Knights of the Old Republic: Rise of the Reavers

[Marcao]

In his mind, the entire exchange between his team and their adversaries played out in slow motion. Duty's onboard sensors assisted him in this matter, providing him detailed information regarding his own position in relation to his allies and his enemies. He had not devised the design, he had simply refined it. Duty's internal processors functioned along similar lines to those found in other similar suits but the software was specific and highly modified. This was one of the circumstances were it shone.
The moment that damage was registered by its sensors he was almost instantly alerted. The intensity of each impact, the likely weapon of choice and the most likely location of his attacker all manifested in his HUD as if provided to him an omnipresent lord of war. The combination of Duty's heavy armor and the shielding system was doing exactly what he had hoped it would. He allowed the others to move before him. It was a logical choice, he was best suited to being the lynchpin of their fighting withdrawal.

He watched dispassionately as the Sith that had threatened so pompously before to do them harm crumpled to the ground a charred husk of what it had once been. He felt no pleasure at his demise but he also felt no sadness. He came next to the original piece of cover where the path began to narrow as they neared the cages. He had originally identified this piece of cover earlier and moved behind it for a moment, Honor's stream of fire slowing and eventually stopping for a few heartbeats as his left hand reached out for one of the several grenades that he had brought about for this mission.

Zyke had the right idea, and while the defensive grenades had a detrimental effect on Duty's own sensor systems there were times when their use warranted the irritation. This was such a time, he rolled the grenade forward timing it to set off between himself and their attackers. As the so called "glitter-smoke" grenade activated itself he stated a simple command. As he did so, Duty emitted a whisper quiet whirl as a motor rotated a quasi-internal magazine. A second later, a thermal detonator fell at his feet.

It was his hope that the defensive grenade that was even now flooding an area between himself and his target with sensor defeating smoke and bits of chaff and other sensor confusing materials kept this latest addition unnoticed for now. The cover that he had been using should prevent his enemies from visually seeing the detonator until it was too late. He began to withdraw once again almost immediately afterwards. He did not fire Honor unless a target clearly presented itself. He had no desire to fire blindly, doing so would only give away his general location through the smoke screen.

Several seconds after he had dropped the thermal detonator it activated itself and waited. This particular design had been designed to trigger itself once a specific set of criteria was met by its embedded sensor system or it received a transmission through wireless means. The explosive radius was significant, designed to coincide with the narrowing of the path as it led towards the cages. He like most Mandalorians was not known for leaving things to chance.

"All right, let's get to those cages while we are all still in one piece. I will anchor our fighting withdrawal." He stated and let Duty's communication system work its magic.

He waited for Zyke and the others to push onward before he himself moved, Honor brought to bear and ready to fire. If he was lucky, the droids and others would hesitated in the glitter-cloud grenade and try to move as one through it. The more adversaries that he could take out with the thermal detonator the better. Collateral damage was a distant concern.

[Cynical Cat]

The combat droids advanced, firing their blaster rifles as they did so. Their brains were limited, but the do a lot of math very quickly. The amount of incoming fire was low for a group of their opponent's size and armament. The logical conclusion was that the group was retreating in poor order, which meant a 82.7% chance of a total route if their attack was pressed. They did what any mid to high quality combat droid would do in this situation. They pressed the attack.

The crescent of attacking droids contracted, the floating MN-6s splitting off to either side to attack from different angles and form a deadly web of interlocking blaster fire without catching any of their fellow droids in the crossfire. One wounded Mark IV fell as the wookie's gun scored additional hits. Zyke managed to blast a photoreceptor on another Mark IV and crater it's cranium armour. A blaster bolt struck the Mandalorian in the chest, overloaded his shield, and burned a substantial gouge in his armour. Zyke received a burn on his left upper arm from a graze that armour mostly stopped.

Then two Mark IV's stepped through the glittercloud to engage and kill the organics at close range. Heat hammered the adventurers as a brilliant white glare temporarily flash blinded unprotected vision. Then it was gone, taking a substantial chunk of the walk way with it.

Their were still the MN-6s in the air above them and the Mark IVs converging from the left and the right, but the front at least was clear. And they were at the cages.

