"I found the frequency guys, now to seal it off and turn them off. Don't get off the elevator yet, they can be remote detonated if the frakkers see us."
Vash'elie tries to isolate the frequency, gaining controll over it and shutting out the Black Knights.
"Agh! I hate all this waiting around!" From inside the lift, Six scans the surroundings for any signs of trouble, but doesn't spot anything.
Sevarkoh shuts his eyes and closes his ears to the children, reaching out with the Force to scan for threats. No one would harm the children, not while he stands. Who would do such a thing, using them as bait or hostages?
|
Kidd sits idly watching Vash try to circumvent the mines' controls, every second bringing them closer to a quick end. His mind races for a way to help. "Hey, Kol. If I can get you to that escape hatch next to the bridge, think you could jimmy your way in and get the 'hopper' ready for a quick exit? Or maybe you could lift it off and throw a rope down to us once you're airborne?" He eyeballs the distance between their position and the ship, "I think I can carry you that far." He floats his lightsaber hilt a few inches above his palm to illustrate what he means.
...
It is unknown though, how much damage the top structure of the landing platform could take before collapsing.
The Grasshopper has two emergency hatches that appear to be not mined. One is located on the very top of the ship and another near the bridge. A DC 10 Mechanics check by a trained person should be able to open either of these access ways without triggering the emergency bolts that are used to 'pop' off these hatches in the event of a collision or other emergency.
There is 50' of distance between the Turbo Lifts and the Grasshopper.
That is 10 squares or roughly 15m.
Sevarkoh shuts his eyes and closes his ears to the children, reaching out with the Force to scan for threats. No one would harm the children, not while he stands. Who would do such a thing, using them as bait or hostages?
1d20+8
Zane senses that danger is approaching. Something that will wipe out all life for a vast area centred on the spot he is standing.
"I found the frequency guys, now to seal it off and turn them off. Don't get off the elevator yet, they can be remote detonated if the frakkers see us."
Vash'elie tries to isolate the frequency, gaining controll over it and shutting out the Black Knights. 1d20+10+2+3
I'm giving Kol a chance to reply to Kidd's offer.
Zane's eyes pop open. "We need to move, now! Something is coming this way, something vast and evil." He begins to prepare to make a run for it, his Force powers and lightsabers to keep him safe.
Kol is scoping out the scene just as soon as the doors open; he calculates what it would take to disarm them in the least amount of time.
"Hey, Kol. If I can get you to that escape hatch next to the bridge, think you could jimmy your way in and get the 'hopper' ready for a quick exit?" (He demonstrates with a floating lightsaber).
Kol thinks quickly.
"Yeah, good idea. I'll preflight everything while you all deal with the mines and get the kids aboard."
"Go for it. I'll cover him."
"Nope. No reason." Vash says distractedly as she taps away at her brace comp, seeing if she can shut down the mines.
Kid maneuvers Kol to the top hatch of the Grasshopper.
Vash manages to turn off the mines. Her signal works but if the Knights are able to organize a stronger signal then they might be able to reactivate the mines.
Her wrist system is only able to generate so much power but she is close to the mines which helps considerably with the strength of signal.
The mines at least for the moment have turned off their danger lights.
"Alright kids, get your tiny butts on the ship." Waiting for the kids to board, he turns to Vash. "Is it safe for the rest of us to get on now?"
Kid maneuvers Kol to the top hatch of the Grasshopper.
Six treks onto the platform, watching for any threats to the floating Kol.
Kid maneuvers Kol to the top hatch of the Grasshopper.Six treks onto the platform, watching for any threats to the floating Kol.
Six walks onto the platform and for a moment one of the mines looks like it might flicker to life briefly but Vash manages to get it to stay in the safe mode.
"You freaze on my say so. Understood?" Vash says sternly to the group. "Now, hustle!" Moving forward at a brisk pace Vash'elie keeps one eye on the readouts.
Kol quickly pops the hatch and clambers inside.
Mechanics vs DC10:
Once in, he rapidly flips switches and hits buttons to preflight the ship.
Pilot:
He unlocks the main hatchway, but doesn't open it yet. It's mined and he hasn't been given the all clear yet.
Seeing Kol drop into the ingress, Six fires a burst from his jetpack, launching toward the open hatchway.
"Okay, jedi - hoodoo those kids up to the hatch, so we can get off this rock..."
As the turbo boosters spin up with a whine and the fusion ignition heats to temp, Kol brings up the passive sensors and starts a tightbeam com link to Vash.
"OK, I can launch in seconds if we need to; how is the mine situation?"
"Passive at the moment sir, we're making our way across. It should be safe to open the hatch now." Vash replies as she keeps one eye on the screen and half-a-one on where she's stepping.
"Roger that Vash."
Taking a deep breath, Kol puts his hand on the "Hatchway Release (open)" switch, then pauses. Is this a good idea? He concentrates and searches his feelings...
Use the Force (Search your Feelings):
Kol gets into the ship and gets it started.
Vash leads the group through the mines. Several times the mines start to activate but she suppresses it and after a few precious seconds she puts the droid brains back to sleep.
Kol senses his feeling and finds no answers.
Kol sighs and flips the switch. With a pneumatic hiss, the main hatchway opens up and both boarding ramps lower and extend until they hit the ground.
"OK, ramps down. We can take off in seconds once everyone's aboard. This leaves only the mine actually attached to the main hatchway to be dealt with. Can you take it by yourself Vash?"
"OK, ramps down. We can take off in seconds once everyone's aboard."
That works, too. Six shrugs and seals the top hatch, heading for the weapons station.
Doc boards and heads for a computer terminal. He's got some files to review...
