Lia's hand trails instinctively towards her blaster, but quickly stops. Five against two wasn't exactly favorable odds. Seeing that they were trying to clear the crowds out of the street, she wonders if a saber tank or some type of walker wasn't on its way.
__________________ "Sometimes things must be broken in order to be rebuilt." --Sith Proverb.
Istara looked back at Lia when the Stormtroopers appeared. She knew the older woman's ties to the rebellion were things of the heart, while hers were far more abstract and intellectual; she'd sought out the fringes of the Rebellion because she could not ignore the implications of her research. The Empire had done terrible things, things that more than justified overthrowing it, but the worst it had done to her before she had become involved with the Rebellion was to cost her father some money. Which meant she still didn't instinctively reach for her weapon at the first sight of a Stormtrooper.
"We need a closer look at that hangar." Istara said.
Getting to the other hanger looked to be within the realm of possibilities, but the Stormtroopers that were keeping the street clear were definitely watching the crowd closely. While some of the others were just watching in a state of slowly-fading shock, most of the people looked to be trying to go about their business...even though they were being confined to the immediate area. Surprisingly, neither of you could sense any kind of real nervousness at the Stormtroopers trying to seal of the area. In fact, people seemed to just accept that without a second thought.
But the crowd was definitely to your advantage, as people were packed fairly tightly to stay out of the street itself, meaning that picking out one or two individuals couldn't have been easy.
Looking towards the hangar, you noticed something interesting. Unlike the one you were backed against or where the Vortex was docked, there looked to be a small alley between that hangar and the one you were currently near. It was a bit hard to see from your angle, and there didn't seem to be the amount of light coming from it that the street had, but you could both see it, roughly ten or so meters away and generally ignored by everyone around. Of course, one of the Stormtroopers was very near to it, closer to the alley than he was to the main entrance to the other hangar, and you could hear a sound getting louder from above.
Looking up, you could see nothing in the night sky beyond the blinding lights of the city, but it sounded like an airspeeder coming down. Then you heard another sound, your comlinks clicked and Sara's voice quietly asked, "You two alright? I can't get the others to respond and I'm fairly sure something just exploded about four levels up. Imperial comm traffic is going crazy."
Deurr:
You woke up in the darkness...at least, dark before you opened your eyes. It was hard to remember what had happened. You could remember the first explosion clearly enough, seeing that Kel Dor darting past you and both Kay and Garret trying to stop him, but then things got fuzzy. There had definitely been a lot of Stormtroopers. Blaster fire, too. And then...then something. Through the haze, you were fairly sure it was another explosion, but much smaller and much closer to you than the other had been. Beyond that...nothing.
Nothing but the place you currently found yourself. It wasn't really a room so much an as alcove. You couldn't see the night sky above you, and it looked like there was a durasteel ceiling a few meters up, but it could have been a trick of the light...of which there was little. You were definitely sitting back against a wall, with a couple of barrels and nondescript crates at your feet. Another wall was to your right, and when you looked left you could see a large open area of mostly darkness.
"Hey," you recognized the voice right away, and then found its source a moment later. Sya was kneeling down between you and one of the barrels, looking about as bad as you felt, but with a smile on her face. Her voice was low, barely above a whisper, "How's the head? Hell, how's the everything? If you fell as far as I think you did...I'm not sure how you're even alive."
Looking up, you could see nothing in the night sky beyond the blinding lights of the city, but it sounded like an airspeeder coming down. Then you heard another sound, your comlinks clicked and Sara's voice quietly asked, "You two alright? I can't get the others to respond and I'm fairly sure something just exploded about four levels up. Imperial comm traffic is going crazy."
"We're all right so far." Istara said over the comlink. "Can you trace their comlinks even if they're not answering?"
Deurr grunts as he pulls himself to up to sitting and knocks on his helmet. He almost wishes to take it off and use the breathmask for a while instead. But clearing his vision on the human pilot he comes back to his senses. Deurr's voice is even raspier than usual and it is clear he is in great deal of pain, even if he would never admit it to a human. "Ngh... My comm's busted. It gives only static."
