Aftermath Session XXV

[baronsamedi]

The assault on the Furies base on Drea really should have gone better. I split off from some members of the Herd and one was hurt very badly. I feel terrible. I should not have allowed him to go off without me. He is not tough like me, even if he is strong on his own merits.

The ascent of the slope was child’s play. Tycho, Greegan, Tev and I went up with jet packs; Jek, Sigma and Khayall went up with STAPs. Tev and I still had some power left after the ascent, while Greegan's was almost out of fuel and Tycho's was completely empty. We made it up and were only spotted by one lookout in a watchtower, which Sigma and I made short of. The terrace had once been a garden, but now it was a dump. We moved in swiftly.

We quickly ran into a slave. He denied knowing anything at first but quickly and wisely changed his tune. We found there were roughly 25 Furies on the base. Dawn had just broken so hopefully most would be asleep, or failing that groggy. Jek and I talked him into silence, and we pressed on.

That’s when we came to the moment of truth. A command center had a computer terminal that controlled the slave collars. Releasing it would cause much chaos…but give our quarry time to go to ground. We could go after her but the command center would be well guarded once we got her. Time was of the essence so the decision was made to split up. After some discussion, we decided Jek and I would go with Tev and Tycho after the girl, who the slave had said was in the west tower. Greegan would go with Khayall and Sigma toward the center. Some approaching pirates convinced us it was time to get moving.

Tycho and Jek were kinda shooting the shit as we walked and there was discussion of the fact that this place appeared to once be some sort of monastery. Jek made reference to a monster pit, and Tycho was incredulous. There was a three-credit bet on the existence of such a thing. [Editors Note: Ha! I am rubbing off on them! –R5-D7] In time however Jek proved correct as we came upon a large open area with a second level along the edge and a large grated floor, below which we saw a Tusken Wader. Tycho upped the odds to double or nothing they would end up in the pit. That was when we heard pirates coming.

We made a run to cross the pit before they arrived. Tev and I were fast, if barely enough. Tycho and Jek were not so much. One of the Furies (who arrived along the viewing area at the top) threw the switch and opened the grate, leaving Tycho and Jek hanging on for dear life.

I heard them haggling over if that counted as in the pit, then make another double or nothing bet regarding survival. I thought it was crazy at the time, but in retrospect it was kinda funny.

Tev fired on the Furies above us, but did not connect. I shot at another, and after missing initially aimed my second shot at her leg, which knocked her into the pit. The Tusken Wader was distracted away from Jek and Tycho and went after easier prey. While it devoured her, the remaining three Furies split their attention between Jek, Tycho and I. Tycho was hit but seemed OK. They hit me but eh, could not really hurt me. I deliberately avoided cover to make myself a more attractive target. Tev took cover, not that I think less of him for it.

The wader leapt up and smashed into the grate that Tycho and Jek were hanging onto even as Tev and Tycho finished a Fury off, and the impact caused Tycho to fall into the pit. Tev quickly moved to assist, shooting the Tusken Wader. I realized Tycho was out of energy for his jetpack, but I still had a couple charges. I unholstered mine and threw it down to the clone even as I raked some fire across the Wader to distract it. As Tycho rocketed up (and barely missed being snapped at by the Wader) Jek yelled something about the Furies rueing the day they crossed the Red Scourge. This caused some panic in their ranks. One had shot me then I her, only injuring her, when Jek yelled that. They broke off firing at me and the injured one ran. Tycho landed up with them and pulled the switch to close the grating. The Tusken Wader took one last strong leap at the Colonel and narrowly missed him as the cage closed. Tycho and I finished off the last Fury.

We had no idea at the time how much chaos we sowed right then.

We moved on to the tower. We avoided a few patrols and slipped up to where Shella Motti, the noble, was staying. She and another girl were there and the other girl was trying to get her out. On seeing us she buffaloed the other girl and gave us a sob story of being stuck there. None of us believed her, but that ultimately did not matter. She was willing to follow us, but Tycho remained behind her while I took point. We had gotten a short ways through, still avoiding patrols, when we heard an announcement that the slave collars were off, and yelling about the Red Scourge. It was clearly time to rendezvous with the others.

