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GM

Goazon Badlands. The flats.

The team rides fast through the shimmering heat haze, the Varactyls rising high on their toes for extra speed.

They are moving at about 50 km/h now, the scavengers camp not far ahead, minutes away.

Suddenly the comlinks crackle to life, barely audible above the wind and hollering of the reptavian mounts.

«...Attack. We are under attack. Do you copy, salvage team?» It's Fira Bon. The signal is garbled, sent out over short range, narrow band coms. Sensible.

The distinctive whoop of swoop bike engines can now be heard over the approaching dunes.

[At the speed of swoop bikes (300 km/h), they wouldn't have been in the area while you were up on high. They could have just arrived.]

Sirra

“Think if we kick it into gear we can flank them and hit them hard and fast? They probably wouldn’t be expecting it.”

2BB-2

The slightly derisive tone of the beeps from the BB-unit carried the message of the impossibility of kicking the flat-out running organic mounts into any sort of higher gear given they were already on tiptoes, even to those unfamiliar with binary.The following stanza was harder to interpret, save for the Ryllian and the one making the query in the first place: Expectation or no was moot, given the attacking force had only just arrived and didn't have the luxury of entrenching against a column of varactyls. Using his holoprojector, 2BB-2 displayed a 2-D map of their relative position to the encampment, with a countdown ETA in plain Aurebesh numerals so that someone who spoke the language had access to that information if they returned the distress call. Not content, the Droid tried to analyse the sound from both comms and environment to try and isolate the Swoop bike discrete units, and if possible locations, using the projected map for tactical display if he was able to get a usable signal out of all the noise.

Winta

"They'll know we have heard them, and that we'll do what we can," she shouted to the others.

"Let's avoid using comms, in case we give ourselves away."

"2BB-2, see if you can pick up comms or engine noise from the raiders, and we can see where they are coming from."

She knew that she was not a trained soldier, and knew what was best to do next.

"Amos!" she called. "You have tactical command!"

Jelly Bean

Jelly Bean continued to use her macrobinoculars and allowed her mount to follow in the pack as pack and herd animals do. Even if the curvature of the planet prevented her from seeing the actual swoop gang from ground level (@3 miles/ 5km on earth) she hoped she might see the dust trail rising higher in the sky

Jix

Jix is at the back in a rear guard position but now the threat is firmly at the front. Likely more of those swoop bikers.

He stares forward, looking for the first details that might indicate a target, whilst he takes a firm grip on the heavy blaster rifle.

Preach

He hunkered down and rode his sand beast as best as he was able. He had to get closer to their foes to help the citizens of the desert that supplied the bouncing sliding reptile mounts.

Amos

"We need intel first. Jelly Bean, get eyes on the camp with your glasses and give me the situation. Jix, keep your eyes on our sides and rear so we don't get surprised and flanked. Everyone get your weapons ready. Let me know if you have any explosives."

Jelly Bean

"On it Malorda," replied the Ryllian as she set the dials on her goggles. "Sooner we get there, get them swoopers done... the sooner we go bunkydunka," she added without glancing back. her focus was on the settings of her binocs. When Amos asked about explosives, she absently raised a hand, but Amos was ahead of her and certainly couldn't see her hand raised nor hear her hand raised. she chuckled as she shook her lekku.

"oh, mee gotsa wompa," she called out in Huttese.

Jix

He didn't question orders. The hive are obedient. Success depends on eac doing their assigned duty. It is no different here.

"Watching flanks" he confirms, turning his attention to rear and sides, trusting that others are watching the front.

Sirra

“Got it.”

She pulls her weapon, and even on the go does a quick and efficient ‘field check’ of it.

She looks over at Amos.

“Decapitation strike on priority targets, if identifiable?”

GM

Jelly Bean rides ahead of the others, her mount barely slowing as it scales the nearest dune between them and the Starlight Wanderer.

She crests the top, reaching her scanner goggles, but must suddenly throw herself from her seat as a swoop bike screams right over her, nearly taking her head off.

Strus Clan, no doubt about it. The hybrid speeder/swoop design is distinctive, custom built from junk parts, very Jakku. The rider is masked, wearing a biker jacket.

A second later a huge red plasma bolt strikes it with such massive energy, the bike and the rider are vapourised by the explosion, turned into a shower of charcoal nuggets.

Everyone hears the blast from the turbolaser a moment later.

If the rest of the team jockey, they can catch up with Jelly Bean.

When Jelly Bean pulls her face out of the sand, she sees a scene of chaotic battle.

About ten swoop bikes circle the camp at high speed, their riders firing blasters haphazardly at the defenders.

This inaccuate fire keeps the defenders in cover though. More troubling are another ten or so bikes dumped around the camp, some with their riders still taking cover behind them. The other riders are advancing on the camp, eeking out of the blind spots and searching for entry points.

The turbolaser traverses slowly but it's operational.

The battle must have only been raging for a minute or two.

«Salvage team. Hang tight, we're coming to get you.» Fira Bon's voice again over the comlink.

Mhar-li makes a break for the Quadjumper, capping off with her blaster pistol. Fira Bon lays down suppressing fire with her carbine, whilst Tiras is up in the lookout post, sniping with his slugthrower.

Bormo must be inside somewhere, guarding an entry point.

Jelly Bean

Spitting sand, Jelly bean rolls over and draws her own blaster, ready to roll over again at the crest of the dune. The rest of her team are riding up hard to get into position. She taps the googles off so she can see those close to her without the sudden headache rush.

She relays what she sees but Amos, Jix, and Sirra no doubt are among the first and can also see it. Her status report is just for everyone's benefit. As she carries the commlink equipment, she also relays the message from Fira Bon.

Then she adds her input to Amos and Winta, "Maybe they don't know we're committed to helping with this fight."

Clearly the underlying desire in JB's voice was clear. She wanted to fight, the Resistance owed the Scavengers that much. It was what they discussed. It was what they agreed to do. She spit again, the sand was everywhere.

"Can't leave them swinging, Amos... Winta. If Fira's crew pulls out now then the scavengers will be overrun. That turbolaser is slow to move and it only has a few shots left in it. Sirra and Jix have long guns. We can come up hard from the rear flank and pull their focus. Catch them in a crossfire. What do I tell them?"

