Hale rolls away from a downward strike and lashes out with his leg, flipping the offending Squamatan on his face where he lands with a splash. Grabbing another strike, he twists and uses his attacker to pull himself upright, slamming the man into the surf as he does so. As one of the two still standing tries to grab at him, he ducks a strike from the second that then carries on and smashes into the mouth of the first. Hale grabs the stunned and now toothless Squamatan, slinging him into the second and knocking them both down. As the first Squamatan he downed tries to stand up, Hale grabs him, squirming, and lifts him up in an arc, using the momentum to slam him back down on top of the last Squamatan trying to scramble away in the surf. He gives the final resisting man a solid kick to the side, sending him sprawling through the surf. Hale's uniform is soaked and ripped, exposing much of his torso, and he yanks off the long sleeves to provide full freedom of movement to his arms.

Standing over his fallen opponents, bloodlust up, he roars at the sky like a man possessed as he turns his attention to the rogue agent and bellows at the top of his lungs, "You think FISH can stop me? YOU HEAR ME? You're NEXT!!"

Hale's vision focuses solely on his next target as he begins to wade towards the man, blocking out all other sights and sounds as he anticipates the coming brawl.

As Evon pulls alongside of Den, the duros turns his head to face them with a pained wince. "I, ah, man I'm knackered. Shooters on cliff, attack on beach, dealing with it". Just about managing to explain what was going on in between his laboured breaths, he turns back to focus on his dash towards his target. He'd never pushed someone off of a cliff before.

Briar sees the group of Squamatans around Hale collapse under his blows so she takes aim at the other group. She fires a couple of shots from her blaster pistol into the torso of one of the Squamatans who falls into sand un-moving. As the remaining Squamatans move to surrender, Briar attempts to shift slightly only to discover that in preparing to take the shot her foot has sunk into the sand and is now stuck. With Crispin the only hostile left on the beach Briar begins attempting to figure out how to remove her foot from the sand.

The whirring of the approaching watercraft can be heard just before it bursts into view of the beach, rounding the peninsula at terrific speed! The low vessel leaves a torrent in its wake, as it skims toward the beach. Extraction!

”It’s been swell, but my ride’s here. See you around.” Indeed, it will not take long to reach the scene unfolding in the shoals. Deftly pulling something from his belt, hit flips it toward Hale with practiced ease. “Grenade!!!” The rogue operative shouts it out, as he struggles through the surf, until he finally reaches the rip current that will take him away. The water is now about knee deep, but Crispin is an agile swimmer, and the current strong as he dives into it.

Hale recognizes the shape of the ordinance, imperial issue of course, and knows what is coming. Even a stun grenade could take him out of the fight, though! Diving clear, he avoids the worst of it, but the resultant blast once again throws up an obscuring mist.

As Evon and Den approach the balcony, they see a number of spectators still exiting toward them, fleeing the scene now that shots have been fired. “He’s got a gun!” one of the guests cries, but it is not clear if they are referencing the winded Duros rushing toward them, or someone still out on the balcony.

Evon tries to makes sense of the crowd waving around him. ,,Blast it! We'll never gonna trail him in this mess!"

He hears one of the guests crying out and he immediately tries to zero in on it. He grabs the being with 1 hand, blaster in the other and puts on his best "you'd better be answering me" face and questions him quickly:

,,Where is the gunner?! Which way did he leave?" He shakes the guest impatiently. ,,For the love of the Emperor, talk!"

Drogos knowing he was now too far from Crispin to help apprehend him decided to fully focus on the retreating sniper, climbing up the tower where he was perched would be difficult but it would need to be done if he was to apprehend the shooter. The climb would prove difficult for Drogos but he was able to make it part way up the tower the difficult part would be cresting overtop the ledge.

Aiming her pistol in the professional way she had been taught, Veitra manages to squeeze out a shot before the sand and dust that was kicked up caught in her pistol, causing it to sputter, failing to discharge, the female letting out a rather loud string of curses as it did so.

”Fine... we do it this way then.”

She growled as she prepared to take out the other weapon she had...

Veitra’s final blasts send the fleeing swimmer under, but Crispin can still be seen through the clear water, continuing on his course beneath the surface. The watercraft skims closer, opening up with its small flak cannon. Projectiles whir past, zinging into the beach and surf with no regard for who might be hit. Thankfully the barrage of cover fire is not more deliberate in its targeting, but the urge to take cover is almost overwhelming. As the tactical patrol skimmer nears the swimmer, it slows and starts to initiate a turn.

