private to GM: I am not planning on killing the other PCs, but Tylen can tell they're getting into some kind of dangerous situation and is understandably concerned about his investment. Also, this is purely for RP purposes, since I don't actually expect to ever see any of the money.]

Den holds on tight to the straps of his harness. Tylen is not making him feel any better since his only focus is getting paid and not so much to safety of his friends. He closes his eyes and tries to recenter his focus, to push out the fear that is starting to creep into the corners of his mind.

  Boss remained passive, but his hard brown eyes showed a deadly look from his chair on the opposite end of the cockpit from the comm station. He kept rubbing his head, indicating he was a bit uncomfortable at not wearing his customary clone helmet this long. "We will give you the remaining credits after you take us back to the spaceport and our mission is concluded. Our ride out is an essential part of our agreement."

As the ship takes off, Rhezzik disappears into the engine room and locks the door. After a few minutes of tools clanking on metal, punctuated by the occasional curse, Rhezzik emerges, followed by a cloud of smoke.

"Don't worry, its supposed to do that," mutters Rhezzik as he slams the door tightly shut. "Just got to treat her gentle for a bit. We can start broadcasting interference on the local scanners," He sits back down in the pilots seat and begins working the bizarrely modified controls, guiding the ship to its location.

"Right here, we'll just set her do-" A loud screeching noise comes from the outside while Rhezzik shouts something unintelligible.

About five minutes later, Rhezzik finally sets the ship down.

"Forgot to replace that sensor. Left a blind spot so I could land right on that rock..." The smuggler kicks at the ground.

"Alright. This is as far as I can take you, according to your stipulations. I'll be here, see if I can fix up this scratch." Scratch is a generous name for what he's done to the ship. It's still flight worthy, but it won't pass inspection at any Byssian spaceport. "Be back on time. Every minute you're not, the price goes up."

   K1's single ocular sensor followed the Captain while he walked across the plating of the transport and disappeared into the Engine Room. She heard what sounded like something metal contact with something else, as well as a reference or two towards the mating habits of the local Bissian fauna.  Perhaps, she thought, there was a ritualistic component required for the proper workings of the transport's locomotive functions...

   She watched as the Humanoid emerged and mentioned something about 'treating her gentle'. From what she'd sensed, what he had been performing was exactly the opposite of what he'd said. I will never understand the inner workings of organic beings...they are so...chaotic.

   The droid unbuckled from where she was seated and rose to her feet. With a glance back over her metal shoulder to where the Captain stood, she walked towards the hatch...

  The Mon Calamari endured the wild ride, watching out of the front viewport as the vessel traveled away from the greenish yellow area, as they got further from the city the tiny bit of green went away quickly, giving way to harsh, desolate features.

  The Outrigger dropped into a lower altitude as they spotted the glint of durasteel and plastoid structures in the distance of the mining outpost. The ship skimmed the rocky beige hills, canyons and baked soil, that was covered in large swathes of black pumice from numerous volcanic eruptions and scant, dry prickly vegetation. The gigantic volcano in the distance was visible even at this low altitude, it towered up several thousand meters above the terrain and half as long. It was a constant background to their current flight path.

  The static sound of the shields was turned on when they dropped down lower. It was audible even inside, though it kept going in and out and was not pleasant to most species. Tylen didn't say what is was for, but when the static was going he seemed to gain altitude and dropped back down when it went out, so she guess it must be to make them harder to spot on sensors. Its the only thing that made sense. She could tell he seemed upset went it went out even though it was a relief to her ears.

  She heard the ship brush too close to an outcropping and the unmistakable sound of something metallic that was damaged on the hull of the ship. The ship jostled, but the pilot was able to keep it under control and finish the journey to her relief. The vulture droids didn't come after them, so they must have succeeded in that.

 She was relieved that the investigation part of the mission was over, and now they can do what they were trained to do. Seek out and stop the evil General from whatever dastardly plan he is working on, or will work on. He could just be hiding out knowing the Republic is after him. She stopped her musing as the captain lowered the boarding ramp, unbuckled and stood up. "We made it, pretty much in one piece," she gave a casual glance to Tylen as she said the last part. "Its time to find our quarry."

  She turned to the two clone soldiers. "Once you get your gear, meet us outside the ship. We will begin our preparations out there."

  The Jedi Knight then approached Den, out of earshot of the pilot. "You and I will work together and focus on the general and seek him out. I will help you, but you will take the lead on this. You were trained in Seeking out people and this will be your first test."

The padawan nods, still nervous of the prospect having to lead the others to the general. Was he ready enough? He does his best to push those doubts away and to trust his training. "As you wish. I will try not to fail you." He replies.

  Jini put a webbed hand on the younger Jedi's shoulder. "Do not worry, failure is part of the learning process. This is a difficult task, but it is essential to learn to cast out your senses and find something. Visualize the image of the General and focus on that and seek out his presence in the Force. I will aid you in this. Now focus, and I shall attempt for forge a connection between us."

  [Private to K1T1: I meant to add you with the clones to come out when you are ready. You have a decent perception, so you can help out the clones as they investigate the area. ] [Private to Den Jaxon: Jini connects with you through the Force. Mechanically that means that you have your Force Rating and hers (2 force rating) to roll to try and track the target (total of 3 Force die to roll). You need 2 FP to find the general direction of the Sep General.]

   K1 stepped off the ramp and walked a couple of paces behind the Clones. She understood that this was a test of the young Padawan's abilities, but in case things did not go well, the sensors the droid possessed might be of some use. The machine's head slowly pivoted left, then right as the single red ocular sensor began to take in data and process it.

[Private to GM:  Sort of wondered, but that's fine. K1 will likely be in the background as this is supposed to be a test for the Jedi. If it is obvious that the little ones are having trouble, then she'll speak up and report something. ]

  Several minutes later the two clones emerge from the landing ramp, after donning their full set of Clone armor and weapons. They march down in lock step to the reddish-orange baked clay terrain where the Outrigger landed. Boss stopped and surveyed the rugged landscape briefly, his black tinted T-shaped visor scanned the horizon, and then returned back to the Jedi group and the droid. He could tell that the commander and her human apprentice were doing something with their mystical powers.

 He looked back at Charlie, and seemed to stare at his partner for a few seconds as if some unspoken communication or perhaps something on a private channel on their helmet comms. But, he walked over to K1 and the other two Jedi that seemed to be just standing on the side. "K1T1, Padawan Kalyx and Tarrin. Since we couldn't bring the rest of our squad over, we could use some help scouting out the immediate area. Unless the commander has given you other orders."
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:30, Tue 30 May 2017.

Den feels a stronger connection to the force. He closes his eyes and reaches out both physically and through the force to find their quarry. His doubts and fears are too much for him. The easy route seems to lay before him, allowing to tap into the dark side. He opens his eyes and lowers his arm, shaking his head. "Did you feel that? The darkness? It frightens me, Jini. It is so tempting to take it so I can have our answer, but I won't do it."
12:09, Today: Den Jaxon rolled no successes, 3 dark force points using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3F with rolls of 4(F), 1(F), 3(F).  Seek.

  Jini breathed deeply in her chest, causing her tunic to expand and then she let it out slowly as she concentrated on channeling the life energy through Den. Her large eyes were closed, but they fluttered like amphibious podlings trying to emerge from their eggs.

  She finally broke their connection with the young apprentice and opened her black eyes. Her voice was solemn, evident despite the gravelly sound. "You did well to avoid the easy path, and you will be tested more in the days to come I am sure. The veil of the dark side is oppressive, and getting worse. Fear not, even Yoda seems unable to make see clearly through this, so it is not your failure. It does not surprise me that is what we are feeling in the flow of the Force, events are coming to something, I can feel that much. Though we do not yet know what, but its not good. But never-the-less, we will do our part and trust in the Force to direct our path when the time comes. For now, we will follow the path that our investigations have uncovered."

   K1 looked in the direction of the Clone Sergeant and simply nodded. "Understood, I am conducting preliminary scans now. Should anything appear on my sensors, I will be sure to mention it."

  When the conversation with the human padawan concluded, the Mon Calamari spun on her booted heel, and approached the other two Jedi, motioning for Padawan Jaxon to follow. "It sounds like K1 and the clones could use our help with scouting the area, or at least covering their backs. Focus on the living Force around you as we head toward our destination. Keep wary of danger."

  The Jedi Knight then hurried over to Boss. "Sergeant. Find us the best path to our coordinates. I believe we should stay close in case the 'dangerous predators' in this area, that our pilot mentioned, are anywhere near accurate."

OOC: This will be a group check for Survival to find the fastest, safest route to the coordinates, average check with a setback due to rough terrain. 2D+1S. Also another check for Perception to scout the area, also an average check again with 1S due to terrain. But this one I will flip a destiny point to upgrade. So you have 1C+1D+1S added to the group pool.

 Group check, Jini has 1 rank in Survival, and 3 cunning. Den has 1 rank in perception, and removes a setback also with 3 cunning.

  Den can make the perception since he has the highest, the rest can just add boosts. We'll say Tarrin, Kalyx and Boss will aid in that.  So Perception check:  1P 2A 3B 1C 1D is the final pool.

  Jini, Charlie, and K1 can make the survival check, with others with unskilled assistance. That one will be 1P 2A 2D 1S 2B

Well, this is an interesting mess. We succeeded with a triumph and a despair. So area scouted. Maybe the triumph could be used on finding clues on the whereabouts of our target?


14:20, Today: Den Jaxon rolled 4 successes, 1 advantage, 1 triumph, 1 despair using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1P 2A 3B 1C 1D with rolls of 12(P), 7(A), 4(A), 1(B), 6(B), 4(B), 12(C), 7(D).  perception.

  The Droid scanned the horizon with her visual sensors as well as her internal ones, making in effect a 'map' of the surrounding area. It wasn't a large map, but it covered most of the territory that the ship had mapped from orbit. A slight turn of K1's head was made as it caught the glint of sunlight as it reflected from a piece of metal in the distance. She scanned the area and caught a small outline of what looked like a ship, but there wasn't enough detail to make out what kind, unless they got closer.

   The Droid scanned the terrain and found a small gully that ran parallel to the direction they were looking to head in. It afforded them a faster route to where they needed to go, and also gave them some cover from being seen.

   "Master Rellri, My sensors are picking up a reflection off of what looks to be a starcraft of some sort. I believe it might be of the same class as the General's. There also appears to be a natural formation from a dried out riverbed that will facilitate our journey to where the ship is, and will afford us some cover to a casual observer."


20:15, Today: K1T1 rolled 6 successes, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1P 2A 2D 1S 2B ((7(P), 4(A), 4(A), 6(D), 6(D), 2(S), 6(B), 4(B))).
This message was last edited by the player at 17:52, Thu 01 June 2017.

Den moves to find the best position to scout out their position. He doesn't stray far, just enough to get higher up. He squints, using a hand to shield his eyes. The padawan does a double take. Is that the general's ship in the distance? Did they get that lucky?

He races back to convey his scouting mission results.

   Boss came back over to the Jedi position and saw that the padawan found a good spot to survey the landscape. He moved over to him ready to use his binocs to look around. But the kid already found a gully, heading straight toward the vessel spotted in the distance. "Good job, Jedi. That'll give us some cover. Our white armor isn't well camouflaged in this terrain so that will be a big help to keep us unnoticed in case those clankers are on patrol. I will take point, Trooper Charlie will take rear guard." He held a gloved hand up to his face as he switched to his squad comm channel to relay his orders.

  He shifted his helmet to face the Mon Calamari. "Commander. We are ready to move out on your order."

  The Jedi Knight nodded, "Thank you Sergeant. Let's move out." She raised her voice to address the rest of the group. "Stay vigilant, there could be many forms of hostiles out here."

  The group moved into the gully which twisted and wound its way through the harsh, dry terrain. The group followed a worn trail of animal tracks that made a natural path, around rocks and scree, and the rare site of a tiny copse of prickly, olive colored bushes. It was cooler in the shadow of the walls of the gully, which was some relief from the oppressive heat of the planet's equatorial region. They made great time covering half of the two km distance, when they came to a narrow section of the gully with a very thin path through a wide set of prickly bushes. There was the smell of decay and a couple of dead animals laid very close to the bushes, mostly bleached bones and just a scant bit of decaying meat left on their broken corpses.
 

OOC: Everyone make vigilance checks. The despair rolled earlier has come into play..

   Hrm, K1 doesn't have Vigilance...this is *not* good.  :(

10:49, Today: K1T1 rolled 4 successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2A ((4(A), 4(A))).

  - On the other hand...
This message was last edited by the player at 16:50, Mon 05 June 2017.

Vigilance Initiative roll:

http://orokos.com/roll/522212 vigilance init  : 3eP 0 successes, 4 advantage
http://orokos.com/roll/522212
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:35, Mon 05 June 2017.

Vigilance Initiative roll:

http://orokos.com/roll/522209 vigilance init  : 2eP+1eA+1eB 2 successes, 3 advantage
http://orokos.com/roll/522209

rolling for vigilance initiative..


http://orokos.com/roll/522263 <br>vigilance init  : 1eP+1eA+1eB 0 successes, 2 advantage
http://orokos.com/roll/522263 <br>

07:51, Today: Den Jaxon rolled no successes, 2 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1A 1P with rolls of 1(A), 11(P).