Jelly Bean looked from Amos to Winta. The Jedi had given tactical command over to Amos, but this decision was about more than tactical. it was about balancing their overall mission priority with the lives of people who got caught in the storm that comes with helping the Resistance fight the First Order.

Winta


Winta stood downslope from Jelly Bean, keeping the dune between her and the action. She was dismounted now and with burning beam of yellow green light-sabre in her hand.


"I agree," she replied to Jelly Bean.

She activated her com-link to Fira Bon. "We're coming to you. Don't cut and run. We'll see this through."


She looked over to Amos, "Let's try not to get the Varactyls killed."

"Take the fight to them, or make them bring the fight to us?" She asked. "Your call."

Preach

He was not a hardened battle commander like Amos, so he kept his mouth shut while his mind wandered. He would have liked to ride the creature to the cowards setting up behind their bikes. Yet Winta had a good point, as she always did. They couldn't cause the death of the creatures not just because they lived, but because of what the loss would mean to the locals. That might hurt more than losing this battle. He kept his creature using the dunes for cover. He would wait for orders, then he would do what he could to protect the people, that was his first calling long before he learned enough about the force and it awoke in him.

Jix

He takes a last look at their flanks before dismounting and moving to a position where he can target the enemy. They have their new orders now, time to engage.

The dune is cover for their mounts, and for them, assuming that they will be in range when they reach the crest.

Jelly Bean

From her vantage point at the crest of the dune, Jelly Bean could see the entirety of the battle as it was unfolding. She didn't have a long gun like Sirra, or even a combat rifle like Jix. Just a light repeater. She was good with it, deadly accurate for the most part. But, that was probably due to her physical skills...

Once she had asked the Overseer of Tanga the Hutt's slave girls, Ohbi'Babal, if she could learn other skills, make herself more useful. She had hoped to find a way out of the life she currently lived. After all, the Overseer was a Twi'lek male and he had a better life than she did, and maybe he could see her plight. Why not try to improve your own lot in life, right? She could still remember the stinging words of the Overseer. "What need have you to learn. You know all you need to be what the Hutt wants from you. All you know is dancing and farkling... and maybe you not as good at those as you think..."

She had learned a lot since her escape. She made a note to try her hand with one of those rifles. The more she knew, and the more she could do, then the more useful to her team she would be.

"Can we do both," she hesitantly asked as she continued to watch the scene down at the Starlight Wanderer. "Get some of us down there from behind them and pull them in our direction. Get them to come at us, then Sirra and Jix plink them from distance as they get close to us, but farther from the camp now. Surprise them. Maybe we get a few shots in too. Just a thought."

Amos

He lay there for a few moments, profile hidden from view from below as he fixed them in his mind.

"Okay. Long guns I want you to start in on the scum hidden behind their bikes. That should pull some of the swoop bikers up toward us. Call out when they get within range of the grenades. We will be hidden just below the crest of the dune and will join in with the shorter range weapons. That will spook them into thinking there is a superior force and they are flanked. Take out any obvious leaders first. Once they are down the rest of the bastards should scatter."

Winta

She walked over to stand downslope behind Jix.

"I'm standing behind you Jix," she said, "low enough behind the crest that they can't see me. I'll watch flanks and rear."

"Let me know if you are going to get rushed, and I'll come and join you."

Sirra

She offers up a grim smile.

“Yes. That I can do.”

She starts moving a little closer, into her effective range, then takes a knee and starts sighting for targets, looking for anyone who seems to be giving orders or otherwise leading. Failing that, she takes aim on the best equipped looking one,

“Signal me when ready.”

Jelly Bean

JB knew what group she was in... She had pretty much volunteered for it. Short range. She liked Amos' plan as well, get the short range shooters in place and then use the long guns to bait them into racing into their kill box. She slid down the dune crest a little to get to Babay. She put a hand on the sphere, gentle and slow.

"You be safe... You are everything now... be careful little one."

With that said, she was ready to get over the crest of this dune and move closer to the camp with Amos.

Amos

He tethered the beasts so they would not run and moved into position with his scatter gun in one hand and the stun grenade in the other.

2BB-2

A brief bleep of acknowledgement from the droid. Size condescension aside, the Ryllian was correct that it would be foolish to risk the hard-won data vital to the greater fight. Still, as a Resistance operative in good standing, sitting out was not an option, and the bulk of his weaponisable utility lacked the range for a blaster fight. So, he hung back with the snipers, prepping several nasty surprises for any that approached, and providing tactical data and support for those looking for targets, as well as warning about attack from above.

Jix

He does not turn, just nods. Then he glances at Sirra before moving forward, abreast of her, rifle at the ready. Those behind the bikes are his target. Bikes too as they are emotionally invested in them. Engage, enrage, entice to follow.

It is a good plan.

Preach

He slid from the back of the mount and tethered it with the other that Amos had. Then he moved to one side of the dune so that when the time came, he could move around it to attack. He didn't draw his lightsaber it wasn't needed yet. When it was, it would be in his hand. Till then he tried to listen so that he could tell when they were coming.

GM

The team are in position on the same dune that Sirra and Tiras had shot at earlier in the day. The piece of scrap metal is still there, half buried and scarred by burns and bullets. The steelpeckers are long gone.

Sirra and the Verpine Jix kneel at the crest, priming their long rifles for action. Winta close behind them, keeping her head down.

Everyone is converged in the trough, with the Varactyls and closer range firepower. 2BB-2's antenna is fully extended, head swivelling slowly like a radar.

The turbolaser turret might not be able to track onto the swoop bikes fast enough for a shot, but it does force the swoop bikes to keep the throttle open, giving them scarcely any time on target.

Under heavy fire, Mhar-li scales the ladder to the Quadjumper's rear hatch. As she's turning the locking lever, a blaster bolt strikes her in the side like a kidney punch. Her foot slips and she ends up swinging by the lever.

On the opposite side of the wreck, the Strus Clan concentrate their fire at the defenders around what was once the aft airlock.

These enforcers are wearing cool air respirators and carrying old Stormtrooper blaster rifles, fixed up with junk parts. They pack a punch.

The first three reach the airlock at about the same time as Sirra and Jix are ready to fire.

