"Short of a thermal detonator...I'd rather not tangle with one."
Wayde thinks for a hard second about the matter.
(using Cunning)
"However, those models require an external power supply to feed them. The Trade Federation were dumbasses when it came to their droid armies. I'm guessing there's a wi-fi power transmitter somewhere nearby."
Wayde doesn't have a rock, but he does have an old datapad, which wings its way nicely across the room -
- the droids stubby footsteps abruptly halt: clank clank -
- the datapad clangs and bounces into the front doorway -
- 'Za bolts for the space under the nearest stairs along with the rest of the group as the droideka opens fire on the poor datapad. The droid's single repeating blaster screams as it blasts smoking craters into the floor, shredding the heavy wooden doors that were lying flat on the ground.
As the smoke clears and the noise dies down, you can hear different sounds. First, the cautious tap-tap of the droid as it starts waddling down the opposite staircase, mingled with the whirr of its actuators. Secondly, there's a cacophony of indeterminate animal shrieks, growls, and other stranger noises from outside, from the ranch habitats.
Wayde can see the faint glow of the droideka's deflector shield now, as it starts down the steps.
Back downstairs
---
The crew's mysterious captor pipes across Arnae's comlink again, as muffled heavy blaster fire worms its way through the complex. "I see yer crew has met my little friend, Captain. The slug's men warned me ya might try something like that."
And upstairs...
---
Jileeza slinks quickly to the north wall, underneath the balcony, then sneaks underneath the staircase the droideka is clanking its way down. It doesn't appear to sense 'Za yet, so she crouches down near the base of the stairs, ready to make her move.
Wayde, on the other hand, just plain runs for it. A split-second later, Mak and Aurelia are a few steps behind him. They pound up the steps, hearts racing. The droid stops, maybe two-thirds of the way down, and launches some sort of projectile from the stubby pod on its arm. There's a whumpf as it unfurls into a mass of entangling cables, whipping around Wayde's upper torso. Still able to run, Wayde makes it to the top of the stairs before there's a bang of electricity from the net. Wayde falls in a smoky heap on the balcony floor, stunned but still conscious, amidst the smell of ozone.
The droideka reaches the bottom of the stairs, whereupon the multibarreled launcher rotates once with a click, loading another projectile. The Bothan and the mechanic, however, have made it through the door at the end of the balcony.
The droideka continues its march down off the steps, its weapons trained on the top of the balcony. Jileeza slinks up the stairs the droid just came down. She's a few steps from the top of the stairs, expecting red blaster death or one of those painful-looking nets to slam into her back any second.
'Za sees Mak, blaster in hand and crouched in the balcony doorway, trying to get a peek at the droid. 'Za reaches the top and affords a quick glance.
The droid's insectoid head snaps in her direction. Jileeza dives to the balcony floor as a second net whips past with a whumpf, the mass of cables falling harmlessly to the floor. 'Za makes it to Wayde, and despite shocking her fingers numb on the net entangling the man, manages to pull him through the doorway as the droideka, realizing its quarry is about to escape, lights up the balcony with the repeating blaster. Mak keys the door panel and the sound and smell of blast bolts impacting metal and stone is muffled to a dull roar.
With a final shock, 'Za slices Wayde free of the net and tosses the hissing strands away. Mak helps him to his feet - Wayde's able to stand, but he's got a bit of unsightly drool around his mouth and he's not able to grip anything quite yet. Aurelia, on the other hand, has found a maintenence closet with a terminal with access to more than just video feed, unlike the security station downstairs. With some help from 'Za, they might be able to cut the broadcast generators to the complex and down the droideka, not to mention any others that might be patrolling the corridors.
Jileeza cringes as the others go charging up the stairs. Just like those blunderers to make targets of themselves. Unfortunately, Wayde pays the price for it.
She waits patiently, snuggling into the darkness under the stairs as the droideka reaches the bottom. Seeing her chance, 'Za slips onto the stairs behind it and slinks upward. As she nears the top, she notes Wayde's bound form - at least he's still alive.
Jileeza glances back at the droideka just in time to note it training its weapons on her. Diving to the floor near Wayde, she successfully avoids the electro-net if fires at her. Seeing Mak guarding the doorway, it falls to her to rescue their valiant comrade.
The damn net shocks her hands nearly numb as the drags Waydes body through the door. "Could stand to lose a few pounds," she murmurs.
Once through, she cuts the great lump free, getting zapped yet again for her troubles. At least now they have the door between them and the droideka.
