STARFALL: Episode One: The Roche Asteroid Field

[kipper]

Clark pops back out of cover and fires again.

[gavin storm]

Gavin pops up, between blaster shots from the Stormtroopers and fires a shot off at another stormtrooper. Sooner they changed the odds of this battle, the better.

[angelicdoctor]

With his back to the cover provided, Borsk closes his eyes and reaches out with the Force for any inanimate objects in the rec room with which to telekinetically levitate and with an unseen hand throw towards the troopers in an effort to distract them long enough to provide cover for and thereby make the affected troopers easier targets for his rebel colleagues.

[max_vale]

The battle aboard the Verpine asteroid base continued with half a dozen Imperial Stormtroopers squaring off against a team of Alliance Agents....

Grey Starr takes a deep breath and moves in a quick fluid motion; popping up from behind cover and drawing a bead on a Stormtrooper with his Blaster pistol. He squeezes the trigger and feels a moment of satisfaction as his shot slams straight into the Imperial's faceplate; dropping the trooper in a clatter of armor on the floor. His moment is short-lived however as he catches a blaster-bolt from another Imperial high in the chest and drops on the ground near Borsk La'Reth gasping in pain and unable to do much more than curl into a fetal position...


Professor Jones acts next and he pops out of cover and takes a quick shot at a Stormtrooper; only to grunt in frustration as his shot narrowly misses its target. His frustration is turned to panic though as a return shot catches him in the side and he drops back down behind cover patting at his body where the shot hit; only to close his eyes in relief as he realizes the shot merely grazed him and left him with nothing worse than a burn streak along his armored clothing....

La'Reth stays behind cover and concentrates on the Force; utilizing his connection to it to Telekinetically lift a stool from the rec room and 'fling' it in the general direction of the Imperials in an attempt to capture their attention and perhaps aide his companions by doing so. His plan is a success as the stool; while not coming close to striking any of the Stormtroopers; does indeed cause a pair of them to turn their attention that way and thereby providing both Gavin Storm and Zinn good opportunities to take shots at distracted foes. His attention is then brought back to the moment as Grey Starr falls to the ground next to him with a Blaster wound in his chest; having obviously penetrated his armored clothing and leaving a very serious wound...

Gavin Storm popped out of cover; and out of the corner of his eye he sees a Stool rising into the air; seemingly of its own accord and then hurling itself towards the Stormtroopers; drawing the attention of 2 of them. Keeping his attention on the matter at hand; Gavin uses the opportunity to take aim and land a devastating shot in the middle of the back of one of the Troopers; dropping him unmoving onto his face. He then quickly drops back behind cover and winces a blaster bolt slams into his makeshift table barricade directly opposite his head....

Zinn had likewise popped up and seen the display of mystical power that moved the Stool and took advantage of the opening to fire a stun blast into the other distracted Stormtrooper; causing his target to stagger to one knee and move in an obviously disoriented fashion; though not falling to the ground unconscious. Cursing his luck; he dropped back behind cover and saw a return fire blaster bolt zip through the air above that he had occupied just a second before...

[kipper]

Ignoring the hit to his armour and figuring the odds are due to favour him soon, Clark emerges to take another shot with his blaster.

[gavin storm]

Not being medically trained, Gavin knew that the best way to save the wounded was to end the fight as quickly and safely as possible. Between shots,Gavin pops up and takes a shot at the threat nearest to him.

[max_vale]

The battle rages on and Zinn and Clark pop up almost simultaneously to take shots at the remaining four standing Stormtroopers. They see a pair of them firing back while the other two grab a stunned companion and drag him back out the doorway while calling out on their comlinks; "We need to get the Heavy Weapons team with their Repeat Blaster up here now!"

Zinn takes a blaster bolt to his left bicep and the pain of the burn wound causes him to hiss and flinch while firing another stun bolt; which misses its intended target....

Clark on the other hand manages to land a shot in the center torso of one of the covering Stormtroopers and grins savagely as he sees his target drop to the ground and then drops back behind cover himself...

Gavin takes a shot at the fleeing Imperials; but curses in annoyance as his shot misses and blows chunks out of the wall next to the doorway the Imperials are retreating through....

