Aftermath Session XIX

[baronsamedi]

The Herd is reunited and safe once more. There was quite a scrap, however, as we fought and drove off Zassh again. Sheela is unhurt, apart from her pride, which I am happy about. Greegan isn’t in great shape. That’s a given, when he gets into a battle it seems. Unfortunately, I don’t do a very good job of protecting him. I really do my best to protect my Herd, but my best is not always enough. I worry about them, and want to keep them safe. But ruminating on this does nothing but darken my mood, so I won’t dwell on it. I will continue recording these as accurately as possible, however, so I can listen to what happened as I consider new plans.

The Wheel outer edges are very showy and touristy, but it gets less and less, well, nice, the further in you go. We went to the inner rim of the wheel and it was very…industrial. We got to the outside of the room we were to go in, and Namri crawled into a crawlspace above us to get a glimpse of the room (Khayall could not quite fit.) The room we had been directed to by the Force seer was a vast open space. It essentially had a walkway encircling the side we approached, which was clear of boxes or debris, and three long walkways over a huge gap that opened onto a lower storage level. There was another platform stretching the length of the other side of the gap, and it was full of boxes and crates and debris, with an observation station looking it over. The strips of land on the side we approached and the far side were not very wide, but wide enough to move without much problem. Namri sensed three life signs and saw several droids. I really missed having Zoë, and of course Sigma missed having his Light Repeater, but at the same time, our foes were working on essentially the same handicap.

I thought at first charging them would be the only way (and Greegan was all for it,) but Jek and Khayall came up with a better plan. The enemies were clearly going to be well fortified with cover on the far side of the walkways. While one walkway to the far left had some cover on it, it was directly ahead of the sort of overlook observation station. Given that was the obvious path, it occurred to our wiser heads they probably had more of their firepower gathered on that side. Thus, Jek and Khayall suggested taking the far right walkway, rather then left or central. We would still have to bolt without cover to get in range of them, but they would hopefully have to reposition themselves and not be able to as effectively pummel us from their entrenched position. Aya was to wait outside, safe, hopefully, from the droids. I found her the safest spot I could to conceal herself.

It was a gamble, but it paid off. The bulk of their forces were, in fact, gathered at the far left or central walkway. Rather than try to reposition themselves, they waited for us to get into range. Well, some of them anyway. Four Prowler droids, similar to what we fought several of on Xagobah, flew out from the pit between the walkways, and each walkway had two mouse droids go charging down them. On the other side were Zassh, an IG Assassin Droid (the one that had watched Jek, apparently), an odd looking droid that seemed to be a unique creation they referred to as “Niner,” a human tinker girl apparently called Rizz, and Sigma Four, which looked very feminine, was peeking out of the control box. She started to banter with Greegan where she told him she had to kill him so he would be safe, because he was too big a danger to himself and others. This led, of course, to Sigma Seven verbally challenging her. The hate between the two Sigmas was obvious, and ultimately proved exploitable. Each insisted they were superior, and Sigma Four seemed hurt that Greegan was replacing her.

Which does not make any sense, but neither does killing him to keep him safe. So whatever. All Droids are crazy. Even R5.

[No I am not -R5]

We bolted across and started up the far left ramp. Two mouse droids came down the ramp at us, and Jek told Namri to get rid of them, which she did…sadly in an amazingly showy use of the Force to toss them over edge. This, of course, led me to declare it was time for liquidation. The Prowlers and Zassh, all decided I was the biggest threat apparently. They just kept shooting at me. The IG was attacking Jek with stun blasts, deciding it wanted his bounty (much higher then Greegan’s, but Jek is wanted alive). Sigma Four shot at Greegan, while the weird looking droid fired on Namri. The mechanic chick Rizz fired on Sigma Seven, apparently offended by one of his quips implying her modifications of Sigma Four were second rate. She was clearly, much like Greegan, not a trained combatant, as she rarely hit him given the number of blaster bolts she put in the air.