Giving her hands a few moments for feeling to return, Jileeza goes to see what Aurelia has found. Their resident techie tells her that they might be able to shut down the power to the metal monster. "I'm all for that," 'Za replies. She does whatever she can to assist Aurelia in her work.
Most of the help involves the usual "hold this","tell me what that says" and the like, with Aurelia trying once more to get an idea of the layout of electrical system in the unfamiliar complex, chattering away to herself the whole time.
"Alright, which one of you is the power feeds then? And who was the idoit who designed this system in the first place? Ah! You look like a likely candidate...no, you're life support. Humm...this one then? Remote Operational Systems AirPower version 5.4, blah blah blah..." Aurelia types a short sequence into the datapad on her hip, bringing up a remote access program that will, with luck, give them control of the terminal in the closet.
She turns to 'Za. "Cross your fingers and count to ten". She hits "Terminate Program" and waits, counting in her head as well. "That should do it...now, the test." Retreiving a wrench from one of her many pockets, she throws it, sending it clattering down the stairs...very very much hoping it isn't vaporized by heavy blaster fire.
(edit: we're not on a starship, we're on a surface installation)
Aurelia's, and to a lesser extent, 'Za's work proves successful as not only does the hydrospanner sail unmolested down the stairs, it's accompanied by the droideka - without its internal stabilizers, the inert droid clatters down the steps like a ton of Hutts.
Something's off, though, and it's not just the broadcast power. A flurry of roars and squeals carry through the front doors, as a few of Greebu's exotic animals become victims of their newly freed brethren.
Quote: from admiralducksauce on 10:08 am on Oct. 19, 2004
Something's off, though, and it's not just the broadcast power. A flurry of roars and squeals carry through the front doors, as a few of Greebu's exotic animals become victims of their newly freed brethren.
"At this point I know we should be laughing, but I vaguely remember seeing penned up Rancors as we flew over the ranch..." says Wayde, standing up and shaking off the last remnants of his incapacitation.
Frankly, 'Za is impressed that Aurelia was able to pull it off - and that she was able to help. However, Wayde's words reach her ears, and she begins to wonder about the wisdom of this move.
"Let's just keep that door between us and them, huh?"
Jileeza begins to poke around the room in which they have found themselves.
The room itself isn't much more than a maintenence closet; 'Za and Aurelia have already explored the vagaries of the power conduits and circuit panels conglomerated here. Outside the small room, the hallway curves around (probably following the curve of the building itself), punctuated by doors here and there.
With impetus brought on by the looming threat of hostile animals outside, and who knows how many people on their way from who knows where, the group begins their search anew for anything that'll open or cut through those hangar bay doors.
Most rooms are given cursory glances and are fairly typical living quarters, kitchens, and entertainment rooms. Wayde makes short work of several cameras, and the group encounters various bargain-basement, old-model droids like that droideka, all powered down. The hallway culminates in an ornate but sturdy door, whose control panel flips over to "locked" as soon as they get sight of it.
'Za can make out a muffled string of curses in Rodian from behind the door.
---
Back downstairs, Arnae's comlink crackles again. The mysterious voice isn't so smug this time around. "Maybe we could cut a deal, Captain? Call off yer men, I'll open the hangar-"
Arnae sees two dewbacks blindly charging through the garden topside, scattering leaves and petals like trailers after a tornado.
"- doors, and I'll... I'll... I'll tell Gulgo that the mynocks got dropped off and... and... it was a different ship! Yeah, a different sh- sonuvasith!"
Arnae figures the voice on the other end must be seeing the same thing he sees through the security monitors. Two ships appear through Gamdoaan's cloud cover and buzz the hangar. One is a weatherworn Sullustan light freighter, the other a battered Lamda-class shuttle.
Back at the Second Chance, Erit hears the sounds of battle in the background, but wanders around near a rack of various small weapons and focusses his attention on a small blaster.
"Look at the little runt," the smuggler shouted, aiming his blaster at the small Ithorian in the corner of the street.
"You know what happens when you try to steal from me, boy?"
The boy did not move, paralyzed with fear.
"This is a blaster pistol. I pull the trigger, and you'll never steal from me again, get that?"
The Ithorian still din't budge, but for someone who could read this species, it was obvious that the fear was slowly being replaced by anger.
"No last words, then?"
At that point, even the not-so-observant members of the audience could figure out that something was going on; the smuggler's gun was shaking, and the boy's features were straining with exhaustion. The standoff went on a few seconds more before the blaster dropped to the ground; the indistinct background noise turned out to be a growing scream as the smuggler collapsed to his knees, holding his head and covering his face. Finally, he fell to the ground, still twitching, with blood running out from under his face.
