Mission #14 - A New Ally?

[GM Craig]

The two troopers with the gun arrive first, throw it on and jump on board. The last trooper comes next, followed closely by Trax. He dives onto the shuttle. Niil says, "Go!" and Corporal Rand jams the throttles to the stops. The shuttle punches forward like an enraged Gundark. As a result, Trax and his team roll around like marbles towards the back of the shuttle, finally coming to rest in a heap on the rear bulkhead.

Through the still open door, you see a bright flash, and a loud "crump". Moments later, the shock wave hits and gives the shuttle a but of a tossing around, but it's not too bad.

A moment later, Rand flares the repulsors and hits the retros, and the shuttle swoops in for a rough landing on the roof of the Imperial facility.

[Actions?]

[Trax]

Being the last one in Trax stepped out first, looking to see if a lift into the compound survived his onslaught.

[GM Craig]

There is a lift there, but the red symbols on the control panel and the warning klaxon suggest the lift might be locked down.

[Niil Spaar]

Niil was the last off the shuttle, and shouted over the sound of the engines, "Corporal Rand, take the shuttle and lay low until you get our dustoff call.  No sense in making yourself a target on this rooftop while waiting for us."  Turning to Mariah, he pointed at the lift controls.  "Mariah, get to work on the lift; if we can't crack it soon, we'll have to use demo charges."

To Trax and the other troopers, he said, "Trax, take the Alphas and go check that gun emplacement that didn't explode.  There still might be a hostile on the roof with us, and that gun emplacement might lead to another way in.  The rest of you stay here and provide cover fire if needed.

[Trax]

Trax retrieved his rifle from the trooper that grabbed it for him.  He was doubtful anyone survived the onslaught but he also wasn't paying that much attention, there was too much else going on.  Though if someone did, they likely would have used the lift which means there was more than likely a welcoming party waiting down below.

"Let's walk boys." he said as he started towards the 'surviving' emplacement.

[Jex]

Jex jumps out of the shuttle and starts to check out the lift doors.

[GM Craig]

Once the last of you have unloaded, the shuttle lifts off in a cloud of dust. In moments it has vanished into the industrial sector.

Trax gets the the one unexploded gun, and finds it almost completely destroyed. The power converter is still intact, but that's about it. The rest of the gun has been mostly shredded by the E-web.

Mariah gets to the lift doors and gets to work on the mechanism. Immediately, she finds that the control panel here has been locked out of the main system - there's no ways for her to control the lift from up here. However, she can shunt power to the door actuators and force them open. You'll have to rappel down to reach the lower levels, but with the lock down in place you shouldn't have to worry about the lift moving.

There is one Imperial Army trooper who is still breathing. Collan has seen worse wounds, but not on anyone still living. He won't last long without medical assistance.

jex and Niil are impressed with the level of devastation cause up here. It's like a giant scythe had swept the top of the facility. It looks like a fight of several hours had destroyed the place, rather than a few seconds of automatic blaster fire.

A few seconds later, there are sparks from the lift control panel, and the pock-marked doors shudder open.

[Actions?]

The shaft is accessible, but there is no lift. No threats on the roof of the building, and no sign of any hostiles in the lift shaft.

[Trax]

"Who's heading down the rabbit hole first?" Trax asked as he drew one of his pistols and made his way over to the surviving imperial.  His intentions were obvious, he was going to finish him off.

[Jex]

"Trax, don't waste your time with that.  Collan, can you make that guy comfortable? Let's not stray from the plan, so don't forget what happens when we leave."

[Jex]

"I will lead going down. "

[OOC - how far down are we talking? Jex does have his belt grapple line and 100 yards of line]

[Niil Spaar]

Niil saw Trax's intentions, and said, "Trax, stand down.  Collan, there's no time to stabilize that trooper, so give him a standard shot of pain-killer and let's get going."

[Collan]

Something inside Collan felt sick at the thought of leaving this trooper without care. The thought of killing the trooper was absolutely abhorrent and Collan would have fought Trax to stop it...but even leaving him unstabilized. Still...it would take too long and risk the lives of his comrades. And...the Imperial trooper was a soldier who presumably understood the risk of taking a combat position.

Collan didn't trust himself to speak given his own internal conflict so he just nodded to Niil. He understood and bent down over the trooper and gave him a shot of pain killer. It wouldn't heal him...or make him worse, but it would make the transition easy and painless.

As he gave the shot, Collan said almost unconsciously and without really understanding why, "May the Force be with you."

He stood and nodded and made ready to rappel down as well.

[Niil Spaar]

As Collan started making his way down the rope, Niil motioned to Mariah.  "Take the next spot, Mariah.  I'll have Trax go next to keep you and Collan covered.  I'll go last."

[Trax]

A waste of effort, Trax thought as he holstered his pistol and swung the rifle over his shoulder.  Moving to the lift opening he peered down.  This was not going to be fun.  And if there was a welcoming committed down below, they'd be boxed in nicely once Mariah was able to get the doors open.

"Once the three of us are down, maybe hang up a sec until Mariah get's the doors open.  If there's a party waiting for us, the more room we have to move in the shaft the better."

[Niil Spaar]

"No problem.  The only saving grace from this frakking bottleneck is that at least we can drop some grenades down there if they start taking potshots at us.  I wouldn't put it past them to put a remote-control charge on the lift and send it up to meet us."

OOC:  Once Trax is in, I'll give him about 15 feet of space between us.  BTW, did that dying trooper have a blaster rifle on him?  And does everyone on our team have some form of blaster weapon?