Can't access orokos at work! :)
This message was last edited by the player at 11:53, Tue 06 June 2017.

  initiative - vigilance

http://orokos.com/roll/522463 vigilance init  : 1eP+2eA 2 successes, 3 advantage
http://orokos.com/roll/522463

 rolling initiative..

http://orokos.com/roll/522465 vigilance init  : 2eA 1 success
http://orokos.com/roll/522465

  The Republic contingent approached the bodies of the dead hoofed animals that were just smaller than man sized with wide, spikey antlers. It was too hard to see from the shreds of flesh left what color it's fur was. It was definitely torn apart by something. The animal's thick spines are splintered in one area, like something had snapped them in half. From the strong smell it couldn't be more than several hours old.

  They got a bad feeling, a dread that whatever tore through this animal is very dangerous. But it is the dark metallic droid with the female voice that spoke out loudly, "DANGER, LEFT SIDE!" She raised her mechanical arm, pointing to the ridge on the left wall of the gully.

  Everyone already on edge from the disconcerting carnage, turned almost in unison and spotted the source of concern. What at first looked like a thick, spiky bush, was the top of a creature's head with a wide maw, four eyes arranged horizontally, two on each side. It was shaking side to side, preparing to leap down in the midst of the group of Jedi in the middle of the convoy of sentients.


This message was last updated by the GM at 16:43, Tue 06 June 2017.

Jini curses herself for leading her charges into the hunting grounds of a predator, but immediately calms herself. "Stand ready, defend yourselves!" she shouts at the Padawans, as she reaches for her lightsaber, before turning to the clone troopers. "Shoot it," she begins, but quickly catches herself. "Troopers, open fire on the Nexu."

OOC: Only incidental for now. Best let the clones shoot it before engaging.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:41, Wed 07 June 2017.

Den instinctively reaches for his lightsaber and ignites it. He feels the feedback in the hilt as the blade extends instantaneously and is surprised at how not so different it handles to the training sabers. He holds it defensively in front of him, waiting for Jini to give the word to attack. He feels his heart beating almost out of his chest. This is the padawans' first battle, and the sense of dread starts to overcome him. He takes a long deep breath to push those feelings away. Trust your training he reminds himself.

  The Droid stepped behind the Clone Troopers and the Jedi while trying to scan to see if there was more than one of these creatures. Sometimes such things hunted alone, while others tended to band together to seek out their prey, dividing the spoils when the fighting was done. As K1 possessed no weapons (she was a Protocol Droid, not one of those antiquated Battle Droids...), she thought it best to 'keep an eye out' while the others fought the thorny creature.

   What she did do was save the look of the thing, as well as a small recording of its movements for study later, perhaps when more information could be gained about the creature.

  Boss was already in motion, his rifle he was carrying was up and pointed at the threat in well practiced swiftness. He didn't recognize what the thing was, but he knew it was a predator, and he and his comrades were a few days worth of meals. The clone lined up his blaster rifle's sights on the deadly creature as he gave a rote response to the commander, though laced with eagerness. "Yes, ma'am!" He squeezed the trigger causing a few bolts of intense, bright energy to streak across the ravine striking the edge of the cliff side. Another following shot grazed across it's wide jaw, singing the fur around it but not getting a solid hit.

---

OOC: Uses aim maneuver for 1B. uses 2 advantages to give 1 setback to the Nexu's next action due to the singed fur.

Net result:  0 successes, 2 advantage

http://orokos.com/roll/522724 blaster rifle at Nexu  : 2eP+1eA+1eB+1eS 2 successes, 2 advantage
http://orokos.com/roll/522724

http://orokos.com/roll/522737 attack missed diff  : 1eD 2 failures
http://orokos.com/roll/522737
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:06, Wed 07 June 2017.

As the clone troopers open fire, Jini ignites her lightsaber, looking at the Padawans to make sure they are ready. As Boss fires, she is already in motion. She sprints a couple of steps towards the Nexu, meeting the beast as it pounces. Although she has never seen a Nexu before, she has read accounts of people who had survived encounters with the beasts. They move fast in a straight line, but have trouble catching pray that zig-zags, she recalls.

As the Nexu breaks into a run she stands her ground, midway between the others and the Nexu. A the last minute, she twists her body to the left, striking at the Nexu with her lightsaber. The creature is quicker than she anticipates, and manages to evade her strike. Jini whirls around to face the beast, lightsaber held at the ready, trying to hold its attention to allow the Padawans to attack.

---

OOC: That's a maneuver to draw the lightsaber and another to engage, which costs Jini 2 strain. The attack roll resulted in 1 failure and 2 advantages.

http://orokos.com/roll/522734

I'll use 1 advantage to pass a boost to the next PC to act and one to notice something about the situation. Like, for example, if there is a second Nexu coming or not, if that is OK.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:17, Wed 07 June 2017.

  CT-101 marched at the rear of the group, but kept a wary eye out for trouble. When they found the animal remains, he slowed his march and peered at the bodies up ahead. He heard the droid intone a warning and quickly shifted his T-shaped visor toward the direction K1 was pointing. He brought his repeating blaster rifle to bare on the new target, lining up carefully for a good shot as he spouted off an acknowledgement to the Jedi leader.

  He flipped the trigger, and the barrel spun with a resounding whine as it unleashed a flurry of plasma darts at the feline creature. He recognized the beast, having seen one on Geonosis a while back, well a dead one at least. He was hoping it would be that way soon enough as several of his shots were dead on, riddling it with extensive burns over its head and torso. Somehow the beast was still alive, much to his dismay.

---

OOC: Using advantage to add a boost to the next allied action.

http://orokos.com/roll/522733 blaster rifle at Nexu  : 2eP+1eA+1eB+1eD+1eS 3 successes, 1 advantage
http://orokos.com/roll/522733
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:06, Wed 07 June 2017.

  The Trandoshan padawan began a slow, rumbling hiss as he spotted the predator, even as he pulled his lightsaber free of his belt clip and stood at the ready. As it dropped down and charged forward, he had the instinct to charge forward and meet that threat directly. But his Jedi discipline told him to observe and follow the Jedi Knight's lead. The resistance to his urges made his whole scaly body shake. He watched the Mon Calamari spring into action, seeming to take the direct approach.

  He did not hold back any longer once Jini moved to action, he practically leapt forward in her wake, and as she moved left, attempting to draw the creature to turn toward the fish-like alien, it's eyes flicked toward her, but it turned back to meet the Trandoshan. Kalyx closed fast and slashed his glowing blue blade down its shoulder and along its back, making a deep furrow along its left side. The additional wound caused it to howl in pain and frustration.

---

OOC: Kalyx will use a maneuver to draw his lightsaber, another for 2 strain to engage, and his attack hit with 1 success and 1 advantage

http://orokos.com/roll/522906 lightsaber attack  : 3eA+1eP+2eD+1eB 1 success, 1 advantage
http://orokos.com/roll/522906
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:30, Thu 08 June 2017.

  The blind Jedi apprentice observed as the group marched through the dry gully. At the call to action by K1, he was surprised that he didn't sense the threat before the warning. He had let his mind wander at the myriad of small life, numerous despite the harsh landscape and how it thrived despite all the dangers. He gained his focus again and pulled out his Jedi Temple issued lightsaber that he modified on the trip here. The grip wasn't perfect, he would need to correct that in the future, but the blade hummed to life giving him a sense of warmth and protection. He took a standard defensive stance, a very basic version of Shii-Cho, and took a couple of steps away from Den to give them room to maneuver.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:45, Thu 08 June 2017.

  The two clone soldiers opened fire, one of them scoring hits with the light repeating blaster. The Nexu dropped down and charged the four Jedi in the middle of the pack. Jini moved to meet the creature and protect her padawans. She was unable to get a hit trying to avoid the massive jaws and claws of the beast, but Kalyx followed up and struck a heavy blow causing the Nexu to howl in pain but it seemed to backpedal quickly a step or two in fear, but then turned and pounced on Jini, as it roared a shrieking cry of fury. Jedi Rilliri moved with uncanny speed and rolled out of the way, as the feline beast landed past her and spun around to face its prey. It's leap put the Mon Cal between it and the other Jedi.

---

---

OOC: The creature used fierce pounce to gain a knockdown, even though it missed so Jini is prone. It also used 3 adv. rolled to gain +1 melee defense (+1S until its next turn)

Everyone is free to take actions for their next turn. The beast is still engaged with Jini, but Kalyx will have to maneuver to engage again. There is also another boost left for the next action

Jini manages to dodge the creature's razor sharp teeth, but the bulk of the Nexu is enough to knock her down. She goes down hard, rolling immediately to avoid being mauled. Using her momentum, and a little assistance from the Force, she bounces back to her feet.

Her lightsaber flashes, hitting the Nexu as it turns to face her again. The creature meows pathetically as it falls to the ground, it's skull split in two by the powerful blow of the Jedi Knight's lightsaber.

Jini doesn't even slow down, she is reaching out through the Force towards the bush where she think she might have spotted movement earlier. "There, in that bush," she says, pointing, "I saw something move, there could be more of them. Or something else. Be careful, hold your fire unless you are sure what you're shooting."


OOC: Maneuver to get back up and then action to attack. One floating boost has been added, as have two boost for her two ranks in the Hunter talent.

http://orokos.com/roll/522974

That's 2 Successes, including one Triumph, as well as 1 Threat. Her damage total is 9 with Breach 2, which I'm told by our GM is enough to drop the Nexu.

I'll use the Triumph to upgrade Jini's next attack as she feels bolstered with courage after dispatching the Nexu.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:56, Fri 09 June 2017.

Den is about to strike again, but the beast is virtually split in twain. He steadies his breathing and lowers his weapon, the blade hissing as it vanishes. "That was...scary." He finally says once he can hear himself above the pounding of his heartbeat.

  The Clone sergeant lowered his blaster rifle after the Nexu was slain by the Jedi Knight. "Nice work, everyone. Is anyone injured?"

   

   The white armored soldier spun around, instantly bringing up his military rifle to his visor. He cocked his head to view down the sights of his weapon, peering into the bushes. "I don't see anything at all, ma'am."

---

OOC: failed on perception check, no threats though.

http://orokos.com/roll/523304 perception roll  : 3eA+3eD+1eC+2eB 1 failure
http://orokos.com/roll/523304

  The Miraluka disengaged his lightsaber, but kept it firm in the palm of his slender hand. He was unable to tell which direction the Mon Calamari was pointing, but he sensed the canyon walls and the bushes up ahead and turned to face the prickly bushes. He went still and began to breath deeply in meditation and attempted to focus for a minute or so. He shook his head, sending his dark hair flailing in frustration. "I am sensing too many things, I cannot distinguish anything from the background noise in the Force. My apologies Master Relliri."

---

OOC: Used Sense Force power, but got 1 dark side pip

http://orokos.com/roll/523301 sense powe  : 1eF 1 Dark Side
http://orokos.com/roll/523301

Jini keeps her lightsaber on for a while longer, as she takes a few steps towards the bushes, ready for another Nexu to pounce, even if she can't spot it. Her eye stalks move as she scans the surroundings.

Suddenly the Mon Calamari Jedi goes very still. A quiet moan escapes her lips, sounding even more whiny than her voice usually sounds. "Nooooo," she moans, as she switches off her weapon and backing off. "Over there," she says, pointing into the distance. "We have Vulture droids incoming. They must have noticed a disturbance. At least two of them."

She runs towards the dead Nexu. If anyone were to investigate the corpse it would be pretty obvious that the killing blow had been struck by a lightsaber. "Troopers, help me get this out of here, back into that bush," she says, indicating the bush where the creature had hidden itself before attacking.

"Padawans, find a place to hide. We can't let the Vulture droids see us. If they do, our mission could be over unless we can somehow bring them down," she says in a hurried voice as she grabs one paw of the dead Nexu, waiting for the Clone troopers to help her lift the carcass.

OOC: Jini's perception check was a horrid affair, involving 2 failures, 5 advantages and a despair. I assume the despair could have something to do with those droids...

  As Jini relayed the information about the Separatist fighters, everyone can see the two incoming droid ships. They are very familiar to the two Clone soldiers and Jini, having seen too many times to count in this long drawn out war. The others have seem them in holonet news vids or training classes at the Jedi temple.

  The incoming ships move up to a hundred meters altitude, then level out and begin executing a narrow search pattern in tandem. They are heading almost straight toward the group, only off by a small deviation, not enough to miss the Republic group. They are only a kilometer away, so it is easy to see that it is going to be very difficult to move the Nexu carcass before the fighters reach their position, unless they act with haste and precise coordination.

---

OOC: basically everyone would need to make a combined hard athletics check with 2 setbacks due to being rushed. 3D + 2S. Kalyx has 4 Brawn, Boss has 2 ranks in Athletics and also adds a boost possibly for a talent according to my notes, and Jini has a Force power enhance I believe that helps athletics.

"Quickly now, towards those bushes," Jini tells the others, as they lift up the dead Nexu and shuffle forward. "We need to get into cover from those Vulture droids before we get into scanner range," she continues as the Nexu is thrown into the bush. Her mind is on the droids, and she is grateful they are designed to combat vehicles. Their scanners might have a hard time pinpointing small, organic ground targets.

