20040113

3.3.4787 Republic Reckoning

Man: "Where is Master Enati? This ship has been placed at his disposal."

We discuss possible tactics for a moment before Quindo suggests the tried and true method of diplomacy: "One, Two, Three, Get him!". Knight Marosia Wolde-Tsadik suggests a modified tactic, which is to accept his offer, then commandeer the ship before liftoff. It seems risky, but not as futile as running away. So, with trepidation, we board the ship, only to find ourselves in a cargo bay filled with 12 active Sith Battle Driods. The pilot takes Nakael into the cockpit area and seals the door before anyone has a chance to react to the altered circumstances. He also seals the bulkhead door and invites us to hang onto the cargo netting, anyplace we can find among the droids.

As the ship lifts off, Quindo encourages everyone to position themselves so that they can attack multiple droids from a secured position and such that all the droids are accounted for. Unfortunately, there are only 7 of us Jedi (Quindo, Bro'jen, Elbram, Altair, Marosia, Arvandus, and Torin) and one military guy without a lightsaber (Dabai). Hopefully, if we can attack from surprise, we can kill 7 droids before the others can react. If we can attack more quickly than the remaining 4 activate their weapons, we should be able to win before they even act. Nobody really likes this idea, but the other option is to be taken aboard the Sith ships in orbit.

Arvandus attempts to use the Force to subjugate one or more of the droids before we try an attack, hopefully giving us an edge. Instead, he accidentally pisses one off as it detects his probe. It bashes him sideways and brings both guns to bear.

Quindo was expecting an attack (as always) and is able to draw and destroy the attacking droid almost instantly. (Later Arvandus insists that the droid was only menacing him, not actually attacking, but oh well.) Only Elbram is able to get his lightsaber up in time to dispatch a second droid before all of them begin unleashing fire into the crowded cargo bay. Bro'jen and Arvandus manage to get lightsabers up in time to defend themselves, but Torin gets caught in the cargo netting and is unable to act and Marosia is simply unable to act before she is shot several times in the back. Dabai also takes a hit, but it is not too serious and he dives to snatch Quindo's spare lightsaber off his belt.

Chaos ensues. Bullets richocet around inside the bay, blaster bolts ionize the air, and droids are cut to pieces. Only Marosia takes any hits beyond minor flesh wounds, largely because she is unconscious on the floor and a magnet for richocets. Dabai manages to accidentally cut open a coolant pipe with Quindo's spare lightsaber, filling the bay with noxious gas. The last droid is destroyed just as the shuttle stops thrusting and enters a freefall orbit.

Quindo quickly locates the shutoff valve for the coolant pipe. Dabai locates two breathing masks, putting one on Marosia and passing the other around. Elbram and Arvandus make for the connecting door to the cockpit while Bro'jen sees to Marosia's wounds. Before anyone reaches the front of the bay, a voice comes over the comms. Man: "I thought you would be better passengers" Quindo: "They started it!!"

This brief exchange is followed by an ominous *clunk*. Through the forward viewport, we see the Shuttle cockpit is pulling away, leaving us stranded in space. We quickly assess our situation and find that: 1) We are in a decaying orbit. A sub-orbital ballistic trajectory really. We will hit the atmosphere in 90 minutes. 2) The emergency air scrubbers are clearing the bay of coolant, but we're leaking air from dozens of holes and many more micro-fractures from the battle. 3) There's a battle taking place in higher orbits and out-system between the Sith and the Hutts, neither of whom like us very much, which could very well result in us being shot to hell at any moment. Dabai monitors his military comms for a few minutes to determine who's out there, and sends a brief query. The Hutts reply with a "Who are you, Where are you" and Dabai dedides it's better to be silent and hope they didn't get a fix.

Bro'jen: "Great. Who's idea was this?" Everyone points at Quindo.

The first order of business is to patch the largest holes in the cargo bay. That completed, we're still leaking air, but not as rapidly. The second order is to not crash into the planet in 90 minutes. Working together we think that it would just be possible to push ourselves into a stable orbit using group extended telekinesis. Altair seems to understand the fundaments of TK and orbital dynamics well enough to coordinate the effort, while the rest of us assist.

Someone - "Who would have thought that astrogation and TK would be a necessary skill combination!?!?"

It's surprisingly easy. We're in a stable orbit and spend some additional time tracking down as many leaks as we can. We know that the Jedi task force will arrive in four or five days, but by our best estimates, we only have a few hours of air left. We decide that if everyone goes into a hibernation trance, the air should last long enough for rescue (unless we spring another leak), but we might get really cold. Quindo decides to use Emptiness instead of hibernation trance, and wake up every few hours to make sure that nothing bad has happened.

We all go to sleep.