"It appears you aren't willing to discuss this peacefully. Your demands hold no weight here." AJTD1 responds as he quickly rearms himself.
The transport continues to move, but seems to be taking evasive action.
The counselor will give the commander an update as to what he has seen.
Gunnar will continue following the transport
"I'm not willing to discuss anything while you have my pilot as a hostage! I'll talk if that skiff stops in its tracks... otherwise, I'll you and it into a pile of rubble." Garrett tenses as his finger starts to depress the trigger while speaking with the other droid, until he seems him reach for his dropped lightsaber. Swiveling quickly, he fires on the other droid, aiming for the hand reaching for the lightsaber. "I thought I told you to stop the skiff," he says coldly, keeping the blaster trained on the other droid. "For someone who wants to stop this without violence, you're the ones who've yet to meet my one demand for that; stopping the skiff."
Garrett walks towards the other droid, his weapon still pointed towards him. He kicks the dropped lightsaber away, before narrowing his eyes. "Either you radio in to stop that thing and we can part ways like gentleman, or I'll rip out your processors and stick them in an astromech droid. Understand?"
AJTD1, this man is quite imposing and having just shot you alongside slaying other CSA security guards, you know he means business.
The ground is grass so no dust to speak of, perhaps slow down and get line of sight on the assassin and use Force Slam or Move Object to effect him?
AJTD1 hesitates. He doesn't lower his weapon, but does back off slightly.
"Alright, alright. You've proven you're serious. I'll make the call."
AJTD1 proceeds to comm, saying that stopping may be a wise decision as there seems to be a very annoyed human threatening to turn them to slag.
As the cargo skiff swings wide away from where the annoying mag-footed sniper-rifle-armed individual was tossed off, Caleb glances towards the former destination of the stolen goods, then back towards the Mag-Foot. Seeing the training droid having stopped a good fifteen or so meters away from Mag-Foot, with his lightsaber powered down, he keeps an eye on the pair, looking past Kaldo to do so.
And then Mag-Foot pivots and, apparently unprovoked, shoots AJ in the arm, causing metal and sparks to fly.
Anger surges through Caleb's veins, frustration and fury at the circumstances - at the continuing violence being perpetrated by this person-droid-thing, the destruction and death at the center of the compound and - going by the surging crowd - likely the perimeter as well, his own injuries. His hand tightens on his lightsaber as he struggles against the flow of the Dark Side ...
Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Death, yet the Force.
Jedi, guardians of peace.
Jedi, defend and protect.
Jedi, respecting of life.
Jedi, serve not rule.
Jedi, know and train.
It takes a heartbeat, then a second, for Depa Billaba's elegant version of the Jedi Code to flash through his mind, after which his grip relaxes. His blood still boils within him at the ruthless use of lethal force, but though the passion flows, his spirit holds to its core of serenity. He watches Mag-Foot walk to AJ and kick at the fallen lightsaber, after which AJ lifts his comm.
When his own communicator squawks, Caleb regards the situation, then sighs audibly. "Give me some distance from that thing, but stop the skiff. Stay inside. Please warn your short-circuiting droid out there that if it fires that rifle again, I'm going to have to disassemble it to preserve my people's safety. Then - please - see if you can't slow down the riot behind us; your people's actions are going to make it insanely difficult to distribute the rest of the medicinal spice, of which what you have here is a fraction. Maybe make them form an organized line, so they can be injected or something."
Once the cargo skiff stops, Caleb gets out, his lightsaber hilt still in his hand, but quiescent. The Jedi walks around the back of the skiff, coming into view of the killer maybe/probably-droid; without pausing, he continues to walk towards Mag-Foot and AJTD1 - walk, though, not jog or run. His pace is very steady, very deliberate - not fast, but not slow; just a walk, like anyone might if they have somewhere they're going.
First, Garrett wrote that he was aiming for AJ's lightsaber hand/arm. With that natural 20, I somewhat presume that that's exactly what he hits. Would AJ's hand/forearm being blown off (or nearly so) be effectively the special effect of moving two steps down the condition track and 25 damage?
Second, while the cargo skiff is swinging wide, will we at some point during this Turn be within 6 squares of either Garrett or AJTD1?
I do not, by the way, know if there's any actual 'centering' skill or ability; just using the UtF roll to determine how well Caleb is letting the Light Side flow through him.
He will, however, have his unignitied lightsaber in his hand; if Garrett swings his sniper rifle to point at him (I presume it's currently pointed at AJTD1) he will ignite the lightsaber, Deflect any shot(s), and Redirect them into Garrett. As he does so, he will not stop his measured pace towards 'Mag-Foot'.
