Broken Men IC

[Ballista]

@Asha
The bike was in pretty rough shape when you started working on it, the fuel cells were mostly ruptured and one of the steering actuators seems to have snapped off. Most of the other damage is superficial, portions of the armor plating is melted off and the cockpit is a bit banged up.The navicomputer is completely fried though and you won't be able to repair it with the limited resources you possess.

In a couple of hours, you managed to seal off the intact portions of the fuel storage and repaired the actuators. The controls are relatively in good shape and the speeder seems all in all fairly serviceable.

[Down Comforter]

As Asha works on the bike, Taren checks on the prisoner periodically to make sure that she's doing alright.

[The-Mage-King]

Sliding the last grenade into his bandolier and folding the robes over his arm, Igniv picks up one of the comms, seeing if he can find the last few channels the comlink linked to, moving towards the edge of the makeshift camp to do so.

[Ballista]

The comm crackles to life, the green indicator light flashes to show the channel is active, but you don't here anything coming from the other end.

[Down Comforter]

"Alright, so lets go over where we are at. We have working coms, but we don't know what is out there and we can't listen in from here. My kit should let us pick up something once we get a bit closer to the source." Taren sits up a bit straighter and stretches, still sore from the blast. "We have too many people here for one trip with the speeders to the base or outpost that Igniv and Ren found, so we will have to make two fast trips, unless we can work something else out. We can deal with getting off-world once we have actual shelter. Thoughts?"

[Drugged dwarf]

"Yes!" Pipes in Asha. "If they realise that their scouting party has yet to return, they may send out more and more people until they find where we are. We only need about a day of rest to recover from all of this. In the meantime, we should try and scour their comms, see if we can't get a heads-up warning that they're looking for us, or even what their defenses are like at the moment."

[thechosen2nd]

Krish had been listening for a while with his eyes closed. Hearing no objections to his suggestion to relocate to the mountainside, he yawns silently and stands up.

"Well, I think that's enough talk. Time for action."

Krish digs around in his medkit and pulls out his repulsor-lift stretcher, and puts his hands on his hips as it hovers in front of him.

"So who's got some mesh tape to jury-rig this up to a bike? A liquid cable dispenser or some syntherope would work too. I figure we can just drag the sith lady here along behind one of the bikes on the first trip... to make sure it works. Then, me and two others can set up a camp while watching the prisoner, and whoever is driving the speeder with the stretcher in tow goes back to get whoever is left behind. Speaking of which... any volunteers?
"

[Drugged dwarf]

"not Me! I'm not very good in land bikes. I'll stay here, see what else I can scavenge.

also, give that here, I'll get to work on that"

Spoiler

Show

take 10 fixing speeder with tool kit and tape

[The-Mage-King]

"I figure we should probably leave two people behind, for the first trip, not just one." Igniv says, looking around at the group. "Might make anything that's out looking for us think twice,and should give them a little advantage, if they need it."

"I'd also suggest splitting up myself and the jedi, since three force users in one group is overdoing it."

[kind_of_a_ROBOT]

"I can stay, yeah. But, stay in comms, yeah?" Ren reaches for his belt and activates his comlink. He hefts the light blaster again, a bit nervously.

[Down Comforter]

Taren pauses, "Three force users? There are only the two of you here. The other died in the blast."

He stands up and steps towards the bikes, "I'll go with the advance group. I've got an encrypted comlink and the com pack, so I can get it set up while the second group gets picked up.

[Drugged dwarf]

"We can't leave two people behind - there isn't enough room on the speeders on a second trip for that.

However the person left behind can always find somewhere away from the crash site to hide."

[The-Mage-King]

Shooting a 'are you kidding me' look at Taren, Igniv interuppts.

"Leave a speeder behind. 4 people on three speeders for the first trip, then one heads back with the double speeder for the second."

[Drugged dwarf]

"Oh... of course. Heh. I didn't think of that. How embarassing.

Alright. I volunteer to stay behind with Taren. He's pretty handy in a fight, and I can work on salvaging."

[thechosen2nd]

"Sounds good to me. We will comm you and Taren when we find a suitable shelter. Then someone can go back to get you and lead you over. Who feels comfortable driving the jury-rigged speeder? I'm certainly no expert pilot, and would rather stick with one of the normal bikes..."

[kind_of_a_ROBOT]

Ren takes a few steps towards the jury-rigged speeder bike, laying his hand on the metal chasis. He glances back at the group, shrugging, "I"ll take it."

[thechosen2nd]

"Great. I'll lead the way."

Krish hops on a speeder bike and heads back towards the mountainside, taking a slightly roundabout approach to end up a short distance north of the hangar.

Spoiler

Show

Pilot: (1d20+5)[6]

Great. That's just great.

[kind_of_a_ROBOT]

Ren throws a leg over the speeder bike, and starts it up. He takes a deep breath, letting it out as a long sigh before gunning it and heading after Krish.