Severkoh counts the kids as he ushers them to the ship. He cannot shake the Dark Side presence he felt before, so his movements are quite rushed. "Come on, let's go! Let's get out of here! I hope you got what you wanted, because there is something coming!"
"Hang on." Vash'elie raises her arm as she reaches the hatch, "I'm gona see about that mine sir." she replies to Kol. Pulling off her computer interface visor she puts up her mechanical interface visor and fishes in her utility belt for her security kit. Taking a deep breath she sets to disarming the explosive.
"Hang on." Vash'elie raises her arm as she reaches the hatch, "I'm gona see about that mine sir." she replies to Kol. Pulling off her computer interface visor she puts up her mechanical interface visor and fishes in her utility belt for her security kit. Taking a deep breath she sets to disarming the explosive. 1d20+10+3
Vash gets the mine to release with three minutes left on the clock.
When Vash gives the all clear, Kol throttles up the hover jets, rises to ten meters, then hollers over the PA; "Everybody hang on!"
He then shoves the throttle up all the way forward. He's trying to get over the horizon in the fastest way possible.
Pilot:
With the mine removed Vash'elie stands to the side as the hatch pops open, keeping an eye on the monitor she waits while everyone files in and is the last to board. Slapping the close button she gives the all clear signal to Kol and heads for the cockpit, taking the navigator seat.
Strapping herself in as the vertigo kicks in Vash'elie warms up the nav-computer and scanner and powering up theyr shields. Already calculating their exit trajectory in her mind as the computers warm up.
Suddenly she feels a massive gathering of energy from space.
Opening up to the force she can feel it as the space station gathers up energy for it's shot, time seems to slow down as the space station fills to capacity and seems to spit out the massive energy beam. The beam travels trough space, hitting the atmosefere with a bang and scorching it's way toward the ground. Vash'elie can feels it's heat through the force as it eats it's way through the air, hungry to burn, and travels down to the facility they just left.
The resulting expolsion as the beam hits is clear in her minds eye. She can feel the heat and see the rising mushroom cloud of fire in her mind. The rippling earth and burning floura and fauna tingle in the back of her mind as every living thing in mile radious is burned or crushed, shockwaves tearing up the ground for many more miles as well.
Shaking her head she puts the vision out of her mind and with a sigh turns her attention back to to the concoles, they weren't out of this yet.
The Grasshopper claws for space as behind you the facility is vaporized in a moment of explosive force.
Blast shields automatically deploy to shield the cockpit from the light and blast. The ship shakes in the shockwave but Kol rides it out.
They sky turns from blue to black to stars as you cross the Thermosphere into the Exosphere.
Sensors pick up the five large merchant vessels still floating in the void along with the Black Knights sentry vessel.
The ships sensors automatically begin to pick up some sort of gravity distortion that is growing and ping a warning to the pilot that a large number of contacts appear to be developing on the hyper limit.
Six watches the facility disintegrate on the weapons monitors.
"Good riddance..." Turning his attention to the new contacts, he announces to the rest of the crew, "The fun's not over yet - looks like we've got incoming."
Sevarkoh looks at the children, trying to figure out what they were doing on the doomed station in the first place. Seeing as he is about as useful as a protocol droid in the ship, he simply begins to ask them questions. "Why were you on that station? Who brought you there? How long were you there before we arrived? Where are your parents?"
The younglings are a muddle of information but largely useless. There are several fantastical answers to the question on what brought them there. The older and more cognizant of the group seem to think it was droids that captured them. They have no idea of the length of time they were there but it was a long time as they had been eating and sleeping there for a long time. They don't know where there parents are.
One of the younger ones point to a label on their underwear which has an address but no reference to a planet. There could be dozens of planets with a similar address.
They hyper print continues to grow and the first of several frigate class war ships begins to emerge on the hyper limit.
When warned about approaching hyperjumping ships, Kol swears and reflexively spins the ship around and dives for the planets horizon. He mentally plots a slingshot maneuver to keep the bulk of the planet between him and the new ships as well as helping him accelerate away to jump.
"Everybody hang on! This'll get a little bumpy!
Pilot:
Vash'elie braces for the kick of gravity but makes sure the shields are up and scanners are clear of any intercepts.
Kol expertly spears the needle as he dances in the gravity well but not too low to turn the ship into a bright coal against the surface. The ships is a ghost in the atmosphere and tears through to the other side.
The shadow of the planet provides a shadow which Kol hides the 'hopper in but the sheer mass of the frigates entering the system is impossible to hide.
Around the frigates, a colony of smaller ships swarm and spread out like a hive waking with the dawn. Soon the limited tactical computer of the ship begins to list that there are too many contacts to track.
This isn't just a fleet but an invasion corridor that is using the planet and the merchant vessels as a forward supply base.
Kol frowns at the multiplying contacts.
"That... that looks like at least an entire fleet! Sensors! who are they? Are they broadcasting at all? Navigation! Do you see a route through 'em? Can we rig our IFF to fool them into thinking we're one of them?"
As the image of the fleet appears, Sevarkoh stands silent. Such a fleet was the very one that he fled from, the very reason he abandoned Revan's crusade. He unconsciously lets out the one word he has been afraid to say: "Revan."
It may not be the same fleet, but it is Sevarkoh's worst fears about the former Jedi come to pass.
He unconsciously lets out the one word he has been afraid to say: "Revan."
"We've got enough problems without bringing the boogey-man into it. It doesn't look like we've drawn their attention, yet. Maybe their showin' up has to do with the destruction of that facility? I suggest we lay low and see what they do.
"Shit!" Vash'elie mutters as she watches the scanner. "Let me try to identify them." she says and sees if the fleet is broadcasting any transponder signals.
There's plenty of clutter from all the signals going on out there.
Use Computer to try and sort out what you need.
Doc is at the Computer station at the moment studying something.