BLACK ICE - Episode 4: Chief Engineer Skolos

[GreyWolfVT]

Gavin "When the hell can we get outta here. I'm already getting sick of this place."

[kipper]

Clark heads for the ladder and climbs up to the control tower.

[ybn1197]

Jackson fires his blaster rifle at the advancing droid.

[Monsieur Rose]

Injured and pissed, Zuul turns and bellows "HE IS NOT A PIRATE!!!! Nobody here is a pirate!"

He sees the P2 droid moving towards Jackson, and looks for something to disrupt its advance. Maybe the repair pod could be piloted into it?

[max_vale]

Aboard the I.S.S. Black Ice; somewhere in deep space



The battle in the maintenance bay between the Rebels of Black Team and Chief Engineer Skolos and his jury-rigged traps and altered-programmed Droids....

Zuul, hissing in pain and anger from the wound to his back, turned and yelling about no-one being a pirate....at the moment...he fired a shot at the Control Tower that starred the thick transparisteel window, but didn't penetrate it to hit Skolos cowering behind it. The Barabel then noticed the massive P2 Droid and thought about perhaps ramming it with the Repair Pod. He moved towards the hatch leading to the pilot's seat of the Pod...

Professor Clark, gritting his teeth at the pain in his back as he pulled himself up the rungs of the built-in ladder on the side of the Control Tower, reached the top and he stretched an arm up to tug on the handle of the door leading into the Tower and he wasn't surprised to find it locked. He WAS surprised when the door suddenly swung open and the sight of the crazed Chief Engineer Skolos was revealed as he cried out; "TAKE THAT YOU PIRATE SCUM!" and a wild shot from a Heavy Blaster Pistol zipped out and narrowly missed Clark's raised arm. The Professor reared back instinctively and almost fell off the ladder rungs from the near-miss, but somehow he managed to keep himself from falling and he lowered his outstretched arm and drew his Blaster Carbine with one hand; hooking his other arm through the top rung of the ladder to keep himself in-place....

Jackson Crodowski's eyes and ears were filled with the sound of the massive P2 Droid's buzz saw whirring as it got dangerously close to turning him inside out. Taking a deep breath to try and still his wildly beating heart, he took aim with his Blaster Carbine and fired a bolt that lanced into the Droid's open bay where the saw extended from and with a shower of sparks, the buzz saw 'arm' was severed and it fell to the deck in a clatter. The massive Droid pivoted its dome-like head in an almost comical look down and then it straightened up and a second bay door opened on its cylindrical body and a large welder arm suddenly snapped out and began to glow white-hot....

Gavin Storm from his sitting position could see both Professor Clark clinging precariously to the built-in ladder on the side of the control tower a couple of meters above him, engaging in a near point-blank shoot-out with Skolos AND Jackson and a Zuul near the massive P2 astromech Droid, locked in a deadly contest. He felt enough strength enter his system to rise up and get back into action...

Zinn Valimar closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and trusted to the Force*....then he opened his eyes and with his vibroblade and bare hands, he attempted to splice and slice wires in an effort to get the Blast Door open so he could move to help out his companions. With a sudden hiss of air; he managed to accomplish exactly that. The Blast Doors opened and the Pilot took up his Blaster Carbine and carefully moved into the room. He saw ahead and to the right Zuul and Jackson near a massive P2 astromech Droid that looked like it was attempting to plant a welder arm into the torso of one or both of them. Nearby, Borsk La'Reth lay in a heap. To his left and 'up'; he saw Professor Clark hanging on the rungs of the built-in ladder leading up to the Control Tower as the control tower door opened and a hand, presumably belonging to Skolos, held a Heavy Blaster Pistol and just barely missed putting a bolt into the academic. Gavin Storm was starting to rise up from the floor nearby....



*In the absence of a post from Jedi; I decided to spend a Force Point to make the roll to try and get the doors opened....and it worked. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to do Jedi; but I figured the odds of getting a 20 or better on 4D weren't that great.
OOC Note: Just a quick status report: La'Reth is Incapacitated; Clark, Gavin and Zuul are wounded (-1D for actions); Jackson and Zinn are in full health. Jackson and Zinn have 1 Force Point remaining; Clark, Gavin and Zuul each have 2.