Sure would have been nice to have Quen actually wanting to get involved with the problem at hand instead of staying as far away from combat as possible, though.
"OK Kaldo, I'll see what I can do about stopping the mob. Do please warn them that it might not be easy, and I'd REALLY appreciate them using stun weaponry if required. That said, they've got a lot of angry people out here. They better move fast."
Turning around to face the crowd, Rennah attempts to stop them:
"We've got it! They're going to distribute the meds in a fair manner!"
Ignoring the mob, Errin continues moving at full speed -- using her jet pack to boost if necessary -- toward the skiff. Once within 150 meters of the jedi she'll stop and begin aiming, lining up a shot on whoever appears most threatening, with preference given to anyone within mind-control range of Kaldo.
Endregaard - Evening 2 -
The Transport skiff comes to a stop as Caleb agrees to Garret's demands.
In return, Kaldo asks Errin and Rennah to bring the mob to a halt.
He then steps out of the skiff and begins walking, lightsaber de-activated, towards where Garret and AJTD1 are currently having a stand off of sorts.
Gunnar swings around with his speeder but is too far to disarm the assassin.
Rennah after a few tries gets the mob to calm down once she convinces them that they will indeed get the medicine they have sought after for weeks.
The adversaries come together, to talk though everyone seems on edge, though Quen is not present and Kaldo is still in the Transport.
First, Garrett wrote that he was aiming for AJ's lightsaber hand/arm. With that natural 20, I somewhat presume that that's exactly what he hits. Would AJ's hand/forearm being blown off (or nearly so) be effectively the special effect of moving two steps down the condition track and 25 damage?
Second, while the cargo skiff is swinging wide, will we at some point during this Turn be within 6 squares of either Garrett or AJTD1?
Personal Roll: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
UtF: Center self: 1d20 + 15 - 1 ⇒ (11) + 15 - 1 = 25
I do not, by the way, know if there's any actual 'centering' skill or ability; just using the UtF roll to determine how well Caleb is letting the Light Side flow through him.
He will, however, have his unignitied lightsaber in his hand; if Garrett swings his sniper rifle to point at him (I presume it's currently pointed at AJTD1) he will ignite the lightsaber, Deflect any shot(s), and Redirect them into Garrett. As he does so, he will not stop his measured pace towards 'Mag-Foot'.
Sure would have been nice to have Quen actually wanting to get involved with the problem at hand instead of staying as far away from combat as possible, though.
The Sarge responds, "Stand down, I am sending in a few IRD's. They will blow everyone there to high hell! I'll not let this stand".
Garrett keeps his rifle in hand, but lowers the stock from his shoulder as Caleb approaches both himself and the other droid. "You can stop there," he says, as Caleb gets within about fifteen feet; his tone isn't aggressive, but it's definitely authoritative. "Let's cut to the chase, here; I need some of that medicine. I made a deal, medical treatment for information, and I don't intend to rescind on that. I've heard the CSA has been stockpiling this medicine for the elite and keeping it from the common people, but you say you're here to treat the general population... truth be told, I don't care which one is true. My associates here might, but all I care about is upholding my end of this deal. You can do whatever you want with the rest of this medicine as far as I'm concerned, but I'm not leaving here without what I came here for."
Sgt, there is no need to take this matter any further, you have been a great support as have your men but there is no need to keep the battle going. Stand down, please.
Force Persusasion
Kaqldo kicks open the door, but stays in the transport. He lowers one hand to the stock of his rifle, but keeps one on the joystick (steering wheel, whatever), ready to drive off if things get out of hand.
"Cancel that strike. If the fight is over we should not reignite".
He pauses and then turns to you, "Head back over there and tell Vryce that I expect him to bring these perpetrators to justice!"
The counselor will head out.
The counselor will head out.
I thought instead of attacking, Garret used his round to intimidate me? If you could just tell me what events occurred, that'd be great.
How much medicine do we have, and is Garret's request reasonable to the mutual benefit to both sides?
Truth be told, I have no idea who's on who's side, other than Garrett and I are opposed. Could I hang back on the roleplay a bit while more established characters do more of the talking and rp-ing?
Doing the calculations in your head based on the size of the mob you believe that the request is more than reasonable. The question is why and what information does he seek that would require him to attempt such a dangerous stunt?
Your logic processors calculate that unless he could have brought that transport into a building with coverage, the IRD space fighters would have caught up with he and his crew within 9 1/2 minutes...
Indeed, you can hang back for now!
Gunnar, Caleb and Quen are the Jedi in your group.
