Episode 35 - Brace For Impact

Military action

Brett Savage, RZ-RR and Wheels work with The Orphans to rid Janta V of Santhe Industries .

CRAWLER   A hero’s duty isn’t to believe or disbelieve. It is to act or not act...   INVASION!   During an ill fated expedition to Janta V in search of a potential ally thought to be lost, disgraced Rebellion Captain, Ledge Nixon, our heroes have unwittingly become involved in a bloody gang war.   As the conflict between these rival factions steams toward an inevitable and brutal conclusion, the mounting tension is cut by the arrival of a new danger, Santhe Industries.   Now our unlikely heroes must act quickly if they are to have any hope of stopping this threat and seeing their home again.     PLANETFALL   As the crew and the Orphans stand outside their casino headquarters, facing off with the Ultras, Santhe Industries ships rumble overhead, raining down drop pods on Mos Heskarr strip.   As RZ sees the droids emerging from their drop pods, he notices they all bear a striking resemblance to him and memories start flashing through his memory banks, almost as though old corrupted files were knitting themselves back together and self-repairing.   “You see the first time your optic was turned on, just a head sitting on a workbench surrounded by technicians. They excitedly talk amongst themselves as they inspect you and take notes but their voices are warped and muffled. You see a flash of white and the scene instantly changes to a collection of machines and robotic arms assembling your body piece by piece. Then another flash and you find yourself in a sterile lab with various wires protruding from you with the same scientists looking you over from work stations around the room.“   Back on the strip a brutal, but short lived, battle erupts with Brett Savage ending it abruptly using his rocket launcher, obliterating all of the attacking droids, as well as the Ultras caught in the crossfire.     LOCKDOWN   Cyrus sees the chaos erupting throughout the city and calls for everyone to regroup inside the casino and come up with an action plan. As everyone gets in Cyrus hits a lockdown button, causing security shutters to drop down, encasing them all inside. As they discuss their options a banging sound is heard from behind some rubble and Uk’ta Reeeee, a Jawa technician, emerges from it. After some introductory discussion regarding shoes and some botched cobblery, the crew decide to get their heads together and decide on their next steps. Cyrus and Cleon stand by a viewing port, looking outside, they note that one of Santhe’s dropships has split off and is heading towards Mos Heskarr’s comms tower and theorise that they will be cutting off communications. Dr. Snow produces one of the droid’s heads, Uk’ta jacks into its databanks to see if they can learn anything and discovers that the droids are being controlled from a central command convoy.   RZ looks inside the droid’s head and another flash of memories race through his databanks, but with a lot more clarity than last time.   “You see the inside of a colossal factory, an assembly line of familiar robotic arms build droids just like you and you hear the voices of scientists echo through your central processor, they seem to be arguing with each other.   “The assembly line is up and working. The prototype is no longer required, dispose of it immediately”   “Dr. Shirley, you can't be serious, this is the most advanced model we’ve ever created, the ramifications alone are...”   “Testing this level of sentience was unsanctioned, I’m not surprised the subject went mad. Your project is a complete failure… Terminate it… NOW”   Back in the casino Cyrus calls a meeting and they discuss their two top-priority missions: Get to the comms tower to reopen communications and take out the command convoy.     NEO-MOS HESKARR   With their missions clear, Cleon leads the crew down to a parking garage and unveils two juiced up speeder bikes, the Neo Type-D and Hypebeast. The crew decide on their teams with Uk’ta & Wheels heading for the comms tower on the Hypebeast and RZ & Brett heading for the convoy on the Neo Type-D, they each jump on their bikes and blast off out of the strip.As they head out into the city a Santhe ship rumbles overhead and another four drop pods slam down into the streets around them, these are larger than the previous ones though and four autonomous pursuit bikes burst from them and begin to chase the crew.   The crew quickly split up with Wheels and Uk’ta heading up onto a large main road whilst Brett and RZ head towards a narrower alleyway.     WHEELS & UK’TA   Wheels sees Brett and RZ head off down an alleyway as he looks forward again he spots someone walking out into the road, he swerves narrowly avoiding them, as they head back to the relative safety of the building they came from he sees that the pursuit bikes are now catching him. He takes off again and sees a crashed speeder with the loading bay open, if he hits it just right he could jump to the other side of the road, he goes for full throttle, the heavily modded bike ends up sliding and wheels with just enough time to react pivots on the bike, maging to hit the ramp and flips the bike through the air, as Uk’ta holds on he first a shot from his blaster, it doesn't hit but manages to confuse the pursuit bike which makes the jump and lands on the other side of the road cut off from the pursuit. They head down an alleyway followed by the remaining bike, Uk’Ta points out the bike behind, after some brave hard turns from Wheels they see another ramp, this time heading up to a road intersecting on a higher level, Wheels plans to jump up and loose the bike, at the last minute he sees that the pursuit bike is right behind him copying his every move, at the top of the jump he cuts the power dropping of the end of the ramp and sending the pursuit bike following flying through the air and into a wall on the upper level.   