They're surprised as the Abednedo priest jumps out at them with a stave, thumping the first in the chest---a static discharge. The enforcer is thrown violently onto his back---and the second in the bukee-bags, eliminating him as a threat or future father.

Before the other two can open fire, they're sniped by Sirra's hunting blaster, the ZOK-10 punching smoking holes straight through their torsos.

The other Strus Clan within that same arc of fire are suddenly twisting round, frantically trying to locate the shooter. Instead they get incoming fire from Jix, who lights them up with her heavy blaster rifle, hitting sand, swoops, swoops, sand, wreck. The Strus dive for cover.

Almost immediately, the swoop bikes in the air are widening their circle to encompass these new combatants. Rather than hurtle straight at the dune, they attack from an obtuse angle, dropping below the crest and following its crest on their attack run to avoid the turbolaser. It still means they won't see the Varactyls until they're on top of them.

Fira Bon via comlink: «We're getting you outta here, you copy. Your mission is too damn important!»

By now, Mhar-li has pulled herself in through the rear hatch and the Sunstrider's engines are powering up. As it lifts off, the magnalocks disengage, dumping the cargo container with a whoosh of sand.



[Characters with the Varactyls have four incoming swoop bikes at about head height and 120 km/h]

Preach

He turned knowing from the sounds of the bikes where they were coming from. His eyes closed, he centered himself, and with a quick flip his raw violet blade burst into existence in from of him. Whether they shot at him or they tried to run him down, they would meet a similar fate. Their bikes couldn't take a hit from his lightsaber, nor could they. He could send their energy blasts back at them as well. He opened his eyes ready to act. He couldn't leave yet, they had promised to help, and he would.

<OOC: Let me know when they are in scatter blaster range and stun grenade range.>

Winta

Her back to the dune, she watched to left and right, lightsabre in hand, her mission to protect the two shooters behind her.

Jelly Bean

Watching from the crest's edge, Jelly Bean could see the Strus gang swinging out wide along the sweep of the dune to cut around it and come at them down over the backline and into the trough. Of course, they are trying to get a lateral line to prevent anyone drawing a bead on them going straight away.

"E chut ta, sleemos!"

They will come through the trough and high speed and at short range it will be very hard to fire ahead of them. Jelly Bean rolls sideways again, and lets the momentum drag her down the dune until she can get to her feet. With her blaster in one hand, she takes off at a hard sprint for one of the Varactyls. Her free hand pulls the thermal grenade, thumbs it into the magnetic trigger position, and hopes the Force is with her now.

Those swoops were going to come around and over them fast, and maybe they didn't know anyone was in the trough. Her guess was they were going to try to get a line on Jix and Sirra, by cutting across their faces at close range. That's who they saw firing at them. It would be hard for either of them to react in close with those long guns. Four swoop bikes would be a lot for those in the trough, especially moving overhead so fast. And once the Varactyls were spooked, it would be chaos.

There was no time to tell anyone her plan... No time to ask for permission. She wasn't even sure it was a plan, and it probably wouldn't work anyway. It would take every bit of her athleticism and agility to pull it off. To hear her own heart beat, to feel the burning sun and the heated air upon her skin, she focused on the task at hand and trusted that feeling inside her. The little ball of fury in her heart and in her mind's eye. that place where she could find calm. Maz Kanata had taught her to find it, to focus on it, and to channel it when she needed it most.

She ran for the Varactyls to use one as a springboard, and then launch herself in the air, twisting like a dancer in an acrobatic maneuver, as the Swoops went over the top... Attach the grenade to a swoop bike passing over her, or throw it at a bike and let the magnet trigger do the work for her if she wasn't close enough to touch. All of her focus was on this and this alone.



(OOC: looking for the heroic move, with the risk of self sacrifice- charge me Destiny points or whatever else you deem necessary based on the narrative- and let's see where the dice fall.)

2BB-2

Incoming hostile, vector marked and tracked. Velocity accounted for. Rider seat restraints not apparent. Deploying grapple, objective unseat rider.

The BB-unit aligned itself into the path of an incoming Strus ganger, to maximise the impact of the grapple fired along that path, minimise the profile of the attack and opportunity to dodge, and to prevent being catapulted along with the head on kinetic momentum colliding between the grapple and rider providing a degree of cancellation.

[KenSeg, at their speed they will be in range now-ish. So let us know what Amos's action will be. A combat round in this system is 10 seconds.]

Jix

He remains where he is, looking for more targets and trusting those behind him to provide cover if needed. He knows his job is to attract attention and take out whatever thread he can. He looks for the easiest targets, including bikes, with the idea of reducing their effectiveness.

Amos

The lanky lawman eyes the incoming swoop bikes and pulls back his arm, activating the stun grenade trigger and throwing it so that it hits amidst them as the countdown ends. He will follow that up by swinging the scatter blaster up and firing on any incoming bikers.

Sirra, in the zone, moves from one target to the next, picking out the next highest percentage target, be that bike or biker, and working to remove it.

GM

Jix turns her side of the Starlight Wanderer into a kill corridor, forcing the Strus Clan there to abort their assault on the scavengers. Instead they have to reverse cover and form some plan to combat the heavy blaster fire pinning them down. Their return fire is way off and it doesn't take them long to decide the only option is to rush Jix's position. They have to abandon cover, some opting to circle around, others to scramble up the slip-face of the dune. As plans go, it's pretty desperate.

On the far side of the camp, the shooters in the lookout post surpass themselves. Inspired by Sirra and Tiras to push the limits of their skill, they pick off a Strus Clan advance before it can dig-in behind the Treadable in the garage.

Sirra would be pleased but she's busy tracking a flight of four skull-festooned swoop bikes coming in fast from the east. Her cyber-eye displays a ghost reticle ahead of her marked target, showing how much lead to give.

She shoots and a second later the bolt hits, blowing a Strus Clan biker's arm off. He tumbles out of the saddle, his swoop bike lurches out of control, breaking up the formation.

In the trough behind the dune, the rest of the team hustle into position to receive visitors, mindful not to draw fire onto the Varactyls even if they would be solid cover.

A moment later the air is suddenly full of howling swoop bikes and hot plasma.