By that time, the boy had run away.
Erit snaps out of it shortly thereafter, leaving the blaster alone.
Still, in some corner of his mind, he wonders. Wonders what's going to happen to him. Wonders just why he has these powers.
And in that little, dark corner of his mind that never quite went away, he wonders: Who will be the next to die?
Rodians... Figures. Truth be told, 'Za feels a little pride in her fellow Rodians. Unfortunately, they are on the other side of this situation from her, and will receive no mercy as such. Too bad. They chose the wrong side and will pay for it.
Aurelia pops off the panel and gets into the wiring as Wayde shouts, "Unlock the fucking door or we'll cut your antennae off with a cutting torch!" Unfortunately, perhaps because of his tone, perhaps because the door is their last line of defense, the door doesn't unlock.
Until Aurelia sparks a connection a second later, prompting the door to slide upward and a small spray of smoke to puff from the door controls. Just then, a hold-out blaster *pops* and a red bolt slams into the doorjam, close to Aurelia.
To say the room on the other side of the hotwired door is lavish would be an understatement. A massive clear viewport, some 20 feet wide, overlooks the slightly-mangled garden (and the hangar bay doors) below. Trophies from all kinds of animals hang on the walls, amidst fine artwork. To top it off, there is a carbonite block on the far wall of the impressively-scaled room which appears to contain a preserved human. To top THAT off, Aurelia sees that her hotwiring efforts have affected more than the door - the carbonite is beginning its unfreezing process.
All trophies, rich carpets, and carbonite men aside, the wielder of that hold-out blaster sits behind a large desk, which is riddled with monitor displays and all sorts of control panels. Similar control panels are arrayed at waist level and within easy reach across the bottom of the viewport. Oh, right, back to the gunman. An obese Rodian holds the blaster in a shaking hand. He sits splayed in a large padded hovering chair. Both legs are gone, replaced with bionics that appear to be one hair shy of giving out. His left eye and antennae are gone as well.
At the sight of the firepower arrayed against him, the Rodian tosses his popgun to the floor, exclaiming, "I'm done! I'm done! Don't shoot! I didn't mean it!"
As soon as Aurelia pops the door, Jileeza dives through and to the side. She somersaults smoothly and comes up to a kneeling position, the sights on her blaster quickly finding the lone Rodian.
The half-man quickly begs for mercy, so Jileeza leaves off squeezing her trigger. She almost laughs at the pitiful state of her fellow Rodian.
<"Hardly enough of you left to kill,"> Jileeza replies in Rodian.
"It wasn't anything personal, I swear!" Greebu spits back, shaking with fear. Jileeza sees fear in his one eye, but she also sees the kind of insane rage that can only come from a prideful sentient humbled. "They-" he nods towards the viewport, where the shuttle and the freighter are slowing to landing speed - "They're the ones who want yer ship, not me. I was j-just supposed to keep you in the hangar, and now.... now... m-my pets are loose, and my help's all gone..." he stops blubbering as he realizes that complaining about his problems isn't winning him friends.
A comlink on the desk pipes up, interrupting the melodrama. A hologram of Joss, Gulgo's human henchwoman, flickers in azure light. A glance at the relays puts her position on the Lambda-class shuttle.
*Come in, you fat sucker-fingered Bantha. Is Maddock's ship in the hangar?*
Neurons begin to fire after many long years of being dormant.
Lent is able to spend a few precious moments as himself -- just a consciousness seemingly unattached to any physical form -- before a voice from far away calls to him: "It is time." Then, the neurons at the far reaches of his body remind him that he is, in fact, thawing out and this is a processs humans are not meant to go through.
Freed from the restraints of the Carbon Freeze, Lent crumples forward on to the floor. Shivering from the cold and pain, he cannot speak, cannot even let out a groan.
Greebu gulps and turns to the comlink. "About time you showed up! Y-yeah, the ship's in the pit, get me my money."
Mak squeezes in behind the desk and starts working on a firing pattern.
*All right, clear your jamming frequency so we can talk to Maddock before we ion gun his ship. I feel a gloat coming on.*
Greebu looks expectantly at 'Za as Joss' two ships begin to hover over the hangar doors. If they drop lower, they'll be beneath the complex's turbolaser arcs. On the other hand, a stationary ship doesn't require much from the gunner. Mak gives a furry thumbs up.
Dieter
Admiral Duck Sauce
fanchergw
Gatac