"Oh, right! Lest I forget.." Juce mutters and rummages in his utility belt, drawing forth a long range detonator and brandishing it for Jeriko to see. "Wouldn't want the slug to get comfortable." he says, a grin practicly heard through the face plate of his newly-aquired armor as he presses down on the button, detonating the various explosives he placed along the vents he crawled through at the palace.
"You good for nothing bantha-licking sleemos! I was in a courtyard FULL OF SITH and all I got out of the two of you was 'nope, the scanner's clear'. Have you EVER used an instrument panel before?!"
Baniss: "You didn't see the million Sith following me..."
Bolt: "It WAS clear! Didn't you..."
Their voices over the comms are drowned out by the yowl of a pair of fighters streaking by overhead, then gone again. Unlikely they saw you in the narrow defile you were in.
"Wouldn't want the slug to get comfortable." he says, a grin practicly heard through the face plate of his newly-aquired armor as he presses down on the button, detonating the various explosives he placed along the vents he crawled through at the palace.
For a moment as you look back at the mesa, nothing happens. Then, puffs of smoke jet from openings in the sides of the stony massif in a giant ring around it. Seconds later, a tremendous BOOM sounds through the air. Before clouds of smoke obscure your view, the mesa's top seemed to jump, then sag down and a little left.
Baniss: "...Bantha poo for brains..."
Bolt: "...shut up, shut up, EVERYONE SHUT UP! I'm trying to tell you, you didn't get a way clean! All of a sudden Motta the Hutt has a TEN MILLION cred bounty on Juce! The weird part is he wants the body and everything on it intact. Comm chatter has every mercenary with a ride converging on that mountain! Guys, I know you want to do some shopping for fighters, but I think it's time to blow this joint."
Jeriko expertly kicked the landspeeder off of a lump in the road and between two jagged rocks. Suddenly, you find yourselves on the track again, being passed by a couple of the racers who give you startled glances as they pass. Up ahead you see the track passing from the defile into a broad plains. Still ten klicks before you reach where your ship is hidden.
"..What!?.."
Confused at the suddenness of the posted bounty on his head Juce brings up his brace computer and looks over the listed bounties for Tattooine. Seeing himself there and the posted amount of credits for his intact form only serves to increase his confusion. He'd been so careful! How the hell had the slug managed to connect him with this!? Unless it wasn't about this? What the hell could the slug want? Or maybe Juce hadn't been so careful as he thought? Had he missed a camera? Did he fail to swipe the mouse droid? What!? Had someone been listening to the squad frequency maybe? Had someone dropped his name? His brother hadn't seen him, there was no way he could connect Juce with this with any certainty so, how?!
Muttering under his breath as his thoughts rage over the possibilities Juce suddenly looks up at Jeriko, the pilot, and stares hard at him.
"Dust trails are three chasing us. Can you make this thing go any faster?" he says coldly.
"Umm, gentl'men? Ah'm sensin' nothin'. Which is prob'ly 'cuz someone's blockin' me. Someone on the Darker Side of the Force. We got Sith, people."
Desh pivots the big gun around to face the three trailing dust-clouds. "Double-damn," he grunts, testing the big gun out on a rock that speeds by. "Lets' see if I can make these ass-hats' day as bad as our just got."
While Juce is motionless, his mind spinning at the possibilities, Desh checks out the gun.
It is a military repeating blaster. "Eekos Energetics" is stamped on the barrel shroud along with a serial number. It is an older weapon that has seen a lot of action; stained blackened and scratched.
"Eekos Energetics was a second tier weapons manufacturer out in the Corporate Arm of the galaxy. It was well respected, until it was driven out of business by Czerka Arms some fifty years ago.
This weapon is in perfect working order.
It has been refurbished sometime in the past and maintained to Mandalorian standards. You suspect you could bury it in mud and sand, dig it out and it will still function reliably.
With all the dust kicked up by the other racers as well as yours, it is difficult to see where the stealth speeders are. They could be anywhere between 20 and 50 meters away.
It's pretty bare out here, no cover except for some rocks.
Another minute though, and you'll enter the mouth of a rift valley. Among the twists and turns, there are plenty of places you can try to ram someone into.
Bolt's voice comes out from your comms.
"Bandit's at your nine o'clock! One of 'ems spotted you and is coming in hot! He won't want to share the reward, so he's not gonna call for help unless he has to. Take him down fast!"
You can see the small dot of a small snubfighter curving towards you a couple of klicks away on your left, maybe five hundred meters high.
Not having any idea what the gun is, Desh rips off a few shots into the canyon wall to determine it's potential.
Desh prepares to swivel towards the first aggressor he sees. "Call'em out when ya see 'em."