The scene inside the resort is chaos, with twenty or so spectators hurriedly vacating the balcony overlooking the beach. Doctor Taltron’s brief interrogation yields some pertinent details: “He’s still out there! He has a hostage!”

Gunnery Sergeant Luks does his best to corral the guests, keep them from leaving the scene, but some few are taking their chances, rushing away to mingle with the other resort patrons.

The Inquisitor hangs from his precarious perch just below the balcony, ready to commit to the final moves required to reach out and surmount the rail.

Above on the landing pad, Zyi is muttering to himself inside the cockpit of the Phantom. Getting in had presented little trouble for the infamous Omwati slicer, but the hardened security locking out the flight controls is more problematic than he had anticipated. “Hksppp.. n’time for zss..” He draws a dataspike from inside his worn coat, and kisses it, continuing his nervous soliloquy out of long habit.

The TIE’s pilot and Scout escort arrive on the top level of the resort, and continue their mad dash to prevent the valuable starfighter’s theft.

The rest of Banshee Squad charges through the surf after Hale, spreading out to make it harder to target them. Slowdive yells for Hale to come back, but he either doesn't hear or he ignores the call, they aren't sure which. The boat opens up with a barrage of fire from its flak gun, sending an arc of projectile across the beach and surf in the general direction of Hale and the Banshees. As the projectiles smack into the water all around them, the stormtroopers dive headlong to avoid the barrage. Thankfully, none of them are hit, but they begin to reconsider their course of action.

Hale barely hears a distant shout, but can't make out what it is and doesn't pay it any mind, focused solely on his quarry. As the burst of shells tear up the water around him, he roars again in anger and dives forwards, swimming towards the boat with a powerful front crawl. As he nears the boat, someone fires off the side at him and he dives deeper into the water, making it harder to attack him.

Somar finally reaches the landing pad. Taking stock of the situation, he sees through the transparisteel cockpit an Omwati fiddling with the controls of the Phantom.

"Oh, no you don't." he states. Somar pulls a security fob from the pouch on his belt and punches in a code. There is a slight delay, as if the computer is verifying what is being asked of it.

Ral confirms the command and pushes the button. "Yep. Let's see how well this birdie flies without a ship..."

Briar looks up from her foot still stuck in the sand to see that Crispin has almost reached his means of escape. Leaving her foot stuck in the sand she takes aim at Crispin and in spite of the small craft opening fire on the beach she manages to hit Crispin in the back as he swims away. With everything that has been happening Briar just noticed how hot the sun has made the beach, she hadn't really known what to expect from today, but getting heat exhaustion and her foot stuck in the sand while in combat certainly wasn't it.

In addition to the witness evidence of a shooter with hostage, still out on the balcony, Evon sees someone else moving quickly away from the scene. His instincts tell him they should be prevented from fleeing... just as the person of interest breaks into a run. Just then, blaster fire rings out on the balcony outside!

Out on the water, Crispin clambers aboard the boat, under protection of continuous cover fire. The watercraft’s maneuvering is less than elegant, but the rogue operative gains the deck, looking considerably worse for wear as he disappears from view.

Evon doesn't have much time to think through, but he decides to trust his guts and go after thr fleeing stranger.

,,Luks, there are 2 targets, can you handle the sniper? I'm on the accomplice!"

He doesn't even wait for the answer but sprints after the other being. Closing on him, pistol drawn, Evon yells at him: ,,Stop where you are or I'll shoot you in the back!"

"Oh, I can handle the sniper" Den wheezes as he doubles over to catch his breath. "Snipers are just soldiers who're scared of getting punched in the neck. I'm going to punch this guy in the neck so hard". Standing back up, the soldier slowly advances out onto the balcony, pistol half raised in case of the need to fire. Despite his gung ho attitude, a potential hostage situation was something to be taken seriously. He didn't want a civilians death on his conscious.

As Den advances to the balcony, he is met with the sight of a crouching man, holding a Squamatan woman in front of him as a shield. Her crisp white resort uniform is covered in blood, but the trooper quickly assesses her head wound as superficial. A hooded cloak and rifle lie on the deck nearby.

”She tried to spit her venom at me. Next shot goes straight through her skull. I need a medic. NOW!!”

Indeed, a closer look reveals a knife, still buried in the man’s side. Much of the blood is his own, and the hostage seems more shaken than wounded.

Somar flips his comm open to the rest of the team. "This is TI-4433. I have a package being delivered to your location. Someone be a dear and hold the contents for me."

