Rufus shouts back, "That's Mister dirt farmer to you!" as he climbs in the walker and settles into the pilot's seat. He immediately cycles through the startup and gets it moving, knowing that sitting still would be a death sentence. Only after it shudders to life does he begin to power up the weapons.
Kagore rushes to the side of the hangar clearing the space between the two ATs that now resembled a pair of gunslingers staring each other down across the hangar. He ducked into cover attempting to escape the machines notice...readying an attack.
The AT-ST's holoprojector hums to life. The image of a man's face appears before you. He is wearing a sleep black command helmet, which seems to complement the stinging grin cracked across his face. A painfully familiar voice speaks. "Welcome, my students, to your final exam." The confident Parlan slides a pair of dark goggles over his eyes. "This is a fight between soldiers. Soldiers in the skins of titans. Or should I say, farmers in the skins of soldiers in the skins of titans, hmmm?" The holoprojector flickers and goes out, but not before you see Parlan's face as he laughs at his own joke. The AT-ST tips its cockpit toward you in a salute. Then it opens fire!
The shot from the Twin Blaster Cannons rocks Rufu's AT-ST and sparks fly inside the controls.
Everyone can go.
Gotal will assist Tallon and his wife to the lift. He is anxious to get to his lightsaber to say the least...
Rufus groans, more at the awful joke than the hit that his walker took. He shakes his head. "That is what we call in the industry a 'bomb'. Please refrain from further attempts at humor until further notice."
He brings the main gun online and puts Parlan's AT-ST in the crosshairs, then squeezes the trigger.
Colton examines the AT-ST for a potential weak spot.
Rufus shot strikes the AT-ST inflicting some damage to it as well as some of the group makes it's way toward the lift awaiting it's arrival (2 more rounds!).
The enemy AT-ST shoots back but the shot was a little off and doesn't appear to inflict any damage into the one Rufus is controlling.
Kagore seemed to have disappeared for a few before suddenly a grenade flew out from behind some cargo and landed beside the enemy walker's left leg...
The AT-ST rocks a bit from the explosion and you hear the voice again over the coms.
"Insolent fools, can't you respect an honorable duel!"
"This is a duel?" Rufus mutters. "This is two pilots pouring as much fire into the other as they're able."
He sends another blast from the main gun at the enemy AT-ST. "Hey, I like a good monologue as much as the next guy, but I have to ask: Are you all right? You know your ship is blowing up around you? Most captains would have evacuated by now. Or, if you're one of those types, just hang out on the bridge until the end. This-- this is just unhealthy."
Rufus strikes the AT-ST again appearing to damage it a little but not putting it out of the game!
The enemy shoots back but doesn't do enough to cause any harm to Rufu's AT-ST.
The lift continues to rise and will be here next round!
Kagore throws another grenade from cover. "You're even more delusional thrn you sound if you think we are gonna fight fair when you plan to take us all down! Go join your empire as it dies! Long live the rebellion!"
Rufus scowls a bit when the unusually talkative captain finally shuts up and doesn't answer his question. But the AT-ST keeps shooting at him, so he figures he'll respond in kind.
Between Kagores grenade and Rufus last volley of shot the enemy AT-ST leans to the side as if it was about to fall over.
"Impossible! You blasted farmers! I will hunt you down until the end of..." and then suddenly the AT-ST explodes and that is the last you hear of the captains voice.
The lift finally makes it's way up just after the explosion.
Kagore emerges from the shadows behind a bunch of cargo and rushes toward the lift. "Lets get off this ship before she blows!"
Colton maintains Sense Danger and keeps his lightsaber up and in the guard position as they ride down on the lift.
Rufus checks the damage readings to see much his walker suffered, then if it seems relatively functional, he gets on the external speakers. "You guys want me to stay in the doom chicken in case there's a surprise waiting for us below?"
He'll maneuver the walker to stand on the lift if there's room for it.
You descend into hangar Bay G-12 with the Tallon's and droid, noticing the six troopers and your shuttle waiting to depart. In the control tower, a single figure watches your descent. It appears to be a person in Imperial robes, perhaps an official or dignitary of some sort. A hood is drawn over the figure's head, hiding any recognizable details. Then, over the ship-wide comlink, you hear, "Priority Command D-113. Time: five minutes and counting...."