Garrett, Rennah, and Errin are with the other group. For some reason the pilot of the stolen Transport is still inside and Caleb appears to be comfortable with that.
Her jet pack hot on her back, Errin lands in the grass about 120 meters from the apparent standoff. Garrett seems to have the opposition droid handled, so Errin takes a knee and levels her blaster at the human jedi who had used his powers to enthrall Kaldo.
With the jedi in her sights, she flicks on her comm:
"Kaldo, get back in that transport and seal the doors. If the jedi makes a move, head my way at full speed. Do not -- REPEAT: DO NOT -- get within hearing range of that jedi again. Garrett, tell that scumsucking mind-rapist that if he even looks at our pilot I'm going to ventilate his brain."
"Rennah, try to coax that mob this way. The presence of so many civilians might deter the CSA from doing anything stupid with explosives or heavy weaponry, and they should keep everyone busy queued up for vaccines so we can get the hell out of here."
Does Caleb look like a total idiot? Don't answer that question. Whichever answer you think is correct, though, he doesn't miss the jet-packing Errin soar into blaster-rifle range and plant herself; nor does he follow Garrett's 'authority', continuing to walk forward, though the slant of the walk is now towards AJTD1, not Garrett. He checks on the droid that's provided him with so much assistance, before turning and listening to the suspected droid yammer. "You didn't make a deal with us; you've made a deal with someone else. We arrived less than three hours ago, and instead of cutting a valueable-for-information deal, we've taken the time to figure out what's wrong with the distribution system, figured out how to distribute it so that it doesn't get stockpiled by the rich or stolen and sold on the black market, and then taken actual steps to get that distribution system in place. You, on the other hand, started this off with blowing up part of a base, killing any number of people who were simply doing their part to figure this whole thing out, stealing this medication, and shooting me."
Caleb gestures with his off hand at the cargo skiff. "I pointed out to your associate, just before I left him behind, that your insanely violent robbery will make it pure blasted-Alderaan hell to reassemble the resources necessary to properly distribute the rest of the medication and cure everyone on this benighted rock -- these three tons you've been trying to steal being a tenth of the amount we brought. You've shot me, shot my associate, killed at least a half dozen sophonts if not more, caused massive amounts of damage ... and now you say you aren't leaving here without what you came for."
Having satisfied himself with AJTD1's general cohesiveness, he turns towards Garrett, and starts walking towards him/it.
"What you came for, Mr. Mag-Foot, is not yours until you - and your associates, trigger-happy though the lot of you are - talk over the terms of acquisition. Shooting me is neither acceptable nor, as you're discovering, viable; talking with me is. You will note that despite severe provocation from both you and your associates, we've yet to do any real violence upon you; all I ask is that you act in such a way as to make any violence from either us or yourselves unnecessary. Please put your weapons away, and please ask your associates to do the same; then we can talk this out like sensible sophonts. Use violence against us and it will be turned back upon you; I must advise against you trying such. Let us talk, get help for these people, and who knows - perhaps help each other at the same time."
Now that I'm within 6 squares of Garrett, I'll be ready to ignite the lightsaber if he should swing it towards me again, but instead of defaulting to a deflection/reflection (that'll always be an option, of course, especially since Errin is within blaster rifle range) he'll use Move Object to remove the sniper rifle from Garrett's hands.
"Didn't say I made a deal with you, did I? Once I was off your compound, I would have taken what I needed and left your skiff for the CSA to find; it just seemed like the fastest way to get any of this medicine off-base was to steal the lot of it. Like I said, I'm not doing this for philanthropy. You can keep on wasting air on your plans to medicate the populace if you want, though." When Caleb starts taking steps towards him, Garrett's rifle edges towards his shoulder as he steps back. "I'm sure you're aware, but my associate over there has a rifle trained on your head. I know you're pretty good with that lightsaber of yours, but it seems like it's high-time for your... unnatural luck to run out, doesn't it?" Giving a second for his point it sink in, he gestures to the lightsaber in Caleb's hand with his off-hand, his rifle now held one-handed and clicks his tongue. "You know better than to think I'm putting away my weapon while you've got a lightsaber in hand. Unless you're willing to put that away, I think we're all fairly comfortable where we are. Now, if you could find your lightsaber a nice home on your belt, well..." Garrett's voice trails off, his implication obvious. If Caleb puts his lightsaber away, he acquiesces and swings his rifle around and slings it on his back.
