At thirteen years old Vos was still slight and wiry, but he was fast and had learned to use that speed to his advantage. He had fought the creatures attacking the escort until the last clone had dropped and had then used that speed to escape, vowing the whole time that the sacrifice of the men under his command would not be in vain, so when he saw the operational AT-TE smashing its way through the gate of the makeshift compound his heart leapt. And then two missiles slammed into the back of the walker and it looked like it was ready to topple. He had to help them!

"I've got the one on the left," he called into the comm right before he leaped from cover, somersaulting over some wreckage and landing just behind the tank which looked like it had sustained the least damage. His lightsaber flew to his hand and then he was airborne again, the Pshh-vwwoo noise as the blue lightsaber activated was the last thing the tank commander heard as Vos descended on it out of the blue, the blade slicing it in half.

So far, so good. But now he was on top of a heavily armored tank in the middle of a battlefield. What was his plan again?

Brick slowly comes to as he wakes, his head still ringing for the hit he had taken. He remembered the ambush, he had been with the commander when those things had attacked. The had been one that come from through the sickly yellow mist that coated this moon, a clone, or rather what was once a clone. Covered in foul boils and injuries, it had taken the trooper by surprise, and that had been all the creature need to wrestle him to the ground, dozens more piling on top of him shortly after. Still, he was alive, better than suffocating out on the moons surface, inhaling that toxic gas.

Where was he now though? Looking around Brick could see he was in a darkened room, but slowly as his eyesight adjusts to the darkness he sees that he is inside some kind of huge chamber. The walls are smooth and black, almost like glass with thick green veins running through the material. As he watches, the veins pulse with some kind of florescent light, and then it does it again. The pulsations are regular, almost like the heartbeat of a sleeping creature. The thick trunks disappear high above him out of view, but the pulsing is moving downwards towards the ground. It is at this point that Brick realises he is not on the ground floor of this place.

It seems that there are a number of levels running around the outside of this structure, leaving the centre open. The levels are more like narrow ledges, not much wider than the width of two humans, but they run around the entire diameter of this place. Counting the levels opposite him, Brick sees at least eight, of which he was on the third. Following one of the pulsations he sees them lead down to the ground level where the thick trunk-like cables lead into a small plinth. Resting on the plinth is a large green orb, but from this distance any details are obscured from him. More of the veins exit from the plinth and seem to disappear into the floor, going who knows where.

Trying to move after taking this in proves impossible for the clone unfortunately. As his senses recover more fully, he realises that he is standing, or rather bring held up right. His arms and legs are held spread eagled, pinned in place by some kind of crusty looking organic matter. Running from each of the pieces of matter that hold his arms is a thin green cable, similar to those that he can see elsewhere. These spiral upwards and quickly join with the others, leading down to that orb. He seems to have been secured into some kind of alcove sunk into the wall, and his is not the only one. There are alcoves are regular intervals on every level of this place, certainly hundreds in total. It would also seem that his is not the only one occupied.

Looking to his left he sees a fellow trooper, head lolling to one side as they remain unconscious. To his right is one of the gungan scientists that they had been charged with protecting. They were weakly trying to pull themselves free from their bonds, but to no avail. Looking around, he could see dozens of other alcoves in use, most of the soldiers and scientists who had gone missing were here, but not all. Most importantly, his commander was not here, perhaps the enemy hadn't caught him? Nearby he can hear the clank of metallic feet growing near, something is coming.

“ Hey Gunslinger looks like we got a new Jedi.” Slugger said as he was aiming up his next shot on the last unscathed tank. “ I’ll try not to hit him with the mass driver.” He then fired the giant cannon with practiced precision Punching a good sized hole in the AAT’s armor.

Despite his wounds and desperate situation, Brick was made for this! With his adrenaline pumping he grits his teeth and pushes his body to the limit! Finally yelling he is just barely able to rip himself free from his alien confinements, but not without cost...

4eA+3eD+1eS : 1 success, 4 threat [4eA=-, S/S, S, -] [3eD=Th, F/Th, F/Th] [1eS=Th]

With a load and echoing crack the strange calcified bonds shatter around Bricks wrists. The lumps of rock clatter onto the ledge with a few tumbling over the edge and disappearing into the darkness. Underneath the bonds, Brick can see the thin green cables slide underneath the white of his armour. He feels a stabbing pain as the cables pulse with that unnatural light. Unfortunately the bonds only shatter around the wrists. Despite his straining, the ankle locks only creak a little.

The tramp of the metal feet grows closer, and coming around the corner, Brick sees a medical droid. The droid carries a datapad in one hand, and surveys Brick in his escape efforts. "Please do not struggle, you will only injure yourself" it says in a rusted metallic voice.

