Also, here's the bust of Trok (just finished!)

Very nice!

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That's gorgeous, as usual! Also, is it a PC turn? Lovely, I will make this into a thing.

As the hail of blaster bolts cut through the air, leaving a static smell as they pass, Lang steps back out towards the Stormtroopers, firing his pistol before they get a chance to return to their cover and walking towards them, wrath heavy in each step. As the Mirialan squeezes the trigger, he hears Dro-Kar cry out in pain and anger. You're not the only one who is angry, friendo... He thinks, grimly.

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So a Maneuver to close up to short range, making it one purple with the setback for their cover.

Firing at the Stormtroopers in the alley : 1eP+2eA+1eD+1eS 3 successes


Total of 8 damage

His aim is true, and the three shots strike home on one of the Imperial soldiers, puncturing his armor and charring three neat points black against the white plasteel. "You've still got time to get out of here, boys! I ain't gonna tell ya commander if you don't," the Marshal calls out, his voice dripping derision, daring them to leave.

yep

Hey guys.

Just wanted to let you know that after tomorrow I will go on a two-week vacation where my access to internet will be limited. I will be able to post some evenings at least so it should never be more than a couple of days, three at most, until I can get online and get a post out.

shy hasn't been on the forums since the 27th of March, it's safe to say life's gotten in her way. Which means it's the last NPC slot

@Aurin

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@Richardbuxton thanks for the heads up. Feel better @The Shy Ion ! @Kymrel - sounds good. No pressure to post! Enjoy vacation! We'll keep chugging along.

Dro-kar’s expert marksmanship makes quick work of the oncoming squadron. Within heartbeats, two of the three Stormtroopers fall to blaster fire, with the third suffering significant damage from Lang’s covering shots. Despite the heavy casualties, the resolve from the trooper’s harsh military training overwhelms the soldier’s emotional reaction to flee from his oncoming death. Taking careful aim with his E-11 blaster rifle, the trooper returns fire at the Nikto who moments before felled his comrades. Three bolts leave the E-11 in rapid succession, the second of which managing to connect squarely with the bounty hunter.

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Stormtrooper's last stand : 3eA+1eD+1eS 1 success, 1 threat

I added a setback due to his fear given that his buddies were just demolished within seconds and Okoros still deemed you unworthy, Dro-Kar! 1 success, so 10 damage before soak. Unless you prefer otherwise, I'll use the one threat to push one strain (wound) to that stormtrooper.

Next up are two PC slots. There are two remaining Stormies (one engaged with HM) and one at close range of Lang/Dro-Kar in the alley. Both are heavily damaged.

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I'm here so 66 will go

With the screeching and heaving of servo motors pushed to their limits 66 attempts to silence the Stormtrooper in front of him. The tower of metal takes care to target the most vulnerable areas of his adversary, trying his hardest to end this right now.

"Stop bothering us I said!" 66 repeats as a giant clenched fist sails towards the once pristine white helmet.

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66 Aimed then punched.

Trooper meet Fist : 3eA+1eP+1eB+2eD 2 successes, 1 threat

7 damage, he suffers 2 wounds... I need to spend some time making decent Brawl weapons for 66, Pierce required.

Are we now back to

@The Shy Ion in the order, and if so, should we move on, since she hasn't been around for a while now? We need to down that annoying trooper or Dro-Kar will go down. He's tough, but not that tough...

Anyone other than 66 can act now.

We already skipped Shy at the bottom of the order. It's PC (HM just went), PC (anyone can go now, NPC, then two PC slots (one of which is Shy).

OK, sorry for the confusion

Dro-Kar roars in anger as another blast from the remaining Stormtrooper strikes his armor, singing his flesh underneath. Still not taking cover, the massive Nikto aims his pistol with both hands at the white-armored human and pulls the trigger several times. The man drops to the ground and Dro-Kar roars, looking at the single remaining Stormtrooper.

Dro-Kar will take aim and fire at the remaining trooper from the second group.