La'Reth shakes himself out of his Force commune and quickly pulls a Medpac out and gets to work on the badly injured Grey Starr. His ministrations manage to stabilize the man; but the former Scout had fallen into unconciousness...

At about that moment; an explosion can be heard echoing through the halls of the Verpine Colony Asteroid. The pained, yet triumphant and grim voice of SGT Glek comes through the Rebel group's comlinks. "This is Glek....I rigged a grenade out of Blaster Powerpacks and used it to take down most of an Imperial Stormtrooper squad. They winged me; but I'm okay. They're falling back and re-forming for another assault; this time probably with grenades of their own and Repeat Blasters. I'm falling back and sealing the next Blast Door....suggest you do the same."

[kipper]

"Roger. We have a retreating squad here too. We will fall back." Clark replies over the com.

He then turns to his comrades. "Fall back with Grey Starr. I'll cover you." He peeks out again, taking another shot if one presents itself. He will follow once Grey Starr is safely away.

[gavin storm]

Gavin frowns slightly at the comms message mentioning grenades. "Unless they've got a screw lose. I doubt they'll try and use grenades on us." Gavin montions with his head towards Borsk as he says this. After thier friendly Force Sensitives levitating skills during the battle, the survivors would of likely told the othes that there was a Jedi amoung the defenders. Checking his blasters power levels, he holsters his blaster and glances behind him before checking to see if he could safely move Greystar.

[max_vale]

Clark covers the retreating Rebels as La'Reth and Gavin grab the unconcious form of Grey Starr and drag him out of the room with Zinn right on thier heels clutching his wounded arm. He sees a trio of Stormtroopers moving up with a massive Repeat Blaster and a Tripod stand while a pair of thier white-armored comrades cut loose with a few shots from thier carbines at the same time. Clark ducks the blasts and fires a couple back of his own as he back-pedals out of the room; not able to tell if he landed any shots or not. They get out of the room and fall back into the Verpine living quarters and seal the blast door behind them.

The Rebel band pauses for a moment and La'Reth and Gavin place the badly injured Grey Starr down on a cot while the others catch thier breath and try and figure out where to go from here. The Bothan Jedi looks over his patient while the others talk in quick clipped sentences. They are interrupted by the comm gear and the pained voice of SGT Glek.

"Okay; I just spoke to Captain Ackbar; he needs a few more minutes to get the last of the data out of the computer banks. It looks like the last of the Verpine have made thier way to the emergency Life Boats. Once the Captain signals he's done and on his way to the Life Boat bay; I suggest you do the same. I'll keep 'em busy and off your posteriors. Look after the Captain; he's pretty damn vital. Good luck and give 'em hell"; with that the grizzlled Quarren signs off. A few moments later; the sounds of another make-shift explosion and the deep hammering of a Heavy Repeat Blaster firing bursts echoes through the asteroid base....

[kipper]

((OOC: I think based on the map it's just a standard door between the rec/dining room and the living quarters... However, Ackbar is in the next room (2), so we'll need to stay here to hold off the Stormtroopers! Is the blast door to room 2 already closed?))

Clark begins flipping beds for cover and sets himself up near the exit, ready to hold off the Stormtroopers if they break through before the retreat signal comes.

[angelicdoctor]

Borsk will continue to try and revive Grey Starr.

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn grunts as he follows his teammates into their fallback position. "Nice trick there, Borsk; you'll have to teach me that one," he says as he takes hold of a sheet on a nearby cot, ripping a thick strip off and using it to bind the wound on his biceps.

[gavin storm]

Leaving Greystar with someone who clearly knew what he was doing when it came to healing, Gavin Lends clarke a hand with building a makeshift barricade.

[max_vale]

The Rebels huddle together in the spacious Living Quarters; using turned over cots, desks, etc. as a makeshift barricade. Borsk manages to stabilize Greystarr; but his patient comes in an out of consciousness. Zinn manages to make a makeshift bandage for his wound; but the pain and numbness definitely are affecting his concentration. Clark and Gavin split their time between arranging more cover and watching the doors anxiously. It's not long before the hammering sound of powerful Blaster bolts slamming rapidly against the door begin to echo through the room. Clearly the Stormtroopers have managed to bring a tripod-mounted Repeat Blaster to bear....