Back outside in the chaos of battle, the droids stumble around in the fog as they face the AT-TE that had just smashes its way past the tank wreckage. "Hey! You can't park there!" a sergeant would shout before the squads open fire. One squad is quickly decimated by gunfire from the walker, and they respond with a hail of red blaster shots. Of course the blaster fire bounces off of the walker with little to no effect, but one squad can be seen through the sickly mist pointing at the smashed cockpit. "The pilot! Shoot the pilot!" One shouts before the gunfire is turned on Gunslinger. Within momenst the cockpit is ablaze with red plasma, rattling and ricocheting around the solid metal box. Shots smash into the controls and pilot consoles, doing extensive damage and risking the walkers movement all together.

Droid Combat Check : 3eP+2eD+2eS 3 successes, 4 threat, 1 Triumph

Does 12 base damage to Gunslinger, threat upgrades difficulty of next check, triumph spent to damage steering controls.

With the AT-TE stumbling through the wreckage, and then fire being opened at the cockpit, the walker doesn't really pose as stable a fire platform as it could be, and the gunnery pit is shaking about as much as any part of the walker. Despite this, CT-4077 makes a threat assessment. Gunslinger is hurt. But jumping out of the gunwell now, and helping the squad leader makes CT-4077 another target as well. " Neutralize threats first, triage then, " 4077 thinks. " No way they should be allowed to take out the medic, now that others start to need him. "

With that, CT-4077 tries to aim at the droid squad making existence difficult for both the walker and the pilot. However, it is clear that the jerking motions from the AT-TE, caused by control systems damage, make any form of aiming quite the task. CT-4077 presses the thumb triggers and let rip with repeating fire. That, however, also goes wide when the AT-TE rears like a wounded animal. Blaster bolt after blaster bolt of the linked weaponry causes sparks to fly and burn marks to appear in the surroundings. A sparse few do find their mark, fortunately.

" Hang in there sir! Those clankers would make my prime job very difficult! Trying to take them out now! "

Gunslinger steers the tactical enforcer on toward the enemy. It’s a tricky fit through the gate, and he can’t really focus on lining up the artillery fire, but...

”Brace for impact.” The walker’s inexorable inertia smashes into an interior wall, sending the debris into the nearest droid formations.

The commander was down but the tank was still moving. Vos saw the walker taking small arms fire, concentrated on a hole in the armor, he had to help the clones. Slashing desperately at the tank, he summoned the Force, his heart hammering, and prepared to leap to their aid. But something was blocking him. Instead of the Force fueling his leap he found himself jumping down onto the ground to the side of the tank.

Calm down, he told himself, get centered. Maybe if I ask really politely these droids will let me meditate for a while.

As a portion of the once solid wall crumbles there is a plaintive wail from the droids trying to mount a defence against the clones. Rubble and large shards of girder are flung out by the AT-TE as it fully enters into the courtyard. Face to face with the strange black structure, they can see what appears to be a seam in the black rock that appears to be the doorway to the building. Currently, that door was sealed to the clones.

However, the enemy tanks were determined to stop the, from going any further. One plasma bolt smashes hard into the back of the walker, almost causing it to buckle under the impact. One more short like that and the walker would be destroyed, something drastic needed to happen.

Tank Combat Check : 2eA+1eB+2eD 1 success

Does 7 base damage to AT-TE

Tank Combat Check : 2eA+1eB+2eD 2 failures, 1 advantage
Advantage spent to pass boost to allies next check

As Brick lunges forwards to attack the droid while still partially bound, there is a metallic squawk from the medical droid as its feet scrabble against the stone floor. "Alert, alert!" It cries out, the shout echoing around the huge hollow room. Its arms flails uselessly as it tries to push itself away, but is unable to escape the clone troopers grasp.

As the repeated cries of 'alert' go out, Akua begins to feel herself rouse from a groggy sleep. Her head hurt tremendously, but she was alive at least. Vague, foggy memories begin to come back, piece by piece. She had returned to the forward base, helped with the wounded and to prepare for their evacuation. There had been a sound outside, and there they were. Those creatures, now not just gungans, but clones as well. Twisted and warped in their time after death, injuries that had killed still ghoulishly evident on their person. There had been so many, they overpowered her. She saw the others die, torn apart, but they kept her alive for some reason.

As her vision comes back, she sees the huge domed room. She sees the strange green trunks running over the room, the alcoves that still held some poor victims. She saw the green orb at the base of the room, pulsing in time with the cables. Finally she saw the red glow of a droids eyes, off in the distance from her. They shifted erratically, and that seemed to be the source of the shouting as well.

Trying to move, she realises that her arms and legs are bound in the strange calcified rock, holding her spread eagled in the narrow recess of the wall. Not only that but her lightsaber was missing from her belt, and the helmet of her environmental suit had been removed. At least the air seemed breathable.

“What a way to start the day...”

