Star Wars Episode 2.1q: The Fall of Eraydia (RIP)

dpdx

Explorer
Starring:

- Pbartender as Dobradenn, Xexto Gunslinger and Big Game Hunter;
- DonAdam as Ka Jor, Cerean Jedi Consular and Healer;
- maddmic as Pog, Human Fringer and 'retired' Pod Racer;
- Toric_Arthendain as Kerracor, Wookiee Scout and Spacer;
- Jaik as Hiru Hanachi, Human Scoundrel and Card Sharp; and
- eoghanbt as Tilon Wa-Hael, Human Jedi Guardian and Circus Entertainer.

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A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Six months ago, intrepid Jedi Knights had confronted Count Dooku and the Separatists on Geonosis, touching off the Clone Wars. As worlds began to take sides, those loyal to the Republic scrambled hastily to repatriate innocent citizens and otherwise place them out of harm's way. Such was the case for the thirty Eraydian refugees aboard the Sanctuary, which left Aldera Spaceport, Alderaan in a race to their homeworld...

It is nearly the end of your three-day journey from Alderaan to the uncharted world of Eraydia. Your cargo, a diverse mix of 30 refugees, sits quietly in the main compartment as the large-screen holovid plays the documentary, "A Traveler's Introduction to Eraydia." A voice (most likely Ithorian, and probably female) accompanies the documentary, providing narrative to accompany the pictures of the ever shifting winds and other features of the planet.

"Eraydia also contains gargantuan flying creatures, named 'manteons'. These can be the size of a city, and in fact, natives often build cities on these creatures, who glide the air currents to stay aloft."

In the command center of the modified Corellian X-9000 Light Cruiser sit four of the crewmen: Shom Tuuko, a male Duros, who pilots and captains the Sanctuary; His co-pilot, Kerracor; the scanner operator, Hiru; and communications officer, Denny. In the engineering room is Pog, and helping to supervise, calm and otherwise assist the passengers in the main compartment, are the two Jedi, Ka Jor and Tilon.

Hiru notices something on the scanners. Further inspection reveals it to be two fighter-size ships, and the computer annotates the two blips as hostile, and at close range, 8 squares behind the ship.
 
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[It was always going to be tough to beat the Droid Starfighter's +10 to initiative; the good news is, Hiru's spot check of 24 prevented a surprise round.]

"But many dangers exist on Eraydia, as well. Chief among them is bladegrass, a sharp plant that when activated by the ubiquitous and ever-shifting wind..."

As the holovid winks out, mere moments from your expected arrival on the planet of Eraydia, the ship lurches to a rough exit from hyperspace and alarm claxons aboard the vessel immediately begin to blare loudly. The stress-filled voice of the captain crackles to life over the intercom system as another jolt threatens to knock you from your feet.

"All hands to battle stations! All hands to battle stations! This is not a drill. All passengers should secure themselves and their belongings and remain in the designated passenger areas.”

Rushing to the nearest viewpoint, it is immediately obvious what is causing the problem: a fleet of Separatist warships surround the gray world of Eraydia, and a flight of droid starfighters are buzzing your starship amid scattered weapons fire.

Initiatives:

Droid Starfighters (2): 24
Tilon: 22
Ka Jor: 20
Pog: 20
Shom: 18
Denny: 14
Hiru: 13
Kerracor: 6
Refugees: 6

Actions?
 
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Tilon stands up, unsnapping the clasps of his restraints as he does so, adrenalyne beginning to pump before his Master's comments about restraint and calm ringing in his ears. Sotto vocce, he turns towards Ka Jor. "Panic will make this worse, whatever it is...I will go up to see what's happening..." He turns, heading for the ladder to the service corridor.
 
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Ka Jor nods at Tilon's statement, calling after him, "May the Force be with you."

He turns his attention to the passengers, saying in a stern but calm voice, "Everyone needs to be seated and strapped immediately," while looking for any children or elderly refugees that require assistance.
 
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Wishing that the ship had some turbolaser turrets to run to, Dobradenn straps himself into his acceleration couch, in preparation for the imminently bumpy ride. Dialing in the hypercomm's broadband emergency channels, he begins broadcasting a distress signal...

"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is the Republic starship Sanctuary. We have just exited hyperspace in the Eraydia system. We are unarmed and under attack by Separtist forces. Requesting any available assistance.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday..." he continues repeating the call for help, while awaiting further orders from the captain.
 

Hiru's eyes race deperately across the scanner controls, searching desperately for the "Jam Enemy Sensors" button. "Too many holovids, Hiru...Hey, what's this sub-menu, "Intercept Exterior Sensor Sweeps"?" Hiru's fingers danced across the scanners' controls, trying to outwit the enemy starfighters' sensor packages.
 
