Mission #14 - A New Ally?

[Keshani]

Mariah jumped as she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Her blaster came up to the ready on instinct, but she didn't squeeze the trigger.

Then, suddenly, a strange sound for the setting they were in escaped her lips - she let loose a very girl like "giggle".

In front of her hovered a 1 foot metal ball, dented, damaged and sounding so mournful when it made noise that she couldn't possibly see it as a threat.

Slowly she lowered her blaster and took a slow breath, calming her heart which had just threatened to jump out of her chest.

Carefully she grabbed her scanning tools, instead, to check if the droid was transmitting to anyone.

"What are you, little guy?" she asked.

Still studying the droid she glanced at Niil.

"I can get the lift running with a power supply. Maybe from the eweb? The motivator works..it just doesn't have power."

[Trax]

Trax slowly continued forward, keeping his eyes and ears open for surprises.  He doubted there was much to see but the last thing he wanted was any surprises.  Besides, the layout could possibly be useful for the troopers that would remain behind to load the e-web back onto the shuttle if using the roof wasn't an option for some reason.

He didn't see any bodies so either the KDF had managed to escape using the droids to delay their attackers or the Empire had cleaned them up after.

"Let's finish this up so we can do what we came here to do." he said not so subtly changing the subject.

[Niil Spaar]

Niil came back down the stairs and said to no one in particular, "The stairs are out of the question, so it looks like we'll have to hook up power to the lif . . ."  It was then that he caught sight of the hovering droid in front of Mariah.  Small and spherical. Wasn't that the hallmark of a surveillance droid?   

Biting back a curse, he drew his heavy blaster pistol and walked over to it.  "Shut the droid off for now; we can come back for it later and see what info it might have in its banks.  That lift . . . how much power will it drain from the E-Web battery?"

[GM Craig]

Mariah can tell the droid's repulsor is out of alignment. He keeps trying to right itself, but the repulsors don't respond. The optics suggests this was some sort of scout droid, or possibly an observer or holo-recorder droid of some sort. It appears to have some sort of sensor array on a horizontal band that rotates around the middle of the sphere, but the mechanism that rotates it appears broken. There is a mount for some type of antenna, but the antenna appears to be broken off. In dangles pathetically down one side, barely hanging on by a small wire. There are a couple of actuated panels that likely hide other equipment, but they are closed at the moment.

Mariah scans the device, and finds several areas of incoherent power flow indicating internal damage. There are no emissions from the device, beyond the faltering repulsors and the one flickering optic sensors mounted on top. The EM signature was nothing out of the ordinary for such a device.

It emits another mournful tone as it tries to look around. Given the flickering, Mariah figures it's only getting 25% the expected data from the damaged optical sensor.

You get to the end of the hall and find a storage area 30m on a side and 20m tall. The first thing that you become aware of is the sickly sweet stench of rotting meat. Crates, containers and boxes are scattered all over the large room, many of them showing battle damage. Metal parts have spilled out of several smashed containers, littering the floor with loose odds and ends. As you step into the room, the stench of rotting meat is very strong.

There is a cargo lift in the back of the room, and a console that appears to have power.

[OOC: The E-web actually comes with a generator, with essentially unlimited power generation. Mariah could rig it to run the lift for days.]

[Trax]

"We've got what appears to be a powered lift back here." Trax said over the comm.  "And a wonderful smell." he added, moving into the room wondering if the scent had attracted any wildlife.

[OOC: Does the lift appear to go to the roof or a second level?]

[Niil Spaar]

A wonderful smell?  Knowing Trax's penchance for sarcasm, Niil's sense of smell was already resigning itself to its fate.  The powered lift, now . . .

Keying his comm, Nill replied,  "Copy that.  Have it checked out for booby-traps first, then we'll see where it goes."  Then, to Mariah, he said,   "Mariah, shut the droid down for now; we can get it up and running it later in a controlled environment.  Trax might need help with that lift."

[Collan]

[ooc: sorry for my absence...I've been busy at work...and I needed to consolidate the CSs Craig sent me]

Collan looked around the room. He really was gettign his feet back under himself again.

"I'll check for any supplies to see what's still good. There might be something interesting in there that we could use. Flares...powerpacks...first aid."

[Keshani]

Mariah glanced at the droid with a bit of a longing expression one more time and then reached over to turn it off.

"Yeah...I guess we better go save Trax's butt, shouldn't we...."

<Actions: shut down droid and follow Niil to the icky smell.>

[Jex]

Jex returns to the building entry, and does another scan outside the building.

[Jex will take up the perimeter while everyone goes vertical, unless they call for his help. Just want to make sure no one sneaks up on us ...]

[Niil Spaar]

Niil gave Mariah a half-grin, but refrained from his own wise-crack.  "You got it.  If that droid isn't too heavy, stuff it in your rucksack and we can check it out when we get back home.  Otherwise, we'll just secure it in the shuttle when we're ready to make out run."

As they headed towards Trax, Niil said, "Collan, I don't think you'll find much, but go ahead.  If you find anything of interest, though, don't touch it but flag it for us to look at.  The KDF or the Imps could have left some wee surprises behind."

[GM Craig]

Jex returns to the doorway to keep an eye on your unguarded shuttle. Sensors report all clear, or at least no unidentified readings.

Mariah reached for the droid. It settles into her hands with a worried, but please series of beeps. There is a quick cry of alarm when Mariah reaches for the power button, and a pathetic wail that fades away as the vocabulator looses power. The bulky armour is certainly making things uncomfortable for her - it doesn't help that it's a few sizes too big - but she manages to get the droid in her bag for later study.

Moving down the corridor, she moves past the battle zone and into the store room Trax had mentioned. The first thing that strikes her is the stench of rotting flesh. It permeates the room. Fighting the gag reflex, she maxes her way towards the lift, but spots a gooey slick that appears to have seeped out from under a jumbled pile of crates. Blast marks and blaster burns decorate the walls and many of the creates are broken open, revealing small electronic parts, nuts and bolts and various other small items.

Making her way to Trax and Lt. Querro, Mariah finds it is indeed powered. The controls are locked, but it looks like it only takes you to the upper floor, not all the way to the roof. The lock doesn't look complicated, so she should be able to slice it without much difficulty.

The three troopers look up as Nill returns from his exploration of the blasted staircase.

Collan begins to scout around the factory floor looking for any useful supplies. There are several droids (or parts of them) scattered about. Some of them have built-in weaponry. Not useful currently, but Collan could probably salvage parts from the weapons for use by the KDF. It will take a little work to get the parts out, but it's nothing terribly complicated.

[Niil Spaar]

Niil keyed his comm, and said, "Mariah, Trax - that lift you were checking out - will the upper floor still give you a clear field of fire?  If not, we'll have to try the other lift or the control room.  Trax, I couldn't reach that control room via the stairs, but you might be able to get there with a short hop from your jetpack."

[Trax]

"Best guess is it only goes to the second floor," Trax answered Niil through the comm.  "But there might be a roof hatch from there.  We'll head up in a sec and let you know."

Trax moved over to Mariah by the lift.  "Can you get us up there?"

[Keshani]

The teenage girl fought the urge to gag as the stench of rotting flesh acosted her.

She did her best to cover it up so the others wouldn't see, though. Afterall, THEY weren't reacting to it by gagging or throwing up....

"Can you get us up there"

Mariah studied the controls for a minute. The controls were locked, but it didn't look complicated.

"Shouldn't be a problem boss man....just give me a minute..."

[GM Craig]

Mariah makes short work of the control panel, and it unlocks. But while she is working, she notices something else - a second panel concealed within the first panel. This one shows that the lift does go to the roof, but also down.