---

OOC: The combined athletics check resulted in 2 Successes, 1 Advantage and 2 white pips Jini will use as Advantages. The end result is 2S 3A. http://orokos.com/roll/524119

I would like to use the advantages to aid the group in hiding from the droids, as moving the Nexu took less time than we could have hoped for.

If there is time before something bad happens, once the Nexu is in the bushes, Jini will attempt to Sense if there is anything living in the area. If there isn't time, just disregard the check.

The result is 2 black pips. Jini is too nervous, bordering on frightened, to concentrate. All she sees is how close she is to failing her mission... http://orokos.com/roll/524774

Den reaches out to try and sense for other life forms in the area, but the fear of being caught is making it difficult for him to extend his senses. Hearing Jini, he quickly moves to hide, but isn't sure how hiding is going to stop them from being detected from droids. They're usually more keen on things like that.

  The two vulture droids passed overhead, searching the area methodically and efficiently. Zigging and zagging to cover a wide swath of terrain. The group could see the menacing droids clearly, their pincer like wings, containing twin blaster cannons buzz a hundred meters over them. The loud whining sound of their repulsor engines filled their ears adding to the drama. The duo continued on and it appeared that they weren't spotted since they maintained their search pattern past the Republic entourage, causing some to feel some relief.

  But that was short-lived as the fighters broke off their pattern several hundred meters away and begin to turn around, vectoring together directly toward where the group was hiding.

---

OOC: you have a round to try and figure out what to do..
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:57, Wed 14 June 2017.

   The Droid didn't feel anything like relief as the fighters passed over, but the odds of their survival had nudged upward slightly on the thought that their sensors might not have caught them. But those odds dipped significantly as K1 watched the Separatist fighters banked and then turned, their noses pointed on a direct course for where the group was. If they didn't move out of the way or find cover, the group might suffer terribly.

OOC:   At this point, it comes down to dive for whatever cover you can find and hope for the best.

Jini feels a sense of relief when the droids pass over the small group. When they bank right and come back she feels almost physically sick. If they have been spotted the droids would likely come in for a closer look to confirm before sending out a call for reinforcements and then engaging them. They wouldn't stand a chance out here.

As she rakes her brain over how to get them out of this mess, she recalls something Tylen had said. He mentioned seeing a lot of hunters out here. "Force be with us," she says quietly in her almost whiny but still gravelly voice, as she crawls to the two clone troopers. "Quick, you two, give me your rifles." The clones, bred to obey the Jedi, do as she asks without hesitation. "Padawans, get up and help me roll the dead Nexu over the clones. Their armor will give us away. Our only chance now is to hide them and make it look like the rest of us are hunters. Tylen mentioned many hunters come out here. We need to convince the Droids we're here to hunt Nexu."

The Mon-Calamari tosses one of the rifles to Den and holds the other one in her right hand over her shoulder in such a way that it will look non-threatening to the droids but still very visible. She then stands next to the dead Nexu, hoping the deception will work. Because if it doesn't, the droids can simply pick them off from the air and there will be very little they can do about it.

Den takes the rifle and looks at it, not exactly sure how to hold it correctly. Weapons like this weren't exactly standard protocol, and it is obvious he is uncomfortable holding it in such a way. Instead, he decides to take a more relaxed stance, one where he doesn't need to look like he knows how to shoot. "Maybe we should not pay attention to the droids? Act like we're inspecting our kill?" He suggests, hoping that a little acting might be enough to convince the droids.

    K1 took in the information that the Jedi and the Padawans had mentioned, quickly adding: "Perhaps you all could be looking over the kill, while my sensors could keep watch on what the Seperatist droids are doing, and provide a warning?

Trying to keep the panic out of her voice, Jini doesn't even look at the droid as the Nexu is rolled over the clone troopers. "Yes, keep your sensors on them. If they power up weapons or come at us as if they are about to fire, you shout a warning," she replies.

  The group scrambled to action once they realized they've were discovered and quickly decided on a desperate course of action. In the face of overwhelming force with the deadly blaster cannons of the droid fighters, they planned to act as wayward hunters to avoid being gunned down. The clone sergeant crawled into the bushes after relinquishing his blaster rifle to Jini. Charlie complied with the Commander's order as well, handing his light repeating blaster and blaster pistol to the blue scaled aquatic Jedi, before following his sergeant into the sharp thicket.

  The others moved the nexu to block the view of the two entrenched Republic soldiers, as the droid ships approached. One of the ships began a tight circle pattern around the group, while the other dropped into the gully and converted its wings into walking legs. It stood on it's four wing tips, and scuttled across the surface, its durasteel limbs criss-crossing to close the distance. Its two glowing red eyes moved back and forth as it scanned the sentients and surrounding area, while its dual blaster cannons remained fixed on the main group.

As the droid approaches Jini feels like they've already lost. The urge to grab her lightsaber and fight is almost overpowering, but she manages to resist. In a voice loud enough for the droid to hear she says: "Be careful with the fur, it's worth nothing to our buyer if you damage it."

The Mon Calamari Jedi feels like the deception is sure to fail, but maintains her facade as she turns towards the approaching droid. She keeps her body between the approaching monstrosity and the head of the Nexu, trying to hide the damage she did with her lightsaber from view. "Can we help you with anything? We were about to start skinning this Nexu. The skin will fetch a good price for us," she says, not quite sure what else to add. She fervently hopes her memory is right, and that the Vulture droids are as stupid as she thinks they are.

Den kneels down next to the carcass, inspecting it carefully. "Are we planning on taking the meat as well? Although, not sure if there's a market for it." He thinks that's something a hunter would say, doing his best to ignore the imminent danger.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:56, Tue 20 June 2017.

   The Protocol Droid observed the Vultures carefully and watched as one continued to circle, while the other changed to a more ambulatory configuration and approached. K1 didn't feel the tension, but she'd seen looks like that on organic beings before. If things went poorly ...

   She kept her sensors attuned towards the circling Vulture droid, assured of every confidence that the Jedi would be able to handle herself if matters did go against them.

  The Variable Geometry Self-Propelled Battle Droid stood just over three meters tall, towering over even the tall Trandoshan. The servos in its head whined as it turned its head from side to side, as it finished scanning around the area.

Jedi Knight Jini Relliri:

"Can we help you with anything? We were about to start skinning this Nexu. The skin will fetch a good price for us,"

 The droid ignored the Jedi as it completed it's sensor sweep of the area, then it's large, glowing red eyes focused on the Mon Calamari, with its glow growing in intensity, or perhaps it just seemed that way as it is directly viewing her. It began to speak, its robotic voice was similar to the B1's, just much lower in pitch and louder. "This area has been deemed restricted, you must vacate the area immediately. You will.." The walking droid ship stopped and his head swiveled to the left, looking in the direction of the bushes. Fortunately, not the bushes where the two clones are hiding, but the one where Jini spotted something earlier. "Come out from the bushes. You have 3 seconds to comply. 3-2-1"

  There was no movement, everyone stood still as the droid rotated and fired twin blasts of long lances into the thorny hideout, there is a loud yelp and keening cry as a nexu turned tail and tried to run away further down the canyon away from the others, its remaining fur smoldering from the massive plasma wound. It wasn't as large as the dead one, it was matured, but just barely, almost like a teenager. It wobbled and was disoriented and didn't make it more than several meters before it collapsed. A second nexu, around the same size as the injured one ran out from the other side of the bushes, near where the clones were. It stopped and tried to nudge the first creature with its wide head to get it moving again, whimpering. The droid ship powered up its blaster cannon for another shot..
 

---

OOC: At this point, you can let the droid decimate the nexu or not. Plead with the droid, or try to stop it.

Jini almost drops the rifle when the droid fires. She tries to focus, to calm herself, but when she sees the young Nexu shot she feels a mixture of fear and guilt. She had been so focused on saving the Padawans from the Nexu that she hadn't considered why it had been attacking a group of humanoids. It wasn't logical for a predator to attack a group of sentients. It hadn't been hunting them, it had been protecting it's young.

"Wait, don't shoot it," Jini shouts at the droid, taking a step forward and dropping the rifle to the ground, her hands held out. "It is no threat to you," she adds, before realizing her impulsive behavior was putting them all at risk. What would Master Yoda say if he was here? Trying to salvage the situation, she tries to rationalize her outburst. "It's worth nothing if you blast it," she says, hoping the droid wouldn't recognize how uninspired she sounded.

"Listen, the guy who hired us was supposed to get a permission for the hunt," she tells the droid. "There might be a delay due to some red tape back in the capital, but we thought we had permission to hunt Nexu here. We will leave the restricted area and wait for the permission before resuming our hunt if that's what you want."

---

OOC: A second deception check resulted in 4 Successes and 3 Advantages. If we can use the advantages to have the droids scram off to return to the patrol, rather than waiting here until we leave, that would be ideal.

http://orokos.com/roll/527461
This message was last edited by the player at 15:19, Wed 21 June 2017.

Den remains on his knees, looking up at Jini then at the droid. There is still a hand of his resting on the dead nexu as he waits for the droid's response is. His eyes move to the last living nexu, watching the creature carefully. The emotions emanating from the nexu is enough to effect the young padawan, breaking through the dark side that seemed to surround Den. He closes his eyes and does his best to push back the powerful emotions he is feeling. It is devastating. He wants to do something to help the animal, but with the droids standing over them, there is not much he can do at the moment.


OOC-Updated due to updated info!
This message was last edited by the player at 18:18, Wed 21 June 2017.

  The towering vulture droid's head swiveled back to stare at Jini, processing her words for several moments, and all was silent in the small canyon, except the pitiful whimpering of the nexu, still trying to get it's companion moving again, though more symbolically and gently than any real effort to physically push the mortally wounded animal.

  The droid finally powered down its cannons, and responded to the Mon Calamari. It's mechanical voice had reflections that raised in pitch at odd times making it sound almost comical, especially with the bass tone.  "Citizen. You have one hour to vacate this area. If you are seen within this area after that time or proceed farther north, you will be eliminated."

  After that the droid powered up its repulsors, as its legs transformed back into ship wings. The robotic craft engaged it's sublight engines and shot off and joined the other vulture craft as they headed back north toward the Geonosian ship.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:24, Mon 26 June 2017.

Jini allows herself to relax for a moment as the droid takes off again, joining the other to continue with the patrol. “That was close. Too close,” she says. Not to anybody in particular, she just feels like she had to say it. “You better stay put for a moment under there,” she says in an apologetic tone to the clones. “Just until they have moved out of their scanner range.”

She then puts down the rifle next to the dead Nexu, and moves slowly closer to the pair of cubs. She knows that they might panic and attack, but she’s hoping her calm manner might help. “Easy there, fellows,” she says softly as she walks towards the pair.

She reaches out with the Force, trying to calm the young Nexu down, but finds that she is too upset. She can’t even calm herself down, let alone others, at the moment.

The Nexu hit by the droid’s cannon looks badly hurt. She wonders if she should try to do something for it, or let nature take its course. She is no veterinarian and has no sprays, bandages or other medical supplies she could use. After watching the creatures for a moment from a relatively safe distance she decides there is nothing she can do. Even if she had the supplies, those are dangerous, wild animals. She can’t risk even trying. Her mission and the safety of the Padawans is too important.

She backs off slightly. It’s the right decision. She knows that. So why does it feel so wrong. “Okay, we need to move again, and cover ground fast. The droids are not very clever, they probably followed their programming and continued on with the patrol, but they will swing by on the way back I’d guess. So we had better get a move on, and keep close to potential cover. And keep an eye on the sky guys.”

---

OOC: Jini tried to use Influence to calm the cubs down, but rolled 3 Dark Side pips only, so she fails.
http://orokos.com/roll/527805

  The Trandoshan padawan nodded at her words, though was introspective at the thought of the cubs. He saw them as fierce predators trying to make him the prey and he didn't like that at all. It was his species and his genes that kept him thinking like a predator. But the compassion at the emotions broadcast out from the nexu, gave him conflict with his instincts. He sighed, or what was meant to be a sigh for Trandoshan's that sound more like a rumbling hiss.

  He turned to their Jedi handler and his forked tongue flitted out toward the nexu ahead. "We will have to pazzzz those creaturzzzzz to get down gully. Do we need to climb out and risk expossssure, or risssssk a crazzzzed nexu by trying to get around it?"

   K1 stopped and took a moment to scan the area with her limited sensors. The "Vulture" series does operate on simplistic programming, but it might be safe to assume that whomever the droids reported to will have made a note to have this area scanned once more on their return from patrol, just to make certain that we or anyone else is no longer in the area. I will continue to scan for their presence, but I would urge haste as well."

   The scan stopped at the pair of nexu in the bushes. "I would suggest that some plan of action is considered for the remaining native fauna in the bushes. Leaving a possibly wounded and irritated creature might be detrimental to our continued efforts to move without notice, or may prove problematical on our own return to the ship."

Den visibly relaxes when the vulture droids fly off. He stands, eyes transfixed on the suffering nexu. The pain he feels for the creature is almost overwhelming, something he's never experienced before. He looks to Jini, eyes tearing a little. "Is there anything we can do?" His voice wavers as he speaks.