"More to the point, shooting you certainly seems to have been viable; you ought to argue that point with the scorch mark on your chest or the smoking chassis of your droid over there." He grins, then shrugs at the Jedi in front of him. "Moreover, if the CSA had bothered to formulate a plan for distributing this medicine before you lot showed up, perhaps I wouldn't have had to infiltrate their compound and pick off a few stragglers to find what I needed." Garrett scoffs, shaking his head. "Moreover, you still don't seem to understand that I don't care about the 'help' for these people one way or the other; I'm here on unrelated business that just so happened to require the procurement of some medicine for an informant." Garrett gives a look over to the mob of people being directed by Rennah, then folds his arms over his chest. "I need enough medicine for a single man, and that's it. If you're really here to help these people, then more power to you... I'm sure the others would be pleased with you. You give me that, and I'll be like a ghost. I'd offer to fix the droid, but considering I threatened to cram his processor into an astromech unit, I doubt he wants me anywhere near him."
"I don't think that's going to stop them Errin. They're Corporate Authority after all. It might stop the Jedi though... I'm not using them for a mobile cover, expedient as it might be. We're here to sort things out, not make them worse for the populace."
With that, Rennah puts away her lightsaber and her blaster, and approaches the guards, while clearly holding her arms out from her side, hoping that she's the only one who hasn't fired a shot yet, they won't open fire on her.
"I'm just looking to get past, to help resolve the situation. Please let me pass."
With that, she indicates her intention to join Garrett, AJ and Caleb (and possibly Kaldo).
The guards facial reaction cannot be seen but he motions you along Rennah but you do hear his response.
"You kill a bunch of us and then say you want to resolve a situation you created? That's a good one lady. I'm not stupid, I see you're some kinda Jedi, you'll all pay for what you did here today"
|
Gunnar walks from under the skiff and closes the distance quickly toward Caleb and the droids (good name for a rock group) and when he is within talking distance he says we cannot allow you to be so murderous nor will we simply allow worse distribution of these drugs to be done by violent thugs. If you cooperate and if you hand yourselves over to us, then I will see this deal of yours to its end. I do not wish more violence but what you have done must be accounted for.
"I informed your driver," Caleb mentions (loudly, as he must to be heard across fifteen feet (or twenty meters) in an open field) as he continues to approach the rifle-bearing possible-droid, "that if you shot again, I would disassemble you to prevent further bloodshed. Understand that just like you don't care about the people you're using as human shields, blaster bait, and target practice in order to acquire your one-person supply of medicine, I don't care about what you claim you would have done. I do care about what you have done. Your associate may be aiming at me, but your back is to them, and a half-step to my left and they'll be shooting at you, not me. You know the worth of my word as a Jedi; once all of you put away your weapons, and can be seen to have done so, then I will put away mine. I in turn know the worth of your word and values - that you have killed people today, and don't care that you have, and are in fact bragging about shooting people. Now, are you going to put that rifle away, and have your associates put their weapons away, or am I going to have to start becoming firm with the lot of you?"
Also, still keeping that action readied. I expect I'll need it here in a moment.
Endregaard - Evening 2 -
As the groups "negotiate" back and forth a figure on a speeder bike heads towards the assembly though his pace is relatively slow.
You all recognize the figure though only the Jedi know his name.
Perception
Sense Feeling UTF
As he arrives, he gets off the speeder My, we have a mess in this predicament don't we?
'Disassemble' me? That's an odd turn of phrase," Garrett says, one eyebrow raised. "Regardless, Errin's a good shot... almost as good as me; she's not going to miss. More importantly, for someone who claims to be so insistent on working this out peacefully, you lot hardly seem willing to give any ground; first you won't stop the skiff, now you won't put away your weapons... what kind of message does that send? You aren't very good at this whole 'show of good faith' thing you've been trying to push." Garrett takes another step or two back, keeping distance between him and the Jedi. However, he does keep his rifle lowered, not raising it to fire. "I'm not bragging about shooting people, just stating facts; you're heavily injured and your droid is one stiff breeze away from shutting down, and I don't have a scratch. You've got another shooter trained on you, and myself... even a Jedi isn't fast enough to deal with that. Your best bargaining chip is my pilot, and it seems you've left him all alone in that skiff. Let's stop pretending you're the one in control of this situation, shall we?" Garrett presses the tips of his fingers into his palm, cracking his knuckles. "Or will I have to get 'firm' with you?"
The counselor walks up looking at the situation.
You have instigated violence for no other reason than you could. You do not have an upper hand here, the CSA even now is organizing to take you and your group down. I asked for a few moments to see if we could come a more peaceful solution. That will not take place with people being armed he says showing that he has no weapons in his hands.