The Comms tower looms above you as Wheels approaches, a single droid is posted outside on guard and he pulls into a nearby alleyway and stashes the hypebeast. Once they see the Droid Uk’Ta has an idea to disable the droid, Wheels casually walks up to the droid to distract if with pointless questions, Uk’Ta sneaks up behind the droid where he quickly opens a back panel and cuts some wires causing the droid to slump in place.   Inside the comms tower there isn't any immediate danger so they head straight to the nearest computer terminal, they find a corner office. Uk’ta gets to work no the nearby computer. He easily bypasses the terminal's login, while attempting to disable the jammer Wheels hears a patol inside the building, he throws Uk’ta in a nearby drawer and hides in a cupboard. Once they have passed Uk’Ta finishes off disabling the signal jammer. They head outside and get back on the Hypebeast and head towards the rendezvous to meet the others.     BRETT & RZ   Brett blasts away obstacles ahead of them as they hurtle forward and RZ slices through a lamp post at the end of the narrow alleyway as they pass it, causing it to collide with the pursuit bikes, momentarily disabling one of them. They then find themselves in a construction site littered with obstacles and Brett collides with some machinery, causing him to lose control of his bike, which billows up a huge cloud of dust around them, completely obscuring them and causing one of the pursuit bikes to speed straight past. As they regain control of their bike Brett hears the previously disabled pursuit droid catching up to them and aims the Neo Type-D’s blasters at the entrance, unloading on their pursuer as it appears. With the imminent threats dealt with they head out onto the road again towards their mission, but as they do so, a final drop pod slams down ahead of them and a final pursuit droid speeds towards them on a collision course. Brett keeps his nerve and feints in one direction before juking the other and unable to react in time, the droid slams straight into a wall, immediately turning into a fireball. Brett & RZ close in on the convoy’s route, a quiet square, surrounded by tower blocks, overlooking a single main road that runs from east to west. They find a burnt out van and use it to block off the single exit route and take up a raised position on one of the tower blocks above it. The rumbling of the convoy gets louder as it draws near and an occupier tank rolls into the square with a droid sitting in the top turret, followed closely behind by an armoured Mobile Operations Centre and two squads of droids on foot. Between Brett’s rocket launcher and RZ’s blades the duo make quick work of the convoy and manage to shut down the occupier tank’s weaponry before it can be brought to bear against them.     FINAL ACT   With their individual missions complete, the crew rendezvous at Santhe’s main landing site to finally drive them from Janta V. Three droids patrol the area and the crew lure them into an alleyway for an ambush whilst Uk’ta and Brett take cover in a nearby bin. Before the sentries are dispatched one of them manages to raise an alert and a droid that also looks like RZ, but much larger, emerges from the ship. RZ rams the bin into the droid and they engage it with RZ taking some heavy damage in the battle. Uk’ta offers to help fix RZ up and whilst the Jawa tinkers with his insides, he looks down at the imposing droid collapsed on the floor and the scene seems to flash and shift once again.   “This time you are inside a container being moved by the scientist from the facility. You look outside of your confines and see a busy market street filled with sentient beings of all varieties shouting over each other in innumerable different languages. The scene outside your container flashes again and you find yourself being taken towards a ship, then another flash and you find yourself in a cockpit with the scientist, but he looks different… Did he get a new face? Suddenly an explosion rocks the ship causing the people within to run around in a panic, you feel the temperature grow hotter as flames engulf the crew. Finally the scene before you changes and you find yourself in a vast desert, standing amongst the wreckage of your former master’s ship. Before you head off on your next adventure you activate your smell receptors… Sweet honey barbecue…”   The crew explore the vessel and find a science deck where they hack a terminal with information on Santhe showing that the tank facility on Takron 5 is run by slaves and that they were planning a similar fate for Janta V. They also find some blueprints for the RZ model of droid. There is also a safe in the room where they find some inner workings for a pair of rocket boots and a cybernetic vocaliser.   The crew then go to the cockpit to see if they can use the ship to leave the planet but are confronted by an army of droids outside with a figure sitting atop another occupier tank.   “Hello Scum... I see you have collected your pitiful band together for me at last. Did you really think you and your little gangbanger friends could stop the mighty war machine that is Santhe Industries? I think it would only be fair to have you all lined up and…”   You see him look up to the left and his eyes widen as he starts to scramble out of the turret, suddenly a hail of blaster fire comes down upon him and his droid platoon. The figure dives for cover as he tries to hide under a fallen droid.   The holoprojector crackles and a familiar Nemoidian face appears before you “H-Hello - this is Captain Amvix, I see that you have gotten yourself into a spot of bother, have no fear! Smomdu has brought the military might of the New Republic to bear on these Santhe Fools. Ugahhh“   He is shoved out of the way and you see Nixon on Screen “Cheers for knocking down the comms interference. After I seen what went down, I thought it might be good to contact Winters but I somehow ended up talking to this fool... He’s not really a captain, right?”