Most of the enemy fire is focused on the top of the dune. Sirra nearly loses a few toes as the sand explodes around her feet and Jix is hit in the backpack, but Winta's lightsaber fends off the worst, batting away blaster bolts like it's sports practice and making a challenging target of herself.

The lowest flying swoops cut close to dune and are strung out in a line to carve through the apex.

Rounding the dune, they're still focused on the action at the crest when something explodes in their midst; a sequenced burst of brilliant white light that overloads neurons.

One biker slumps over his handlebars, out cold, and ploughs his swoop straight into the earth at full speed, ending life as a plume of sand, rock and burning shrapnel.

The others swerve, woozily trying to maintain control. Stun grenades are designed for use in confined spaces but Amos has clearly used this tactic before. (And people think Dantooine is a boring backwater!)

A disorientated biker zooms over the top of the Varactyls, low enough for a jumping Jelly Bean to slap her grenade onto the fairing of his swoop bike.

Like a solar flare, the shaped thermal charge slices the bike and its rider in half at the waist. Still powered by repulsorlift, the smoking rear of the bike flips straight into the path of another Strus Clan biker who dies in the fireball.

The final low flying biker ducks under the explosion, glancing back over his shoulder at it. Goggle-eyes to the front and he's amazed to see an old crusty in desert robes, dead ahead, brandishing a violet laser sword...

Preach's lightsaber cuts through the metal frame with a shower of sparks, lopping off the vane-like pitch stabilisers. The bike is turned into a rocket, rearing up and shooting skywards, trailing black smoke and a Wilhem scream from the rider.

On the crest of the dune, Winta has lightsaber in one hand, her Glie-44 pistol in the other and uses it to goad a flight of swoop bikes into a second attack run. Jix is ready, the swoops diving straight into her line of fire. The heavy blaster rifle punches through a power cell and KA-BOOM! another swoop bike falls from the sky in pieces.

Nearby, Sirra snaps off shots with her hunting blaster, sniping Strus Clan off the backs of their bikes as they zoom by. Swerving to avoid one of his own brothers, one rider U-turns and opens the throttle, intending to run down the sniper.

As he flies past the Varactyls, he's tracked by 2BB-2, who fires his grapnel-harpoon. With a thunk it attaches to the back of the rider's helmet and cable starts spooling out of the BB-unit at an alarming rate.

The droid might make some trepidatious sounds as he extends his multitool and hooks onto the tack of one of the Varactyls. The cable goes taut, 2BB-2 bounces into the air, the Varactyl looks confused and not far away the swoop biker's head is yanked off.

Then, the Sunstrider roars over the top of the dune, gouging the sands with its landing gear. It swings around and touches down near to the Varactyls, the rear hatch still open.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Yells Mhar-li over coms.

There are still three swoop bikes circling for attack and four Strus enforcers inbound on foot.

They aren't pulling back. Which means they're either brave, stupid, or expecting reinforcements.

Winta

"Ok. Let's get out of here!" she called, taking in them all.

"We need to get our data out!"

"2BB-2 - you first. I shall cover people's backs."

2BB-2

A direct order, and a clear escape route. The seven remaining of the opposing force pressing the attack despite their casualties wasn’t lost on the droid, who used every iota of his speed and manoeuvrability to present the hardest target for the shortest time as he saw to it that the data payload he carried was safely aboard their ship. He was mindful to drop the ganger head from his grapple first, no need for gruesome souvenirs.

Preach

He offers a grim smile at the spiraling rocket bike. He then prepares to continue to fight. The blasting sand from the return of their ride takes him by surprise. He pivots on his heels to the new threat only to hear the call to get out of there. As much as that is their mission and their mandate, he feels immediate guilt of leaving the people they said they would help. They have helped, even if they haven't stopped this attack. But this battle wasn't over. He looks to Winta and she gives the order. His rational mind offers that if they didn't act more lives would be lost than could be saved here. Even the ones here could be lost as well. They had to act to fulfill the mission. That wasn't new thinking for this old space traveler. He waited to help guard Winta, but he would enter the ship when his turn came.

Amos

He moved to Winta's side, blaster at the ready as he leaned in and spoke softly.

"Beg pardon but I cover your rear. We need the leader inside please."

Winta

She nodded to Amos and followed BB-2 to the ramp of the Sunstrider. She turned once on the ramp, to guard the ramp.

Jelly Bean

She hit the sand and her rollout was twisted into a tumble that landed her face first. She rolled over, exultant in her victory. Foolhardy for sure, but she needed a way to attach the grenade to the bike, right? Use the skills that other people forced you to learn, and then they become your skills.

Her triumph was short lived though as other Strus Clanners and their bikes were meeting terrible fates as well. In fact, seeing the head get ripped off of one by BaBay's long line was kind of disturbing and it snapped her back into battle mode. She drew her blaster and started back to the larger part of her group. The Sunstrider roared in over the dune's edge and Winta was calling for a withdrawal.

Yes, the data on BabBay was most important, but JB could feel the anger in her and the excitement of it. She wanted to keep fighting. She wanted to finish this fight. She heard Winta's words. She looked up there as Amos was moving her to the opening ramp. JB looked again in the direction of the Struss battle, though she couldn't see much of it from where she stood.

She growled and shook her head, snapping her lekku violently about her as she followed orders. She wanted to fight. She didn't want to leave the Scavengers until the battle was over. Oh, the predatory instincts in Ryllians lay just beneath the thin veneer of civilization. With weapon in hand, and despite her curvy build, she ran as hard as she could through the sand to get to the Quadjumper.

Sirra moved from shot to shot, aiming, breathing, firing, almost mechanically. As she was aiming again, she heard Winta. Quite evidently on the face of it she agreed agreed with JB’s thoughts. She hated leaving. It felt like betrayal.

“Yes. Winta, your hide is more valuable than mine. I just destroy things. I know exactly what I’m for.”

She performs a backing up retreat, providing fire to keep anything from getting too close until it’s possible to sprint to the craft.

Jix

He takes a good look all around to ensure there were no imminent threats, then turned and headed for their transport. Time to go.

GM

The team hustle to board the Quadjumper as swoop bikes howl passed at high speed, loosing a volley of blaster bolts.