He slides back to the ground for a second before rousing again. "The others... Ambush... Or something... Troopers everywhere..." Finally he realises there were explosions and quickly goes through all the explosives he's carrying, making sure none are about to go off.
"I can try, but it may take some time," Sara sounded frustrated, but was still keeping her usual formal tone, "If it helps, I think we're going to be fine down here. The Imps are calling in a large amount of troops, but from what I can gather, they're locking down the upper sections of the city."
As the words came over the comm, the sound from above grew loud enough that it was easily identifiable: repulsorlift drives. In a few more moments, the blinding lights from above began to be blacked out by the shape of a military airspeeder that was coming down right in the middle of the street, albeit very slowly. It looked large enough to hold at least twenty more Stormtroopers and possibly some heavy equipment.
Lia:
Spoiler:
The single Stormtrooper closest to where the hangar is seems to be having some kind of trouble. Its hard to tell due to the armour, but you do note that he is constantly tapping the side of his helmet and motioning with his blaster at the nearby civilians where the other troopers are simply standing their ground and somehow managing to look bored.
Deurr:
"Sadly, there are troopers everywhere here, too..." Sya carefully motioned with her hand for you to look beyond the little alcove the two of you currently occupied. It was still hard to tell exactly where you were, but between the crates, you could see white figures moving. Stormtroopers, most likely. Unless white was the new fashion in the Core Worlds.
Sya raised an eyebrow as you checked your explosives, which were, thankfully, all accounted for. After a moment, she says, "I wish I could tell you what happened. Just found you on top of this hangar about five minutes ago. You were pretty beat up and about the time I realized you were alive the bucketheads showed up. I got us out of sight, we're in a service warehouse at the back end of the hangar. Vortex isn't even a click away but uh...this whole area's playing hell with comms so I couldn't tell you what's going on beyond that," she paused a moment to look between some of the crates as a white shape passed by again, then lowered her voice, "I was hoping we could get out of here once you regained consciousness but uh...we're a bit...boxed in at the moment. There's a door about twenty meters that way, but last I saw it was pretty much in the open and well guarded. There's also an elevator about ten meters to the left but...well, no cover between here and there. I got us down here through that just before all these new friends decided to show up."
Though you couldn't see the first door she mentioned, you could see the lift. It was along the wall that wasn't as covered in crates, and you could see the indentation of where a control panel likely was. Though there didn't seem to be any Stormtroopers directly around it, you couldn't see any cover at all between where you were and the supposed lift.
Lia looks at the landing craft, recalling only vague memories of something she had heard somewhere nearly a decade ago. It didn't seem good, she recalled, wishing she would have been able to remember more.
"We've got technical difficulties," Lia says to Istara, pointing to the stormtrooper fiddling with his helmet. "And a way in."
__________________ "Sometimes things must be broken in order to be rebuilt." --Sith Proverb.
"Damn," Lia says. "I was kind of hoping that you'd have something better than walking over and shooting him. That's a feasible strategy. Dangerous, but feasible." She looks over to the landing platform. "Of course it's a lot better than staying here and finding out what they want..."
__________________ "Sometimes things must be broken in order to be rebuilt." --Sith Proverb.
"I've been studying starship tactics, not ground-based. Some of that translates, but not a lot." She said. "Having said that, do you think he'd fall for the helpful civillian routine?"
"If it doesn't and his com is out, it at least gets us close enough to take him out," Lia concedes. She begins to head towards the stormtrooper in question, concealing her blaster as best she can.
"Excuse me," she calls out to the white-armored soldier, her hands clear and open. "What happened? Is there anything we can do to help?"
__________________ "Sometimes things must be broken in order to be rebuilt." --Sith Proverb.
"I should probably add that if some of the equipment built into your helmet is broken, I can probably fix it." Istara said, hoping that would make Lia's statement more convincing.