Jini's eyestalks are downcast, her manner subdued. She has tried to reach out to the Nexu through the Force, but her thoughts are all over the place and she can't calm herself down. "I don't think so. It should not attack a group like ours, unless it's gone mad. Everyone, just follow me calmly, trying not to make eye contact," she replies to Den.

She then tries to get past the young Nexu, keeping her back to the cliff to keep as much distance to the animal as she can. Hopefully she's right and the Nexu will leave them alone. It would be a shame for all three of them to die today.

  The contingent of Jedi, soldiers and their droid specialist decided to begin moving. The Jedi are all affected by the beasts, but the droid and soldiers seemed only aware of the animals whimpering cries.  Jini's revelation that they were related makes it fairly clear that this was a family of animals. But they are still predators and dangerous.

Commander Jini Relliri:

It should not attack a group like ours, unless it's gone mad. Everyone, just follow me calmly, trying not to make eye contact,"

  The two clones extricate themselves from the thorny bushes and get their weapons back, replying with a routine affirmative to her orders, not betraying any indication of their thoughts on leaving the beasts alone and ending the potential threat. Some of the reddish-brown nexu blood splattered across their stark white armor making it appear as if they have been in a scrum with the beast.

  The group moved cautiously between the bushes, down the worn game trail in the base of the gully. They approached the pair of nexu's as they cleared the copse of bushes. The injured beast is in bad shape, a gash the size of a Wookiee's leg is charred across its back and it's not moving, except for an occasional ragged, but faint breath. The last nexu was licking at the gash, its four horizontal eyes filled with moisture. It ignored the group as they move around the beast. It's pitiful, sobbing whimpers echoed hauntingly off the three meter high canyon walls.

  They navigated past the creature and began to form back up into a marching order when the creatures whining turned to a loud wail of torturous grief. They can hear that sound reverberating from the walls as it transformed into a cry of rage, loud enough they can feel the sound in their torso's. The beast locked its eyes on one of the Jedi, and crouched in preparation to pounce..

---

OOC: The remaining nexu is at short range to everyone. It is targeting Tarrin Feruwi. 4 of the group can take one of the slots before the Nexu can attack.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:03, Mon 26 June 2017.

   K1 moved along with the others at the same pace and kept silent. The droid's servomotors were the only sound that betrayed her movement, slightly punctuated by some of the grit that had been kicked up in the combat with the first nexu that found its way into her lower actuators.

   They passed the wounded creatures and the droid glanced in the direction of where they were. She kept in mind that the creatures were not to be met eye-to-eye, but K1 was not gifted in the same fashion as other droids, and only possessed a thin red ocular sensor. She wasn't sure what the pair of fauna might do, but it assessed a 47% chance that the uninjured creature would attack...

   When the creature's plaintive whine turned into a feral cry of anger, K1 turned and looked in the direction where the nexu were located. The creature had its sights set on the young Jedi students, and the Droid began to move to a position between them and the pair of creatures.

Den watches the nexu carefully as he makes an attempt to pass by it unscathed. He gives it a wide berth, hoping it leaves them be. His heart still aches that he can do nothing more than leave it alone, but it is as the force wills it. He makes sure he has his lightsaber back. He hasn't had the weapon very long, but felt like a part of him was missing without it.

  The clone trooper walked as stealthily as possible in his blood stained white armor. His T-shaped visor kept swiveling back toward the beast in its throes of despair as they edged around it. He kept his repeating blaster rifle close to his chest, his hands in position to turn and activate it if needed. He could tell the beast's wailing changed and knew it was going to pounce, after they had passed it, he was in the rear guard and the closest to the creature, but the nexu was concentrating on the Jedi for some reason. He shifted the weapons barrel at the creature, powering up the weapon with a flick. He was unsure of his firing orders and called out, "Sergeant, Commander. Permission to engage?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:38, Fri 30 June 2017.

  CT-101 glanced at the clone sergeant, who was watching Jini. It didn't seem like she was going to order them to stand down so Boss turned slightly toward Charlie and gave an almost imperceptible nod. But that was all that was needed for confirmation from his fellow clone.

  He checked his aim, and squeezed the trigger on the light repeating blaster. The barrel whined as it spun and spit out dozens of plasma bolts, many of them connecting with the creature across its shoulders, foreleg and the side of its face.

---

OOC: Using 1 advantage to past boost to next action, due to the damage it took. 11 points.

[url=http://orokos.com/roll/530320]LRB attack @ nexu[/url]: 2eP+1eA+1eD 1 success, 1 advantage
[url=http://orokos.com/roll/530320]...-f-th.png[/img][/url]

[url=http://orokos.com/roll/530321]forgot boost for grip add-on[/url]: 1eB 1 success
[url=http://orokos.com/roll/530321]...e/b-s.png[/img][/url]

   The blind Jedi tried to calm the beast, hoping the Force would carry his will and the animal will not see them as a threat. He got down low and took on a supplication like pose, holding his arms out to show he wasn't a threat. But the beast was wounded and in rage and he only took that as a sign to cull the apparently weaker member of the group and maybe grab some protein energy from his tasty flesh.

  The huge Nexu leapt forward, over K1, and slammed into the Miraluka, bowling him over. The creature rolled with him, nipping at the padawan, who tried to keep its wide jaws away to no avail. It succeeded in pulling some flesh off of his left pectoral muscle, and doing some more minor nicks and cuts all along his torso.

---

  OOC: It used fierce pounce, automatic knockdown on hit, plus bite attack, 10 damage minus your soak. Also it is engaged with Tarrin so anyone attacking it will have a setback die added (from the two advantages). Whoever hasn't acted yet this round, can take an action now.

  [url=http://orokos.com/roll/533849]Fierce pounce attack[/url]: 2eP+1eA+1eB+2eS 3 successes, 2 advantage
[url=http://orokos.com/roll/533849].../s-th.png[/img][/url]
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:55, Sun 16 July 2017.

"Tarrin, nooo!" Jini shouts as the Miraluka puts himself in harm's way. But the Mon Calamari Jedi is too late. The Nexu pounces, bowling the blind Padawan over and rending him with claws and teeth. Jini doesn't hesitate any more, her duty is clear.

With a flash, she activates her lightsaber and uses the Force to propel herself towards the Nexu. The creature isn't caught off-guard though, and nimbly dodges Jini's opening strike. Satisfied that she has gotten the creature off Tarrin, Jini presses the wounded beast, keeping it focused on herself.

---

OOC: Jini takes a maneuver to draw her weapon and another (burning 2 strain) to engage. She then attacks the Nexu:

20:01, Today: Jini Relliri rolled no successes, 5 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2P 2B 2D 1S ((10(P), 8(P), 5(B), 5(B), 7(D), 2(D), 2(S))).

Well, shit. Let's use the 5 advantages to give the next next PC to attack a boost (for 1 advantage) as the Nexu is focused on Jini. The Nexu will also get a setback on its attack (2 advantages) and then Jini will spend the remaining advantages to recover the strain spent.

Den's lightsaber ignites and he swipes at the nexu with the glowing blade, but in his attempt to not hit his fellow padawan, he is unable to hit the creature.

12:15, Today: Den Jaxon rolled no successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2A 1P 2D 1S 2B with rolls of 5(A), 1(A), 6(P), 1(D), 5(D), 5(S), 1(B), 1(B).  Lightsaber.

  The Trandoshan ignited his lightsaber with a clawed finger, bringing the humming green blade to life as he charged into the fray with the Jedi Knight and his fellow padawan. The three slashed and tried to avoid each other and the whipping tail, teeth and claws of the nexu. Kalyx found an opening in its defense, and landed another deep gash across its back haunch. That injury turned the beasts rage into fear for its life. It used its last reserves of adrenaline to leap back toward the thorny bushes behind them, landing clear and running for the gap where they just passed.

  Both clone soldiers began to adjust their aim, sighting in on the fleeing creature. Boss switched to his external helmet speaker. "Commander, do we take out the target?"

---

OOC: Basically the one success put it at 18 of 20 wounds, and the two threat from Kalyx gave it a free manuever to leap to short range. The nexu is retreating.

[url=http://orokos.com/roll/534556]swing lightsaber[/url]: 1eP+2eA+2eD 1 success, 2 threat
[url=http://orokos.com/roll/534556]...th-th.png[/img][/url]

"There is no need to kill it," Jini says as she turns off her lightsaber. "It is already defeated," she says, her voice betraying how upset she is about having to harm more of the local wildlife. "We are on the chrono here, let's move before those droids come back."

   The Droid rose from the small combat crouch that she had adopted in case the nexu had come too close - when it came to wildlife, it was better to be safe than sorry - and stood up to her full height. "We should go, then."

Den's blade vanishes with a hiss as he watches the beast bound away in fear. He is disappointed that he was unable to help the creature, but they had to fend for themselves. He returns his hilt to its hiding place and nods. "Let's go."

Jini has plenty of time to think about how she, somehow, managed to fail her charges and the poor Nexu at the same time as she treks towards the compound. It is tough going, with no paths to follow they keep zig-zagging to find the best route through the wilderness, occasionally having to backtrack when she ends up leading the group into terrain that would either be too tough to traverse, or leave them too exposed to the droids flying above.

The Mon Calamari Jedi Knight can feel how her skin gets dryer and dryer and finds herself looking at the sky, hoping for cloud cover at least, and preferably rain. She then immediately berets herself for wishing for rain, since that might make her more comfortable but the others far less so.

All of them watch for any incoming Vulture droids, as well as for any ground-bound patrols or sensors. As they get closer, Jini slows them down to make sure they take a safe route and won’t be seen. As they get within eye-shot of the compound, the Jedi Knight stops, gathering the others around to plan for the incursion.

    The group came to the end of the gully as the afternoon wound down and the sun began to sink low in the eastern sky, casting long shadows across the rugged terrain. There was a series of berms with more prickly vegetation that the Republic group used for cover to check out the camp. From their vantage point, they can see the large Geonosian transport ship, about ninety meters long, on its extended landing skids in front of them several dozen meters away. They are facing near the front of the vessel, the rest extends to their left. There are two ramps opened up, one large one in the rear, and one in the middle of the bulbous ship. The group can see into the top of the ramp on the one at mid-ship, and there are three B2 Super battle droids guarding the entrance, their massive torso's with heavy armor plating made the B1's look like skinny little children with thin canine heads.

  There are a couple of groups of B1 battle droids that are wandering the perimeter, one group just passed to the right of the berm where the group came up from the gully. Farther off to the right, is a large cave entrance, big enough for a speeder bus to pass through. There is a group of four B1 units standing guard there, not part of the roving patrols.

---

OOC: The Geonosian ship is at medium range from your position (to the left & in front of you), the cave entrance is at long range (on the right side). Currently the two Vulture droids are not at camp so they must be in the air patrolling.

  Everyone can make a simple Discipline or Cool check to recover strain now, if needed, since that extra scene is over.

Den has a moment to catch his breath and regain his calm. The incident with the stressed creature had caused him great distress. Being able to center himself again helps clear his mind. He watches the scene ahead of him, taking note of all the details.

"Well, that looks interesting." He says, pointing towards the cave entrance. "Nothing suspicious about that at all." He turns to face Jini, "Should I try and use the force to find our target?"

14:36, Today: Den Jaxon rolled 2 successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2A with rolls of 4(A), 1(A).  2A 1D.

Jini is pleased when Den takes the initiative. Perhaps this will be a valuable exercise for the Padawans after all. "Please do. After that, we can discuss our plan of action," she says. She then falls silent, staring at the droids, the ship and the surroundings. She tries her best to connect with the Force and get hints of the location of the target, but finds that she has a hard time concentrating. All she finds are her own fears. Fears about failing the mission and about getting the Padawans under her command wounded or killed. She knows she should trust the Force, but her self-doubts are getting the better of her for now.


OOC: Recovering strain:
08:12, Today: Jini Relliri rolled 1 success, 3 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2P ((8(P), 10(P))).

Jini will try to use Seek on the target, but she won't let on she's doing that. She is hoping Den will come up with something and she can silently confirm he's correct.

08:15, Today: Jini Relliri rolled no successes, 3 dark force points using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2F ((7(F), 6(F))).

With only dark side pips the location of the target is clouded for now. Hopefully Den will do the same and succeed.

Den closes his eyes and tries to focus on their target. For the first time on this trip, he manages to clear his mind enough to reach out to the force and control his senses. It is almost clear where they need to go next. "I think I've found him."


07:47, Today: Den Jaxon rolled no successes, 2 light force points using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1F with rolls of 12(F).  Seek.

"He seems to be that way." Without opening his eyes, Den points north, in the direction they are facing. "And below us. Undground?" He opens his eyes. "I'd say around a kilometer away." A smile slowly appears on his face, "I'm not sure I've ever had such clear vision with the force before. I could almost see him!"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:36, Thu 03 Aug 2017.

   K1 took a moment in an attempt to adjust the limited sensor package she carried. She was a Communications and Protocol Droid, not something that was meant to be used in the field in a tactical sense. She scanned the area where Jaxon had indicated but found nothing that would indicate where the Droids or anyone else might be.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:05, Fri 04 Aug 2017.