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Pog finds a seat in engineering and straps himself in. He shakes his head in frustration. 'First a dug, now droid starfighters? This is getting to be too much. All I wanted was enough credits to hit the tables again and win my way into a lush future. So much for that....' As he is strapped in, he contacts the bridge. "Pog here. I'm strapped in and ready to give this flying bucket a kick should she need one."
 
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"Rrrrrrooooooooorrrrrrrr!" Kerraccor growls loudly in frustration from his position in the co-pilots chair.

He turns his head towards Shom and lets out a short series of barks and growls, asking whether the cruiser can outrun droid starfighters. (OOC: Not sure whether Shom or anyone else present can understand Wookiee.)

He then glances at his bowcaster, lying on the floor nearby, wishing that the cruiser was armed with ANY sort of weapon. With a low, growling sigh, he turns his attention back to the controls in front of him. His fur-covered fist hovers above them, ready to enter numbers into the navicomputer in the event that they have to jump to hyperspace to avoid being destroyed.

Assuming that the ship has shields, he is also preparing to angle them to protect the rear of the cruiser, or wherever the attacks are coming from.
 

Round One:

No sooner than the pair of droid starfighters show up on scan, they open the festivities with a pair of proton torpedoes (one each) aimed at the Sanctuary's unprotected aft. The first one makes contact, and explodes for 82 points hull damage. The explosion rocks the Corellian cruiser (and accounts for the jarring mentioned earlier), but has the fortunate effect of throwing off the targeting mechanism of the second, which streams past the starboard viewport without touching (miss)...

Tilon is up and about in the passenger compartment, and with a renewed sense of purpose, moves swiftly to the base of the ladder which connects the compartment to the service corridor.

Ka Jor remains in the passenger compartment, supervising the strapping in of the refugees. His presence seems to calm them.

Pog awaits instructions [I'll consider this a readied action for orders from the bridge] in engineering. A console above his seat reports the damage the Sanctuary has taken so far: 148 hull points remain from 230. The aft plating is nearly breached, but still holding (a probe-sized asteroid would do it in, looks like), and so far, no major systems have been damaged.

[Pog's initiative reset to 18, to match Shom's.]

Shom has the same display on his console, and having been given a reprieve from the second missile, raises shields (move action). The consoles update with the new information, 300 points of shields appearing on a skyblue line above the hull damage reading.

"We're not going to outrun them, and we can't jump without getting out of the grav well; our best chance is to take them into the atmosphere and hope they get hit by manteons," the captain says breathlessly over the intercom, "Pog! double shields aft! We'll beat these bastards yet!" [Dramatic license and blatant abuse of the free action to give orders.]

Shom seems to be convincing himself more than he is instilling confidence in his crew, but he nonetheless uses his remaining move action to make a break for the surface [4 squares straight ahead, ship at Cruising velocity, which is max under impulse].

Since it's difficult at best to fix hull points in space (and the Sanctuary probably doesn't have an hour), Pog complies with the angling order. The display shows a double-width skyblue bar at the back of the original line.

Denny's mayday call elicits a response - but not on the emergency channel. An encrypted digital transmission comes in on Denny's earphone over one of the Republic's diplomatic frequencies. It sounds human - and young: "Join the club, Sanctuary. Nobody can get in, or out. They've got Techno Union dreadnoughts at each of the major jump points, and the big spaceports are covered with gunships. Suggest you take it to the grasslands. Watch out for ground troops. Best of luck. Falcon out."

Hiru attempts to jam enemy sensors. With Denny's help, he finds the right button, and a chirp at the console signifies his success. [+2 to Ship Defense]

Kerracor accesses the subspacer transceiver in an attempt to plot a hyperspace course back to Alderaan. He is greeted with a message in red on the console display: Astrogation data unavailable - hyperspace jump impossible from current position. A quick glance at the nav computer indicates that the Sanctuary is well within the gravity well of Eraydia, 18 seconds [3 rounds] away from atmospheric entrance. Kerracor pushes the yoke forward, and the ship moves four squares closer to the planet.

The refugees have managed to strap in, the more mature ones helping the children with their seat restraints.

End Round One
 

Round Two

Initiatives:

Droid Starfighters (2): 24
Tilon: 22
Ka Jor: 20
Pog: 18
Shom: 18
Denny: 14
Hiru: 13
Kerracor: 6
Refugees: 6

The droid starfighters press the attack, matching the eight squares the cruiser traveled, and releasing two more proton torpedoes against the shield-replenished aft of the capital ship.

The first one hits, dealing 78 points of damage to the doubled aft shield.

The second one thuds against the aft shields, breaking apart without exploding - an obvious dud.

The torpedo from Round One reacquires target, and slams into the unprotected starboard hull for 86 points of damage. [Confirmed critical hit - damage directly to hull.]

The passengers and crew feel another jolt, but are uninjured.

The Sanctuary's hyperdrive is now destroyed beyond repair, and is spitting sparks into the vacuum.

The console also indicates that the Sanctuary is down to 62 hull points from 230, and has 261 shield points remaining.
 
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