Khayall, Jek, and Namri charged across the bridge, along with Greegan and Sigma Seven. I found myself facing down the four Prowler Droids and began shooting them down one at a time. Cover was a luxury I could not afford at the time. R5 was lackadaisically rolling up to the ramp while this went on.

Meanwhile, while I was gunning down Prowlers, the Mouse Droids that were originally going down the middle row doubled back and came around to the area where Khayall, Jek, and Greegan had arrived. Jek, Namri and Greegan had been hit by this time, Jek by a stun blast from IG, and Greegan and Namri by more lethal blasts. Khayall managed to shoot one of the Mouse Droids, but the other got close enough and released a stunning blast, which knocked Greegan unconscious. Sigma Seven was unaffected, and Khayall did not seem seriously hurt. Fortunately, Namri and Jek had not made it up that far; under heavy fire from Niner, Namri drew her lightsaber to more effectively deflect the incoming blaster bolts.

Namri closed on Niner, who also produced a lightsaber, much to our shock, stating Namri was not the first Jedi he had faced. I barreled up across the bridge by this time, and saw them cross lightsabers. Meanwhile Sigma Seven, under fire from both Sigma Four and Rizz, managed to get a solid shot on Rizz that rattled her and caused her to begin pulling back.

Since Khayall had tried the grenade trick with Zassh on Xagobah, he apparently decided it was worth trying again…with the shorted out mouse droid. He threw it at IG and Zassh, but she was not fooled this time. It did rather anger her and turn her attention from me to him, which was unfortunate.

I should probably mention I was kinda angry and said some rather mean things to them as this point. I don’t really remember everything I said, but Zassh stopped verbally responding to me, Rizz sounded like she was going to cry and Namri and Khayall got a little pale. Namri eventually yelled something about the Dark Side so I decided I’d better shut up. I don’t really know how that works.

Now by this time, the mouse droids that went down the far right walkway (which did not turn around) had made their way around and were coming up the far left one. R5 attempted to head them off and knock them off with his fire extinguisher, but it did not really work. He warned us they were incoming. Jek took a shot at them but did not manage to hit either. I fired a couple shots off and took one out, but the other closed and loosed his stun bomb. R5 moved between it and me and blocked some of the stun bomb, so it did not hurt me too much. Khayall and Namri were hit but did not seem too slowed. Namri and Niner were actually fighting on the boxes Jek was using as cover, which was quite a sight. Namri is so sexy when she does stuff like that.

With Rizz out of the picture, Sigma Seven turned his full attention to Sigma Four. His first volley was a solid hit, knocking her down. I fired on the IG Droid, hoping to pull it’s attention off of Jek, which worked; Jek was very much weakened by the stun related injuries he had taken. R5 began making his way toward the door to the security overlook, remaining behind cover but largely ignored. Namri, meanwhile, had gained the upper hand in her clash with Niner; she got through his guard twice, and the second time was enough to destroy the droid. His remains fell over the side, but she drew his lightsaber to her hand, which seemed like a good idea, I mean, it was a perfectly good lightsaber.

While the banter between the Sigmas continued, I heard Four say something about retreating. Not wanting to have that, I taunted her that by backing off she would be admitting Sigma Seven was the superior droid. That worked; She popped back out from cover to fire back at him. Then Sigma Seven, once again, surprised me.

He pointed at her and fired off his hand, like a rocket. It flew into the window Sigma Four was firing out of, and exploded, which tore her body to pieces. I must admit, it was pretty nice to have her saccharine cheerful banter stop. Sigma Seven, for his part, seemed a bit stunned with what he had just done. I guess that explains all those new droid arms Greegan bought.

Zassh, for her part, saw the battle going against her fast. The Mouse Droids, Prowler Droids, Niner and Sigma Four were in pieces, and Rizz had fled. It was pretty much her and the IG droid trying to hold the line, and Khayall had damaged the IG droid badly. Zassh activated a rocket pack, of all things (apparently she did not like her fall in Xagobah) and flew up into the room Sigma Four had been in. I finished the job Khayall had started by blasting the IG Assassin Droid to pieces. Zassh flew out after a moment carrying an Astromech Droid (R5 said it was an R4) and Sigma Four’s Head. Her rocket could not really support her and the Droid, so she sort of flew downwards between the walkways.