Shooting single remaining stormtrooper : 3eA+1eP+1eB+1eD 1 success, 4 advantage

Well, not an impressive number of successes, but it did the trick. So that's 8 damage. I'll spend one advantage to pass a boost to the next player. If the damage isn't enough to drop him, I'll activate a crit to take him out. If the damage is enough to take him down I'll pass 1 boost to Lang specifically for 2 advantages and recover 1 strain for the last one instead.

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That was enough to take out both of the last two Stormies so you can recover strain with those advantages! I'll get a post out tomorrow but feel free to go into unstructured time (and recover strain from end of combat).

66 paused for a moment to stare around at any remaining onlookers, dust still drifting through the air as the troopers lay motionless on the ground. "I told him to leave us alone, why didn't he stop?" comes the crackly voice of the metal mountain, confusion in his voice. He drags the troopers out of the sun then walks back down the now quiet street to the speeder "Perhaps we should be going now? before more show up." Climbing into the back of the speeder he sits down staring at the troopers down the street.

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Strain Recovery : 1eA 1 success

Dro-Kar finds himself shouting incoherently at the top of his lungs as he pumps blast after blast into the Stormtroopers, continuing shooting even after the last one is clearly dead. When he recovers, he grits his teeth against the pain and looks at his companions. "Everyone OK?" he asks, clearly not doing so good himself. "We need to get out of here. They must have called for reinforcements by now. Let's not be here when they arrive," he continues as he walks to the nearest group of troopers. He holsters his blaster pistol and picks up a pair of blaster rifles before walking back to the speeder.

When he gets to the speeder he tosses one rifle to Caizu. "You know how to use one of these?" he asks bluntly. "It's easy, safety is here. Leave this switch on single-shot for now. Point at enemy. Pull trigger. Easy."

As he gets into the speeder, Vex moves over. "Excuse me sir, it seems you have taken fire. Please remain immobile while I tend to your wounds." Dro-Kar growls. "I don't need your cuddling droid, I'll be fine," he says as he injects himself with stims. He does, however, remain perfectly still and does not object when the droid cleans out his wounds and applies synth-skin over the two nasty blaster hits he took. "Thank you. I guess. Just needed a moment to catch my breath. But this is fine." he grumbles as the droid finishes. He looks at his friends. "Well? What are we waiting for? Let's get out of here."

Let's start with a bit of strain recovery:

Discipline to recover strain : 3eA 3 successes, 1 advantage

Nice, this clears out his strain track.

Followed by a check by our friendly medical droid to patch up Dro-Kar:

Droid performing first aid on Dro-Kar : 2eA+2eP+2eD 5 successes, 3 threat

That was a mixed blessings roll. With 2 ranks of Medicine that's 7 wounds healed, but (unless the GM opts for something else) 3 strain inflicted. In addition Dro-Kar uses his second Stimpack to recover 4 more wounds leaving him in a relatively good shape.

Lowering his pistol, Lang watches Dro-Kar vent his frustrations on the Imperials. He considers stepping in, but as he does, the Nikto finally stops firing. Well, if we didn't have names for ourselves in town, we sure do now.

Turning back towards the speeder, he sees the others are in one piece, although they look a little haggard and certainly ready to get a move on. Waiting for everyone else to clamber into the vehicle, the Marshal waits until they are all comfortable before taking the last seat. Hopping into the speeder and holstering his gun in one movement, he takes a few moments to clear his head, wishing the blasted headache he had would go away. "Right then, shall we get movin', folks? Off to get us a way off this rock, correct?"

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Cooling off after the street skirmish : 1eP+2eA 2 successes, 1 advantage

A stillness pours over the small cadre as the last Stormtrooper falls at HM-6T6’s fists. As the adrenaline slows, muscles throb from the injuries suffered throughout the altercation. The streets are strangely quiet, almost serene. The innocent Mos Shuutans that were originally caught in the crossfire have fled to safer routes and away from danger. The bodies from the two squads of Stormtroopers are strewn about, appendages dangling at odd angles, their lifeblood seeping from wounds and hungrily consumed by heat-baked pavement below.