[ybn1197]

With a near-disparing sigh Jackson mumbles "Really?!" at the droid. He then hefts his blaster and fires at the droid again.

[max_vale]

Aboard the I.S.S. Black Ice; somewhere in deep space


In the maintenance bay of the massive Imperial container train Black Ice; the battle between Chief Engineer Skolos and the Rebels of Black Team reached its bloody climax….

The big Barabel Zuul Ksska moved to the small shuttle pod with the back of his shuttle aching and he moved to open the hatch leading to the single pilot's chair. As he yanked the hatch open, he briefly noticed the wire attached to a homemade bomb of some kind before it erupted into a flash and bang that overwhelmed his senses. The next thing he saw was the ceiling of the maintenance bay swimming and swirling in his vision as he drifted in and out of consciousness on his back; vaguely aware of burning pain radiating throughout most of the front of his torso*…

Professor Clark; hanging from the built-in rungs of the 'ladder' on the side of the control tower; took a deep breath and lurched up and forward, his right arm pointing the Blaster Carbine into the hatch way and looking for his target. The crazed Engineer Skolos was crouched down; his Heavy Blaster Pistol in hand and pointing the academic's way. Clark pulled the trigger and he had the satsifaction of seeing his bolt slam into Skolos' side and casuing the man to hiss in pain and twist to the side in pain. Clark then ducked back down again, hoping to avoid any return fire. A moment later though, with a curse that echoed throughout the small control tower; Skolos lurched to the open doorway and pointed his weapon straight down towards the Professor's face where it filled his vision….

Gavin Storm, trusting to the Force and ignoring the pain of his shrapnel wounds, had risen to his feet and looking up, he noticed the good Professor hanging on the built-in rungs of the ladder to the Control Tower and more importantly he noticed the wounded form of Skolos filling the doorway and pointing his Heavy Blaster Pistol in Clark's face at point-blank range and he reacted without wasting a precious second. His Blaster Carbine snapped up and fired a bolt that slammed into the Chief's Engineer's chest, causing the man to suddenly freeze in a hunched over position, before slowly falling down and out of the Control Tower before it landed with a sickening 'thud' on the floor several meters down on the floor not far from the one-time smuggler…

Jackson Crodowski; cursing the massive Droid that seemed hell-bent on inflicting harm upon his person, fired his Blaster Carbine at the P2 unit; landing a blast that caused some smoking and sparking to emit from the Droid's body, but not doing enough damage to keep the extended welder from still moving towards him….

Zinn Valimar saw Zuul get laid low by some kind of booby-trapped explosive and then he saw the blaster fire that led to Skolos' unmoving body fall out of the control tower to land meatily on the floor near Gavin Storm and then finally, he saw the seemingly unstoppable big P2 Droid moving in on Crodowski with an extended arc-welder ready to do terrible damage to the Engineer. Lining up a shot, the pilot fired a blast the slammed into and through the Droid causing it suddenly freeze in its tracks; small sparks flashing here and there from internal explosions that signalled its demise.

With that, the battle in the maintenance bay came to an abrupt end and everyone who was still standing took a deep breath before moving to regroup and take stock of the situation**…

*Zuul is Incapacitated (i.e. he's heavily wounded and can't do much of anything excpet maybe whisper a word or two here and there as he slips in and out of conscious)

**The basic status of everyone is:

-Borsk La'Reth and Zuul Ksska are Incapacitated (and likely to get worse….to Mortally Wounded…if not treated soon)
-Gavin Storm and Professor Clark are Wounded
-Zinn and Jackson are Okay

Black Team currently has 3 Medpacs in the group (Borsk, Zuul and Clark each have 1); though there's a Med Bay on the ship that has plenty of medical supplies that can be used; and of the two unwounded party members; Jackson has the best Medicine skill at 3D+1….the Difficulty number to treat Wounded characters is 10…..Incapacitated is 15…..so I'd recommend the expenditure of a Force Point here.

[ybn1197]

Jackson doubles back over to Borsk and pats the Bothan down for his medpack. Once he finds it, he will use it on the injured Jedi.

