Round Five
Tilon attempts to replenish shields, and is only slightly more successful, restoring 9 points to them. His second try is considerably more successful, and the console now indicates that 28 points have been restored.
Ka Jor continues his story. Several of the refugees begin to nod off, the others as calm as passengers could be, given that their ship is under attack.
Pog tries the algorithm suggested by the Jedi. His first try results in a 10 point improvement to shields. The second is unsuccessful.
Shom assists Kerracor with piloting. The plan is to fly right up into the face of the manteon, then bank sharply to starboard at the last moment. Hopefully, the fighter cannot dodge the manteon in time.
Denny finally gets the hang of shield replenishment, restoring 29 points to shields on his first try. His second attempt is a little too quick, despite the fact that he nailed the procedure: 4 points go to shields [4d10: 1, 1, 1, 1].
Collectively, the crew almost completely replenishes the shield output, leaving all but nine points available to shields.
Hiru notes the disappearance of one of the fighters, and maintains countermeasures on the remaining one.
Kerracor guides the Sanctuary expertly at super-maximum impulse, and when the time comes to bank, the Wookiee nearly wrenches the flight wheel out of its socket. The entire ship feels a slight upward pressure in g-force as the inertial compensators struggle to keep up with the deft but abrupt maneuver of the ship.
Which makes what happens next at a minimum, poor reward for such fine helmsmanship; at most, a legendary galactic travesty to starship pilots everywhere.
The manteon, startled by the large ship, snakes out a tendril in self defense; the tendril scrapes against the ship, and shorts out every electrical system on the cruiser.
Shields have fallen, for the heroic effort put into keeping them charged and active. Console is dead, and for the short time the cruiser will be staying aloft, the lights are out and the life support has pumped its last breath of fresh air into the cabin.
The backup generator is barely active, which is enough to keep minimal helm control, but with the sublight engines down, the Sanctuary dives to the surface, assisted only (but very well) by gravity. Fortunately, it is daytime in this area of the planet, and the pilots can attempt to land visually.
By now, it is small consolation to our intrepid heroes that the plan worked perfectly, and in fact, the last thing Hiru saw on the scanners before they shorted out in front of him was the last red dot immediately disappear, a phenomenon that could only be ascribed to the manteon's having swallowed it.
Tilon, noticing the ship has gone dead, hastily straps back in before the massive g-force wrenches him out of his seat.
The angle of entry is way too steep to land, so Shom and Kerracor attempt to pull out of the dive. They are fairly successful, and although the speed is way too fast, they should be able to belly land.
The landscape blurs as it flashes past the windows. You catch a glimpse of a tower of some sort. The ground rushes closer. You spot a herd of animals then... BOOM! you hit the ground and begin to skid. Anything not strapped down goes flying. With a stomach churning sensation the heavier tail of the ship starts to spin out to one side…then the ship comes to rest.
Kerracor takes 4 VP damage from a flight wheel to the gut.
Everyone else, including the refugees, is unhurt.
END COMBAT