“ Well, I’ll be a womprat’s uncle… ” Trok says appreciatively as the sounds of blaster fire finally die down, his newfound friends victorious against the Empire’s elite soldiers. “ If Lang is right, and Teemo has those Imperial scum on his payroll, then there will surely be more where that came from. ” With one leg dangling out over the side of the speeder, the Dug gives the door an affectionate pat with one of his feet.

“ Lang, Dro-Kar, ” Trok says, “ if you two done throwing yourselves into the middle of kriffing crazy trouble, Mittins, Vex, Hutt-bait, and I would like to get the krif out of here. ” With a turn of the ignition, the speeder spurts to life, engine revving.

Lang climbs into the speeder and holsters his gun in one fluid movement. " Right then, shall we get movin', folks? Off to get us a way off this rock, correct? " Trok gives a slight nod and kicks the speeder into gear, swerving around the destroyed fruit stand before making down the street.

The drive only lasted a few minutes but provided a much needed reprieve before reaching a looming pourstone building with an enormous letter aurek stenciled onto the building’s side. The street gives away to a view through the open hangar doors to the cavernous interior, where a rusty-looking VCX-85 light freighter rests with its loading ramp deployed.

This time-worn VCX-85R freighter is very clearly a working ship, dented and scraped in all the wrong places. Several spot-welded sealing patches can be seen, and large black streaks suggest that not all of its flights have been incident-free. A large downward facing triangle framed by two crescent moons is painted on the hell of the vessel, the emblem from the standard sabacc card of the same name and suit.

HM-6T6 immediately recalled the starship design. Over the years, the maintenance droid had worked on several crafts of the same line, though most were in far better condition. The VCX-85 light freighter was a freighter manufactured by the Corellian Engineering Corporation that saw operation during the final days of the Galactic Republic and the reign of the Galactic Empire. Much like its larger cousin, the VCX-100, the VCX-85 shares its signature diamond-shaped design.

The Ranger (R) model line of starships was created to cater to the pilot in need of a more durable vessel to survive the day to day rugged hardships of the Outer Rim. The VCX-85R is more compact, with only two decks, and the stock freighter comes equipped with a reinforced armor plating to navigate even the most demanding and neglected hyperspace routes.

“ Here we are, Landing Bay Aurek, so that must be the Queen of Scepters. That’s our ticket out of here. We’ll need to get by those two as well, ” Trok says, referring to the two equally-rusty security droids flank the ramp to the Queen of Scepters, barring access to any potential trespassers. “ What’s the plan? ”

Massaging his still swollen jaw, Lang eyes the landing bay with the gaze of a cautious man. "If there was anywhere I'd be lookin' to ambush, this'd be the place. I'd put good credits down that our slimy old pal up in the palace likely knows about this ship too." Running his tongue around the inside of his right cheek, he feels where it's split, and has a moment of hesitation where he thinks a tooth might be loose. "Ah well, smile wasn't anythin' to write home about anyway. Is it our turn to take a crack at the talkin' that comes before the shootin, Dro?"

" Well it seems people are not interested in listening to my logic today, so perhaps that's best if you speak. Just remember those docking clamps still need disconnecting, there should be a terminal around here somewhere..." The Droids head swivels around, scanning what's visible of the landing bay " perhaps inside the entrance?"

His hulking frame shifts in the speeder, rocking it gently as he adjusts to get a better look. " Then I need a little while to install the hyper matter reactor igniter. This particular model of ship has a rather robust design, with multiple redundancy circuits and a centralised analysis system... unfortunately, as is usually the case, the igniter is inside the shielding of the reactor core, 17 screws and 8 bolts need removing. The wiring in that section is designed with quick connection links so that's no problem, so is the coolant system, unless an auxiliary coolant system has been installed to allow overdriving the reactor to extract extra power, that could add a further few minutes to the change over. Usually this is all done during major overhaul works, while the entire reactor has been removed from the ship for servicing..."