Kagore shouts up to Rufus as the lift descended revealing the AT-ST to the guarding troopers. "Light these imperials up and lets get off this ship!"
Kagore took off trying to draw fire to the left running as fast as he could across the hangar bay floor. His tired muscles protested but obeyed showing him that he wasn't ready to die on this floating can in space just yet. "Come on you brainwashed imperial dogs!"
Rufus arms the concussion grenade launcher on the walker's starboard side and launches the ordnance in the middle of the troopers' formation.
"Sorry, but we've got places to be and we can't stop to chat right now," he broadcasts.
Gotal stands in front of the Tallon's to provide them cover as the lift doors open.
His blaster rises and he too fires at the Stormtroopers.
Blaster Pistol -
Blaster Damage -
His shot goes wide...
Gotal's shots go wide, his injuries really not helping with his shaking hands.
Rufus blasts toward the troopers present scattering them to the 4 winds and the group makes it's way to Alabaks gold. The path is clear!
Rufus disengages controls of the AT-ST (probably jamming controls so no one else can use it for a while) and makes his way into the Gold as well firing up the engines. You can see the officer just watching you as the ship begins to take off into space.
Just as you get to a safe distance the Relentless goes super nova and explodes in a bright blaze of reactor core explosions and the Gold shakes but does not take any serious damage.
Your subspace comm units crackle to life and a strong, calm voice addresses you. "This is Starfall leader calling unknown vessel identify yourself."
Kagore remains buckled into the back of the ship throughout the escape not liking the turbulence. He looks over at the imperial and the droid a little suspiciously...
Knowing Rufus has the comm, Gotal heads to the compartment where he hid his lightsaber never having missed it as much as he did during the harrowing escape from the star destroyer.
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Rufus' hands fly over the controls of the Gold as he flies her out of the hangar bay and races to reach safe distance. The ship bucks but holds together as the shockwave outpaces them.
Before he's able to breathe a sigh of relief, the comm opens up and demands their identity. He keys on the sensors to try to get a reading of the ship or ships hailing them.
"Uh, hi. You might be wondering about that big explosion behind us. Well, this is the starship Wedidn'tdoit flying out of the Youcan'tproveathing system. Who are you?"
You hear some static, then some laughter and then some more static before a real response comes back.
"This is Captain Torrie. Please come aboard our flagship as personal guests of the Alliance. May the force be with you. Captain Torrie out."
"Well General...you made it off that ship. Do either of you know who that hooded figure was? I have a bad feeling they may have not gone down with the ship."
Kagore felt uneasy despite there escape...still there had been a few moments there where his old body had reacted nearly as fast as in his prime, remembering the training his clone troop had been given by the then fledgling empire. He hit the commlink on the console near him speaking over to Rufus. "Good job Rufus for getting us clear...now we just need to complete our mission that Dana gave her life for..." Kagore looked over to meet the general's eyes.
Rufus keys on the internal comms. "Thanks! But about that, we've got a new invitation. From the Alliance. I was about to accept," he replies.
Rufus swings the Gold toward the Alliance flagship, hoping soon that his sensors will get a reading on it and determine if it was part of the attack force that crippled the Relentless.
Tallon looks to the group with a smile on his face and a sigh of relief.
"Thank you all for everything you have done these last few days. I can honestly say without your efforts and bravery we would of surely been doomed."
He turns to Kagore "I do not have a clue as to who that was but perhaps Heshvaun would know." he looks to the imperial officer.
Heshvaun shrugs "The Captain had many secrets and I'm assuming that was one of them. With the destruction I would not be to worried about it though."
The droid chimes in "The Lieutenant Colonel is correct. Anyone aboard after we left has only a 5% chance of survival."
Rufus guides the Alabaks Gold into one of the Hangars he's directed toward on the flagship and you can see out the view ports cheering coming from numerous workers and guards.
"Oh, that means I'm certain we won't be seeing him again," Rufus says with his usual sarcasm.
Rufus disembarks, noting the starfighters in the docking bay with an envious eye. Secondarily, he notes the battle damage the flagship has suffered.
"This is a much better reception than the Empire's. I might just get used to this."
Colton disembarked from the Alabak's Gold and moved out of the way for the others. He also looked at the fighters in the docking bay, a wistful look in his eye. Maybe, someday....