Deurr finally gathers himself from the floor. He hurt like hell but he was basically okay. "We try the elevator then. Just a short sprint. They won't even have time to react before we're out."
"Everything is fine," the Stormtrooper said swiftly, waving his hand at both of you to back away, "Just stand back. Once the airspeeder sets down everyone here will be questioned and you'll be allowed to go about your business..."
At that point, the speeder from above finally did set down. Its large cargo hold looked like it could carry a great many troopers, but it took its time getting down and, interestingly enough, set down so that its rear engines were facing where you and the lone Stormtrooper were. He turned away from you again after motioning for you to back up once more, and you could hear his voice more quietly, clearly not talking to you, "What was that again? Dammit, work."
Tebbo:
It had been barely a day since the Black Rancors were ambushed. Since then, you'd done whatever you could to track down any other Alliance members, but it seemed like everyone else you had known or recognized in the cell was no where to be found within Curamelle at all. Thankfully, you hadn't been targeted by the Imperials, but the city was so crawling with them that it was hard to not be paranoid all of the time.
Just a few hours ago, though, you started to pick up signals on an Alliance frequency. You couldn't actually listen to the words being spoken, nor respond to anything due to encryption, but you were able to track down the source. They were coming from down in the lower levels of the city, the spaceport, and you even narrowed it down to the exact docking bay...and then, four levels up, there was an explosion.
Within moments, the area was locked down and Imperials were everywhere. Well, six Stormtroopers, but a speeder was already coming down from above with more, most likely. The people around you were generally trying not to be trouble, doing as they were told and staying out of the way. But you still continued to pick up more transmission on the Alliance frequency...and it wasn't hard to figure out the source.
Off on the north section of the blocked off area between two and a half docking bays, you could see two human females approaching a lone Stormtrooper and talking to him, but he just waved them away. Still, the transmissions were coming from right where they were...sure, there were others all around, but everyone else was minding their own business. Few normal citizens on Corulag would confront a Stormtrooper like that, even just to talk.
And then the speeder set down, putting itself in an odd position that made the Stormtrooper and the two humans in a blind spot of it while it was powering down.
Deurr:
Sya looked at you and then back through the breaks in the crates, "I guess you're okay, then..." but rather than argue like most humans seemed to like to do, she sat up, though kept low, and said, "There are two levels...we're on the bottom floor, so just get it moving up the second we're in...I'm right with you when you're ready."
Now, you could see more of the area. Even though you still had the cover of the crates, you could pick out about five Stormtroopers in a very large warehouse-like building. There were crates and boxes everywhere, and you were fairly sure only one or two even had direct line of sight towards you or the lift tube that was just a short sprint away. In fact, it looked like the two were moving slightly, patrolling maybe, and weren't even really watching the area very well...most of their attention seemed to be in other rooms and away from your end of the hangar...
Summer:
As always, the Imperials decided to be difficult at the worst of times. You had barely had time to arrive at your father's hangar, where apparently you were supposed to be getting some old pieces or art your mother wanted, but just after you'd arrived the Imperials barged right in. As the place was empty, your father didn't worry about security in Curamelle as he put his full trust in the Empire's troops, that meant you were immediately having to deal with questions that made no sense.
Eventually, though, you were able to convince them you were who you said you were, and then the Imperial troops scattered across the entire hangar, saying that it was to be used for important business and for you to get your things and leave immediately. The commander, an older officer with a scar across his chin, didn't just throw you out as you'd expected, deciding to let you do what you had come to do first. Apparently he knew your parents...or he said he did, a few times.
Amazingly enough, you were left generally alone. The artwork for you mother was on the second floor of the place, above the old warehouse that stored mostly old family junk and in a nice, unoccupied office that sat with a view of the entire hangar below. And right where you expected, the old art sat on the wall waiting for you to lug them all the way back to the estate like a pack animal.