Apparently we are getting in her way. Imagine.

R5 hacked the elevator, and Sigma and Greegan rushed in, with Namri and Khayall on their heels. Sheela was bound but apparently OK. I did not really hear because R5 was yelling at me, calling me a freak and spraying me with his fire extinguisher…apparently some of my taunts at them got under his skin. He also threatened me with an arc wielder, which seemed rather inappropriate, as I had been shot several times. Khayall pointed out security was incoming, however, and it would be best to become scarce. We quickly left the scene, Sigma and Sheela helping Greegan, and we made sure to scavenge what we could of the blasted IG Droid.

We decided to split up. Jek, Aya, R5 and I were one group. Sigma, Greegan, and Sheela formed a second, Namri and Khayall a third. Khayall had us wear these silk scarves he got at Moons of Iego to conceal our identity, as pretty much all of us but Aya clearly looked like we had been in a scrap.

On our way out, Jek declared he had another piece of business to attend to before we left the Wheel, and he would return. As soon as he was out of sight, R5 peeled off after him to “Be sure the crazy old man does not get himself killed.” So I walked Aya the rest of the way back alone.

Aya is very sweet, and smells nice.

I rested awhile in the infirmary with Greegan, though he was out to go repair the droids as soon as Aya would let him. Khayall came in to express concern about some of what I said in anger to Zassh and Rizz. I expressed I was trying to draw fire as the Herd was in danger, and felt I could take it more then Greegan or Jek could. I was after all shot around eight times or so and only hurt so badly. I mean, I hurt like hell but I was not going to tell them that. Khayall advised me to monitor my feelings and not give in to my darker emotions, which was…fair I guess. I spent most of the rest of the time recuperating and watching Aya flit about the medical bay. Her being around seemed to help a lot. I had to put on a good show of being tough for Elili…I did not want to worry her. I worry enough for any six of us.

Jek did come back OK. Scarily enough, Aya and I were first back, just a short bit ahead of Greegan, Sheela and Sigma, though they were back soon enough I did not worry. Namri and Khayall showed not too long after, then R5 trailed in muttering about Jek and women. Jek eventually showed up himself.

We are now coming up on Orto Plutonia, and I think Jek is going to have us recoup for a bit before we go down. Jek got some sort of job from Nil there, so it’s good work and gets us off the Wheel for awhile. It is going to be cold, but I have my All Temperature Cloak. Better refresh my memory on ice planets before I go.

Supplemental: Provided by R5-D7

Master Dumaw is insane. Seriously crazy. When he gets mad, he gets really, really mad. He pretty much threatened to unmask the Ubese and make her suffocate. That is seriously crazy. Did I mention he was crazy? Good, as long as that is committed to datapad. I can’t have anyone not realizing that master Dumaw is crazier then a Bantha covered in fleas. And on fire.

On the way back to the Yanab Sunrise while Master Dumaw was staring at Aya Me, I decided to follow Jek Hebrides because he appeared to be doing something dumb. Sure enough, he returned to Hazard and met that dame of his, Nil. They evidently decided they needed a private conversation, as many men do while being controlled by dames. I confronted Jek Hebrides outside and insisted he returned to the Yanab Sunrise forthwith, but the old coot would have none of it. He went off with his dame. I returned to the ship, in an ill mood. Fortunately Master Dumaw was busy mooning over Aya Me in the infirmary, so I was able to go speak to Greegan.

I had a very productive discussion with Greegan. He got me working a little better then I was, and found those old Droid Control Ship plans I had stored in my memory. We chatted a long while as he worked on repairing and adapting Sigma to extreme cold, and I really think Greegan is a good guy. I told him about my old nickname, Stripe, and he approved. Sigma Seven seems…jealous…however, so I will be sure and note Master Dumaw is my master, not Greegan.

This is an interesting bunch though. Much better then working for Jonco. R5-D7 ending supplemental recording.