Erit concentrates.

The pursuit of these vehicles is senseless. You are low on fuel. They're more trouble then they're worth. You should go home.

As everyone makes for the speeders and readies for combat, Mak unleashes blast after blast downrange at the skiffs. It looks like he was deliberately missing, until sparks and fire blossom from the base of one of the smaller trees. It topples, nearly sweeping the lead skiff's front half (with the E-web) clean of passengers! As it is, one of the gunners falls onto the muddy ground and several more are knocked over. The skiff stops to extricate itself and its three cohorts rumble around the fallen tree. A myriad of blaster bolts fly back at the group, mostly cratering the earth but two put holes into 'Za's speeder.

Then Erit concentrates and the Force washes over the Rodians. He can feel the resistance to his words from the treed skiff, but the other drivers stop their skiffs and start milling about - not going home, but not sure how to continue.

Jileeza yelps excitedly as the tree goes down under Mak's barrage, taking a skiff with it. Moments later, the other raiders begin acting strangely and slow pursuit. She's not sure what just happened, but the new holes in her speeder convince her to take advantage of the opportunity. Gunning the engine, she zips away from the site of the gun battle, looping around to head toward the starbase. From there, the can make their way to the meeting with Gulgo.

"...hope this bucket holds together."

Wayde depresses the bike's foot brake and pull back on the accellerator, in close pursuit of the landspeeder and 'Za.

Reyes grabs the rifle. He concentrates, inhales and holds, aims for a second or two, then fires a single shot at the man behind the repeating blaster.

Mak feels the Force brushing against his mind and towards the remaining Rodians. He keeps his blasters aimed at them for a few more moments after their stop, but decides not to annoy them back into pursuit.

He turns to Erit, "I gotta learn how to pull shit like that, someday. In the meanwhile," he pats a blaster, "these do all the convincing I need."

Erit looks impassive. Then again, it's kind of hard to read an Ithorian if you're not one yourself.

"There are many trees in the jungle. It is not my place to choose one."

Reyes gets off a parting shot, sending the remaining E-web gunner to the deck of the skiff, a carbonized crater in his shoulder. With Wayde on one bike, Arnae and Aurelia on the other, and Erit, 'Za, Mak, Reyes squeezed into the speeder, the group make for the nearby settlement.

The skiffs don't even return fire, deciding instead to descend upon the wrecked remains of the Bantha... er... Mynock... Womprat... whatever.

The airspeeder, however, is not so easily avoided. The dark gray aircraft swoops out of the rainy sky, its blasters laying a swath of red bolts across the jungle. Mud, bark, and smoke sputter up around Jileeza's speeder as the airspeeder flies past and starts looping around for another strafing run.

"Alright, it's time for a flanking manuever. I'm going to break off and when the speeder makes another attack run, we'll hit 'em from both sides."

Mak tries to figure out if there was a "yo momma" joke hidden inside the tree jibrish, then gets distracted by the strafing airspeeder. He ducks low in his seat, raises his blasters, and scans the flying threat for its weak spot. Now, how does an airspeeder's weak spot looks like? Oh, fuck it. He unleashes hell.

"Roger," Arnae responds through the comlink. He prepares to follow Wayde's plan.

With the two bikes peeling off in opposite directions for a 2-pronged pincer move, that leave Jileeza with the task of being the target. Oh hell, you only die once, right? 'Za drives right at the airship, weaving side to side as a minimal defense. She avoids any strenous maneuvers until the boys get a few shots off and the bastard in the air gets close.

Aurelia, for her part, seems to be content to hunker down behind Arnae and hang on for dear life.

Reyes gets set up for another shot when it presents itself.

Erit, for his part, sends out supporting vibes to his teammates.

I am calm. I am still. I will hit.

Arnae and Wayde break off into a breakneck pincer move through the jungle. Trees and branches whip by at blurring speed as the two almost seem to be reenacting their race from a minute before.

Abandoning the fast, nimble speeder bikes for the juicier target of the landspeeder, the airspeeder finishes its loop and swoops in on Jileeza and her passengers. Mak and Reyes are ready - Reyes puts a narrowly-missed blast across the speeder's windscreen, and Mak pops two shots into the speeder's undercarriage. White smoke trails from the airspeeder as it returns fire, a line of blaster bolts churning down the jungle towards the speeder. Everyone ducks down as there's a shudder and an explosion. One of the landspeeder's 3 engines fragments and burns away, and then their attacker is past them, speeding low across the treetops.

"Goddamnit!" Reyes stands up and takes aim at the driver. Come on, Reyes, don't mess this one up...

Mak sends a couple of more bolts after the airspeeder with no luck. "Son of a sith!" he gets ready for another sweep.

(Edited by CuteMotherFucker at 2:34 pm on Nov. 2, 2003)

The airspeeder Immelmans back towards the racing vehicles, blasters blasting. Arnae easily weaves in and out of trees, never presenting a target. Wayde swerves to avoid a tree, getting caught in the open for a second. Blasters flash down at him and his bike, but they miss him.

Jileeza drifts right under a fallen tree as more bolts impact the rotting wood above the speeder, blowing melon-sized holes in the tree and sending a fine mist of scorched bark through the air. The landspeeder comes out unscathed, but the same can't be said for the airspeeder. Mak and Reyes lean back and put blasts into one of the speeder's intakes. A flash and dark black smoke indicate more than cosmetic damage to the airspeeder. The stricken craft once again flies past the landspeeder, but this time it doesn't loop back around. As the group nears the settlement, the airspeeder shrinks on the horizon and doesn't come back.

Wood chips rain down on them as Jileeza guides the speeder under cover as the airspeeder goes by. Seeing the plumes of smoke and the attacker peel off, Jileeza smiles. "Nice shooting, boys," 'Za says, her voice a silky alto full of mystery and promise.

Resuming a comfortable speed, she follows after Wayde through the jungle that is her home planet.