[frigidmagi]

It was everything Dewaddik could do not to howl with sheer frustration. Everyone was trying to be a hero instead of doing their damn jobs. He stopped firing, maybe just maybe that Mandorlian would provide some real cover fire. Snarling hideous sounding Wookiee curses a well brought up Wookiee like himself had no business learning he reached out with his long furred arms and grabbed the Jedi and Zeke and threw them into the cage behind him and stepped in.

His leg hurt and the stink of his own burnt fur clogged his sensitive Wookie nostrils. That burnt patch would have to be cut out. He might even have a bald spot! This made him more then slightly upset and a tad less then polite when screaming at the armor plated alien that had been his buddy for some time.

"scrarcoahuc, ohwo rroo, ohwo rroo whoooh! rrwoao rooohurc acoowhoorc cakwoohahwhrr rarcscoorcwowa racc ahwh aoacahc oararrwo whoooh! aoacahc ahcwh'ao ra canwowoak oohoworc scoohowo!" As he screamed that out he grabbed up his heavy repeater blaster and started firing again. They needed more cover, of the high powered blaster bolt kind.

"ah acraaowo warcooahwac, ah acraaowo warcooahwac, ah wwhuoaorahwhrr acraaowo wohoworcwarascwhwowa warcooahwac! oaacworaak caohuakahwa oohoworcrcraaowowa scooaoacworcwwhuoaorahwhrr aoahwhscwowh!" He snarled under his breath as he started up his high rate of fire.

[LadyTevar]

"Will you idiots just get in the lift and RUN?" Trys said, as the camera over the lift fuzzed out from the incoming fire. She assumed it got hit. "Get the cage moving, drop a few grenades, I don't care... just get out of there!"

She should have gone with them, dammit. Maybe she could have gotten them all out without someone dropping major firepower on the scene. Then again, probably not. But she should have gone with them.

[Hotfoot]

Zyke waited until the last of the team was in the lift before slamming the button, his eyes still on the advancing droids. One last glittersmoke grenade was thrown in front of the cage, giving what previous obscurement it could against the approaching droids. "We're on our way up now. Marcus, Dewaddik, keep up suppression." He fired back at a few errant bolts, making sure to move himself each time he did.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Everyone was finally on the cage and the button was pushed. However they were not out of the woods, the doids could still fire and now they were confined in a small cage. Still He was surrounded by other bodies and as much as he loathed it, they were de-facto humanoid shields. Asarak had no intention of letting such an opportunity be passed by.

Like he had done before, he reached out toward the nearest MN-6, wrapped tendrils of The Force around its repulsor system and yanked. He severed the redundant connections that allowed the droid's repulsor lift system to function and it started to fall into the darkness. But unlike last time, he did not release his grip. He expanded it, holding as much of its frame as he could without loosing control. Effectively he caught the droid with The Force and his own strength of will, but did not know if he could hold it.

If he had sweat glands, he would be sweating, if his skin was pliable enough to see such things, he would have straining blood vessels and musculature as his entire body fought the force of gravity and inertia to change the falling droid's direction of motion. As it stood, saliva oozed from his mouth and his eyes looked like they might try to escape his eye sockets. He pulled the falling droid forward and to his left toward the battle droids on that catwalk, hoping to crush one underneath the other and disrupt their line of fire for even a few seconds.

[frigidmagi]

Dewaddki spat and poured fire onto the line of droids. They had the best shots.

"aorcroc ah rcworaananro acooakwo aoacwo wowhrrahwhwo ahc rchuwhwhahwhrr... " he muttered as he walked blaster bolts back and forth the advancing droids.

[LadyTevar]

"Engines running, and I can lift at any time, 'waddik" Trys answered. "Get Your Furry Butt Up Here."

[Cynical Cat]

The MN-6 came crashing down on one of the Mark IV's, crushing the infantry droid with a loud squeal of rent metal. Blaster fire brought down another Mark IV and holed another one, although it kept fighting.

The cage doors slammed shut and the lift shot into the air. The lift system ate several blaster bolts but then the heroes were gone, far out of reach as the lift flew through the bowels of the city and disgorged the heroes at the highest level.

They were not welcomed with open arms. Four Mining Police officers wearing blast vests and helmets were covering them with pulse-wave carbines. "Freeze!" one yelled. "You're under arrest!"