The gun operates normally, firing a stream of bolts that explode in a row against the rocks Desh aims at. The action is smooth and well balanced, and you don't hear or see anything that would indicate an incipient malfunction.
"Deeeeeesh! DESH! Quit shooting the nice rocks and point that thing over there!" Jeriko jabs one hand over to the port side of the speeder, while still deftly piloting the craft with the other. "No... too high. It's right there. There! Don't you see that?! That shimmer? To your right a bit you blind bantha! Yes! THAT! Shoot THAT!"
"Aaaaand if that wasn't enough fun, we've got a fighter coming in hot too!" Jeriko sits up a bit then, turns around and briefly looks at each of his companions in the speeder then cooly remarks, "Boy, you bunch of mynocks sure know how to show a guy a good time." His face breaks into a devilish grin as he spins back around to race for the rift valley up ahead.
"No, i don't see it. But feel free to call me a bantha again, and I'll see if I can't find a closer target."
Desh keeps his eyes peeled for the incoming speeders.
Desh finally catches sight of the snub fighter, but keeps the barrel aimed behind them in an attempt to mask his intention.
Desh sights the big weapon in, waiting until the right moment, then pulls the trigger….
The mercenary snubfighter swoops in on its attack run, its pulses of red blasterfire kicking up sand and dust as they stitch a line towards the heroes landspeeder. The E-Web repeater bellows out its own orange colored blaster bolts that seem to drift up and past the approaching fighter.
Jeriko cannot help but jink a little as the blaster bolts fall all around the landspeeder, jolting it, and fortunately you take no hits as the snubfighter roars past. You see it take a couple of hits from Desh's E-Web, but it is still flying as it rolls into a turn, clearly it intending to make another pass.
Jeriko is puzzled at the increasing sluggishness of the controls and starts to wonder if they were hit after all.
The high-pitched whine is your only warning.
Suddenly, impossibly, the black and silver figures of Sith stealth troopers waver into view, hanging onto the sides (one standing on the hood!) as they strike at you with their vibroblades.
Misses as Desh swings the gun around firing.
Misses as Jeriko jinks.
Misses as Jeriko jinks, and is partly deflected by the sonic windscreen.
Hit! For slashing damage.
Hit! The powerful strike skitters off the beskar materiel of Juces chestpiece and up under his helmet for cutting damage.
Distracted by the sudden appearance of a stealth trooper on the hood of the speeder, Jeriko doesn't pay much heed to anything else other than the deadly arc of the figure's vibroblade. Quick as a flash, he draws Angeline from her holster and snaps off a quick burst of fire at his daring attacker as he tries to maintain control over the vehicle.
Desh spins on the sith who attacked him. "Big mistake," he grunts as he grabs his carbine and slams the bayonet into the man's gut.
Round 2________________________
Dodging back from the vibroblade stabbing at him through the windscreen, Jeriko fast draws and blazes away at the sith stealth trooper on the hood. He catches him dead center and blows him off the landspeeder forward. Landing on the ground ahead of them, you feel a bump as you ride over him.
Desh is up close a little more. He grabs is carbine and rams its bayonet through the sith’s armor and body, forcing him off. He hits the ground in a cloud of dust and disappears behind you. You can see the fighter pulling into a turn far beyond.
Jerrn whips out his lightsaber and attacks, but the sith’s vibroblade parries it.
Juce tries to buttstroke his attacker, but misses.
Miss.
Hit! for slashing damage.
Hit! for slashing damage.
"Deeeesh! That fighter's coming back around! Juce... Jerrn... feel free to ditch these bantha-loving stowaways any time now!"
Desh nearly loses his footing as the speeder slips to the side, "I'm on it, Jeriko! Just try to give me a steady shot when he swings by!"
Desh drops his carbine, letting it catch on its strap, as he takes up the big repeater again... swinging it around to prepare for the fighter's next pass.
Round 3______________
The landspeeder lurches left as Jeriko dodges the Sith slash, he grabs the controls again before the speeder could smash into a stone plinth. This is fortunate as blaster bolts from the fighter stitch the ground where the speeder was.
Jerrn and Juce both attack Sith, but miss as the landspeeder jinks. Jerrn's lightsaber makes a *woooom* sound as it narrowly misses taking Jeriko's arm off.
The Sith narrowly avoid being thrown off the speeder and renew their attacks.
Miss.
Parried.
Hit! for piercing damage.
"Think you can make unsteady work, Desh?! And you other banthas can feel free to get this kriffing sith off me!"
Desh calls on what little luck he has, bracing the big repeater while the snub-fighter lined up for its run. Just when it got into range, he hammered the trigger with a grimace...