The Mon Calamari Jedi looks at the area indicated by Den, somewhat embarrassed that the Padawan had been able to focus enough on the problem to locate the target when she had not. "Good, excellent," is all she manages to say as encouragement to the young man. "You did well," she adds, rather blandly, already focusing on the problem ahead.

"While we might be able to get through the droids if we attack, this would not be wise. There is a lot of droids between us and the entrance, and there could be a lot more on board the ship. I think we need to find another entrance, one that the droids might not know about, or guard as well." She turns to the others, Padawans and Clones. "Opinions? Options?"

  "I am not certain of how this works, Commander Rellri ..." the Droid offered, "But perhaps it might be possible to combine your senses - much like adding processing power to a computation droid's memory - to boost what you can do and find a less guarded entrance or one that isn't guarded at all? If you are worried, then this might be a good test of their Jedi powers."

Jini simply smiles at the droid. "It doesn't really work like that. It's ... complicated. The Force isn't a shortcut. We will just need to put in a bit of legwork and try to find another entrance." She looks at the others. "Unless one of you has a better idea?"

Tarrin had kept silent until this moment as he had become riddled with self-doubt.  He had attempted to stop the violence that would ensue with the nexu and had become injured himself instead.  His entire stance had seemed futile as they were forced to attack the creature anyway, and he himself had become injured as a result of it.  His left hand was pressed against his side to staunch the slow bleed and give a slight bit of pressure to support the cracked rib he could feel.  It was not one that would require a great deal of time to heal, but he did not want it to get worse if he could help it.

The entire situation had caused him to wonder if his plans were actually effective.  Maybe all he knew were theoretical applications that would not apply to the world outside of the Jedi Temple?  Still, when it became increasingly more apparent that the group was at an impasse, he took a deep breath, steeled himself, and turned to Jini to offer a suggestion.  Being brave was not always about being correct.  It was about having the courage to keep trying something new.

"If you would allow, Knight Relliri, I have a suggestion," the Miraluka began, inclining his head slightly in a sign of respect to her position.

Gesturing to the sky with a finger of his free right hand, he continued.  "What is most worrisome are those vulture droids we encountered earlier.  Any plan we make to assault the base will have to deal with them.  But, I believe I have an idea.  Let me take you through what I have thought about."

Lowering himself into a squat, Tarrin grimaced slightly at the pain in his side before he used his right index finger to trace out a rough shape in the sand to signify the compound before them.  "We will likely have to distract them and assault them at the same time.  Ideally, it would be preferable to have an operative with knowledge in explosives that could remain out of enemy sensors to plant charges in multiple locations to divert attention to multiple different locations."  To reference this, he pointed to three different locations around the compound in the sand, but did not mark them with his finger.  They were not part of the plan.

"Unfortunately, we do not have that, I believe.  Plus, we have the added problem of the vulture droids.  Perhaps this is the point at which we use the gunship itself as a distraction?  It should be able to provide direct fire to the compound and defend itself well from the vulture droids that go to engage it."  Using a finger, he drew an arc in the sand meant to represent the path of entry that the gunship would take.  "Since it is a distraction in a singular direction, however, we would need to assault the compound ourselves as well.  A calculated application of pressure."

He drew a straight line in the sand to a particular entrance on the opposite side of the compound that would likely have a less guarded defense as some guards left to attack the gunship.  "We may not have the forces to defeat every droid in the compound, but the goal with this plan is not to actually do so.  If we can make it seem that we have overwhelming forces by the way we play our forces, they may actually believe we have more coming.  If they believe this, they will be more likely to surrender and offer information more willingly."  A small smile began to play along Tarrin's lips.  "After all, we have four Jedi here.  It stands to reason we may have more forces at play than we may have.  They do not know the rank of each of us."

Looking up from where he was squatting in the sand, he inclined an eyebrow at Jini, his voice still catching with a slight bit of hesitation.  "What do you think?"

After failing to find an alternative way to get into the compound, hampered by the threat of the Vulture droids and the need to keep out of sight from the droids on the ground, Jini is feeling increasingly frustrated to the point that she is left with only two ideas. A direct assault on the base, or using herself and possibly the clones to create a diversion to get enough droids out to give the Padawans a chance to get through the remaining defenders and to their target. And the more she thought about it, the more suicidal both ideas sounded.

When Tarrin speaks up, he at first goes through the possibility of an assault and using distractions, but just like Jini, he can't get those plans to work out. And then he makes a very good point. The assault wouldn't need to actually work. It just had to look like it inevitably would. And with four Jedi, that illusion seems like something they can actually pull off.

The Mon Calamari Jedi Knight smiles for the first time in hours. "You may be on to something here, Tarrin," she says, excitement creeping into her voice. "If our gunship can lay down fire and we follow up with an assault, it is likely that they will attempt to surrender. It is a risk to take, we don't know how many Vulture droid they have, but it's a calculated one. They can't have too many for a mission like this."

She looks over the tall, thin grass at the droids. "The problem is, the leaders won't hesitate sacrificing the droids before attempting to surrender. We need to make the initial assault and then offer them a chance to surrender on terms somewhat more palatable than they could get if we mowed through all the droids and held our target at a blaster point. Do you think you can work out how to do that, Tarrin?"

Hearing the excitement build in Jini's voice, the Miraluka's self-doubt began to fade away.  Maybe the incident with the nexu was not going to be the norm with how things worked for him in the outside world?  Still, he did not allow himself to get out of hand.  He needed to make sure his thinking was clear.  Taking a moment to consider the Jedi Knight's words, he started to bend once again and winced.  Seeing this happen, Boss reached into his belt and tossed the blind Jedi a mechanical stimpack device.  Catching it, he smiled his gratitude to the clone trooper before injecting it into area next to the wound site.  He let the device do its work and the pain recede before he bent back into a crouch over the crudely-drawn battle plan in the sand once more.

"That is true, Knight Relliri," Tarrin began.  "The battle tactics of the Separatists have shown that they do not mind throwing their droids headfirst at any problem.  What we need to do is give them a show of force.  Shock and Awe, if you will."  Using his right index finger, he traced a small circle around the entrance he had pointed out earlier.  "We need to make an assault against this point like we mean business and enter here.  While this is similar to a frontal assault, it will have less risk as some of their forces will be diverted to providing fire from the ground at our gunship while the vulture droids attack it from the air.  That means we have less enemy presence to worry about.  I suggest that once we are inside, we have K1 slice the entrance to make sure that the forces they sent to deal with our gunship cannot re-engage us once we are inside.  We effectively cut off their reinforcements."

Pausing for a moment, the Miraluka crossed his arms while he considered the emotional disturbance this sort of thing would cause.  It was like playing any other tactical game that he was used to doing in the Jedi Temple.  Unfolding them, he gestured at the compound itself as he continued.  "Nothing seems to terrify enemy commanders more than being trapped in a building with a Jedi.  If there are four of us in there with them, it provides even more pressure.  We will have cut off their reinforcements, and they will believe we have more forces on the way with the manner in which we are assaulting them.  I do not know exactly how many forces they will have inside the compound, but we will have at least staved off the possibility of a pincer assault by locking their forces outside."

Folding his arms once more, Tarrin raised his right hand slightly to rest his index finger against his lips as his mind ran through what they knew about their target.  The general was human.  The Genosians' relationship with him may be tenuous at best.  That fact seemed like it could be a chink in their armor.  Letting his hand drop, he glanced upward at the Mon Calamari.  "Knight Relliri, we may be able to use the pressure we cause to create a rift between the general and those supporting him here.  If we get them to this particular point and make them aware that we are there for the general and not for them they may be willing to negotiate at that point.  Perhaps, we can even sweeten the deal by allowing them to keep some of the droids for themselves, if necessary.  They are worth a decent amount of credits.  However, I do not know how amenable the Senate would be to allowing weapons like these to fall into the hands of the Genosians.  But, I suppose that depends entirely on just how valuable a target the general is to them."  There were just too many X Factors to be able to tell completely how this would go, but if this was a game of tactics, this was what Tarrin would do.  Now, it was just a matter of seeing if it would play out that way in reality.

The young Miraluka stared at the map before concluding, "I would suggest that the Jedi take the fore with the troopers giving us supporting fire once the gunship has effectively distracted the enemy forces.  That will both allow us to push forward in an assault more effectively, and announce the visual fact that there are four Jedi here and not just one leading these forces.  They will then equate that with a much larger force than we have actually assaulting their compound."

Having finished his assessment, Tarrin stood from his crouched position, dusting off the knees of his synth leather pants with his hands.

Jini sighs, looking at the rest of the small team. "I don't see a better way to do this. What do the rest of you think? Anyone have a better idea?"

  The clone sergeant extricated himself carefully out of a thick bramble and crawled over toward the Mon Calamari Jedi. He switched his helmet comm to external speakers, but had the volume turned low so it can only be heard from a few feet away. "Ma'am, we agree with the plan. I have contacted the Reliance and gave them a sitrep. Captain Batch informed me that they have had engines on hot standby since we left the spaceport. They are ready and willing to assist. I can patch him into your comm frequency so you can give him the specific orders."

Den nods reluctantly. "As much as I would prefer not a head on strike, we may not have a choice in the matter." The padawan lets out a quiet breath, "We need to be concerned our target will flee and we'll have to find him again."

Jini is anything but certain about the plan, but if they don't take action they risk losing the general they've worked so hard to get close to. In her mind she can't help thinking if risking herself and the Padawans for the general is worth the risk, but she ignores the fear. They must all trust in the Force.

"Thanks CT-4808," she says. "Take Charlie with you and get ready for the assault. Set up as close as you can without getting spotted and get ready to lay down covering fire. When I give the signal, open up. We'll use the covering fire to engage the droids and hopefully take them out quickly."

The Mon-Calamari tries to project calm and confidence as she picks up her comlink and contacts Captain Batch. +++"Captain, we have a situation down here. The general seems to have more support than anticipated. We need you to get to our location and engage the Genosian ship as it sits on the ground. Target weapons and shields if you can. Our objective is not to destroy the ship but to convince the crew that their best option is surrender or retreat. Once they take off, use your best judgement on how to proceed. Be warned, there are some Vulture droids in the area. We encountered a patrol of two. I don't think there are many of them, but if they turn up in numbers you should retreat if the ship is at risk. Same if the CIS has reinforcements nearby that threaten your ship."+++

She waits for Captain Batch to acknowledge, and then turns to the Padawans. "I know this sounds risky, very risky, but if we want to finish this we need to trust the Force to guide us. We'll need to find the best way to get as close as we can before engaging the droids."

  The comm opens up for a reply and the sound of engines spinning up to speed can be heard in the background as the Clone ship captain responds. +++"Roger that Commander, the Reliance is clearing the spaceport now. ETA 12 minutes to close fire support range. We will disable the transport and engage any support craft. Reliance out." ++

---

OOC: I will need one more group Stealth roll during that time to hunker down and stay out of sight of the patrols. I am flipping a DP for this roll. Jini has stealth so it will be 2A 1P 1B 2S 1D 1C (1B for the berms, 3S for Sep forces patrolling and in sight).

   The Droid watched what was going on as the Knight was giving instructions to the Padawans and waited until the Jedi was finished before she spoke. "Knight Rellri, how shall I proceed to assist?"

Jini gives the droid an appraising look, slightly embarassed that she had forgotten the droid. "Until we get close to the base, if it is a base, perhaps you could coordinate the Reliance's attack? Unless there is something else you can think of. I admit I don't know your full capabilities."

   The Droid nodded as she noted the Jedi Knight's slight hesitation. "Of course, Master Rellri. I shall endeavour to assist in any way possible."

Den reaches for his lightsaber hilt and readies it, holding it lightly in his right hand. "I hope this works."

  The Jedi contingent and the clone soldiers hunkered down as best they could in the sparse vegetation, using the trio of berms for cover from the tinnies. They awaited for their close air support, which made the minutes feel like hours as the threat of patrols both ground and air and limited cover ran through their minds and processing units.

   Nine minutes into their twelve minute wait the sound of an approaching group of B1 battle droids came near them. Hoping they would not come past the berms where they would spot the group easily, they had no choice but to wait and see. Unfortunately, the clankers rounded the farthest berm to their left, coming into easy view. They marched around the corner and one of the canine looking droids looked up and spoke with a modulated voice that sounded shrill and comically accented in odd places. "Hey, you.. hold it right there.. Uh.."

---

OOC: I'm working on the vigilance rolls for the rest of the group and the enemy. Should have the initiative order up in a bit.

Glancing sideways, Tarrin felt the ripples of the droids through the Force just before they arrived--too late to do anything about it it.  They had been discovered, which meant the first part of their plan had failed.  They needed their gunship overhead now before their ground group became the distraction that would attract all the droids.  The only thing they could hope for now was a quick skirmish that would not draw too much attention.

Pushing his body forward, the young Miraluka's lightsaber came to life for the first time in a flash of bright blue in his right hand.  He used the momentary burst of light to distract the droid as he slashed it across the torso, leaving a charred, angry, glowing red scar on the metal chassis.  When the flash of light dissipated, he was gone, already having used his forward momentum to spin behind the droid, severing some of the connecting servos as he did so.  It would likely slow down the droid's reactions which would make it less likely to be able to perform lethal force against the rest of them.

"It seems we have company, everyone," he stated, bringing his lightsaber back up to the ready position for Form II with his lightsaber point extended toward his target's back.  "It would be rude of us to not accept their invitation."