Total disembarks and seeks medical attention, still hurting from the blast he received.
Kagore slowly emerges from the ship after they are well settled grumbling. "I hope these rebels don't sit around patting themselves on the back...the empire could have reinforcements on the way any time. Lets hurry up and get this pomp over with." He continues to grumble as they leave the ship to the cheers of the workers and guards.
As you disembark the Alabak Gold the Imperial officer is immediately placed under arrest and hauled away. Tallon appears to want to tell the guards that the office did assist but determines now is not the time.
An older man in officer uniform approaches holding his hand out.
"I am Captain Torrie welcome aboard the Ardent."
Some medical specialist make their way to the group as well to assist with the wounded (Gotal).
"We received word that General Tallon as still alive on this planet and that Imperial forces were hard on this tracks. To be honest I thought we were to late but thanks to your group here he is."
Tallon smiles. "We have much to discuss but for now my friends need some well deserved rest and we should be getting out of here as Kagore states."
The Captain nods.
##########################
After about a month a message is sent to your headquarters. The encryption is strong and sender unknown, but you know it's legitimate. You are to head to a distant planet on the outer rim named Agamar where supposedly some old depot of arms have been lost and forgotten from the clone wars. They want you to validate and report back so they can send proper resources to collect if it's valuable.
---
Post message Gotal will turn to Kagore, "You familiar with Agamar from your time in the War?"
Knowledge - Planetary Systems
Kagore mostly kept to himself during the downtime though he would likely have enjoyed some conversations with Rufus, the most cavalier of the group. He didn't exactly avoid Colton during the month but there were times when Colton would enter a room and Kagore would make some excuse to go check on something or another. There was a tension between the two that seemed to only have grown without the threat of a ship exploding to keep them focused...
Kagore gets a far off look in his eyes as Gotal brings up the past.
Colton spends most of the intervening month in private meditation and physical conditioning training. He also explores the headquarters to become knowledgeable in it's layout in case it should ever need to be defended.
Rufus spends his downtime in quiet contemplation about their success and on the nature of the Galaxy.
Not really.
While on board the Ardent, he joins up with the other fighter jocks and drinks, gambles and shares stories. He eyes longingly at the X-Wings in the fighter bays, hoping soon he'll get a chance to fly one. And he gets a few practical jokes in on any officer taking his or her rank too seriously.
When they leave the Mon Cal vessel, there's as many people glad to see him leave as there are who are sad to see him go.
He wasn't completely surprised that Colton decided to join them, seeing how well he got along with Gotal. It made sense. Rufus had put in a few good words about Heshvaun, but was also pretty content that he was kept with Alliance Intelligence.
At their base, Rufus spent most of his time tinkering with the Gold and running through space combat simulations, but the boredom started to set in. He was quite ready to go when the new communication came through.
"Agamar. Right. Let's get going, shall we?"
You know that Agamar is a barren, rocky planet located in the Agamar system within the Outer Rim Territories of the galaxy. By the second year of the Clone Wars, the world was under the control of the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
The trip to Agamar is rather uneventful and takes a few days to get there. The small blue and green planet sits before the Alabak Gold.
Gotal relays what he knows about the planet to his companions, "Agamar is a barren, rocky planet located in the Agamar system within the Outer Rim Territories of the galaxy. By the second year of the Clone Wars, the world was under the control of the Confederacy of Independent Systems".
"Rufus, any way to scan the surface for a safe place to land?"
"Yeah, they're these things called, 'sensors.'"
He keys them on and starts running a passive scan of the system.
Gotal grins at Rufus, "I don't need the details... I meant a place not inhabited. It's best of the ship is not identified after our last run in with the Empire".
Kagore stares out the view screen with a pit in his stomach as the ship flys them toward the planet. He strangely felt stronger despite his age recently as if his focus on his arts had unlocked another part of himself. But the past still lingered...
Rufus scans the planet near where the location of where your supposed to be going to collect the goods and no notable life forms are detected. Possibly just some animals and such.
Kagore addressed Gotal as Rufus expertly brought them toward the planet. "I wasn't one of the troopers assigned to this area. My batch were for special tactical ops, and we were constantly moving from system to system where we were needed. And when the...activation order came down I didn't have much choice...til Dana managed to help me override my control chip."