DreamLyrics™ Play-by-Post Forums Hall of Fame - Latest Top 10 completed games CFH: A Call For Heroes CFH12s: Surviving the Ion Storms

GM

The shuttleport is an open, elevated platform that shivers in the storm-force wind.

On one side of the platform is a Railcrawler terminal, the end of a conveyex line that runs from the operating base directly to the Ghidrah bunker.

And on the other side, abutting the landing pad itself is a hangar.

No sign of the TIE Echelon or remaining TIE/sf but there is a Xi-class light shuttle parked on the pad.

Smoke Team arrive on the landing pad. The hangar doors are closed against the storm and the light radiating from inside is red, flashing, alerted.

The wind carries the roar of Jet Trooper thrusters. There! A squad incoming from the far side of the base.

The landing pad is connected to the other platforms by a heavy-load bridge. No sign of Mountain Troopers yet, but outdoors they can harness their superior marksmanship (for Stormtroopers).

But then there is a hiss. Two red lightsabre blades and the EG-5 Jedi Hunter appears at the opposite bridgehead. Most of its red paintwork has bubbled off, leaving scorched chrome.

Bastian still wields a GL125 launcher but the slow moving high energy shells aren't likely to hit the droid.

"Guys, I can find the arrays we need, I know what to look for." He says, nodding to the hangar, before pointing his gun at the droid, "You just need to keep that thing off me."

Winta

"Sounds like a plan... " she replied to Bastian. "Go for it."

"Was this your friend from earlier?" she asked Preach as she walked in the direction of the droid, light sabre ignited, gun in her other hand.

She knew the gun wasn't going to be much use against the droid, but she had no idea who else might turn up.

"We're at the hanger," she said in into her com-link. "It's about to get hot. There's at least one EG-5 Jedi Hunter here. Winta out."

Preach


His violet blade ignited with a crackle from its flawed crystal. "Indeed." He agreed. "Let us go and make our introductions," he stepped along with her. Maybe two jedis could take the thing out. He continued to cough as he approached. The toxins were having an effect.

[Ghosted for Art in the Blood]

Sirra

Sure, she could baby-sit Bastian but he's a starfighter ace and should be able handle a few shelf-stackers.

Unlike Winta and Preach, Sirra has no lightsaber. But she's has practiced Force cloaking, warping light and sound to hide her passing. Not a Mind Trick so it should be at least partially effective against a droid.

This Jedi Hunter is plated with Beskar though. Shooting it with her disruptor will just result in dangerous ricochets, so she tightens it to her body with the sling and draws her clip-point vibrodaggers.

If she can get close enough, she can target the droid's joints.

"I will go wide." She mutters to Preach and Winta, knowing that they know her capabilities.

They need to scrap this droid before the Jet Troopers arrive.

[Still working on your next round-up. Looks vicious so far! ]

oh, wonderful

[pushes Winta into the front to better his chances of survival]

GM

The Jet Troopers roar through the storm towards the shuttleport. The holoimagers in their helmets show glowing blades duelling on the landing pad. Two red, one violet and one green.

The thrusters in their jetpacks strain against the storm.

The scene is darkness, driving rain, yellow light, and patches of glowering flame from the turbolaser's rampage.

Then a flash, lightning from ionised dust storm cuts through the air and one of the Jet Troopers is carbonised.

A storm is often most hazardous at the fringes. Anything airbourne is in jeopardy.

Winta lunges, thrusting her lightsaber at the droid's waist and chancing a shot at its eyes with her blaster pistol.

The droid blocks blade with blade and Winta's shot strikes the rim of its red photoreceptor, bouncing off but cracking the lense.

At the same time, Preach tries a draw cut across the droid's torso. A technique used against heavy battle armour, useless against Beskar plating but if the blade drags across arcetron joints or other soft points it could inflict critical damage.

Somehow the droid doesn't expect it, parrying the blade too obliquely, enabling the draw cut. Programmed by Count Dooku himself, can the droid have a weakness? Dooku was a grand master lightsaber duellist. In their first exchange in the turbolaser turret, the Jedi Hunter demonstrated to Preach that its armour is impervious to lightsabers. So why would Preach target its obviously armoured torso? Had it expected Preach to learn this lesson?