With that, he sprung sideways on his back foot and swung his weapon arm to the side before shooting forward in the new direction with an extended arm in a brilliantly-clean thrust.  The bright blue blade of light pierced through another droid's chest and back, leaving the droid looking down and waving his hands as if unsure of what to do with the weapon in his chest before Tarrin flicked his wrist to the right and the lightsaber cleaved the droid's chassis to free itself which caused the droid to subsequently collapse into a heap.  When he turned back to the first one, he noticed that its head had bowed and it had already powered down.  Seeing another one approaching him while raising its blaster rifle, he kicked the droid and quirked an eyebrow as it started to wave its arms and lose its balance.

"These droids really aren't made very well, are they?" he asked as he quirked an eyebrow.  He had trained quite a bit to be prepared for dangers outside of the Jedi Temple, but now he felt like he had overprepared.

In a few moments, Tarrin had already cleaved a swath through the droid group and had done so in a fashion that would leave the path behind him open for Jini to execute her next movements more easily.

---

Taking 2 Strain to get weapon and engage.  Attacking the head droid with lightsaber.

09:18, Today: Tarrin Feruwi rolled 1 success, 4 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3A 1P 2D with rolls of 8(A), 8(A), 4(A), 6(P), 5(D), 2(D).  Lightsaber attack.

7 Damage with Breach, using 1 advantage (Crit 1) to activate Critical Injury on the droid group to instant kill a minion.  Believe that the damage dealt should kill another and injure a third.

Spending 2 more advantage to remove the strain I just gained.  Remaining 1 advantage will be spent to give a Boost die to Jini. 
This message was last edited by the player at 15:41, Sat 19 Aug 2017.

Right up until the moment the droids clear the berms, Jini fervently hopes the droids will miss them. The B1 units have terrible sensors, but as soon as they get a clear line of sight, the game is up. Tarrin runs out fast and engages the droids. Jini comes in right behind him, coming in on his flank to keep the droids from getting around him, were they to try.

At the last second she turns on her lightsaber and cleaves into the droids as they try to get the blaster rifles to bear, cleaving clean through one, and then another without stopping. "I hope that gunship is coming or we could be in trouble," she says as she uses the Force to push the two halves of one of the droids away from her and into another.

OOC: Jini uses a maneuver to close, and another to activate her weapon (burning 2 strain). She then attacks the closest droid with the boost from Tarrin. The boost came up blank, but the total came to 2 successes and 2 threats (http://orokos.com/roll/541736). Jini hits, doing 9 damage, breach 2. I assume this is enough to kill two B1s, if not I'll edit.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:09, Sat 19 Aug 2017.

This message was deleted by the player at 00:55, Mon 21 Aug 2017.

The fight was over almost before it had begun. Tarrin and Jini had cut down two droids each, and the patrol of four B1 battle droids was no more. "Quickly, get down!" Jini hissed, switching off her lightsaber and crouching. If the Force is with them the B2s might not have noticed the fight.

OOC: Stealth check as per GM's instructions resulted in 2 Successes but 3 Threats: http://orokos.com/roll/542295

Den is surprised at the efficiency of Jini and Tarrin, finding himself not even having a chance to ignite his lightsaber. He joins the others among the sparking and shattered remains of the droids, taking cover as the B2s approach.

  The Clone Sergeant kept his visor trained on the Super Battledroids standing guard at the starboard side ramp into the Geonosian vessel. He watched for any hint that the brief skirmish with the smaller battle droids roused them or the other B1's at the cave entrance . He didn’t notice any reaction at all to the situation and breathed a sigh of relief, until he spied something just past the aft end of the transport ship.

   CT-4805 swiveled his helmet and spoke to the others behind him through his external speaker. “It appears that we have not been spotted yet. But there is another patrol of battle droids is heading around our direction. I’m not sure if they will follow the same path, but they are moving in a direction that will take them to an area where we would be more exposed.”

---

OOC: From GM.. I went ahead and used the three threats for the additional troops heading your direction.

  The seconds seemed to elongate as they waited again, knowing the patrol of additional droid soldiers were vectoring in their direction. CT-101 faced the Sergeant and the two were apparently talking, but were on a private channel as the trooper nodded and looked back up into the bleak, pale blue sky above the rugged, ruddy brown terrain in the general direction of the capital city.

  Charlie switched his gaze back toward the west in the vicinity of where the disabled droids lie smoldering. He picked up his repeating blaster and spun the barrel, inspecting it and preparing it for use. He then went prone and aimed it in the area to the west of the trio of berms. “Get ready, the B1 patrol is just about to come into sight.”

  Boss added over his external helmet speaker,  “The Reliance is almost in range, but the Vulture droid ships have spotted them and are warning them off. They are trying to buy some time claiming they are having maintenance issues and are causing them to veer off course. ”

  Just as Boss finished updating the group, the B1 patrol rounded the corner. Two squads of three B1 units in the patrol, totaling six enemies. They noticed the destroyed battle droids, and one of them spoke up in the typical modulated voice, “hey, what happened to the Gamma 316 patrol?”  They look up and around in different directions and notice the group hiding behind the berms. “Uh oh. Contact the commander. We have intruders!”

---

OOC: We are in structured time again. Please roll initiative, Cool check for the Republic group, vigilance for the clankers.

As soon as Charlie voiced his warning, Tarrin flipped the switch on his lightsaber, the weapon's bright blue blade of light igniting back into view.  After the previous skirmish, he had decided to keep the metallic hilt in his right hand ready for any eventuality.

So, it came as no surprise that as soon as the B1 droid suggested contacting their commander, its head was severed clean from its chassis, electrical cables sputtering as the lightsaber blade passed through its body followed by the Miraluka's foot to kick the body out of the way as he cut himself a path into the patrol group.  Pivoting on his right foot, he brought his lightsaber back up to bear before performing a thrust directly through the chest of another B1 droid.

"Well then, I suppose that means we will have to buy our forces a little bit more time then, Boss!" Tarrin replied humorously.  "It's a good thing we have some 'clankers' to keep us company!"

With those words he spun, cleaving through the droid he had impaled to stand back in his ready position with his lightsaber held horizontally with the point facing forward.  With two quick motions of his arm, he had scored a hole into each of the shoulder joints of a third B1 unit.

---

10:45, Today: Tarrin Feruwi rolled 1 success, 1 advantage using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3A 1P 2D with rolls of 3(A), 5(A), 8(A), 9(P), 7(D), 8(D).  Lightsaber attack.

Maneuver + 2 Strain to make way to the B1 group and engage.  Successful hit for 7 damage with Breach 1.  Using the Advantage to activate Critical Injury to automatically destroy one unit's worth as well.

This should result in two droids dead and another severely injured.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:49, Wed 23 Aug 2017.

"Clones, target the B2s, Padawans, let's take out the B1s," Jini says quietly as she gets up. She quickly follows Tarrin's lead, jumping the last few meters towards the battle droids, parrying a pair of shots from their blaster rifles as she lands in the midst of them. She hacks one droid apart, using the Force to push the two halves into the one directly behind him.

OOC: Two maneuvers to move from medium range to engaged (burning 2 strain) and then attack on the undamaged group of B1s. Net result is 1 hit, doing a total of 8 damage, Breach 2. This puts down one droid and does 3 damage to another. http://orokos.com/roll/542975

Since the lightsaber hasn't left Den's hand, he activates it and joins the others into the fray, swinging his saber at the droids and watching one be split in half and another next to it be struck by his blade.

2 maneuvers to be engaged (2 strain) and attacking the droids. And I did 7 damage total (breach 1). Is that enough to finish this up?

12:49, Today: Den Jaxon rolled 2 successes using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2A 1P 2D with rolls of 4(A), 8(A), 1(P), 5(D), 4(D).  lightsaber.

  The Trandoshan padawan raised his head up in the air and opened his large mouth, barring his rows of sharp predatory teeth. He let out a noise that was a cross between a growl and hiss, then he charged into battle, behind his fellow Jedi looking for an opportunity. Den broke right toward Jini's group so he headed left toward Tarrin.

  He noticed Tarrin strike the third droid, but it remained standing, trying to swivel its blaster rifle in the blind Jedi's direction. Kalyx had his saber raised above his right shoulder and brought it down with great force, slicing diagonally through the B1's torso. He pulled the glowing weapon back out of its chest plate. The droid collapsed in a heap as it's core power unit ignited in a hail of sparks and smoke.

  The reptiloid checked for more threats, and let out a growl of frustration at the lack of enemies to satiate his battle lust.

---

OOC: Lightsaber attack - the group can make suggestions to his 2 advantages. Any ideas?

http://orokos.com/roll/543018 lightsaber attack  : 3eA+1eP+2eD 2 successes, 2 advantage
http://orokos.com/roll/543018

  Charlie saw the Jedi charge toward the half dozen clankers, he knew even the inexperienced padawans could handle those inferior units. He turned his attention to the Super Battledroids and they were more of a threat. He flipped the switch and the barrels spun up as he squeezed the trigger, keeping low as he could behind the cover of the berm and its prickly vegetation. Dozens of bolts of red energy flew across the arid terrain, but hit above his target from that distance. The bolts pinged off the hull armor of the ship leaving a bunch of scorch marks.

---

OOC: Firing light repeating blaster at Super battle droids, long range + boost from Kalyx

[url=http://orokos.com/roll/543025]light repeating blaster at B2[/url]: 2eP+1eA+3eD+1eB 0 successes
[url=http://orokos.com/roll/543025]...e/b--.png[/img][/url]

  Boss lined up at the target and was ready to fire his DC-15 rifle just as the bolts from Charlie hit the hull, causing the droids to move around just as he pulled the trigger. The shot missed the B2's wide torso by just a few millimeters. The shot skirted past the autonomous units, lighting up the interior of the ship briefly.

---

OOC: Firing blaster rifle at B2. Another advantage to spend.

http://orokos.com/roll/543029 blaster rifle at B2  : 2eP+1eA+3eD+1eB 1 failure, 1 advantage
http://orokos.com/roll/543029

forgot boost, which rolled a success, but still didn't get a success so still a miss.

  The Clone trooper took a small step farther up the berm to give himself a better angle, took aim and launched a barrage at the hatchway where the Super battledroids prepared for a counterattack. This time several of the red plasma struck the one of the tinnies. Some of them bounced off its thick chest armor plating, but a couple found their way into the joints, burning into the wiring and caused the droid to emit sparks and smoke from its midsection. It was still upright, though it appears to be in bad shape.

---

OOC: Hit 2 successes for 13 total, minus 6 soak for a total of 7 damage.

Character CT-101 "Charlie"
Campaign FotR
Description Charlie fires at B2 droid
Results 2eP+1eA+2eB+3eD: 2 successes, 1 threat [2eP=S, S/S] [1eA=S] [2eB=S/A, -] [3eD=F/F, Th, F/Th]

  Boss also re-calibrated his aim, and fired off another shot. This time his plasma bolt scored a hit in its right side, penetrating the armor and sent it into a spin. The barrel chested droid tumbled down the ramp, leaving a trail of hydraulic fluid and smoke in it's wake.

---

OOC: Firing at damaged B2, hit for 1 success, 1 advantage. 10 damage - 6 soak. 4 wounds enough to finish it.

Roller ordon68
Character CT-4805 "Boss"
Campaign FotR
Description Boss firing at damaged B2
Results 2eP+1eA+1eB+3eD: 1 success, 1 advantage [2eP=A/A, S/S] [1eA=A] [1eB=S] [3eD=F/F, Th, Th]

  The remaining two Super battledroids marched down the ramp and headed toward the berm. Part way down they dropped their arms, a small port slid open in their wrists, in unison, and they dispersed a torrent of blaster fire into the berm. They hit all around Charlie, some ping off his shoulder and helmet armor, but one penetrates into the armor joint searing the side of his neck, nearly knocking him off his feet.

---

OOC: Charlie took 5 wounds after his soak of 5.

  Alright the rest of the group can take actions, or stay in cover. The B2's are at Medium range now.

Using the covering fire from the clones, Jini slinks forward as the attention of the droids is elsewhere. As she breaks cover she starts to run before ending the run with a long Force-assisted leap ending beside the two lumbering battle droids. She swings her lightsaber at them as she sails through the air, but as one of them turns unexpectedly she misses the large B2 droid completely.

OOC: Again, two maneuvers to engage, burning 2 more strain. The attack failed, resulting in 0 Successes and 2 Advantages. I'll use one to pass a boost to the next character and one to recover strain.

http://orokos.com/roll/543259

Waiting for the Super Battledroids to finish their torrent of blaster fire, Tarrin took the opportunity to leap the berm once there was a pause in the fire.  Taking off at a low run, he held his bright blue lightsaber at a lower angle at his side as he glanced overhead at where Jini was leaping.  Coming in from the right, the two of them effectively performed a pincer maneuver against it--it had dodged away from Jini only to move directly into the line of the Miraluka's readied lightsaber.  Using the force of its own movement toward him along with his own force from his slash, Tarrin effectively sliced through the middle of the Super Battledroid causing its heavier torso to groan and collapse under its own weight.