HM-6T6 keeps going on about the methods used by CEC in maintenance and servicing of their vehicles for quite a few minutes. In fact everyone else has completely zoned out or begun discussing their plans before he finally finishes. The impression left with everybody is that he hasn't talked about ship servicing for quite some time, and doing so seems to have cheered him up.

"Listen, big feller," Lang begins, measuring his words carefully, "I'm not ignorin' your logic, I just think that these folks are likely on edge what with livin' under the thumb... Hutts have thumbs, right? Either way, livin' under the rule of a tyrant like that. I'd be cautious as a backed up bantha stuck in a corner with kath hounds barkin' in my face."

The Mirialan turns to face the hulking droid, completely oblivious to the technical lecture going on, but feigning interest as best he can. "Why don't we all go in and put our best foot, or horizontal balancin' parts that're attached to our leg joints, forward."

Dro-Kar groans as the droid rambles on. "Listen, if I wanted to know, I would have become a mechanic. Just the bottom line is fine. It will take some time to get it operational. I get it."

He winks at the Dug pilot before getting out. "You just shout if more Stormtroopers come. Or if Teemo's thugs show up," he tells Trok. The Dug gives him a look that tells the Nikto that he's not too comfortable with the de-facto read-guard duty, but Dro-Kar doesn't stay inside long enough for him to protest.

He gets out and looks at Lang and 66. "So. We walk in and ask them nicely to release the clamps. Right? And then when they tell us to stuff it we shoot them all? Right? Why make a complicated plan when we're likely walking into an ambush anyway? I say we use stun on civilians. But Stormtroopers and Teemo's thugs I'll shoot to kill."

It is pretty clear to anyone who cares that the Nikto has been in a fight, but he storms into the place anyway, his newly acquired Imperial Blaster Rifle held in one hand with the barrel resting on his shoulder in a manner he considers rather non-threatening. If carrying a rifle in his hand can ever be considered non-threatening.

"Right," Lang replies, a grin on his face that he can't help, "And I imagine that you're not the complicated plan type. We have that in common, at least." Hopping out of the speeder as well, the Marshal moves off to the docking bay office with the hulking Nikto. Looking a little less intimidating, but no less dashing, as he sweeps up with his coat flaring out behind him, Lang greets the droids with a tip of his hat and a smile. "Howdy. I trust you're havin' yourself a nice day here. We're just poppin' in to sort the Queen Scepter, so it'd be mighty kind of y'all to let us through."

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Ok, edited this to reflect the changes - thanks for the update @Aurin!

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Just a reminder as I went back a few pages to read the interaction in the control station, Caizu already unlocked the docking clamps. Pasted the two relevant posts down below for your benefit...

Caizu grins at her droid accomplice. "I think that went quite well," she says, and walks over to one of the terminals. She gets to work immediately, fully confident this will work...

Unfortunately, she's wrong. She frowns as the terminal refuses to accept her computerized cajoling. "Blood and mass shadows," she mutters, a curse she picked up from a pilot she spent the night with a few years back. The pilot was forgettable, but the curse stuck. Caizu chews on her bottom lip and presses a few more buttons. "Must be out of practice..."

"Caizu i believe you should not have selected that option in the menu, you appear to be locked out of the system now..." the droids assistance was too little too late and he is left staring across the room at the overseer, wondering what will happen next.

of course T6 knows where a HMRI goes!

Where does a hyper matter reactor igniter go knowledge? : 2eA+1eD 1 success

This is never going to work, Dro-Kar thinks as he approaches the droids. Surely Caizu would be able to smooth-talk her past the droids and into the ship, but he's not Caizu. As he gets to the droid he's still uncertain what he's going to say. "Hey, uh. Teemo sent us with this droid here to check on the ship. It has to install the new hypermatter reactor immediately. Step aside."

He groans inwardly and tightens his grip on the blaster rifle. This is never going to work.