Indeed, in the game of Dejarik it is said that the most dangerous opponent to a grand master is a rank amateur. They know not what they do. There might be a strategy in this.

Preach's blade heats a lot of Beskar slicing into something, something buried in a chink. A wiring harness maybe. The droid falters, Preach and Winta redouble their effort.

But the droid's programming is deep. It knows if it is damaged, opponents will press their attack. Its systems are also designed with the expectation of lightsaber damage.

Circuits are rerouted within microseconds and it counters.

Preach takes a roundhouse kick to the solar plexus as Winta goes for the droid's neck. The droid sacrifices its off-hand and second lightsaber to snare Winta's blade...

Her blade is trapped in solid Beskar and molten metal for only a fraction of a second but long enough for the Jedi Hunter to slash her across the waist.

Searing pain, then blackness. Winta crumples to the ground, as Preach struggles to breathe. Winded by the blow and with a leaking breath mask, his vision is spotty, purplish. The Jedi Hunter jumps at him, lightsaber poised---

Nearby the air shimmers. Undetected by the droid, Sirra has circled wide to outflank it, cloaked by her Force power. Bastian has run for the hangar. Good, but now Sirra must make a split-second decision: Retain her stealth, let the droid attack Preach and hope the old Guardian can muster a defence as she closes for a backstab. Or break stealth, intercept the droid midair, a tackle or flying kick to knock it off-course.

As Winta lies crumpled in the rain, a warm glow fills her mind. Memories of her youth? Soulful black eyes. A presence she hasn't felt in a lifetime....

[Angrboða, Winta has filled her Physical stress track. That's lightsabers for you! But she must now make a Physical Defence (Brawn) roll to cling to life. Your next post will determine any extra Positive dice we add to that roll.

I'm interested in the time Winta spent with Grogu on Sorgan as a child. What might she have seen, learnt or just been exposed to, as Grogu's best friend for a week or two, that might help her now?]

Winta

In Winta's mind, the little green child waddled over to her, motioning her to hold out her arm. She did so, the deep gash in it exposed, blood welling up and spilling out, a steady stream dribbling to the ground, and the pain ...
Grogu held her arm, shut his eyes and concentrated, and the pain eased, the blood flow stopped.
She had known then, vaguely, what he had been doing to her.

Filled with the memory, she tried to do it herself, to herself.

Being what she is, Sirra has really, no choice. If it comes down to her or Preach, there is one who should survive. She launches aiming to knock it off balance and give preach a chance to press an attack.

[Ghosted for Pandemonium]

Preach

One moment a small victory, a good hit on the droid revealing a vulnerability or two, and then next moment Preach was in receipt of a servo-powered steel hoof in the chest.

Already choking, short on breath it was not what he needed right then. But that was how nature worked, how life evolved. Fighting to stay on his feet, ribcage feeling about as sturdy as an Ewok's basket, Preach brought up his lightsaber to defend himself.

"I am one with the Force and the Force is with me." He said with quiet determination, the old mantra of the Guardians of the Whills.

GM

Winta had seen Grogu heal with the Force as a child on Sorgan. Grogu had taught Luke, Luke had taught Leia and Leia had taught Winta.

Only the basic principles: A Jedi can transfer energy from themselves into another being to heal wounds. They can even sacrifice their own life, transferring all their energy to raise someone from the dead.

Healing oneself is a closely-related technique but more difficult, much like performing surgery on oneself.

Overwhelmed by physical shock, Winta thinks she hears Leia's voice speaking to her until blinking she realises Leia is speaking to her.

Meleenium rain hammers her visor. Through twitching eyelids, Winta sees General Leia Organa standing against the stormy sky. Leia glows, see-through, a ghost.

"You can heal yourself, Winta. Trust in the Force! Take this first step and K'Krukh will teach you to become all you can be."

Winta blinks. She sees the Jedi Hunter droid, one hand burnt scrap, the other still wielding a red lightsaber.

Attacking a vulnerable Preach it is intercepted by a shimmer in the air. Suddenly Sirra appears, landing a flying kick to the droid's neck.

The droid is knocked off-balance, rolling across the duracrete surface to its feet with Holowan-engineered precision.

Winta can only hear Leia's voice now. "Heal. K'Kruhk waits for you on Ajan Kloss."

Preach stands, shaking rain from his dreadlocks, lightsaber hissing as it reignites.