I will expend a force point

[kipper]

Clark hurries back down the ladder and whips out his Medpac to treat Zuul (using a Force Point).

[max_vale]

Aboard the I.S.S. Black Ice; somewhere in deep space


Jackson moves over the unconscious form of Borsk La'Reth and he quickly finds the Medpac the Bothan Jedi had on him and breaking it open, the Engineer takes a deep breath, closes his eyes, trusts to the Force and gets to work....

He enlists Zinn's help and he first uses the Medpac's supplies to stop the blood flowing from the broken leg and then he uses the short-lived diagnostic scanner built into the Medpac to x-ray the alien's broken leg and then move the leg into correct position before binding it and wrapping it all up. La'Reth, thankfully never regained consciousness during this undoubtedly painful process and he would need to be moved to the Medbay to be fitted with a proper cast; but Crodowski's work had undoubtedly gone very well and Borsk was in no danger of succumbing to his wound any time soon....

Meanwhile, Professor Clark, ignoring his own wound, hurriedly moved to Zuul and he selflessly uses his own Medpac on his Rebel teammate, racking his brain for all his training on the alien's physiology and how best to treat the Barabel's numerous wounds. Trusting to the Force as well, the academician suddenly finds his hands incredibly steady and information flying to the front of his brain effortlessly. It takes awhile, but moving methodically and precisely, Clark stabilizes the tough Barabel's internal injuries and patches up many of the lacerations and burns on his tough hide as well and soon, Zuul is slowly blinking back to a painful, but not too painful, consciousness...

OOC: La'Reth is now back to Wounded Status.....and with his Jedi Power of 'Heal Self', he'll be fine in a bit. I rolled a 24 on Jackson's Medicine skill roll; that Force Point was WELL SPENT amigo!

Likewise; Zuul has been upgraded to a 'Wounded' state as well as I rolled a 22 on Clark's Medicine roll....another well-spent Force Point!

Tomorrow (or after a 12 hour rest period); new Medpacs/Medical supplies can be used to attempt to treat both La'Reth and/or Zuul to bring them back to a fully-healthy condition. There's one more Medpac readily-at-hand which could be used on Clark or Storm....but they are in no immediate danger.

[GreyWolfVT]

Gavin will locate the other med pack and use it on the Professor

[Monsieur Rose]

"What happened? Iss it over? Did the piratess win?"

Zuul blinks back into a state of consciousness. (for the third or fourth time on this cursed ship) "Thankss Professor, He owes you now."

[max_vale]

Aboard the I.S.S. Black Ice; deep space to Alliance base on the planet Fangol in Mortex Sector


The members of Black Team make thier way to the Med Bay and everyone is healed of thier wounds; though Borsk and Zuul are still limping and wincing a bit from thier injuries as Jackson, Zinn and Gavin undo the work of the late Chief Engineer Skolos to get the ship back to functioning normally.

When the ship is back to normal operating levels, the Rebels are able to utilize the 'tram car' shuttle that runs down a central shaft through the Fuel Cells and to the other engine-seciton of the ship to confirm that the members of White Team are in fact, all KIA. They are each wrapped up in body-bags taken from the Med-bay and when the hyperdrive is back to standard operating levels, the ship is jumped to the Alliance base on Fangol in Mortex Sector.

It is about at the time the ship is nearing the planet when QT-7 finally 'revives' and very quickly, he speaks up, saying…"Uhhh guys? Why are you calling the Empire to come and rescue you?" The Rebels move in a panic and it is discovered that Skolos left one more nasty surprise; a hidden program designed to send out a transmission of the Black Ice's position when it reverted to normal-space on Imperial Naval channels.

While the Rebels quickly shut the transmission down, it's a good-bet the Empire knows where they are and it won't be more than a day or two before forces begin to arrive in-system. They inform the Alliance base what had happened and rapidly, plans are made to begin the evacuation of the base and the process of removing several of the fuel cells to supply the Starfighter wing on the planet begins.

Meanwhile, the Rebels are summoned to a meeting with the Base's leadership….


OOC: No more posts in this thread please, Episode 5 will begin tomorrow. All PCs are fully healed.