Wex and Lina drag the unconscious quartermaster up the ramp into the shuttle. Lina straps him into an acceleration couch as Wex goes into the cockpit, powers up the engines and hurriedly begins the pre-flight checks. Meanwhile Zil and Oosuu have helped Jather out of the repulsortruck. They each throw one of his arms round their shoulders to help him stumble over to the launch pad.
But the moment they reach it...
Scene 24
Chaos: increased to Abject Chaos (d5)
N.B. This Chaos Level is listed as optional in my MCSV, since the excessive number of And.../But... Oracle results and Altered/Interrupt scenes seems a trifle unmanageable (though the odds of a random Event remain 1 in 6). I've never actually tried it before... nor had such an overwhelming reason to do.
Setup: fly away
chaos die =1, Altered
NPC list: Porubek the Kitonak crimelord (Zil's boss), Jather Plazeed the Devaronian grifter, Bootleg Bardin the human speeder racer, Wex Enstipo the human gunrunner, Oosuu the Twi'lek waitress, Xzag-Xzan the crime boss (Jather's sometime patron), Chruighok the rival crime boss, Major Riilina Cazerdy the human mercenary (Wex's ex-flame), Mr. Kuththuk the genteel Trandoshan (Morga the Hutt's lieutenant), Lt. Glorrisk the Duros mercenary
Threads: escape system alive
[This scene required some set-up:
Alteration (1d6)
1. can't start ship
2. low fuel
3. mercs try to stop ship
4. stormtroopers try to stop ship
5. someone's still aboard
6. roll 1d5 twice (re-roll duplicates)
d6=4, Unit of two officers & 6 stormtroopers arrive in an RTT, aka Imperial Troop Transport(er); Party has a Kappa-class Troop Shuttle (Rules of Engagement pp.46-7)
#obstacles on landing pad 1d6+2=5
Wex needs 1d6=5 rounds to get the ship flying]
...the whine of an approaching repulsorlift vehicle is heard, an Imperial Troop Transport. It pulls up near the launch pad, and a commanding voice comes over the loudspeaker: "You there! Halt in the name of the Empire!"
[Round 1]
Oosuu and Zil quicken their pace, rushing up to the shuttle's boarding ramp. Jather cannot move at such a pace, and his feet scrape limply along the tarmac as the two women just carry him. [They need an Easy (10) Strength roll: 2D+2 +1D for combining their action =12, success]
The six travelling racks on the sides of the transport spring open, deploying six stormtroopers, who scramble into attack position.
[Round 2]
Three of the stormtroopers must move round the front of the transport to have line-of-sight, but the other three have a clear shot between stacks of crates.
Oosuu and Zil have just reached the shuttle and are scrambling to get Jather inside as laser bolts begin flashing around them. They are halfway up the ramp when one of the blasts hits Oosuu squarely in the shoulder. She buckles at the knees and pitches forward, losing her grip on Jather and just barely arresting her own fall.
Zil summons up a tremendous surge of strength and carries Jather the rest of the way into the ship by herself, leaving the cursing Oosuu behind.
[Z&O needed another Easy (10) STR roll 2D+2 +1D=11, success.
Three stormtroopers attacked (3D blaster skill), range is 50m (Medium), difficulty 13 since no one was dodging. Only one rolled a hit, on (1-3 O, 4-6 Z) Oosuu.
She rolled Strength 2D+2=10, and spent a character point for (1d6)+2 = 12. Damage for an E-11 blaster rifle is 5D=17; Oosuu is Wounded.
Zil needed to make an emergency Easy (10) Strength check not to drop Jather: 2D+2=11]
[Round 3]
The other three stormtroopers are in position, and all six concentrate their fire on the wounded Twi'lek as she scrambles on all fours up rest of ramp. She's up in a flash of blue, as the red flashes from the stormtroopers' rifles leave what seem like burnt footprints in the ramp behind her.
[Oosuu made a full Dodge to get up the ramp. Since she could easily cover the distance in less than a round, I treated being mostly inside the shuttle this round as 50% cover.
4D(dodge) -1D(wound) +2D(cover) +13(range) =21, a bad roll...
The stormtroopers Combined fire on her, gaining +3D for there being 6 of them.
3D (skill) +3D (combining bonus)=12, also a bad roll; they miss]
[Round 4]
Zil had already hit the button to raise the ramp the moment she saw Oosuu's head come up past the bulkhead. The stormtroopers continue firing on the ship, but their blasts bounce harmlessly of its armoured hull.
The commander of the Troop Transport takes command of its dual blaster turret, bringing it to bear on the ship. The first shots go wild and streak past the shuttle into the air as the turret hasn't quite spun all the way round. The other blasts rake over the shuttle's hull, but the damage is largely cosmetic.