Spoiler

Show

Pilot: (1d20+9)[19]

[Drugged dwarf]

Asha watched them go, the baking heat of the sun glitsening off her brow as she waited for their dust to settle. Her work with the speeder was already done - now business was to be taken care off.

"At the risk of sounding like a total bitch", she said, quickly scouring the crash site for hard equipment,"I'm glad those guys are gone. Not every day you discover you were chosen to betray your own people. And force users aside, I don't think we should be involving the jedi council in republic business when it comes to such things.

"Anyway, Taren, now that we're going to have to get to know each other better, tell me - what brings a rather figety man like you to a warzone like this?"

Spoiler

Show

Take 10 for demolitionist talent to create frag grenade from debris of crash

[Down Comforter]

Taren laughs, "Fidgety am I? I suppose crash landing on an unknown planet and getting blown up five minutes after could do that."

He stands over the smoldering wreckage and pokes at it with a well-worn boot. "As for why I'm here? Easy enough I suppose. I was... am... an officer with the Republic. It's really just luck that I happened to be here as I get the feeling the squad that I was to be transferring to didn't survive the crash.

He sighs and checks on the trooper, "And you? What brings you to what seems to be the ass-end of the galaxy fighting?"

[Ballista]

The Expedition Team-
The way back to the hangar bay is uneventful, the sun rises from the east again, it's scorching rays beat down on your necks as your speeders easily traverse the dunes of the desert. However, as you make your final approach on the doors, Krish and Igniv see that the scene was not as it was when you had left almost a day ago. The hangar doors are left completely open, though it seemed as though it was blasted apart rather than purposely unlocked. The crater forms a neat circle that blows the doors outwards, leaving an opening just big enough for a speeder to barely fit through. From this distance you only see darkness inside the maw of the base, only silence is heard from within.

[kind_of_a_ROBOT]

Through the comms, over the sound of their speeder bikes, Ren exclaims, "Oh, this looks promising. I take it we're going in?

[thechosen2nd]

"I dunno. I think we're better off waiting for the other two. Igniv and I can wait here, while you grab Asha and Taren."

[The-Mage-King]

"Yeah. We'll find somewhere out of the way to wait." Igniv replies, nodding as he looks for a place to put his bike.


"And Ren? Try to hide your presence. There's something powerful here, and I don't think we want it to know we're here."

[kind_of_a_ROBOT]

"Got it." Ren turns the speeder about, and heads back to get Taren and Asha. He keeps his speed down, and his eyes open as he heads back to the crash site.

[Drugged dwarf]

"Me? Honestly?" She pauses for a while, seemingly in thought. "In an honest answer, I wanted to get away from the front lines for a while. Been a bit too rough on little old me for a bit, and once you have a few missions that don't go so well, you kind of want to take a break from the sithspit for a while.

I heard the pile of wreckage wanted a specialist class mechanic for maintenance repairs, so I hopped right on. It was far enough from the capital that I didn't have to worry too much about the war. Just pucker down, recharge, and go back in again ready as before.

She pauses slightly again, taking the time to look away, partially out of what her eyes might say that her lips do not.

"Speaking of which, an officer eh? Does that mean I get to call you Sir and all that? Also, what the hell are we supposed to do with the droid?"

[Down Comforter]

"I think formality died the same time that the Damocles did. Unless it's really needed, I'm content to speak my piece and not get shot." He scrubs at the dirt on his hands. "It's a shame that the front lines caught up with you here though. I had hoped for a bit of quiet before an actual deployment to the front as well." He smiles, "I guess the Sith knew who the real threat is."

"As for the droid... I think we should follow through on the mission he described. I've heard rumors of what happened at Malachor and the possibility of taking out the Sith homeworld is worth it, if it might end the war in a single blow. At the very least it would make the Sith think twice before hitting us again."

[Drugged dwarf]

"Yeah.. but don't you wonder? Why it chose us specifically? I mean, do you wonder, if maybe, with the fact that two of us are now dead, that maybe there is no way we can succeed in that mission?

What about if it counted for that. That we'd open fire on it when it spoke? How deep does this thing think for itself? It saved you, but had no reason to. Why? I'm just having my head filled with questions right now."

[Down Comforter]

"I prefer to think that those of us who are here are the best at what we do." He smirks, "I don't mind that thought." He pauses and looks off into the distance, "As for saving me, I figure that the two of us are the only ones who didn't open fire on it and, like most droids, it still needs to fulfill it's programming. In a way... I think it needs us."

[Drugged dwarf]

"Heh... guess you're right about that..."

She begun to sift through the wreckage, gathering her things into a pile for the trip.

"Speaking of people that need us... what do you think of the other crew. We've got ourselves some genuine lightsbering, force tossing jedi in here. That's usually good right?

I heard a rumour during the war that they could devastate whole armies all by themselves. That Ingiv fella doesn't seem the type, but give him time I'm sure he'll pull through...

Wait.. Ingiv is the jedi right? Or was it Ren? I got lost in a blur with the energy shots and the pain and all that."