"Now, let's see what that sleemo did to you, my pretty. And I'd better not find any of those frakkin' ID9s..."

Den moves slowly towards the target, but halts when he sees the hostage. He was a good shot, but he wasn't sure he could beat this guy to the draw, or at least beat him and keep the hostage alive. "Man, this has got to be pretty embarrassing" Den calls out to the gunman. "Asking the guy who was all for cutting you down for a medic. That and getting caught out by a civie", the stormtrooper tuts at this before continuing. "Not a great image for a prop. Lucky for you though I've got medi-training, and I'm not looking to get kicked out of here for killing you". It was a bit of a stretch really, Den had just about passed medical training at the academy, but he was only really competent with basic wounds. "First things first though, I'm not doing anything while you've got that gun waving around, so here's how it plays out. You slide your gun away and I'll toss mine, then I'll get you patched up. It's either that or I wait for that blood loss to make you groggy and I deal with you the proper way". Hoping to impress the importance of time on the target, Den hopes he can seperate him from his weapon. Den still had his knife, he was confident who could take him in close combat.

Evon is after the fleeing figure, but has to fight for every inch. The crowd is panicking and they are getting in the way. Unfortunately the accomplice is ahead of most of the creatures and has way less trouble moving away. Evon realizes the chase can very well end before it even started, so he raises his blaster flicks the stunswitch and waits for the first opportunity to shoot the guy before it disappears from him.

For a moment Evon has a clear shot on the creature. A nautolian woman falls to the ground as her escort pulls her down seeing the blaster behind them. Blue circles are flashing around, but they are absorbed innocently on the surroundings.

Even in the man’s current desperate state, he is dubious of Den’s intentions. Perhaps the Duros is telling the truth? He knows the empire seldom employs non humans unless they are exceptional in some way.

When the Inquisitor lands behind him, his throat tightens and he nearly shoots the hostage. “Look. I’ll cooperate. The sniper is getting away. He stuck me with this knife and left me here to die. I don’t want to die.”

Zyi curses himself for not thinking to jam the pilot’s fob. “Kriffin’ ejection on a remote, what next.. need hazard pay for this shizbiz..”

The Omwati slicer does not like the water, but he has little control over the landing. He sets the pod down in the water as near to the extraction boat as he can, and signals the helm. “Osprey Grey, Osprey Grey, see you boys are busy, but I could sure use a lift outta here.. all part of the plan, more or less.. I’m off your right.. port, er.. larboard starboard.. frekit.. you’ll see my flares.”

Aboard the tactical watercraft, the crew are clearly special forces, likely Crispin’s unit; obviously some had defected with him. They are wearing storm commando armor- much like scout armor, only gray- and armed with E-11D carbines. Two are engaged with the Zeltron boarder, while two more wait for Hale to resurface, as the pilot completes his turn.

Inside the resort, the gunman on the balcony is scared, but knows he has little choice. He has lost a lot of blood. “Go.” Releasing his hold on the hostage, she hurriedly slips away and makes straight for the exit.

The gunman then makes a sudden movement, and the Duros trooper is forced to make a judgement call.

Inside the resort proper, the true assassin attempts to elude pursuit, but the ISB Interrogator is still on his trail.

As Drogos surmounts the Balcony after spending time climbing it he spots the sniper who had shot at him. He reaches out with the force trying to strangle him, but is unable to grab ahold of him. This sniper had a slippery mind. "Stay and Live or Run and Die." Drogos says staring down the Sniper

Veitra’s blade hums to life as she draws it from her belt, sweeping it at her opponent.

”En garde.”

She smirked as she then lunged at her opponent. While it failed to hit, she did manage to startle her opponent enough to drop his weapon.

Having retrieved his E-11s from the Stormcrow, Hawk takes up position at the edge of the hangar platform, overlooking the beach. Setting his sights on the tactical watercraft, he catches a glimpse of Crispin just as he is disappearing forward under cover. The Zeltron has just sprung aboard and is engaging the crew, whose armor is strikingly similar to his own!

Perhaps it is this similarity that throws off his aim at that crucial instant, or disturbs his careful breathing? Letting a shallow breath partway out, he holds his breath and slowly squeezes the trigger. The powerful blast slams into Veitra, taking her breath away, as her body struggles to process the damage.

Ral gets the Phantom into the air and brings it down towards the shore. Bringing it into position, he flips the speakers. "By order of the Empire, you are instructed to stand down! Drop your weapons and surrender! Anyone fleeing will be shot!" "Allright boys, let's wrap this up."