Sirra stays wide, vibrodaggers ready, edges flickering.

Winta's lightsaber skips over the ground and flies into Winta's grasp as she gets to her feet, other hand clutching her waist. She's in pain but she's alive.

The red droid jettisons its damaged hand leaving only the sharp steel spigot at its wrist.

How can Smoke Team beat this thing?

It's too fast for any one of them to push or throw around with the Force. But what about all three acting as one?

Three Force Awakened could co-ordinate, triangulate. If they can get a lock on the droid, they could lift it into the air, into the storm.

Or can they exploit a flaw in its programming? Programmed by a master lightsaber duellist to fight skilled opponents. Could unskilled, amateurish attacks confound it?

Either way they would have to communicate.

Winta

"I am back in the game," she announced to the others.


"Let's take it from three different directions at the same time."

"Can we throw it into the air?"

Preach

"Seems as a good a plan as any other." He moved so that he could aid the plan by attacking from an oblique angle and hopefully use a strong Force Push to lever it upward.

Sirra

She tries to maneuver triangular to the others and get behind it and then use her abilities to aid in the push.

“Hey Jedi-killer. I am no Jedi.”

GM

Rain shrouds the landing pad as Sirra, Preach and Winta face off against the EG-5 Jedi Hunter droid.

The three Force Awakened spread out, triangulating, and the droid's head swivels to assess each threat.

Its mistake is that it doesn't perceive them as one threat.

Sirra's quip snarls up its decision-making for a few vital miliseconds. She said she's not a Jedi but the droid has noted her cloaking power. Sirra has no lightsaber but are vibrodaggers any less danger to the chinks in its Beskar armour?

Ultimately, its focus returns to Preach. Cracked, red photoreceptors zoom in on the old Guardian. He's the eldest, he wears robes, he wields a lightsaber. The EG-5 legacy programming identifies Preach as a Jedi Knight: Priority target.

It pounces but is caught midair by an invisible, vice-like grip. Its softer, arcetron chassis squeals beneath the impervious Beskar.

Concentrating their wills, Winta, Preach and Sirra hoist the droid into the air by the power of the Force. From one or two directions, the reactive physics might have popped it loose, but not from three directions.

Lifted above the dorsal fin of the Xi-class shuttle parked on the landing pad, the droid is at a distance where the Force grip starts to weaken. It draws its arm back for a lightsaber throw and is struck by lightning.

A blinding flash as the ionised dust storm dumps a megalbar of energy into the droid.

When it falls to the ground, the Jedi Hunter is a smoking ruin of melted slag and bare Beskar plate. Seems the Darksiders that designed the EG-5 didn't want their own creation shielded against lightning.

Blaster fire strafes the landing pad as the Jet Troopers swoop in. But two plumes of rocket exhaust intercept them from the ground and BOOM! A high energy shell detonates in their midst.

Bastian looks in awe at the smoking barrels of his G125 launcher, looted from a dead Jet Trooper earlier but not truly appreciated until now.

"Dang!"

He has two Aratech branded boxes stuffed into a net-bag and slung over his shoulder.

Squads of Mountain Troopers are starting to converge on the shuttleport.

The turbolaser turret is knocked out. The Jedi Hunter is fried. You have the two Aratech arrays for Lieutenant Bek and Mirror Team have sabotaged Ghidrah. What's the plan now?

Preach

Concentrating he does all he can to assist against the hunter. When the lightning strikes it and it falls to the ground he gives a "whoop" of satisfaction. Only to break out into a fit of coughing. So much so that he misses the launch of the rockets. He does see the destruction and smiles for a moment.

"We need to meet the other team," he coughs lightly, "and get out of here." They need to get their information and parts where they needed to go. Staying her too long would jeopardize that mission.

GM

Bastian runs over to join the rest of Smoke Team, patting the bag on his shoulder.

"I got the arrays. Special 'buy now pay never' deal for Resistance members." He says, eyeing up the Xi-class shuttle.

They're a workhorse of the First Order fleet: hyperspace capable, sturdy, smooth fliers but not combat manoeuvrable and very lightly armed.

Hearing Preach cough, Bastian leans in.

"You OK, old timer?"

Blaster bolts start to zing off of the ground. Mountain Troopers are selected for their marksmanship and are equipped with the dreaded E-22 double-barrelled blaster rifle. They'll soon be laying down accurate, long range fire.