[The shuttle is just inside Short range and isn't moving, so attack difficulty is simply 10. The commander has 4D skill and gets +2D for the turret's Fire Control, but takes a -3D penalty for taking 4 shots, so gets to roll (4D+2D-3D=) 3D for each attack; 2 hit, 2 missed.
The weapon does 5D damage at Speeder scale, so against a Starship-sized target the damage dice are capped at 3 (i.e. any die rolling 4-6 only counts as a 3). So a rather impressive-looking damage roll of {6,6,5,3,2} 28 becomes a mere {3,3,3,3,2} 14. The shuttle rolls its Hull code, 4D=16, and sustains no damage. The second hit (11 vs. 16) similarly does no damage.]
[Round 5]
Laser blasts continue to play over the surface of the shuttle as the gunner moves the turret about, seeking to hit a vulnerable system. A lucky shot rips through the plating bolted over an old battle scar, and shorts out the power couplings beneath, disabling the forward blasters just as the shuttle's engines are powering on.
[3 hits from turret this round. Two did nothing, but one scored a Light Damage result: 1 weapon emplacement disabled due to power failure.]
[Round 6]
Wex at the controls, the shuttle lifts off from the platform. It hovers about 20m in the air, then tilts forward to train its turret on the Troop Transport. Wex fires...
[Base difficulty is 10; Wex has 4D Starship Gunnery skill, -1D for the manoeuvre (i.e. 2 actions), +2D fire control; there's a die cap of 4 for a starship attacking a speeder-scale target, but 5D=17, a hit.
The turret does 4D damage vs. the Transporter's 3D body roll, which has a die cap of 3): 4D=24(wild die 6+5) vs. 3D=9, Severe damage, which gives a result of (1d6=) destroyed]
...and the twin blast rips through the Transport, shattering its reactor which erupts in a tremendous explosion. The stormtroopers before it are flattened by the blast, some being thrown a dozen metres forward by its force. [11D damage to the occupants, applying even half damage to the stormtroopers will kill or incapacitate most of them.]
Wex pivots the shuttle toward the sky and blasts off at full acceleration. "We're not out of this yet," he says. "Lina, this is your people's ship. I need you to get up here and make the calculation for the jump to light speed. And someone else needs to take over the guns!"
"I'll take 'em," says Zil. She pauses to help Oosuu finish strapping Jather into an acceleration couch. "Here," she says to the Twi'lek, "take my blaster. If the Lieutenant comes round and gives you any grief, just stun him again." Oosuu nods, then straps herself into the couch opposite the lieutenant, wincing as she leans back too far and presses her wounded shoulder into the seat.
Zil climbs up into the turret, takes over manual control and begins a sensor sweep of the skies. She gets her headset on, and scowls at the conversation she can hear in the cockpit.
"...just staring at the navi-computer," says Wex
"What course should I set?" asks Lina.
"I don't think that matters at this point," says Wex. "Just pick one."
"There's a few preset--"
"It really isn't important now."
"Where were you going to get that E-WEB? If we go there, maybe we can placate Lt. G--"
"I made that up. Just pick something before our company arrives"
"TIE fighters on the scopes," interjects Zil over the commo, "closing from extreme range."
"How many?" asks Wex.
"Only three."
"There's no way we can out run them," says Wex.
"We don't have to. I'll hold them off until we can make the jump to light speed. Just try to keep us from getting hit. Lina, just pick the first damn preset and lock it in!"
[It takes 1 minute to calculate a jump with a pre-loaded route, and about 5 minutes to fly out of a planet's gravity well.
Zil used the ship's sensors to search each of the 4 fire arcs in turn; Search range is 80, +2D bonus from the sensors; 3D+2D=16, success. The (1d6=) 3 TIE fighters are coming from (1d4=) the rear arc. Their lasers have a maximum range of 25 (abstract space units). This being Star Wars, I opted for an exciting escape scene rather than doing tons of maths. Thus, the TIEs come into firing range 2d6=7 rounds before jump.]
"Look!" exclaims Lina, pointing to the flashing commo light. "They're hailing us!"
"Probably to tell us to turn back," replies Wex.
"Almost in range..." says Zil.
"Here we go!"
[Round 1]
Wex banks the shuttle hard to starboard, but the more manoeuvrable TIEs follow with ease, and begin to close the gap. Bolts of green flash out from their cannons, streaking through the blackness around the shuttle and off into the distance. Zil turns the turret round and lets off shot to gauge the range, and more by chance than skill the beam sears into the front of one of the fighters, whose guns abruptly stop.
[The Party won initiative.