But you caught sight of a blinking red light on the desk. You'd been here before and never seen that blink, and it was definitely the security cameras. The whole office was actually a security station where your father, well anyone there, could keep an eye on the area if need be. Apparently the Imperials didn't know, as you were alone.
Sitting at the desk, it took a simple push of a button to bring up a holo display. Right away, you saw the Imperials in various sections of the hangar, not as much looking for something as wandering around aimlessly...and then you saw something in the warehouse. Two humanoids, an armoured one and one that looked like a human female, hiding behind some crates and out of sight. They were looking at the turbolift just a few meters away, the one that would bring them up to the hallway just outside the office you were in. How they got there, you didn't know, but they looked to be hiding from the Imperials...
Not only that, but right away you noticed something else. Somehow the turbolift had been locked. The Imperials must have locked the place down at some point from another location. But if those two whoever-they-weres went for it, they would be stuck out in the open rather than finding a hiding place. And they were looking for one...somehow, you were sure of that.
Deurr nods at Sya and takes a last look at the troopers. When it seems like the best moment to take their chances he nudges Sya and dashes towards the elevator...
Tebbo tried to move to a position where he could have a clear shot at the lone trooper. Those two women must be with the alliance. No one else would be bold enough to approach a trooper. If he could just take out the trooper. He looked around for a good position. He definitely didn't want the imperials coming after him.
(hee...sorry for delay, I asked a question in the OOC thread, but I guess I'll just narrate it out here and see how it goes. )
Summer's eyebrows draw together slightly as she frowns at what she's seeing on the display. Instantly the stupid chore her mother had sent her on vanishes from her mind. A powerful sense of deja vu settles over her as she hurriedly starts looking the controls over. Had she done this before? Was this the first time? Summer felt lightheaded and a little dizzy...sort of like at a carnival ride where you had just gotten to the top of a huge dip, and cart slowed down as you looked into the abyss before you and you realized in a second you would be falling and there was nothing you could do about it now.
But she could, right? She could not help. She could let them rush to their own imminent capture. She had that choice!
Except she didn't. The screams from the sky echoed in her sleep, and her dreams were thick with their futile pleas for mercy and their ghostly, spectral faces crowding thick around her. If she did nothing, would their faces join that choir? She thought they would. Standing by and letting it happen was no more possible than reaching the top of a hill, and simply flying away. The force pulling her now was stronger than gravity and just as deterministic.
Destiny?
(Use Computer +9 to try to override the lockdown on the elevator. If her assessment is that doing that is beyond her ability (she'll use a Force Point if possible and it would be helpful), then she'll try to find out if communication with them is possible...either by tapping into their commlinks, or if there's an intercom near them that wouldn't attract Imperial attention. )
"Everything is fine," the Stormtrooper said swiftly, waving his hand at both of you to back away, "Just stand back. Once the airspeeder sets down everyone here will be questioned and you'll be allowed to go about your business..."
At that point, the speeder from above finally did set down. Its large cargo hold looked like it could carry a great many troopers, but it took its time getting down and, interestingly enough, set down so that its rear engines were facing where you and the lone Stormtrooper were. He turned away from you again after motioning for you to back up once more, and you could hear his voice more quietly, clearly not talking to you, "What was that again? Dammit, work."
Unless that airspeeder isn't full of Stormtroopers, I really don't want to be here. Istara thought. There's no getting past him now. And I have no intention of getting involved in a firefight on a core world if I can avoid it.
She looks at her map of the area to see if she can find an alternate route to the hangar.
Lia's immediate thought is to pull her blaster pistol and fire upon the lone Stormtrooper, but she stops as she and Istara realize at around the same time that it would be far too risky to open fire on an Imperial on such a crowded place. Yet the landspeeder stilled pecked away at her mind. Perhaps something she had overheard once.
__________________ "Sometimes things must be broken in order to be rebuilt." --Sith Proverb.
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