[Comrade Tortoise]

Asarak still had his saber on when the doors opened in front of him, he was tired, bloody and was in little mood to be harassed by police who must be fantastically stupid to try and arrest this group of people. However he had no desire to kill them or see them killed for doing their jobs, and if they were weak minded in one respect, they were probably weak minded in others. As a result he opened himself to The Force and used not a jedi mind trick, but his own telepathy to see just how weak the one that yelled, who was obviously their field commander, was.

"We have done nothing wrong. We were only protecting ourselves"

[Cynical Cat]

"Halt or we shoot!" the leader yelled. "Drop your weapons!"

"Great Gru," said another. "That's a wookie."

"Shoot the hairy guy first," said the cop beside him. "They're always trouble."

[Comrade Tortoise]

He had tried a gentle approach. Now was time to mentally bludgeon them. This time using a full on Jedi Mind Trick. His voice held Authority, and tendrils of the force wrapped around their minds, playing with their thoughts in ways that his natural telepathy was not suited to.

"You have no chance at survival if you engage us, back away and let us pass"

As he did this, he changed his stance to Soresu, the defensive form.

[Cynical Cat]

"They aren't surrendering," said one of the cops. "Fall back and wait for reinforcements."

"We have them pinned. It's like shooting fish in a cargo container."

"They're too heavily armed," said the leader. "Fall back. Reinforcements are already en route." The Mining Police fell back into the alleyways of the industrial hive, temporarily leaving the heroes unmolested.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Well, that... sort of worked. How close is your ship? We dont have very long" Asarak asked.

"I doubt the mining police will necessarily be up to the task of stopping us, but we ought not take chances"

[Hotfoot]

Zyke had been ready to start firing on the Mining Police when the Jedi managed to....convince them to leave. He blinked, shot the Jedi a look crossed between relief and annoyance, and motioned for him and the others to follow. "We're not far from the ship, let's get moving before they decide to come back." He took off at a sprint towards the ship, trying to make sure the others were keeping up, and mindful of any other officers that might decide to be up ahead.

[LadyTevar]

"Where are you guys?" Trys said, sitting in the cockpit and resisting the urge to pace. She had to be ready to take off as soon as possible. "Will you need the belly gun warmed up?"

[Marcao]

That was a mistake.


He admitted that his actions revolving the obscurement grenade had occurred in a completely different manner in his mind as they occurred in real life. Maybe it had been due to the droids rather than people, maybe it had been due to other factors that he had failed to anticipate. Ultimately, Duty paid for his mistake and he paid alongside it. The damage he had received was significant, and would warrant long hours to repair all the physical damage along with the circuitry beneath.

His mood sank like a stone as they entered the elevator cage. The mining police came to save the day? He was not going to forget this little turn of events for quite sometime. When the Elevator began to ascend, he did not relax.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"The mining police are corporate security, they have fighters and anti air guns, if your ship has them, anti-fighter guns might be needed" The jedi said as he took off after the mercenary. One the one saber was currently active, but the other was, in his off hand ready to be turned on to deflect blaster bolts or cut through flesh or metal at a split second's notice. As Asarak ran, he focused his mind and The Force to detecting attacks before they came.

[Cynical Cat]

As the heroes ran to the nearby docking bay they encountered no resistance. Inside Security Headquarters, a heated discussion was underway.

"I can't believe this was allowed to happen!" grumbled Executive Vice President Hydrax. He waved with arm/wings and his multicoloured feathers glinted in the light.

"Policy was that minimal resources were to be expended policing below," said Colonel Servik. The gaunt man wore the dark blue uniform of the Mining Police. "Policy from your office, despite communications from my office that said policy was essentially creating a haven from which criminal organizations could operate with impunity."

"I'm not interested in your excuses," ranted the executive vice president. "This will not be tolerated!"

"Worse occurs every week," said Colonel Servik. "Why start caring now?"

"Don't be insolent with me colonel! Your contract has clauses to deal with non performance!"

"What do you want me to do about this gunfight that you won't let me do to the slavers and smugglers, sir?"

"Something! Immediately!"

"As you wish," said Servik. He activated his desk terminal. "Ground all ships. If something lifts without permission, shoot it down. Signal all ships. I don't want some civie getting scrapped because he didn't get the word."

[LadyTevar]

Having hacked into the Security Headquarters, Trys had just a bare moment's warning of what Security had planned. She didn't have time to warn the guys, although she hoped they'd stop playing around and get their asses aboard.