Akua sighed as she looked closer at her bonds.

”How do I escape this...?”

she murmured as she tried to break free, but also looking for her lightsaber.

Although one of the droid squads has been severely disrupted by the collapse of the wall caused by the walker, the other is able to respond to the lumbering advance. Raising their blasters they fire into the cockpit of the walker, aiming for the pilot. Unfortunately for Sergeant Gunslinger. A blaster bolt catches him in the chest, possibly puncturing some vital organs. His chest fills with a burning pain as he looks down to see the seared hole in his laminate armour. The world around him is rapidly going dark, and the warning lights in the cockpit are still flashing red. Before he loses consciousness, there is a chance to lock the walker in place, else it will collapse under its own weight. If that happens, his squad could be in great danger.

Droid Combat Check : 3eP+2eD+2eS 2 successes, 2 threat

Does 11 base damage to Gunslinger

Gunslinger looks down and knows it’s not good. With great effort, he does what he must to ensure the stability of the walker, the safety of his squad.

When his consciousness is safely detached from the violent tumult of his failing body, his last murky thoughts turn to Akua, and he smiles. For somehow, he knows she is still out there, still fighting.

As Gunslinger fades into black, he fills a warmth pass over him. That warmth spreads and grows, quickly becoming a discomfort. Soon is is almost as if he were on fire. His eyes flickering open, he finds himself in a very different place. It is black as far as the eye can see, and the floor is smooth like polished glass. Looking down he sees his reflection, different from his current appearance. He looked older, his armour was different, now bearing many battle scars and the pauldron of a commander. He was no longer dressed as a 'shiny', he bore the marks of the 712th assault battalion. Their trademark black pain ran over the white shell. He hears a crackle behind him and turns to face flames. Fires burnt in the distance, scattered as far as the horizon, the orange glow reflecting off of the floor. Up ahead the was a corpse lying on the floor with their back turned to him. As he stands there, he hears, something on the air. A whisper, a mutter saying something he can't make out.

Akua feels a tremor through the force and her “eyes” widen.

“No... no... no!”

she yelled as she struggled vainly against her bonds.

”Is anyone there?! I need help!”

she cried out desperately.

From inside the gun well, CT-4077 decides to open fire once more. The gun barrels swivel towards one of the droid squads visible to the clone medic, and his thumbs press down on the triggers. Steadily the blaster bolts spewed forth close in on the battle droids. However, just before droids start to be disassembled, there is an unexpected movement near the cockpit, near Gunslinger! It startles CT-4077 somewhat, with how the AT-TE is suffering, and the violence isn't stopping anytime soon, it seems. Fortunately, there appears to be a friendly involved, a jedi from the looks of it, protecting the cockpit. " Now's my chance! ", CT-4077 thinks. He jumps out from behind the gun controls and speeds towards the cockpit. There the medic starts to drag his squad leader back into the crew compartment behind the cockpit. " Hang in there, sir! Help has arrived. "

“ Gunslinger, why did you stop?” Slugger asks his Pod Brother over the communicator Channel the clones shared. “ Gunslinger?” He asks again as he lines up his shot on the AAT where the new Jedi has just jumped off its hull. After waiting a few more seconds for the response an emotional “ GUNSLINGER!” is shouted at full volume fearing the worst has befallen his last Pod brother. “ Alright you dirty Clankers, Slugger isn’t playing nice any more.” He takes the shot at the AAT and it rips a hole straight through the middle of the chasis where the droid pilot would sit. The tank crashes as it suffers catastrophic damage, the crash kicks up a great deal of dust into the air giving the sitting target AT-TE harder to shoot.

The entire squad hears the rip-roaring explosion as the second to last tank is completely and utterly destroyed. It hits the ground with a shuddering thud as the turret of the last tank swivels to retarget their enemy. Despite the rolling cloud of dust, the blaster shot strikes true.

The shot punches through the hull of the walker, almost taking off CT-2777's head in the process as it comes out the other side. This was the death knoll of their trusty walker unfortunately. Despite Gunslinger's best efforts, the walker teeters to one side, then the other, and finally it smashes into the dirt. The power on the guns flickers and die shortly after it hits the ground. What was worse was that the power to the hatches had gone as well. The clones would have to try to escape out of the shattered pilots hatch or try to force the hatches manually.

Tank Combat Check : 2eA+1eB+3eD 1 success, 3 threat

Does 7 base damage to AT-TE, disadvantage spent to move tank to the bottom of the imitative order.

AT-TE Critical Roll : 1d100 100

CT 2777 clicks the gun controls in frustration.

"Weapons power is gone! I need some help here!"

He begins bashing the hatch, trying to force it open.

Akua starts to struggle again, trying to get out of her bindings. Yet again she will fail however and the female will curse loudly as she struggled.

”Is somebody there?!” She yelled.