Collan and Niil: Seekers

[Niil Spaar]

Niil replied,  "I shot out the lead vehicle's front tire.  The driver lost control and flipped his vehicle, and the other vehicle slammed into him and went sailing.  Then the fuel tanks on both went 'boof'.  Like I said, you only see that sort of thing in the holovids."

Lack of sleep, combined with the adrenaline winding down, made Niil involuntarily let loose with a jaw-cracking yawn.  "Ugh.  Once I hop back in, we really have to find a place to crash for the night.  Let's keep looking for a good spot.  We might have to go for another hour or two, though.

[GM Craig]

With the adrenaline of battle slow to leave you, you travel well into the night. It is near dawn, in fact, before you begin to feel tired. But there is a danger - your crawler leaves a clear trail. Surviving pirates would be able to follow it, if they chose to.

[Keep going, or pull over?]

[Niil Spaar]

Niil shook his head in an attempt to clear the cobwebs away.  Too long on the road.  Breaking open his canteen, he took a  healthy swig of water and looked over at Collan.  "We've got to find a place to crash for awhile, or we'll be frakked if we get into another firefight.  Let's keep going for another two hours max and see if we can find a good hidey-hole or settlement to bed down along the way.  I just hope to hell those pirates decided to look somewhere else for easier meat, or we're going to be dogged all the way."

OOC:  If there's any sort of terrain around that won't leave tracks (ha), we'll try it out.  Otherwise, we'll look for a good place (at least one escape route and preferably on high ground) or a settlement to check out.  If we find a settlement, we'll be damned careful before coming near, in case it's owned/occupied by bad dudes.

[Collan]

Collan blinked his eyes. Niil would have noticed that Collan seemed oddly jittery, stretching his neck a lot...shaking his legs and arms...tapping his feet. At the same time, Collan's head kept falling forward a bit before it would snap back up, his eyes wide and trying to focus on path forward. It was hard to do so without a clear road using only headlights and what little sensors they dared use.

"Yeah..." Collan replied, "I'm barely awake here..."

[Niil Spaar]

Niil shouldn't have glanced over at Collan; now his jaw ached from the yawn that erupted from his mouth.  "Urrrgh.  I wonder if we have any caffeine or caffeine pills in this medkit . . .


OOC:  Umm, Craig?  Could our supply run we made before we left town have included some sort of caffeine (ie. coffee, soft drinks, etc)?   I assume we took some food and drink with us, seeing as there's not a lot of truck stops out here.  Or, failing that, some sort of pick-me-ups in the medkit?  Something that wouldn't make us crash and burn, that is?

[GM Craig]

Niil pulls out a medkit and does find several doses of stimulants. it should be enough to get you to a settlement.

[Niil Spaar]

Niil handed Collan one of the stims and muttered, "I hate like hell to pump this crud into my system, but we might have little choice.  He then took one for himself and felt the sludgy effects of fatigue blasted away.  "Woof!" he exclaimed, then shook his head.  "Let's just hope the crash isn't too heavy from these things.  All right, let's find us a hidey-hole or a settlement."

[Collan]

Collan likewise took a stim and pressed it into his arm. It left a slight sting as it coursed through his veins but in a moments it had shocked his system into alertness.

"Whoa!" Was about all he managed. Collan suddenly felt a need to be moving and doing something. And something at the edge of his senses was bugging him.

"This stuff really puts an edge on," he stated to Niil, "I feel like I want to shoot off in all directions at once."

[Niil Spaar]

At least now we'll stay awake long enough to find a place to grab some rest, Niil thought.  I wonder how long we . . .

Niil smacked the side of his head and swore.  "Of all the malfing stupid things for me to do!"  Looking over at Collan, he muttered, "Really damned smart of me.  Yup, let's both crash at the same time and fall into deep sleep in the middle of the Bladesea, with torqued-off raiders and a functioning vehicle behind us."

He let out his breath in a sigh of self-disgust, and grumbled, "All right, so now we find a place and one of us crashes for about eight hours, while the other tries to stay awake and keep watch.  Damn me."

[GM Craig]

It is about an hour later when you spot the tell-tale mounds of a small settlement. Altering course slightly, you pull up to a dugout. There is a ramp leading down into the town, but the gate is closed. No one seems to be about, but it is early in the morning.

[Niil Spaar]

Niil narrowed his eyes; there was no telling who owned this settlement, but they had to find out before the both of them crash-and-burned.  Handing his AP laser rifle to Collan, he said, "Stay here and get ready to come and grab me.  I'm going to check this settlement out."

Popping the door, he slid out and started walking down the ramp.  He made sure his weapons were holstered, but kept the snaps free in case he had to draw them quickly.


OOC:  Go down the ramp and see if there's any night guard or intercom at the gate.

[Collan]

"Got it." Collan took the rifle and waited in case he had to pull Niil out of a furball.

[GM Craig]

The gate is closed, and the place looks more or less shut down. There doesn't appear to be any intercom panel.

The place looks like a multi-family settlement - several doorwars open unto a central cylinder dug out of the earth. You'd guess there's room for maybe 50 residents, though it's hard to tell - some of the homes could go back a long way into the ground.

[Niil Spaar]

"Well, bantha poodoo,"  Niil muttered as he glared at the door.  One would think that they had some night watch somewhere, but the door looked solid enough to take a vehicular blaster volley without warming up.  Looks like they'd have to wait until morning.  Still, it couldn't hurt  - hopefully - to knock.  Reaching forward, he banged his fist on the door six times.

[GM Craig]

Your fist barely makes a sound, so you resort to using the butt of a rifle.

A few moments later, a port opens revealing an optical sensor. A synthetic voice says, "Who are you and what do you want?" in standard basic.