Instead, she started slicing into the Traffic Control broadcast as fast as she could, hoping to cause enough confusion over what was coming over the Traffic Control Comms to make their plan of 'shoot to kill' unworkable.

IF she did it right, all ships would get a very different broadcast:

"Attention all ships, this is Mining Police broadcast. An armed explosive device has just been detected in the starport by a team searching for contraband. You are to ignore the previous transmission. All ships are now advised to take off immediately at best speeds to low planetary orbit. Please use caution when leaving dock and do not take unneccesary risks. Repeat, all ships please take off immediately."

Then she hit the team channel for a final warning to Her Crew.
"Anyone not onboard in five gets to explain to Mine-corp cops why your ship just left. Zyke, asking 'five what' means you don't get a hyperdrive lift."

"Now Move Your TAILS!!!"

[Hotfoot]

It didn't take long for Zyke to make it back to the ship, and as expected, he beat the others by a fair clip, keeping in mind to stay within line of sight for most of the run. "Close air support coming up, sorry about the wait." the words echoed around the hallways of the Sunrise as Zyke made his way to the docking clamp that held his starfighter in place. He threw on his helmet and climbed into the cockpit, doing a quick systems test as Ermey beeped in the background, his binary translated to Basic on an information screen in the fighter.

"Yes, looks like we're going to have an interesting exit. I don't think we'll be welcome back here any time soon. Thanks for warming up the Hand. Anything I need to know?" Another short series of beeps, which made Zyke smile. "Well then, let's get ready to detach after takeoff."

[Comrade Tortoise]

Asarak bounded onto the well-armed light freighter

"It has been so long since I heard the words 'close air support'" he said fondly, then went up to find the Pilot. He strode deliberately and with no attempt at silence toward the cockpit.

"Thank you" he said to the woman in the pilot's seat. "I had brief opportunity to thank your companions, and will do so again when and if we get out of here, but thank you." before her stood a battered and bloody Hortek, a lizard man with alternating yellow and black stripes over every inch of his scaly body. His clothes were torn and already threadbare, and he carried two curved lightsaber hilts, since deactivated.

"Is there anything I can do to help get us off this rock?"

[frigidmagi]

As was unit tradition Dewaddki and Marcus brought up the rear, jogging while keeping the approaches covered until they reached the ship. Inwardly Dewaddki seethed.

Shot the Wookiee. It was always kill the Wookiee first. His people had never gone on galaxy wide rampages of enslavement and conquest but had only defended themselves. You never heard shoot the manladorian first. No, no it was always pick on the Wookiee. Stupid bigoted hairless rent a cop alien jackasses.

Still Dewaddki did suppose it was gratifying in a back handed way to be considered more dangerous then someone in power armor. Perhaps the cops were just ignorant and to stupid to actually notice power armor or his own sheer charisma overpowered them. That was likely it.

[LadyTevar]

As soon as Dewaddik and Marcus hit the ramp, it started to close and lock for flight, tucking them safely inside. "Waddik, Marcus, get to the turrents, this will be a problem flight," Trys ordered, before she looked up to the Jedi who had walked into the cockpit.

She gave the Hortek a quick but thorough look, sizing him up and wondering what was so important about him. "You can stop bleeding on my deck," she finally said bruskly. "MedBay is back near the on-ramp. If you want to stay in the cockpit, sit down and don't touch anything while I get you off this rock."

With that, she turned back to the controls and started lifting the Sunrise up and out of the landing bay ... and prayed that her little trick with the sliced transmissions worked. One hand flipped a switch, and she could be heard by Marcus and Dewaddik as well as Zyke in his Hand. "The Mining Police tried to ground all traffic, and any who tried to lift would be blown up, no questions asked," she warned them all, including the Hortek if he was listening. "I hacked the system and sent a message to disregard and all ships lift off. We're about to find out if the Mining Police really will shoot to kill."

[Cynical Cat]

Several tramp freighters rose into the air on repulsor lifts. Ten meter tall towers topped by domes from which protruded six barrelled cannons swiveled toward them. Emerald blaster bolts flickered from the guns, cutting across two of the freighter's flight paths.

One ship froze, hovering in mid air. The other continued moving, accelerating away from the city. Emerald bolts slammed into it's hull, clearly low powered warning shots, but a clear message nonetheless. The ship slowed and began descending while half a dozen freighters hovered in the air, uncertain of how to proceed.