They explode against the ship's hull leaving black pock-marks. One bolt nearly hits Winta in the stomach and she has to arch her back to deflect it with her lightsaber. It glances off the humming blade and burns a hole through the robes above her ribs. She feels a hot pain but doesn't smell any barbeque. Better a surface burn to the ribs than her innards leaking out through a smouldering hole in her stomach.

Inside the Quadjumper is stifling from where it's been sat in the sun all afternoon, but the air-cooler is thrumbing and juddering on the ceiling.

Standing room only inside. Overhead hand-rails, no fixed seating except for the sturdy pilot's seat and two flimsy fold-out seats mounted on the wall either side, where the bulkhead originally was. It and the bunks were stripped out long ago.

The Sunstrider has been modified to fit as much stuff in it as possible. Passengers, cargo, whatever.

Mhar-li looks in her fisheye rearview, counting the team in. Her usually swarthy complexion is ashen, sweaty.

Outside, the Varactyls have broken their picket and are racing for the deeper dunes, hollering loudly to each other. So far the Strus Clan haven't shown any interest in the reptavians, even though they're worth a small fortune as working animals. If everything calms down, they should return home of their own accord.

The Quadjumper blasts off the moment the last Resistance fighter is aboard, landing gear retracting.

As the ship rises above the dunes, you get an overview of the scavenger camp. The enforcers that were trying to rush Sirra and Jix's position are scattered and fire futilely at the Quadjumper.

Their junky, half-burnt out blaster carbines can only scratch a starship hull.

Then Mhar-li curses blue as a projectile explodes violently against the windscreen, its impact powerful enough to trigger the deflectors.

A large sand skimmer ramps over a dune, a custom-built battle wagon that comes head-on at the Quadjumper. Behind the skimmer's closed cab stands a Strus, firing a mounted, drum-fed grenade launcher that spits mayhem.

It survives only seconds before it's obliterated by the turbolaser.

The Quadjumper flies straight through its fireball, struggling to gain altitude.

"We're down on power. Can't climb." Yells Mhar-li to her passengers.

She coughs, one hand dropping from the yoke. The ship veers and nearly collides with a swoop bike.

You notice there's blood dripping through the cracks in her seat. Its everywhere, at least a litre.

"I'm hit bad." She says, only now appreciating how bad.

Jix and Sirra saw Mhar-li take a shot to the kidneys as she was climbing into the Sunstrider.

Suddenly a blaster bolt ricochets around the interior. The rear hatch is still open and the team can see swoop bikes chasing them. Current air speed around 160 km/h, altitude variable, averaging 10 metres.

"Above the door! Tau-Six on a swing-arm!" Shouts Mhar-li, voice weakening.

Anyone who looks above the rear hatch would see, hidden behind stowed enviro-suits, a rotary blaster cannon, pintel-mounted to a swing-arm, designed to act as a door gun.

Preach

His keen old eyes take the events in as they are happening. He knows he has about as much chance flying this thing as jumping out the open door and surviving. His lightsaber is still glowing a raw violet streak and he moves without hesitation towards the handle. He at least can get there and help with that piece of the problem. If he makes it he will try to close the door using the lever that has been described.

2BB-2

Two matters of immediate concern, namely their pilot was injured badly and their ship had insufficient power. The slicer droid had very little idea how to deal with the first, but he was forged and founded as an Astromech, and had served in keeping a ship functional under heavy and withering fire from far more fell adversaries than this. A quick sensor scan for an interface port before swinging over and jacking in, to see what if anything he could do about the power situation, to optimize matters so the ship could give as much as it could to get them out of this mess. He’d beep over Jelly Bean and show her a schematic if it required physical intervention, but the prime focus was fulfilling his original purpose and design.

Jelly Bean

One of the last in, she was hardly up the ramp when the quad jumper lurched to gain altitude. The explosion on the forward shields threatened to knock people about the inside of the small ship. At least the temperature didn't bother her. And so she thought through the possible problems they were facing.

Winta hit.

Low on power.

Under fire.

Need altitude or the first dune slipped over will be the last as well.

"Ut Druk," she suddenly hisses when she saw the blood dripping out around the pilots chair. "E chu ta." There were commands going on all around the cabin. This was a problem of the highest priority. Okay, a lot of them were high priority but if JB couldn't get Mhar-li's ass out of the chair and her own ass in there then this was going to be a very short trip.

"Jix!" Mhar-li was not going to be able to pilot the ship for much longer before she passed, out or worse, in that chair. "Mhar-li is hurt... She needs you." Any thought of working on the power issue was gone because now they needed a pilot. She was already pulling the woman from the cockpit chair and as soon as Jix or anyone else had a hold of the woman JB was going to slide in there and take over.

"Power is all you Babay," she shouted. "Give me everything you can scratch out."

Jix

She looks around sharply at Jelly Bean's shout, slings her weapon and shrugs off her pack all in the same movement. Steps later she reaches the pilots side with a stimpack in one hand. She applies it without hesitation as she has done many times before.

When people are badly injured, wasted seconds can be wasted lives.

She helps Jelly Bean pull her out of the seat and then starts to assess the damage.

Sirra only pauses for a moment, seeing others move to their various places and jumps to the blaster cannon, swinging it out, and letting anything she can see through the door have it full bore. This wasn’t time for playing around.

[Would Sirra or Jix let Amos, for example, use their long range weapon?]

Winta

She saw that Jix was dealing with Mhar-li's injuries; Sirra had gone to work the blaster, Preach to close the door, 2BB-2 fix the ship's systems, and JB to fix the ship and fly it.

"Amos, help JB fly the ship!" she called. "She may have to take her eye off flying to fix things."

Winta herself went with Preach to cover him as he closed the door.

(He hasn’t asked so it’s yet to come up)

Amos

"The biggest thing I ever piloted is a land speeder. Might want someone else." he replied, moving toward the front just in case.

"I don't think there is anyone else, Amos," JB called back as she settled in and took the 'stick' and familiarized herself with the readouts and positions of various control interfaces. "And, think of it as a big land speeder, okay... less repulsor, more engine."

Once she felt she had the hang of it, she spoke again,"I don't need you right now," she said haltingly as she focused on keeping the craft stable first and foremost. "Just hang close, maybe take up a weapon but listen for me if I need you..."

