Sparks spit from the exterior blast door as someone on the other side takes a cutter to it. It'll take a while - there's a reason they're called blast doors.
Ganet and Dutch make it to the shuttle, cutting down two more stormtroopers and a hapless Imperial tech who was running for the door controls Ganet blasted a few moments ago.
Mandall blasts the cell door, which easily springs free, releasing Rasa's husband. He looks at Mandall with squinty-eyed astonishment. He clearly gets that he's been freed, but not much more than that. "What are you doing? Where are we going?"
Onboard the shuttle, the preflight is progressing smoothly. Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed. The ion wash blows dust and debris away from the shuttle in a stinging cloud.
Calsera's in the soup. She can make out the Imperial outpost as a small asymmetrical blob below her - she'll be in optimal range in a handful of seconds, but the turbolasers are already beginning to flash up and past the B-Wing. The AT-ST's sensor signature shows up clearly, as do the comm towers.
The *whumps* of the turbolasers vibrate the ground along with the impending AT-ST's footsteps. Mandall and his new friend are rounding a storage tank, almost within sprinting distance of the Lambda, when the blast doors explode inward. The AT-ST's metallic feet can be glimpsed on the other side of the docking platform wall for a moment as a squad of eight stormtroopers swarm into the maintenance area. Mandall pushes the husband to the ground as ruby bolts punch white-hot holes in the storage tank above them. Mandall has a second to realize "I hope that's not explos-" before he's showered with water spouting from the punctured tank.
With Eritram manning the weapons, Cat focusses on getting them planetside while avoiding the bolts of death from the ground. It'll be a bit of a wild ride, but she's confident that Eritram can handle.
"All systems green! Waiting for passengers." shouts Jorm into the group's comm. Now that the preflight is done, he activates the shuttle's weapons and searches for the nearest target of opportunity.
AT-ST, Comm Tower, Sensors, Laser Turret...come on give me something.
Dutch flicks a few switches then hops on the universal comm channel.
"Everyone, report in. We've got multiple targets and not enough guns to take them all down. We leave in two minutes. I suggest you be here in less time than that."
Ganet checks his watch, sees Mandall being harassed by a squad of stormtroopers, and, crouching down behind the shuttle's ramp, opens fire. A stormtrooper slumps, clutching a carbonized shoulder. As the troopers split their fire, Mandall uses his chance to fire back while pushing the husband ahead of him, towards the shuttle. He hits a second stormtrooper, dropping him like a sack of banthas.
The spurts of return fire slam into and around Mandall's cover harmlessly. Two shots spark off the shuttle near Ganet, but one hits his left arm, sending the noble onto his knees for a moment. He can still feel his fingers, although he'll need some bacta on the burned, smoking flesh once they're airborne.
It's right about then that the comm tower and one of the turbolaser cannons explode. The B-Wing arcs out of a cloud bank, the remaining turbolasers following it with green fire but hitting nothing.
Jorm hits the docking thrusters, lifting the shuttle a few feet off the ground and rotating it to face the blast doors. As Mandall gets ready to run for the shuttle amidst the flaming pieces of debris raining down from Eritram's work, Jorm keys the shuttle's blaster cannons, spreading a wake of destruction across the remaining stormtroopers and forcing the handful of survivors to retreat behind the docking platform walls.
A short sprint and a hastily-closed ramp later, Mandall and Rasa's husband are (relatively) safely on the shuttle. Dutch shouts up to Jorm that they're all accounted for.
"Copy that, sir" says Jorm, "I could use some extra hands up here at the first opportunity." Jorm makes sure the ship is sealed and ready for space travel as he wheels it about, trying to keep the ship in the dead-zone created by the wrecked laser cannon.
(Edited by Aihal the Silent at 2:48 pm on Oct. 12, 2005)
"Good shooting, Eritram!" Cat crows, weaving madly to avoid the return fire. "Now how about taking care of the rest of those turbolasers, huh? Thanks, I appreciate it."
"Of course, of course. After all, it's my hide too, and I'm kind of partial to it. Just focus on removing them, and neither of us will have to worry about them."
This guy's awfully jumpy. Probably hasn't been with a woman in a while, poor thing.
Calsera strafes another turbolaser, ripping it to shreds as Eritram puts a perfect shot into a second cannon. It explodes, along with a goodly chunk of the top of the outpost wall, showering more debris across the village.
The diminishing return fire still can't hit a thing; the B-Wing is too fast, the other distractions too prevalent.
Jorm slides over to the co-pilot's chair once Mandall reaches the cockpit. The Vandals bring the shuttle out in the blind spot Calsera and Eritram made in the AA gun coverage. Hand blasters bounce harmlessly off the deflectors as the Lambda clears the top of the Imperial complex. The AT-ST, never even able to get a clean shot, takes one now. Its heavy cannon fire slinks underneath the shuttle's stubby wings as Mandall yanks the yoke to the side, pivoting the stolen craft away from the walker's line of sight.
There's one last scare when the last turbolaser puts a shot close enough to ionize the B-Wing's deflectors. Dutch can make out the turbolaser crew running from the cannon turret as another of Eritram's torpedoes arcs in, demolishing the gun in a spectacular fireball.
"See? I told you there was nothing to worry about," Calsera says with a grin. "Looks like just about everyone's home-free. Think you can put one last torpedo into that walker?"
Happily sliding into the Co-Pilot's seat, Jorm takes a moment to check the shuttle's systems before activating the comm. "All units. This is Nerfherder. We have the package and have left the party. Time for clean-up."
And show off he does. Calsera holds the bird steady while Eritram locks on to the tiny target. Ordinarily, an AT-ST isn't exactly a small target, but the "eyehole" viewport certainly is. His targeting computer won't even adjust to that level of resolution, so he eyeballs it and lets one fly.
The AT-ST's top hatch opens as one of the gray-suited crewmen sees the B-Wing coming back around.
The glowing atomic projectile launches with a scream and sails directly into the walker's crew compartment. The hapless crewman sails like a toy maybe 50 feet into the air. As for the AT-ST, nothing's left but two massive legs which topple to the ground with a crash in a fiery circle of debris.
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