Though, the padawan did not stop there.  Hopping on top of the downed Super Battledroid's torso with one foot, he planted it and forced himself into the air.  He launched himself with a spin at the last remaining Super Battledroid with an angled downward slash of his lightsaber.  It found its way into the shoulder joint, ripping through part of the droid's arm and well into its torso underneath its sensor array.

"Knight Relliri, please remind me to never look down on a mission on negotiation," Tarrin quipped with a wry smile.  "This is a bit more excitement than I thought we would be having."

As the young Miraluka turned to deliver the line to the Jedi Knight, the Super Battledroid he had just attacked raised its blaster arm as if to fire on his unprotected back before its movements became jerky and hesitating.  Within moments, it collapsed forward as the padawan walked toward Jini.  While his movements were unorthodox, there was no mistaking the fact that Tarrin was well on his way to becoming a Blademaster of some kind after downing so many droids in his first skirmish.

"I sincerely hope that the gunship is coming soon," he stated.  "Because I am pretty sure that otherwise we have become the distraction."

---

06:52, Today: Tarrin Feruwi rolled 2 successes, 4 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3A 1P 1B 2D with rolls of 1(A), 7(A), 8(A), 9(P), 5(B), 5(D), 6(D).  Lightsaber attack.

Two maneuvers (2 strain) to engage.  8 Damage with Breach 1.  That's enough to kill one.  I'll spend one Advantage to activate Critical Injury to destroy one Super Battledroid outright.  Two Advantages to clear the four strain that I currently have.  The last Advantage is open for anyone to activate a Boost if they would like.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:31, Thu 24 Aug 2017.

  The Trandoshan padawan watched his fellow Jedi cut down the remaining two Super battledroids, and searched for more enemies. He saw the half dozen B1's at the cave entrance raising their blaster rifles to shoot. He ran out full speed and put himself between the Jedi and the droids. They would get caught in the crossfire if they stayed there, especially if more troops appeared at the ramp. Kalyx hissed to his comrades, "Get to cover! I'll keep them occupied."

  Charlie pulled out a stimpack and injects himself with it to relieve the pain in his neck, as the B1 units fired at the large, scaly padawan...

---

OOC: He will take the first slot to cover the rest of the Jedi. Charlie will take the second slot to heal 5 wounds.

  I will resolve the B1 squads turns in a little bit. Let's hand tight so that K1 has a chance to catch up with everything that's going on.

    The Droid watched as the Jedi and her Padawans stepped into the battle, lightsabers igniting in a flash of colour. It was beautiful in a strange way, as the weapons quickly began to dispatch the advancing B1 models with relative ease.

   K1 placed a hand to one side of her head, opening the communication link with the ship. "Captain, this is K1T1, communications attache to Commander Rellri. She is expecting an update as to when you will be able to assist her with their attack on the Separatist battle droids. Please respond."

  Kalyx held his glowing, green lightsaber in front of him slashing it from side to side, then pointing it at the droids to threaten them. He moved slowly toward them as if ready to charge.

  The ploy worked well enough. The first group identified him as the greatest threat, and leveled the blasters held firm in their metallic hands. The three identical units fired together, sending several rounds of glowing darts sizzling toward the green-gold scaled padawan. Kalyx swung his firey, green blade in response, and managed to divert or dodge a couple, but several more struck him in his chest and shoulder, which spun him around as they scorched through his scales.

  The second squad of droids opened fire on the Trandoshan, but he moved sideways as he tried to regain his balance and managed to avoid the deadly volley of plasma. 

---

OOC: He was hit for 12 damage, soaked 5, so he has 7 wounds. Now the rest of the group can take actions.

http://orokos.com/roll/543562 blaster attack B1 squad 1 : 2eP+1eA+3eD 3 successes, 2 threat
http://orokos.com/roll/543562

http://orokos.com/roll/543563 blaster attack B1 squad 2 : 2eP+1eA+3eD+1eS 1 failure, 1 advantage
http://orokos.com/roll/543563      
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:06, Mon 28 Aug 2017.

With Kallu in the open and the gunship nowhere in sight, Jini knows they risk being cut down the longer they stay in the open. "Follow me," she shouts at the Padawans and runs towards the droids, zig-zagging slightly to make herself harder to hit.


OOC: Two maneuvers to run closer to the droids.

Den joins Jini in their charge towards the droids. It's not something he wants to do, but it's either fight or die at this point.

Two maneuvers to close in on the droids

As Den ran with Jini on her left flank, Tarrin ran on the Mon Calamari's right flank with his bright blue lightsaber pointed at a downward angle at his side.  The three of them formed a spearhead as they ran in zig-zag patterns as they made their way toward the droids.

"I'm beginning to think we may be on our own with most of this mission, Knight Relliri," the Miraluka stated as he dodged a few stray bolts of blaster fire.  "The gunship must have run into trouble if it hasn't arrived by now, and at this point we may as well push into the cave to find our target.  We have already taken care of pretty much every patrol."

---

Two maneuvers to close in on the droids.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 14:41, Mon 28 Aug 2017.

   K1 tried to keep up as best she could, but the Droid's ambulatory skill was nothing compared to the organics own running ability. She slowed as she listened to the reply of the Reliance, acknowledged the transmission, and opened another comm link to the rest of the group.

   "The ship has encountered two Vulture droid fighters and is in combat with them. The 'Reliance' is jamming their communications systems at the moment, and they should be able to arrive here in a few minutes."

---

OOC: One manoeuvre to keep up with the Jedi, and out of the line of fire.

  The clone sergeant watched in consternation as the Jedi moved into the line of fire. Muttering something in the confines of his helmet he ran down the berm, holding his rifle and snaked his way through the underbrush. He ascended the eastern berm where he kept behind limited cover and quickly fired some rounds of glowing energy toward the cave entrance. His haste and lack of time to aim caused his shots to find only the top lip of the cave wall.

OOC: 0 successes, total wash.

http://orokos.com/roll/544702 Boss firing blaster rifle at B1 squad 1  : 2eP+1eA+3eD 0 successes
http://orokos.com/roll/544702    

========================== ROUND 3 ============================
Initiative Order:

  PC
  PC
  Enemy
  Enemy
  PC
  PC
  PC
  PC
  PC
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:28, Mon 28 Aug 2017.

Jini doesn't stop moving. The droid's sensors pick her up too late. They open fire, but she quickly closes the distance with a long Force-assisted jump. As she lands, her lightsaber flashes, cutting down one droid. She lands with a thud and immediately spins trying to take out another droid, but the illogical droid advances rather than turn and she only manages to hit the back of the clanker with the tip of her lightsaber. She curses her lack of focus, but she can feel that all this running around is tough on her. When did I get so soft?


OOC: Again two maneuvers (for 2 strain) and attack against one B1 group. The attack resulted in 2 Successes and 2 Threats. The damage done is 9, Breach 2. http://orokos.com/roll/544707

Little did Jini realize that her erratic movement trying to catch up with the second droid had put her in the way of Tarrin's line of attack toward the second group.  Altering the path of his lightsaber swing to avoid hitting the Jedi Knight, the bright blue blade of light sailed just wide of the Mon Calamari's arm.  Unfortunately, it also sailed wide of the second group of B1 droids that he had been moving toward.

Realizing that his opportunity to attack had been missed, he altered the position of his body that was falling forward by landing on his hand and flipping over into a crouch on the other side of the group of B1 droids.  In doing so, he left the space in front of the droids wide open for a clear line of fire and at least three lines of attack.

It appeared even in recovering from a bad position, Tarrin had a good intuition for what was necessary for those fighting alongside him in a battlefield.

---

15:15, Today: Tarrin Feruwi rolled no successes, 3 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3A 1P 2D 1S with rolls of 6(A), 5(A), 7(A), 8(P), 8(D), 1(D), 4(S).  Lightsaber attack.

11:42, Today: Tarrin Feruwi rolled no successes, 2 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 1B with rolls of 5(B).  Realized I didn't roll the extra Boost for attacking a person in melee while they're holding ranged weapons.

I'll use the first two Advantages to regenerate two strain.

Using all three Advantages to provide the next three of our attackers Boosts.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:44, Tue 29 Aug 2017.

One of the B1's cried out in a shrill, modulated voice, "This isn't good!" as Jini landed among them.

 The remaining two of the first squad of battledroids that the Jedi Knight attacked, swiveled toward the Mon Calamari, one of them spilling lube oil from a massive gash in its back. He managed to join his fellow B1 and fired point blank, Jini dodged the injured one's attempt, but caught the shot from the second droids' volley across the equivalent of a human's left collarbone.

  The second squad turned around to face the blind Jedi and fired several relentless bursts of crimson. One nearly hit him in the chest, but accidentally hit off of his lightsaber. The stray bolt re-directed toward the other group of droids hitting the injured droid fighting Jini in the leg, shattering it and the droid fell to the hard rocky floor where it went permanently offline.

  The other two droids were also firing and one managed to his Tarrin's hilt, the heat from the plasma and force of the shot nearly caused him to lose his grip on the weapon. Only his Makashi training allowed him to maintain hold of his hilt.

OOC:  B1's managed to score a few hits on Jini, causing 11 damage before soak. Three threats give Jini and extra manuever.


http://orokos.com/roll/544732 firing blaster rifles at Jini : 3eA+3eD 2 successes, 3 threat

http://orokos.com/roll/544732

---

Group 2  failed to hit Tarrin, but got threats and a Triumph.


http://orokos.com/roll/544762 firing blaster rifles at Tarrin : 2eP+3eD 0 successes, 2 threat, 1 Triumph

http://orokos.com/roll/544762
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:26, Mon 28 Aug 2017.

Den doesn't realize how much his training is kicking it. The padawan is moving almost instinctively, his lightsaber moves fluidly, slicing through the droids.

With finesse, his blade cuts through one of their rifles as well as the arms holding it. The droid falls into a heap. Continuing his motion across, another droid is decapitated, its head and body tumbling limply. The last droid is caught with the tail end of Den's swing, finding itself in bad shape as the blade strikes its chest.


Engaged with squad 2.

Per conversations, rolled 3 successes and 3 advantages.

9 damage total, breach 1.  Spending 2 advantages to crit.

This message was last edited by the player at 21:56, Tue 29 Aug 2017.

  Kalyx moved from his position and ran toward the skirmish, keeping an eye out for any other patrols. He glanced ahead and saw Den slice through several more of the skinny automatons.

  Charlie and Boss kept their aim up at the droids, but with the Jedi moving around the targets, they didn't want to risk hitting their comrades, and appear to have everything well in hand. They keep watch on the ship and surrounding area.

---

OOC: Just K1 left for round 3..[Private to K1T1: You get a message from Captain Batch, the two vultures were destroyed, should be in firing range of the Geonosian ship in about a minute. We've taken some damage, but are still combat ready. ]

  K1 hurried as she tried to keep up with the Jedi Knight, her Padawans and the Clone troopers - all the while keeping in communications with the 'Reliance' and receiving updates from them along the way. It wasn't easy as the organics were faster in comparison, but the Protocol Droid kept moving nonetheless.

   The comlink chirped and she listened to another message, remarking with the word 'Understood' before she switched to the frequency that the Knight and the others used.

   "Commander Rellri, the 'Reliance' has finished their engagement with the Droid fighters. They report some damage, but the Separatist fighters are destroyed and will be able to assist you in a moment's time."

OOC: Using 1 manoeuvre to keep up with the group, attempting to avoid fire, should any Separatist fire in her direction.

Jini is thrown back when the droids manage to singe her with several blasts. She is just too slow to get out of the way and there are too many blasts. She manages to deflect most of them, prioritising the most dangerous, like Master Benial had instructed her, but she can't get them all.

Almost out of breath, wounded and feeling like things are falling apart, Jini reaches out with the Force, hoping to pull the two droids close enough to hit with her weapon. But she can't find the inner calm to perform the maneuver, and instead manages to push the droids away, out of reach. As the two droids recover, she takes a moment to try to center herself and manages to calm down a little.


OOC: Well that was a bad one. http://orokos.com/roll/545283

Even with a free boost for attacking troops using ranged weapons in melee, a free maneuver to aim from the droid's threat, a maneuver of her own to aim again, she still managed 0 hits and 3 advantages. Amazing. She will use all three advantages to recover some strain.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:20, Wed 30 Aug 2017.

  ============================ ROUND 4 =========================

Initiative Order:

  PC
  PC
  Enemy
  Enemy
  PC
  PC
  PC
  PC
  PC

  Jini has gone for the 1st slot of round 4, so one more can go.. then the enemy slots.

"Knight Relliri!" the Miraluka called out as he felt the fluctuations in the Force that told him of the injuries the Mon Calamari had been dealt.  His bright blue blade of light had only scored some minor injuries against the droids he was currently embattled with, and he managed to bring up his lightsaber behind his back just in time to deflect a stray blaster bolt from another droid that had gotten too close.  The bolt ricocheted off his lightsaber to cause a harmless burn mark against the ground.  While Miraluka could not see like humans could, they were also not restricted by the same forward cone of view as humans were.  It was like having eyes in the back of one's head as Miraluka could see the Force--a maneuver that was partially replicated by Force users of other races by feeling the flow of the Force around them.

Lashing forward suddenly with a kick to one of the droids to give himself a bit of breathing room, Tarrin tripped another one to provide an opening for the others behind him.  It felt like they were getting in over their heads now with no backup in sight. 