Zil made a single attack the three TIEs did likewise. The one she attacked made a combat dodge as a reaction. The base attack difficulty was 20, but the TIE rolled starship dodge of 25 (5D skill +2D manoeuvrability -1D for two actions). Zil's attack was 29 (3D skill +2D fire control, and an over-active Wild die). Damage 4D=17 vs. Hull 2D=11; light damage: weapon destroyed.
Wex rolled a full starship dodge 4D=14, +20 for range; neither TIE rolled a 34 on their attack.]
[Rounds 2-4]
The TIEs continue to close on the shuttle, firing all the while. Zil returns fire, but luck is against them all.
Zil shouts for Wex to angle the deflector shields towards the rear as a shot nearly grazes their ship.
The TIEs close to optimum firing range. Wex keeps flying erratically to stay out of their sights. They try again and again to catch him in a crossfire [+1D for combined action], but he evades their lasers. The skilful Imperial pilots present Zil with no clear targets, even at this range.
[Round 5]
One of the TIEs moves in, screaming past on a strafing run. Too late, Wex realises that the attack was a feint designed to draw him through the other's field of fire. Flaming green bolts rip into the shuttle's hull. Zil swears over the com as the turret suddenly seizes up in mid-turn, and her fire control console goes dark. "Turret's blown," says Zil. "If you were planning on taking us into hyperspace, now would be a good time."
[The combined fire hit. Damage is 5D=26 vs. Hull 4D=17, Heavy damage: turret destroyed. For being in the turret, Zil takes 3D damage but STR 2D+2=6 vs. 3D=5 leaves her unharmed.]
[Round 6]
Now that he's caught in their trap, Wex can't seem to extricate the shuttle from the criss-crossing streams of laser fire. This time, fortunately they only clip the wing, and the damage is mostly cosmetic. [Hull 4D=23 vs. damage 5D=22, no effect.]
[Round 7]
At last the navi-computer emits a cheerful little chime, and Wex pulls back on the throttle. The stars before them lengthen and shine with an impossible brilliance, then the ship slips away into hyperspace.
[Lina would need to make an Easy (10) Astrogation roll, but the Heavy damage to the ship increases the difficulty by +10. She rolls 2D+2=12. Failing by less than 10 means the ship jumps, but brings a required roll on the mishap table: 2d6=2, Hyperdrive cut-out & damaged.
Q: Do they make it out of the system? 50/50 (4+): O5 C2 - Yes, and... the cut-out happens after 2d6=7 hours.]
Scene 25
Chaos: Abject Chaos (d5)
Setup: d5=4, Interrupt (was: deal with Lieutenant)
Interrupt: NPC action - Mr. Kuththuk - Recruit / Bureaucracy
Meanwhile, back on Ord Mantell...
Mr. Kuththuk is in his hotel room, standing idly by the wardrobe as his butler droid searches for a cravat that matches his favourite evening jacket, the one he had made for his last trip to Rodia. The crystal atop his ebony cane begins flashing insistently, and he raps the butt soundly against the floor, activating the holographic communicator. The crystal emits a bluish light which coalesces into the flickering image of a Verpine.
"Ah, Ms. Stictoz't," says the Trandoshan, "I take it from the dejected cast to your antennae that you haven't good news for me."
"Sorry, boss, we--"
"Ms. Stictoz't, I think you should find it easier for me to forgive your failures if you would desist from speaking like a gangster in a children's holo-vid."
"Sorry, Mr. Kuththuk. We were waiting across the street from Ms. Lhahon's hotel when they came out this morning and jumped into a military speedertruck. We were just going to follow them, but a couple of Porubek's agents started shooting up the street. So we followed at a distance, but they disabled the homing beacon. We traced the speeder to a mercenary base outside of town, but the Imperials got there ahead of us."
"And now they have Ms. Lhahon in custody?"
"No, b-- Mr. Kuththuk. They took a shuttle and blasted their way out."
"So, the inimitable Ms. Lhahon escapes!" says the Trandoshan. "Excellent. Ms. Stictoz't, I want you to call that journalist friend of yours. Give him the 'scoop' in exchange for information -- and have him leave names out of it when it goes to press; we don't want Ms. Lhahon going into hiding."
"Yes, Mr. Kuththuk. You can count on me, Mr. Kuththuk."
"Yes, Ms. Stictoz't, I am sure that this is only a temporary setback. Good afternoon." Mr. Kuththuk raps his cane once again against the floor, and the hologram winks out. "Well, Q-9-h, it looks like brunch at the Hortological Society will have to be postponed. I believe you'd better find me a darker jacket and perhaps just a plain tie, as I shall be sending a number of formal communiqués over the galactic holonet this afternoon. And get me the number of that Gand Findsman, Hulsgech. One way or another, I'm going to track down that Zil Lhahon."
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