It seems the others moved though some cells where many were sleeping without trouble. They met a pair of pirates on the stairs to the control room whom they quickly dispatched. They ran into trouble at the top, where a large number of the women were gathered. Apparently just as combat started, our escapee from the monster pit arrived yelling about Red Scourge and then ran. The Herd there was wise enough to capitalize on it, and apparently Greegan did especially with gusto.

Unfortunately, one of the women up there was a Whiphid. Now, I had warned them that Whiphid were potent fighters, and I have no doubt the believed me. However, this one was apparently tough even as Whiphid go. Khayall was doing his duel wield black and silver lightsabers thing in his clone armor, which is badass, but apparently drew the Whiphid’s attention. Sigma engaged the base commander. While Khayall is a hard hitter, he is not a physically resilient fighter; rather, he depends on evasion. He is good at evasion. However, the Whiphid, upon being injured by his lightsabers, began to launch an aggressive enraged attack. When one hit connected Khayall was stunned and slowed, and her next hits found purchase and left Khayall a bleeding heap on the floor. Sigma attempted to engage the Whiphid but found her more resilient than he anticipated.

What’s worse a girl from the cells who heard the commotion arrived, a Nautolan. She initially shot at Greegan, which made for a dangerous situation as Greegan was shooting her, Sigma was being mauled by the Whiphid, and the leader was still there. However, apparently, the Nautolan girl was apparently a spy for the Red Scourge, and when Greegan kept yelling about Red Scourge and claimed to be one, she changed sides and she and Greegan both turned on the leader and her girls. Sigma meanwhile was only faring a little better than Khayall, being tougher but less agile. As he was on his last legs, Greegan, enraged at seeing his creation threatened, pulled out his large wrench and brained the Whiphid in the back of the head, knocking her out.

When the last of the Furies were dead, they had the Nautolan (whose name was Yujia) do first aid on Khayall. Greegan then hacked the computer and freed the slaves.

We rendezvous and made for the ship. I am sure Yujia suspected something was up but that was not my concern right then. Khayall had been hurt and Sigma badly damaged because I was not there. I was not there to absorb the Whiphid’s wrath. I let Khayall down. I told him I would protect him. I did not mean I would only do so when it was convenient. I carried him back to the point to meet up with the Sunrise.

We got to the terrace where the Sunrise was coming, but found ourselves under fire from a handful of Furies in a tower and four Firefly type fighters, which probably came to help when the Furies in the base called up to their frigate in orbit. One pirate with a rocket launcher fired it at the approaching Sunrise but the Sunrise was undamaged. I shot that Fury down. Tycho, Jek and I came under fire, and Greegan fired back on them and forced them down a bit. Tycho Sigma and I gunned down a couple of them, and as the Sunrise arrived we made our way on and I finished off the last remaining Fury as I stepped onboard.

Sheela was in her Torrent and by the time we were on the Sunrise had already disposed of one of the four Fireflies. The Sunrise took a bit of a beating but Sigma and I found our way to the guns and Greegan relieved R5 at the shields. Jek was, of course, smoothly commanding us the whole time, but we got to take full advantage of it on the Sunrise. We took out one of the Fireflies, and Sheela told us to get the STAPs while she handled the other two. Sure enough in the time it took the clones to scramble and get the STAPS on the ship, Sheela had taken down the last two Fireflies.

Tev wanted to take Shella back on his ship. We had little reason not to trust him. Just to be safe, I rode along. I wanted to apologize to Khayall, but he was not conscious in the medical bay. Aya said he would be all right but I felt that this was my fault I should have protected him.

At least I had a good conversation with Tev enroute to Eriadu. Apparently he was a banker on Muunilinst, but in the Battle of Muunilinst his home was hit by friendly fire, which injured his head and killed his family. He was actually rescued by Clone Troopers. He survived, but was not able to handle numbers or do banking like he had. I told him my story as well. Apparently Shella found us terribly morose. She attempted to bribe us into not taking her to Eriadu but Tev, who was looking to build a reputation, would have none of it. So we are now just sort of talking as we head to Eriadu.

I hope Khayall is all right.