---

21:49, Wed 30 Aug: Tarrin Feruwi rolled no successes, 3 advantages using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 3A 1P 1B 2D with rolls of 8(A), 5(A), 7(A), 7(P), 1(B), 8(D), 8(D).  Lightsaber attack.

First two Advantages going to healing strain and the last one giving a Boost to the next attacker on our side.

  The droid that was pushed away from Jini kept firing relentlessly at the Mon Calamari as she centered herself. But there was just too many to block and a few sizzling plasma darts got through her defense. The droid fired too many shots which caused his gun to temporarily overheat.

  The damaged battledroid engaged with Tarrin brought his rifle up, but his internal systems were shorting out and his hands twitched causing erratic shots that missed their mark. The automaton's fluids were leaking making the cave floor slippery.

OOC: The attack on Jini hit, so 11 damage. I believe that amounts to 6 after a soak of 5? The 3 threat causes the gun to overheat and the effect is next turn he is moved to the end of the initiative order.

 For Tarrin, the attack missed, but 1 advantage gives a boost to the next enemy to take action.

 Now everyone else can go.. I believe Den and Kalyx. The clones are holding their fire so they don't hit the combatants.

B1 Squad 1
http://orokos.com/roll/546749]blaster rifle attack : 2eA+3eD 2 successes, 3 threat
http://orokos.com/roll/546749]

---

B1 squad 2
http://orokos.com/roll/546753]firing blaster rifle : 2eA+3eD 1 failure, 1 advantage
http://orokos.com/roll/546753]

After all the success Den was having, it quickly disappeared as Jini is hit. He becomes erratic in his swings and finds himself causing more harm than good.

These dice are against us.

05:57, Today: Den Jaxon rolled no successes, 1 threat using the Star Wars Edge of the Empire with a dice pool of 2A 1P 1B 2D with rolls of 4(A), 1(A), 1(P), 1(B), 3(D), 4(D).  Lightsaber.

  The clone troopers watched the battle unfolding at the cave entrance, they kept their weapons trained in the area, looking for a way to help the Jedi. Unfortunately that opportunity came in a bad way. The Mon Calamari shifted and ducked, blocked bolts and disabled a couple of the droids, but the last one hit her, and then again the droid kept firing, not giving her a chance to retaliate from the barrage. She managed to get in a quick jab, that did little more the score its durasteel frame.

  The B1 unit kept firing, Jini's lightsaber was out of position to block and a bolt struck across her temple, sending her backwards where she crumpled to the hard, rocky surface of the cave.

  Boss responded to the clear target of the B1 and kept his optical scope on it. After adjusting for drift, he opened fire again this time striking the droid center mass and sending it backward into a heap of smoldering metal.

  As soon as the Jedi Knight commander went down, Charlie's programmed medical training kicked in and he jumped to his feet and out of cover, going full speed toward the injured team leader. "Cover me Boss, the commander is down."

  Kalyx was running full tilt as his Jedi leader went down, spurring him to push himself harder. He charged into the melee growling loudly to get his fellow padawans to clear a path and he launched himself at the last automaton landing and spinning himself around with the momentum. His bright green blade effortlessly removed the canine-like robotic head from the B1 unit. The battledroid's body just went down to its knee joints and then fell forward onto it torso. The cavern noise was reduced to the light hum of the three sabers still ignited.

  Just as the last one fell, multiple explosions caused the cavern to shake and drop bits of loose rocks from the ceiling. Outside of the cave the group could see black smoke billowing from two spots on the Geonosian transport.   

  [Private to K1T1: Captain Batch called and said they've disabled engines and communications on the Geonosian vessel.]

---

OOC: end of structure time, no more enemies remain. Kalyx hit with one success and finished off the droid.

Character Kalyx
Campaign FotR
Description attacking last B1
Results 3eA+1eP+2eD: 1 success [3eA=S, A/A, -] [1eP=-] [2eD=Th, Th]

This message was last edited by the GM at 21:19, Wed 06 Sept 2017.

Den quickly moves to check on Jini. "She needs help!" He calls out to his companions. He kneels next to her, "Hang on, Jini."

  The clone trooper covered the distance swiftly, despite his bulky white armor and heavy weapon in his gloved hands. He nodded to Den as he stopped beside both of them. "I'm on it."  He dropped down to his knee joints and held up the red auto-injector at the side of the Mon Calamari's neck. The soldier pressed the button to inject the light blue liquid through her scaly skin. The cool bacta capsule spread quickly through her system. He quickly assessed the injuries, especially the nasty burn on her head that took her down.

   The Droid slowed as she watched several of the Separatist machines fire at the Jedi Knight and bolts struck the Mon Calamari's form and she was forced back by the impetus of the blaster's fire. A couple of the Padawans moved and attacked the Separatist droids, buoyed by the fire of the Republic soldiers. K1 opened the comm link to the Reliance and was about to call the ship in when the last of the enemy fell and explosions could be heard.

   "Situation is under control, Reliance, but if you possess a medical droid, please have it on standby. One member is down and will require medical attention."

Jini groans as the stims Charlie has injected her with start working. She lifts her head a little, the fish-like eyes swiveling to take in the situation. It is hard to decide which is worse, the pain from the blaster hit or the embarrassment from allowing herself to be taken down by a B1 battledroid while the padawans seemed mostly unhurt. The Jedi Knight decides to focus on the positive, that the padawans were all inn one piece.

She gingerly reaches out her hand and accepts Charlie's hand pulling her to her feet. "Thanks for that," she says, trying to act nonchalant about the whole thing. "I don't think there is any time to tend the wound now, so if you have another dose of whatever you gave me I would appreciate it," she says to Charlie.

She then looks at the others, trying to take in the situation. "What's our situation? Where is our ship? Tarrin, have you contacted the Genosian ship? We could just try to start by ordering them to surrender or be destroyed from the air."


OOC: Sorry for the delay. Jini is still badly wounded, but conscious.

   "The Reliance is on its way, Commander Rellri," K1 replied. "They have defeated the two Vulture droids that attacked them earlier, and should be landing shortly."

Den watches the jedi knight carefully, still concerned for Jini's well being. She might be up and moving, but it was obvious she was in bad shape. She probably would not survive another all out attack. "We've obviously lost the element of surprise. I don't think we have the manpower to request a surrender. We'll have to move quickly now before they find another way out of here."

"That's not necessarily the case, Den," the Miraluka responded.  When Jini had fallen, he had taken up a position to guard her and the others who had been seeing to her injury with his lightsaber still ignited and at the ready.  It appeared as if they were relatively safe from ambush for now.  Taking his left hand from his lightsaber hilt to hold it with just one hand, he gestured with his now free hand to the billowing smoke they could see coming from the Genosian ship.

"It seems like the Reliance has inflicted some damage.  I doubt they were expecting this kind of a response.  Perhaps it would be a good time to talk to them."

Setting his com frequency to an open channel, he began to speak into it with authority in his voice.

"This is Jedi Commander Tarrin Feruwi of the Republic.  You are surrounded and your escape routes have been cut off.  However, we are not here for you and have no wish to inflict further damage to you or your assets.  We are willing to negotiate for your surrender.  We only want General Daas Boggus, and we know he is there with you.  We await your response, but we are prepared to use force if necessary."

The padawan's aim was to use the fact that the ones guarding General Boggus had already lost a great deal of monetary value in losing the B1, B2, and Vulture Droids already sent against the Jedi and would be willing to surrender General Boggus simply by virtue of the fact that it was no longer profitable to keep him.  Especially when faced with the fact that they were in a losing situation.  And the amount of Jedi they had here seemed to imply the fact that they had more forces in wait than they actually had.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:24, Tue 12 Sept 2017.

  The Reliance set up a secure communication through the jamming to allow Tarrin's comlink access to the Geonosian ship with audio only.
 

Tarrin:

"This is Jedi Commander Tarrin Feruwi of the Republic.  You are surrounded and your escape routes have been cut off.  However, we are not here for you and have no wish to inflict further damage to you or your assets.  We are willing to negotiate for your surrender.  We only want General Daas Boggus, and we know he is there with you.  We await your response, but we are prepared to use force if necessary."

  The Separatist ship responded to the hail. ||"This is Captain Soney of the CIS Zergo. This unprovoked attack on a transport ship on a legitimate research mission to a CIS planet is an affront. This is why we have gone to war in the first place. You come in and attack us, provoke without warning and then ask to negotiate. This is highly illegal, even for the corrupt Republic. Stand down yourself and leave this system. We have monitored traffic in this system and there are no other Republic ships in the area. Your shipped appears to be a civilian ship and has somehow snuck through the cracks, but there is no such large force. We are far from helpless, and soon enough the planet's defense force will catch wind of this treacherous act!"||

"So, the hard way it is, then," Tarrin replied over the comm somewhat cavalierly.  "Well, I hope you don't regret the loss of more droids.  I won't be listening to your regrets later!"

With that, he switched off his comm before glancing over his shoulder at the others.  "Well then, it seems we will have to get the General on our own then," he stated evenly.  "So, we should prepare ourselves for the assault.  Knight Relliri, are you alright to lead?  Or would you prefer that I take point on this?"

What idiots.  He had given them a chance to surrender, but they would not take it.  No matter how reasonable he was.  Gripping his ignited lightsaber's hilt tightly with both hands before him, he prepared himself mentally for a more aggressive assault than he had anticipated having to perform.

They had brought this on themselves.

"Too bad, they are making the wrong choice. Let's leave the ship for our vessel, for now. They have a huge advantage since they are airborne already. We need to head into the tunnels and find the general, quickly," Jini says, igniting her lightsaber again, as much for light as for being ready, just as Charlie injects her with a second stimpack. This one stings a little, but she feels the pain diminishing. She is still badly hurt, but as she flexes her arms she knows she'll have to stay strong. Letting the padawans lead the way into danger is out of the question.

"Let's go," Jini says, leading the way into the tunnel. As she moves, she turns to K1. "Can you tell Captain Batch to fire on the enemy ship only if they attempt to take off, and make it clear to them that this is how it will be? And tell him to get the hell out of there if they get reinforcements."

    The Communications Droid slowed as she initiated the commlink back to the Reliance. "Captain, this is K1. Commander Rellri has informed me to tell you that the Geonosian ship is to be fired upon only if they make any attempt to retreat. I repeat, the enemy ship is only to be fired upon if they attempt to retreat."

   There was a pause, then the Droid spoke again. "You are also directed to initiate a get the hell out of there manoeuvre should any Separatist reinforcements arrive. Please acknowledge reciept of message."

  The clone captain acknowledged the directions given as ordered by Relliri via her droid proxy. His tone was respectful, but contained a tone of frustration. Whether is was for not destroying the CIS ship or ordering them to possibly abandon the ground force is uncertain to the slicer droid's sentient behavioral recognition programming.

  Batch added hearing reports in the background from the bridge crew, "The CIS ship has managed to re-route power and get it shields up. We are still jamming their comms, but they aren't as vulnerable anymore. If they power weapons up, we will attempt to disable them."

   "Understood, Captain." the Droid replied. She turned to look in Rellri's  direction before she spoke. "They have been able to jam their communications, Commander, but with their shield up they will be considerably more formidable than they were previously."

Den sighs, looking a little dejected. "More formidable? It was already pretty formidable out here." He does his best not to dwell on the bad news. "Let's get going before it gets any worse."

Jini steels herself, and focuses her thoughts on the general. She closes her eyes for a moment, which might make it seem like she's about to feint, but when the bulbous eyes of the Mon Calamari Jedi Knight open again, they are filled with determination.

"He's close. Half a mile or so, underground. We need to move through the lava tunnel. Stay true, the Force is with us and we will not fail. Follow me, leave the ship to our ship for now."

Jini brandishes her lightsaber, both for light and protection, and heads into the tunnel, without looking to see if the others follow.

Den raises his eyebrows, impressed how much Jini has bounced back from the trauma she took from the droids. He is glad to see it, but wonders if there could be consequences if she pushes too much. They do have a mission to accomplish, however. He hopes he has the will to push through and follow his mentor's example.

He sets aside those thoughts and follows behind quickly, lightsaber in hand, but not ignited.

After what had happened to Jini, there was no way that Tarrin was going to go into the tunnel without his lightsaber in hand and ignited.  The brilliant blue blade of light caused the dirt and rock of the tunnel to take on a slightly sapphire tint as he followed afterward.  One he caught up to the Mon Calamari, he would make sure that he walked beside her out of concern that she may not be able to defend herself appropriately considering the nasty blaster fire she had taken.  Jedi or not, they were only so durable.  She was likely injured but still trying to push herself forward in order to keep their morale from crashing on their first mission.

After all, that was what Tarrin himself would have done.

Still, injuries had a tendency to impair a person's ability to react quickly, and the Miraluka wanted to make sure he could help her if they ran into any trouble underground.  It would only take one misstep in order for her injuries to become permanent, and he wanted to make sure that did not happen.

   K1 followed in behind the others, content to bring up the rear of the group. She watched while the others walked into the tunnel, lit by the Padawan Feruwi's lightsabre. Occasionally while they walked, the Droid would point her sensors behind them, just to make sure that they were not being followed.