... but he can't keep it centered despite Jeriko's ace driving. "Apparently not," he grunts in frustration. "Maybe he'll get bored and come down for a close encounter."
Desh grabbed the controls of the E-Web and swung it around aft, almost knocking a Sith off as he lined it up on the approaching fighter.
He fires, the stream of bolts reaching out, but only hits it a few times; the bolts doing little damage.
The pilot jinks out of habit, then drops down to just above the track. In this position he can hardly miss, the landspeeder not crossing or jinking this time. He fires his heavier pulse-wave cannon...
But as the bolts reach out, they hit a stealth camouflaged Sith landspeeder in the way. The bolts detonate the energy cells in a spectacular explosion, lofting the chassis high into the air.
The Pilot pulls up, trying to dodge it...
and just manages to miss impacting the chassis as he flys through the fireball and up.
But he's missed his chance now, Jeriko has expertly slid through the rock filled entrance to the twisted narrow valley that is the next part of the race course.
Jerrn's swing skitters off Juce's beskar armored arm as he missed his foe again.
Juce's point blank shot loosens the Sith troopers grip and Juce finishes him by booting him off the landspeeder and into the valley wall.
Hit! for piercing damag.
Miss.
Despite the fireball and the brutal hand to hand struggle in the cockpit, you catch a glimpse of the fighter zooming up into the sky overhead. You realize he has executed a Hammerhead turn and is now diving back down towards you!
Despite being stabbed, you can see coming around a turn a section of straightaway ahead of you leading to the lip of a crevasse. On the opposite side of the crevasse, some 40 meters across, the track continues on. On this side, over to the right, is an accelerator pad capable of flinging a landspeeder forward at a much greater speed.
You have a choice here. Jumping the crevasse as it is is risky, you might not have enough speed to make it, depending on your skill. Using the accelerator pad guarantees you'll make it across, but you might lose control and wipe out on the far side.
If you want to hit the pad, you have to make a piloting check.
What do you do?
Am I making a piloting check either way? One to hit the pad or one to make the jump? Presuming I make the jump with the pad, I'm guessing there's then another pilot check to keep from spinning out of control on the other side?
Can I shoot at the goon stabbing me and make a piloting check to hit the pad, or is this a one-or-the-other kind of scenario?
>It's an easy Pilot check (DC10) to jink into the accellerator pad if you want, otherwise you'll make the jump without it's benefit.
>Making the jump across the crevasse itself requires a hard Pilot check. If you use the accellerator pad you get a +10 to the check.
>If (when) you land on the other side, its an average Pilot check to maintain control, -10 to the check if you use the accellerator pad.
>You CAN attack the goon fighting you, but it's a significant penalty to the Pilot check.
Understood. In light of that, I'll pass on shooting, jink for the pad, and hope I shake this fool off the speeder! =P
Sneering at the sith stabbing him but keeping his eyes fixed ahead, Jeriko banks sharply and glides in over the accelerator pad. Just prior to passing over the pad, he recites in a mock, nasally tone, "Please keep all hands, feet, tentatcles, and other assorted appendages inside the speeder at all times. Pilots will not be held responsible for passengers not secured with a safety harness." He winks at the Sith next to him as the speeder glides over the accelerator pad...
HP: 27/45
Ref/Fort/Will: 21/20/17
Damage Threshhold: 20
Dark Side Score: 4
-Condition Track-
[X] Normal
[_] -1 to Defenses, attack rolls, ability checks, and skill checks
[_] -2 to Defenses, attack rolls, ability checks, and skill checks
[_] -5 to Defenses, attack rolls, ability checks, and skill checks
[_] Move at 1/2 speed; -10 to Defenses, attack rolls, ability checks, and skill checks
[_] Helpless (unconscious)
-Consumables-
Ammo: 40/50 [4 packs]
Fuel cells: 8/10 [2 cells]
Force Points: 7/8
Destiny Points: 5/5
-Ongoing Effects-
none
As Jeriko rammed the throttles forward, the rest of the passengers and boarders saw the oncoming crevasse and realized that their pilot wasn't going to stop. Everyone stopped fighting and grabbed on for dear life.
Jeriko side slipped easily over to the accelerator pad and you all feel like a giant hurled you forward. For what seems like a long time, you feel like you are falling, the crevasse descending below you out of sight, the rocky walls ascending upwards to frame a narrow sky where the mercenary fighter was just starting its descending strafing run; its first shots far behind you now as the accelerator pad hurled you out of its way.
Then you crash down on the far side and the land speeder yaws right and left threatening to spin out of control.