She was done talking. It was time to become one with the ship. Sitting in the chair kind of put her in charge, well, at least until Winta gave her an order that is. But, for now, she set the quadjumper into a sweeping arc with enough speed, if she had it, to make it hard for the Strus to lead her with their weapons but still keep them in a firing arc for the door gun and anyone else who could get some shots off. The battle wasn't over yet and until BaBay got a check on what was keeping the Quad from getting the power it needed to push up and out of atmo, she needed to buy time. Helping the Scavengers seemed the right thing to do. Plus, she was happy to get back into this fight with the bullies.

[OOC Winta can fly things in space - this defo not space. Or she would have given a hand.]

Ooc note: if in fact someone does come by for Sirra’s weapon she will hand it to them in this situation.

[OOC: Jix too, the team is her current hive, even on a small scale. She would share. ]

GM

Jix slips the stim from her webbing and jams it into Mhar-li's neck with a hiss of compressed liquid, then she lifts the woman out of the chair so Jelly Bean can jump in and take over.

In the rear, Sirra has no time for tidiness and pulls the cord on the enviro-suits. They drop out of stowage, bouncing on the floor, some flying out the back of the Quadjumper.

But a TAU-6 rotary blaster cannon also swings down out of the ceiling and pokes its muzzle out of the door.

At the hatch door, Preach has a wider angle on the scene outside and can start to spot for Sirra.

The swoop bikers are red-misted, thirsting to close in and get a shot through the open rear hatch.

But then the rotary blaster lets loose plasma hell from the open rear hatch. The swoop bikes veer out of the firing arc in panic.

The door no longer needs closing, so Winta can assist Jix. Having a rotary blaster firing full auto, not far from their heads, does make talking calmly almost impossible.

There might be some blue language in the cabin, not least from Mhar-li as she's rolled onto her front by Jix and Winta and sees the vibroshears appear from a medpac.

"Head south... to Carbon Ridge. More cover." Mhar-li calls to Jelly Bean.

Fabric is cut then the smell of charred flesh fills the interior. Smoke rises from a ghastly wound.

A crater, black around the edges, burnt and still sizzling deeper in. There is the kidney, looking scorched and the renal vein is torn but not severed.

Twisting her neck, Mhar-li's eyes go wide when she sees the gory mess.

"Is that me? What the hell! Is that me!" She screams, throat dry.

(With that degree of plasma burn, she probably can't even feel it.)

Amos stands behind the Twi'lek pilot, gripping the back of her chair and scanning the skyline ahead.

There are tall, spire-like rock formations to the south, though from this distance he can't see any ingresses low enough to get through at their current altitude.

Despite the screaming, the heavy blaster fire, 2BB-2 focuses as only a droid can, jacking into the Sunstrider's flight engineering system.

He's struck by how basic it is compared to a Corellian system, but the Quadjumper's makers, Subpro, are renowned for their zero maintenance, super heavy duty designs. Corellian Engineering, not so much.

Sunstrider has had a lot of work done on it over the years. It even had a retrofitted hyperdrive at one point, so it might've done some parsecs too.

Right now the problem seems to be the upper fuel atomizer. It's clogged. In-flight solution: Access atomizer via the roof, unscrew injection port with hydrospanner and put a plasma bolt in it.



[Mhar-li has a 91 point Critical Injury. As bad a Critical Injury as you can have without being unstable and in danger of imminent death.]

2BB-2

A brief alarm cycle from the droid to draw eyes momentarily, as he projected up a schematic of the problem, the solution and the location thereof. It followed up with an image of himself transferring the data payload to the ship computer, followed by using his grapples to octopus-climb to the external fixture, anchor himself in place then execute field repairs with the multitool.

Whilst this was going on, 2BB-2 began transferring the data. Once he was no longer a single point of failure, he could be put to use solving their energy problem despite the risk and the extensive evasive maneuvers.

Jix

"Best lie flat.. and still.. so I can do what I can. I am a medic not a doctor so I need all the help you can give me."

There. Good information. The patient is in the picture.

"Jelly Bean. Any advance information before sudden moves would be useful."

Jix considers the problem. One kidney could well be enough. She hopes so. The wound is already cauterised so no danger of bleeding out. So priority is to repair the renal vein and the pack whatever she can into the wound to provide longer term pain relief and prevent infection. Not a nice injury but she will do what she can.

She uses a small spray of plastic skin to surround the vein and reseal it. Once done she uses her water spray to clean out any loose material or charred bits of flesh, then uses the ochre gel plus pain killers and proactives to aid the wound in healing. Her last job is to close the wound using a patch to seal over the hole to prevent anything getting in to undo her good work.

"You need to rest and not further your damage. The patch should stay on for a couple of days and then applied afresh."

End on a positive note she has been told.

"You should live."

Sirra:

“Don’t get away so easy now.”

Breathe in, out, refocus and fire. Perhaps this time she can get a few.

Preach

"Two o'clock low, 275 meters to 500 meters," he calls in a loud voice. Observation and report is just a portion of what he is trained in, and he knows how to vector shots even if he prefers his violet blade. When he sees the next grouping of bikes he calls them out to the gunner again. He would help as much as he is able.

Winta

Medicine was not a skill Winta had spent any time mastering, but she did what she could to help Jix deal with the patient.

Jelly Bean

The Ryllian shifted in the seat, Mhar-li's blood soaking into the seat of her jumpsuit. She could 'feel' Amos' presence directly behind her, staring over her at the rock spires on horizon that were fast approaching. The laconic lawman really didn't have to say anything, and if he did, it would likely be direct and to the point.

Jelly Bean hoped that Mhar-li would survive, sure... but if this call to run south for the canyon was a feverish outburst then Jelly bean hoped she saw through it before it was too late. And with the Strus Gang swoopes in hard pursuit, she had to keep the speed up. But she knew it wasn't going to be enough. She swept back and forth across the plain, creating a gentle zig-zag, to make it just a little harder for the bikes chasers to lock on. It wasn't enough either, but with BaBay trying to fix the power issure, any sudden movements could be disastrous for the little droid.

The sound of the heavy gun firing out the rear ramp was loud in her cones, it must have been deafening back there. And yet she heard Jix ask for advance notice of sudden movements.

"Kriff me," she muttered. Perhaps loud enough for Amos to hear, "...and I'd like a new set of lekku straps with pretty flowers... and, while we're wishing for druk that probably won't happen, I'd like to be the Queen of the Galactic Republic too."

