Past the grav tube where I entered this deck, I come to another corner.
I peer around. Down the long passage, I see a lone stormtrooper standing outside the infirmary door. It's a good 40 meters. It would take a hell of a shot.
I rub the thesselbeast foot that's hanging around my neck. No, I don't think my blaster is going to get me out of this one. I holster the big gun. Suck in some air. Screw my face into a displeasured smirk. And, with my chest out, I swagger on down the length of the ship as if I owned the damn thing.
This time, I picked wrong. The trooper was on his toes. As soon as I stepped into the corridor, the Imperial turned towards me, raising his blaster carbine. 40 meters is nothing for a carbine. It's a much longer range weapon than my pistol.
I raised my hands and turned my frown into a smile, like we were good old buds. The trooper didn't hesitate at all. He squeezed the trigger. His carbine flared out a stun cone. And, I went down, wiggling like a little baby.
I don't even remember hitting the deck.
The noise of boots on the deck roused me again. Now, an Imperial officer was standing over me with a squad of stormtroopers. He said, "The Commander will be personally interested in this one, I suspect. He must be a Rebel."
I start to mumble, "I'm not a Rebel...," but that statement is stopped short as one of the troopers kicks me in the ribs. "You two, put him in the infirmary with the other one," the officer continues. "The rest of you, take a look outside and see if there are any others crawling around."
x x x
My two escorts drag my not-working body down the corridor. At the infirmary door, they drop me on the deck. One enters the security code while the second one draws the blaster its holster on my leg. Neither of them have no idea that I have regained my faculties.
The one with the pistol seems to be interested in it. He's studying it as if he's evaluating whether he's gained a trophy. He turns his back to me and bends to study the blaster more closely.
This is it. They're careless. This is my chance. I'll never doubt the power of the foot of the thesselbeast again. Slowly. Every so slowly, I try to stand....
This is another Hide/Sneak roll as Roark is trying to stealthily stand behind the two troopers. One has his attention on the door, while the other has turned to study Roark's blaster. Again, I didn't put any dice into Roark's Hide/Sneak skill, so it defaults to his 3D Perception code.
Since the troopers are both distracted and confident that their prisoner is unconscious, this is a Very Easy Difficulty task. I need only a 5+.
I roll 12. Roark stands without the two seeing him.
Now, I'm going to try to do two things at once. Roark is going to try to knock one trooper down while grabbing the blaster rifle from the other. Both actions are a test of the Brawling skill, which I improved to 4D+1 during character generation. But, since I am attempting two actions at the same time, Roark suffers a -1D penalty to both actions. That means I'm rolling 3D+1 for both attempts.
Since the troopers are totally unaware of what Roark is about to do, the difficulty is Easy. But, that's still a 10+ target. On three dice, it's about a 50% chance of success.
Let's see how Roark does.
First, Roark slams his body into the trooper studying his blaster pistol. The roll is: 10 on the money!
Then, quickly darting the other way, Roark grabs for the stormtrooper's rifle as the trooper turns from the infirmary door. The roll is: 12! Yes!
Like a creeper from a horror holo, I rise behind the two men. In a flash of action, I slam into the one on my left and knock him to his knees. Then, I turn to see the other guard turning towards me. I can't see the look on his face because of the helmet, but I know it is locked into a state of surprise. I grab his blaster rifle out of his hands.
I stand there, big smile on my face, darting the rifle back and forth between the two troopers.
"Toss it to me," I say to the trooper that is now on his backside. With a flick of his hand, my blaster pistol skids across the deck to my feet. "And the rifle." That trooper's own blaster rifle follows it.
"Now, down on your knees." This, I say to the one by the door, who had already raised his hands once I grabbed his weapon. I had him go face down, and I stuck my knee in his back, keeping the rifled aimed at the other. I searched through his belt and found some electronic cord-cuffs. These were the fancy kind that allowed for multiple limbs. One could manacle a creature with up to four limbs, cuff two bipeds together, or groggle tie a man with his hands to his feet behind his back. This last option is what I used on the two troopers. Then, I pulled their helmets off.
At the infirmary door, I checked my comlink for the code, then I dragged both troopers inside the room. I retrieved their helmets, and I checked their belts. One of them had a hand comlink. I took it, threw it inside his helmet, and set both helms on the top of a shelf.
Then I pointed the blaster rifle at both of them.
"Nooooo!" One of them yelled, wide eyed.
He hadn't noticed, but I had already set the rifle for stun.
"Night, night." I said. Then, I turned to the medical droid that was floating around in the room.
"Did you alert anyone about what I've done here?" I said to the droid.
"No sir." It's mechanical voice answered.
"Good. Don't. I want you to sedate these two men if your sensors tell you that they are starting to regain consciousness. And, don't relieve their restraints."
The droid floated over to the two trussed stormtroopers and said, plainly, "Yes sir."
The medical bay is not a large room. There's the entry area, where I have the two troopers, then, through a doorway, is the treatment room. I stepped through the hatch to find three medbeds. One of them had Hawk in it. Beyond is another hatch, which is, I assume, the doctor's office.
Hawk is asleep. His left leg is cast in a bone-mender. I hit the switch on the box next to the bed. A mechanical arm detached itself from the wall and pumped my friend with a dose of stimulant. Groggy, my co-pilot opened his eyes.
"Hi, old buddy. Nice place you've got here. The Empire taking good care of you?"
Hawk smiled upon seeing me. He indicated his leg, "Time to check out! But, um, fancy athletics are out of the question."
I spread my hands wide, with a wider smile. "I'll just carry you!"
My friend frowned. "This is not a good plan."
I heaved him out of bed and lifted him over my shoulder. With a grunt, I said, "Everybody's a critic."
And, out of the infirmary Hawk and I went.