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Desh's scowl darkens as his repeater-fire continue to do no real damage. "DAMMIT! JERIKO! CAN'T YOU JUST ---"
...recites in a mock, nasally tone, "Please keep all hands, feet, tentatcles, and other assorted appendages inside the speeder at all times. Pilots will not be held responsible for passengers not secured with a safety harness."
The cigar falls from Desh's slack jaws, his eyes widening,
The speeder blasts across the wide opening in slow motion. Desh's long, continuous shouted is accompanied by a trailing tail of wildly-flailing white-hot plasma as he clings to the repeater as his only hand-hold.
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As you are in mid jump and you feel like you're actually in an airspeeder, it looks to you like Jeriko overshot the jump and you're going to smack into the canyon wall over the raceway opening.
But then the mercenary fighter flies past you on the port side, guns still blazing. The moment is frozen in your mind's eye, like it was in slow motion; the pilot looking at you with astonishment.
The near collision created a buffet that pulled you over just enough to land on the raceway pad on the other side.
You land with a tooth-rattling crash and a shower of sparks from the undercarriage. The lift fans scream and the landspeeder fishtails back and forth as Jeriko struggles to regain control. One Sith fails his grip and disappears under the undercarriage.
When the speeder hit the ground, the gun whips around and Desh's grip fails; he is catapulted forward. His hand briefly grips the windscreen before it fails and he slides forward over the hood. He is only saved from being run over when he finds a grip in the forward intake grille. Nevertheless, he is in a precarious position as his armored boots scrape over the semi-rough terrain of the race course.
Desh has another heart-stopping moment when the speeder spins around in a 360 degree circle and bounces off a portside obstacle, scraping off the last Sith and leaving Jeriko in control and on the open racecourse at max speed.
Jeriko cracks a cocky smile and turns around to boast to Desh, only to find the repeater unmanned. Turning back around he's surprised to see a Feeorin's head rather than a Sith's poking up over the grill. "Desh? Screamin' poodoo, Desh, what are you doing up there? Kriffing Mandalorians, thinking they're too good for harnesses. Jerrn! Juce! Can either of you help Desh back into the speeder?"
Jerrn leaps out of the seat to haul Desh back into the speeder.
"Yah, sure," Desh grunts as the farmboy helps yank him from becoming a speed bump, "next time I'll take a few extra moments to strap in "
Jerrn hauls Desh back into the passengers section and he scrambles back into the gunners control. He straps in more securely.
Jeriko whoops it up as he accelerates down the narrow canyon track.
Turning through a narrow bend in the track, the speeder abruptly emerges into a much larger canyon, kilometers wide and deep. If you weren't running for your lives from an enraged trillionaire you would call it a wonder of nature.
Your comms wake up, much clearer now.
"I have you in sight!" calls Bolt excitedly. "Lighting off the Powerplant now."
Far down the canyon floor, on a shelf under a rock overhang, you can just see a tan figure pulling aside camouflage projector strips to reveal the welcome sight of the Last Chance. You can see the cargo bay hatchway folding open and the ramp descending...
The fighter yowls by you from behind barely ten meters over your heads. You have just a glimpse of a helmeted head looking down at you in surprise. Down the canyon you can just see it pull hard into a vertical turn. In the open it's going to blast you to pieces unless you can discourage it.
Jeriko, knowing their only chance is to get aboard quick kept the throttle maxed as they charged towards the ramp leading up to the ship.
"Whoa!" Jeriko jukes suddenly to avoid the sudden presence of a fighter overhead. He keeps the accelerator fully engaged as the speeder screams through the open canyon, a spikey vertical trail of dust and pebbles chasing behind the fast moving vehicle.
Reeling from the last few seconds, Desh turns the barrel of the gun emplacement up at the fighter. "ComeonComeonComeon!" The stream of plasma is like a white-hot rooster-tail springing from the back of the speeder.
While Desh's blaze of fire can't seem to hit the fighter for effect, the sheer volume seems to make the pilot flinch enough to make his cannon fire miss your landspeeder. The shots strike all around, little explosions kicking up sand and pebbles to shower you as Jeriko races to the ship.
Not slowing for a moment, the landspeeder hits the cargo ramp with a squeal of metal scraping metal and a shower of sparks, runs up the ramp and charges through the cargo bay to the back before Jeriko can stop.
Only the pile of crates brings you to a sudden stop and prevents you from crashing through the back of the cargo bay and into the engine room.
With a rising roar, the ship lifts as the cargo bay ramp whines shut.
"Somebody get to the port and starboard guns!" Shouts Bolt's voice over the loudspeakers. "That fighter called for his buddies, and it won't be long before the Motta notices the fight!"
You feel the 2g acceleration under your feet as you free yourselves from the pile of boxes that fell on you when you stopped.