She cast her head back over her shoulder and yelled loudly, "Doing my best Jix..."

All she could hope for at this point though, was for Babay to get her some power... or an opening in the wall of rock to appear once they came fully into view on the horizon line...

She let her hand slide from the yoke to the thrust controller, and she focused on the Force. Maybe she could help Babay. Time was running out. Focus. Time is irrelevant. Trust The Force.

"One Mother, One Breath, One Spirit, Vahs ka Ryma’at..."

Jix

Whilst she ended on a positive note she is not comfortable that she had been truthful enough and so added a qualifier.

"..but only if you don't do anything.. =anything= before getting some proper treatment. OK?"

GM

Winta rips out a metallic blanket from a sheath on Jix's backpack and unrolls it over Mhar-li. A coiled cable connects a small controller with a coloured buttons and a dial.

As orange lights blink on under the blanket, Mhar-li tries to stay calm, listening to the Verpine.

But 2BB-2's droidspeak seems to upset her.

"What? The fuel atomizer's rammed!" She says, "Well someone better get up there and fix it."

With the edge of the antishock blanket lifted and providing light, Jix sprays on the activator for the skin-sub she'd applied. It foams up yellowy white and Mhar-li's eyes go wide at the sudden return of her pain sensors.

"****!" She gasps and passes out. Jix tweaks the dial. Mhar-li is stabilised.

Meanwhile, Preach and Sirra can see another two swoops at a distance gunning their engines to catch up.

The others swing back across the rear of the Quadjumper, pumping the triggers of their blasters. Sirra spins the barrels of the TAU-6 and spews plasma, punching holes in several of the bikes but not downing any.

In the doorway, Preach blocks any dangerous bolts with his lightsaber and suspects in the shadow of the interior, his glowing blade might be what the swoops are shooting at.

The BB-unit might be sizing up the top hatch when everyone hears something land on the hull.

The hull is covered by three loading camera's but only one screen. Amos can switch to the dorsal camera and doing so reveals grainy video of a Strus-hole clinging to the top of the Quadjumper, having been dropped off by another biker. He has something in his hand, it looks like a magnetic proton grenade. A highly focused, drilling blast, used for blowing out locks during boarding actions. Or slapped onto a sublight engine, it could keep a good mechanic in work for weeks.

Leaning forward, J.B. can see a break in the ridgeline ahead. Carbon Ridge looks like a Trandoshan's smile and about as inviting, but threading through rock formations would force the swoop bikes to fall in line behind the ship. So stay out on the sand or hug the rocks?

2BB-2

The urgency of the fuel atomizer repair was vastly compounded by the presence of the Strus on the roof. The droid didn't hesitate, swinging for the top hatch as fast as he could disengage from the computer which now hosted a copy of their prize. He had to get out there, give the grenade-holding enemy a blinding blast of Cryoban, and then see about fixing the power problem. The organic couldn't well use a shaped charge if they couldn't see.

Preach

He realizes that his violet blade might be attracting fire, but he is just fine with that. Any offensive fire that he blocks and prevents from hurting someone or something else, is one little win for them. So he keeps his weapon in hand. He has been a guardian for a long time, and those habits are hard to break.

Amos

"See if you can dump that boarder up top." he said to Jelly Bean as he pulled up the ship's schematic on one of the consoles in case he had to find a hatch and blow that raider off with his gun.

Jelly Bean

Jelly Bean glanced up at the monitor a 2nd time as Amos spoke. She nodded that she understood. She had seen the Strusser up there with some kind of grenade in hand and already had an idea in mind. She just needed another moment... there. Repulsors set...

"You better get ready to get up there," she said to the lawman. "That canyon is coming up fast and if BaBay can't us power then... well... you know what happens...

JB clicked the quadjumpers internal comms on so she didn't have to yell.

"Prepare for a Zero G drop..." She maxxed the Quadjumpers available power to get as much altitude as the ship would give them.

"Everybody hang on to something..." One hand on the yoke, and the other adjusted the repulsor charge setting.

"In... 3... 2... 1!" Jelly Bean fired the repulsors on full to push the ship up very suddenly. Her hands worked the various control interfaces, as if everything had to be timed and done in a specific order. G forces would pull everyone toward the floor. And she then shut the repulsors off as she pushed the stick forward to level off, dropping the bottom out on everyone. JB fired them again, at a moment that she was keeping in her head, to soften the bottom out so they didn't crater and splinter into pieces and she pushed out of her drop.

Amos would know when to go. He would know what to do... just in case the Strusser didn't get dumped.

Jix

Well she had asked for a warning.. and understands that they will all be worse off if the raider gets his way. She places herself across the body, not touching and anchors herself as best she can to anything fixed, bottom of the pilots chair and the racks behind her, so she can offer as much support to her patient as she can. She will need to check her again afterwards, providing they both survive.

Preach

The spry old man wraps his arm in a strap so that he has something to hang on to. For the maneuver, he shuts off his lightsaber for a moment, but keeps it in hand.

GM

Although the interior of the Quadjumper has been stripped out, there is still equipment stowed around the walls and ceiling. Enviro-suits and a rotary blaster cannon as an example.

Amos may not have seen it at first, but the top hatch is there in the middle of the ceiling and 2BB-2 is already making his way to it. Amos can follow or take the lead.

Winta

She wrapped a leg around the nearest fixed thing, and held on to another with a free hand. The other hand and leg she kept free to try to stop large and heavy things impacting Jix and the patient.

Sirra anchors herself to the cannon, aims it out the back, and lets loose another stream of shots to keep the bikers occupied while the maneuver is completed.

Amos

He followed the droid toward the hatch, pausing to wrap his arm around a strap and hold on when Jinx called out the warning. He had to be ready to move and blast that gnat off of their ship if her maneuver didn't work.

"Call out if he is still up there after!" Amos called out to the pilot.

GM

Carbon Ridge. Crenellated by spire-like rock formations, sawing into the blue Jakku sky.

"Utinni!"

In a shadowy crevice between spires, Jawas load the flatbed of a treadspeeder with junk, scavenged from wrecked armoured vehicles. Carbon Ridge, where the ground fighting was fiercest in the Battle of Jakku.