As the thick Blast Door begins to visibly buckle under the pressure of the Bolts; the Rebels' comlinks crackle with a message from a gravely voice. "This is Ackbar; the data has been retrieved and the computer banks wiped of all useful intel. We're heading for the Life Boat bay now. Escape as soon as you can; the Verpine Colony ships will pick you up. May the Force be with you all!"

His message is difficult to make out as at the same time he is speaking; the Blast Door finally succumbs to the Repeat Blaster fire and it is blown off its hinges as the large bolts come flying into the room and begin to slam into the makeshift barrier the Rebels are hiding behind. Professor Jones' keen senses hear the sound of objects rolling on the floor and daring a quick peek around the edge of cover; he sees a pair of circular objects enter the room and then seem to shudder and spin as they begin to spew a dense cloud of dark smoke that rapidly fills the area around the now-open doorway. He doesn't need to have his advanced degrees to know that this can only mean one thing; "Stormtroopers are about to assault our position!"; he cries out in warning to his companions....

[kipper]

"...Let's get out of here NOW while the smoke gives us cover!", Clarke continues, heading for the exit.

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn readily agrees, unhappy that he'd allowed himself to be hit by a bolt. He follows Clarke's example, heading for the exit, all the while keeping his blaster trained on the portal from whence the stormtrooper attack is about to come. "Gonna need a medpac, ASAP," he says over their comm channel. "Gotta be able to concentrate to fly us outta here."

[gavin storm]

Gavin motions to Borsk, before attempting to move the injured Greystar. He had every intention of moving in the same direction as Clarke and Zinn. If they were moving they had better not leave thier injured behind. "How is he doing?"

[max_vale]

The Rebels make a break for it; with the good Professor Clark leading the group under the mistaken belief that the smoke will provide cover for them. His more veteran teammates; Borsk and Grey Starr might have been able to tell him that Stormtroopers have special equipment in their helmets that allows them to see through smoke with no problems; but one was unconscious and the other was too busy concentrating on his injured companion to call out a warning....

Clark made to the open blastdoor; but he staggered the last few meters as a bolt from an Imperial carbine slammed into him from behind, catching him the left shoulder blade. His armored clothing absorbed most of the blast; but enough burned through to cause the adventurous academic to cry out in pain* as he staggered through the exit. The other Rebels moved almost as quickly behind him; with Zinn and Gavin laying down cover fire as Borsk slipped Grey Starr over his shoulder and carried him out. Gavin caught a grazing blaster bolt that burned a tear in the side of his armored shirt; but it left nothing more than a slight sting**.

The Rebels filed out and quickly shut and locked the Blast Door behind them. As they retreated through the Command Center and Communications Center; they see that Ackbar and his staff had shut everything down and in many cases, they left small fires crackling in the electronic equipment from hasty blaster bolts designed to fry circuitry. The could hear the echo of the Repeat Blaster Cannon hammering away at a Blast door as they moved down the tunnels of the Asteroid and into the Medical Bay. Each Rebel hastily grabbed a Medpac as they tore through the abandoned Base and made their way to the Life Boat Bay.

At long last they reach their destination and see that one Life Boat remains. Per quick perusal of the launch tube and the craft inside; Zinn quickly gleans that the 'Boat' is nothing more than a Verpine-modified escape pod; no piloting is needed. The Rebels quickly pile in; finding the craft roomy as it was designed to hold about a dozen people; possibly more if packed with the slim Verpine only. Zinn presses a few buttons after everyone straps themselves in; and with a whoosh; the 'Life Boat' leaves the Asteroid base and into the Roche asteroid field....

*Clark is wounded and is currently at -1D for all actions

**Gavin was merely grazed; and as he is not in combat at the moment; nothing game-mechanic wise really applies at this time

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn looks at his companions. "I'm SERIOUSLY hoping that one of you is better with these things than I am." He holds up the medpac he grabbed from the base during their flight. "I need to get this locked down so I can concentrate on flying once we're on board a ship. In the meantime, though," he adds, his gaze moving among the other wounded in the party, "We've got people hurt worse than me. We need to get them taken care of first."