Preach

He tries to smile though the mask hides it well. "Mask took a hit, need to get the hell out of this nasty stuff," he waves his hand at the all-encompassing atmosphere.

The blaster shots remind him to take cover. "Boss," he calls to Winta "we all getting a ride home together?" His question raises the obvious do we cut and run thought. He wouldn't, he was a guardian. But he also knows missions can be more important than the people that go on them.

Winta

"Nicely done," she quietly commented on their success.

"Let's not leave anyone behind," she replied to unasked question. "But let's steal the shuttle and see if it is going to be a help first."

"Hey guys?" she called into the com link to the other group, "Where are you, and can we help?"

"Hey, Bek, we will be bugging out soon. Once we know where the others are - we'll meet there. We have the two Aratech arrays."

Sirra

She watches the ‘thing’ smote to smoldering ruins with some satisfaction, then leans over and spits on the smoldering remains. It represented so much she has come to despise, about the first order and a life she is not quite willing to admit is no longer her. After a moment of obvious self-reflection, she backs away.

She’s looks over at Bastian.

“Old timer is tougher, wiser and better. Not worried about the old timer.”

There was quite a bit of undertone of extra meaning there, but what exactly it was was not necessarily clear.

She yanks one more spare bit of metal from her eye socket and throws it down, then rolls her shoulders to loosen up.

She looks to Winta.

‘I have a message for JB. It would be something of a crime were I not able to deliver it.”

(Does she have any long range weapon herself? If so, while taking some cover pops off a few shots herself.)

[Resolved a couple of rounds here to push us ahead.

Sirra has her DXR-6b Disruptor Rifle. It can equal the range of anything the Mountain Trooper's have, although it's not as accurate as the ZOK-10 precision hunting blaster she used on Jakku.]

GM

There's plenty of mid-high cover for the Mountain Troopers built into the base's battlements. They duck into it and lay down a torrent of blaster fire.

The air is filled with red hot plasma, some smacking the hull of the Xi-class. The shuttle is locked but offers some cover. With its high dorsal attracting the lightning, channelling it into the power cells, it's the focal point on the landing pad.

Winta and Preach start blocking shots with their lightsabers and Sirra takes a knee, returning fire with her disruptor. One of her sizzling blue bolts disintegrates a hunk of duracrete and a trooper's entire arm.

Running for the shuttle, Bastian shoots wildly with the G125's inbuilt blaster. "I can over-ride the---"

A bolt ricochets off of the ground and hits him in the back of his flight helmet. He face-plants and skids like a ragdoll.

Sirra dodges a few shots aimed at her until a sniper team open up from the roof of the conveyex terminal with a DLT-19D. Winta throws out the Force, somehow slowing the bolt long enough for Sirra to tuck and roll under it. The sniper team will be a challenging long range target for her.

A squad of Mountain Troopers break from cover to advance until their blaster bolts are bounced back at them by Preach's lightsaber. One trooper is hit in the throat, the rest run for cover again.

Smoke Team hear someone on the comlink, barely audible above the storm and blasters.

«Too late, Smoke Team,» says Bek's mucoid voice over the comlink, «I'm here!»

The Bargon Flit rises up from the mountainside below in a level hover. The repulsorlifts scatter rain across the landing pad, blaster fire pings off its shields harmlessly.

Without gunners on board, the modified light freighter can't suppress the Mountain Troopers but the pilot does have one weapon they control.

The protruding derrick at the front of ship conceals a mass driver cannon.

With a deafening boom, the ship-killer fires, carving a tunnel through the rain, over the heads of the First Order. The hypersonic slug slams into the slope behind with a huge explosion of rock and dirt.

A cloud of debris rushes over the scene.

Smoke Team see the cyan lights of the Bargon Flit's cargo ramp as it opens in midair.

Preach

"Make a run for it," he coughs out as best he is able. He moves towards the fallen fighter pilot so that he can recover him, the arrays, and potentially leap to the ship himself.

Winta

"Go for it!" she responded to Peach's call.

"Sirra, get on board and deliver your message to JB. I'll cover you all as you get back to the ship," she added as she moved to take position between the pair and where the snipers had been, just in case any had survived, ready to deflect shots away.