The pile of junk is teetering as the Jawas try to stabilise it with cargo straps. Glowing red eyes under pointed brown hoods.

Suddenly a roar of engines and whoosh of wind as a Quadjumper blasts through the crevice, low overhead. Bursts of plasma bolts stream from the rear hatch.

The junk pile sways precariously, Jawas jabber and jump, barely preventing its collapse.

They curse and shake their fists at the Quadjumper. Then a gang of swoop bikes blasts through the crevice, chasing the starship, and the junk pile crashes off the back of the Jawas' treadspeeder.

One Jawa throws a rusty motivator over his shoulder as if to say Screw it!, another hurls a piston-rod and a tirade after the swoop bikes.

***

In the cockpit of the Quadjumper, the wide open desert expanse has abruptly narrowed. Hard rock on all sides; the collision warning light flashes wildly on the dash.

J.B. pulls back on the stick, then pushes forward. Sky, horizon, ground.

Behind her everyone lifts off the floor of the cabin, a dizzying moment of freefall. Forewarned, everyone is ready for it.

On the roof, the Strus holds on with one hand, legs flailing, but is unable to steady himself to plant the proton grenade. Makes sense that a swoop biker would have a strong grip!

J.B. gets an uneasy feeling, a hunch, that pushing the repulsorlift like that has strained some other system. Too many dials to check in a high speed chase. A co-pilot might not go amiss. But the Force is telling her something... they really need to repair that fuel atomizer.

The BB-unit is on it, swinging up to the top hatch on the end of his cable-reel. Extend manipulator. Flip cover, pull emergency release. The top hatch slides open and hurricane speed air rushes into the cabin, sending a few more loose items out the back.



[I need definite actions from anyone else venturing up top this round. 2BB-2 is already on his way.]

Jelly Bean

JB could feel it... something was off, something about the Quadjumper just didn't feel right. Something more than just the fuel atomizer... but, yeah, she needed that fixed, like right now. She flipped to 'all stations setting of the comms, so everyone could hear her. The ship wasn't that big and she might just as easily yell, but now that the top hatch was open, the wind rushing through was like a Ryllian sand cyclone back there.

"BaBay... I need that Atomizer back online..."

JB glanced up at the monitor, set to the topside of the Quadjumper as Amos left it, and hissed a little.

"Amos... get up there," She called into the open comm, even though he wasn't that far away from her- but he was standing right where the wind was rushing. "That sleemo is still hanging on, but he hasn't set the proton charge either... not yet."

Her eyes flicked across the dozens of gauges but she couldn't focus enough on any of them. She just knew, she could feel, that something was wrong. But, inside this canyone, she couldn't risk focusing on the Force to find it. She had to fly this crate, and that was taking all her focus.

"Anyone able to 2nd chair for me... we got another problem... I can feel it... just can't find it... Need some help... anyone?"

Amos

"On it!" he called back and pulled his scatter blaster from the weapon's rack and went up the access ladder to stick his head and shoulders out of the hatch to get a bead on the stow-a-way and aim in on him. He would take several shots if needed.



OOC: Us any extra points or whatever since I don't know the system

Winta

"On it!" she called as she took Amos's place in the co pilot's seat, strapping herself in place as she did so.
Then she dealt with the alarms and warnings as they came up, trying to leave JB free to concentrate on flying.

Preach

He ignites his weapon to continue to protect the back end of the ship. He used it to point out shot directions since he couldn't be heard over the wind now.

Sirra, again, is being rather single minded. She tries to take stock, aim ... and keep the speeders off of them.

GM

The Sunstrider weaves through the teeth of the ridge like some kind of Malastarian gymkana.

2BB-2 reels himself up and out onto the top of the hull, engaging his magnetic keel to grip the metal plating.

The Strus's masked face looks up from setting the proton grenade and he gets a shot of Cryoban, instantly frosting up his goggles. "CHUBA!" Holding onto the clamped grenade and cursing the droid, the gangster reaches for his blaster pistol as Amos rises from the hatch, SX-21 scatter blaster in one hand, and pulls the trigger.*

The spray of plasma plasma bolts tears the Strus and his proton grenade off of the hull. Several swoops dodge around their doomed brother.

The proton grenade in the brother's hand beep-beep-beeps. Then the Strus splats into a rocky butte at over a hundred kloms and KA-BOOM! The proton grenade detonates, the rock formation is blasted apart and the whole thing collapses in a huge cloud of dust and debris.

The swoops farthest behind plunge through the cloud, shooting out the other side with their rider's wiping their goggles.

One carrying a rider and pillion passenger collides with a falling slab of rock and disappears with barely a puff.

Inside the Quadjumper, Winta sits in the unfolded co-pilot seat pressing rubber arrow keys to navigate through a green screen display.

She doesn't know what's wrong exactly but she can see the ship's power cells aren't recharging fast enough to offset the load, even though the engines are fired up. Must be related to the fuel atomizer. Hopefully fixing one thing will fix the other.

Up top, 2BB-2's has accessed the fuel atomizer's test port but his multitool whines as it tries to undo the cap on the test port.

A blaster shot ricochets off the hull next to the droid as the pursuing swoops form up at five o'clock high for an attack run.

Five o'clock high. Leaning out from the rear hatch, lightsaber in hand, Preach sees this and signals to Sirra.

She has the TAU-6 spewing hot plasma from its six barrels even as the swoops drop into sight.

The first one is shredded and explodes, before the torrent of bolts swerves onto the next and chews its rider into Bantha poodoo.

Suddenly the Quadjumper is rocked from one side by a powerful impact, and from behind a butte emerges a large repulsor skiff, multiple rifle-armed Strus at the rails and one in particular.

At first he looks like a giant, about 230 cm tall, but he is Strus like the rest of his brothers. Unlike them he wears powered armour, extending his legs by about half a metre. The plating is hammered and dented and harnessed to the frame is an enormous Trandoshan-style ion disruptor. The laminate of his grilled helmet is degraded and peeling.

"Dokar Venas." Groans Mhar-li, coming around under Jix's care, "Must be. He has a skiff."

Dokar's skiff stays abreast of or above the Quadjumper, closing in for a broadside or boarding action.

*Insert pithy one-liner.