Session export: The Roger Uprising

Meneveria Navis’thae(Eevie) walked the empty corridor towards the designated meeting room. A missive from the Regent had been received and following a period of time recivering from her hostage experience, the Sephi was ready to serve. Taking a borrowed shuttle from Selen, she arrived at her destination ready for a fight.

The newly indoctrinated Mandalorian was wearing her brand new Beskar Armor, which she hadn’t had painted yet, so it was still in a chrome state. She had with her a sniper rifle, a blaster, and a newly developed experimental bowcaster. She couldn’t wait to play with her toys.

Entering the meeting room, Eevie was ready to go. Now to see what this mission was all about. Her playful demeanor shown through even her helmet.

“Pilot, sniper, slicer extraordinaire Eevie reporting for duty!”

Why were the Crusaders getting more and more involved in Brotherhood affairs? Taldryan was already bad enough between tbe Pirates, malfunctioning droids, and assasins trying to kill the Supreme Chancellor.

Credits were credits, he supposed. Though, he had to wonder when they became a group of mercenaries for hire instead of soldiers of goodwill helping the less fortunate when they could.

The least Winch could do was hear the Regent out. He was an intelligent man, another one of those Mandalorians, which Winch had plenty of experience co-existing with.

Winch walked into the room, his armor shining in the light. He saw a perhaps overly eccentric Sephi eager for action.

He could already feel the headache coming on.

He took a spot in the corner of the room. One that tried to keep him out of sight and out of mind, but enough that he was present for the mission briefing. He folded his arms, and simply waited.

Shimrah’s boots clanked on the durasteel boarding ramp as he stepped off the Vizsla ship. It had been his first time on Mattock Station and as such, anxiety clung to him like most people in an unfamiliar place on a sensitive time schedule. Then add the fact that this was the Brotherhood, danger was always just around the next corner, even in “friendly” space.

Moving through the station, the Sith made it a point to keep his head on a swivel. If this were actually a trap he would want as much advance notice as possible, unfortunately if he did have a tail, he didn’t notice and kept about moving to his destination.

Nearly a half hour had gone by since stepping off the transport, but he had finally made it to the designated conference room in the missive. Shimrah wasn’t here out of the kindness of his own heart, he knew how the Brotherhood worked. Where there was money, there was power, and there was no shortage of either within the Exchange. The Sith hoped to find some entry point into the organization in which to expand his clout and this was as good a place as any.

The doors to the conference room slid open, it was empty, except for the clone standing in the corner trying not to be noticed and the Mandalorian in her shiny beskar. Shimrah’s hand began to instinctively drop to his lightsaber, suspecting a trap, but noticed that the clone had not moved since the Sith had entered. Shimrah found a seat at the conference table with the best vantage of the room and doorway, hand on the hilt of his saber that was concealed beneath the table.

All he could do now was wait for the rest of the group and one of the Regents lackeys to come give them their assignment.

Teebu entered the room almost right exactly on schedule to nearly the second with absolute punctuality, dressed in his stark white armor. It was unique, in its own way, that the boots were of a solid obsidian color along with the belt, the buckle being a reflective silver. A long, flowing cape that went over his shoulders followed behind him as he moved; the golden epaulets of his station the shoulders of the fabric. A silvery white helmet was under his left arm.

Two white lightsabers rested on both sides of his armor, golden Taldryan crests on both of them, along with a golden emitter edge and black grip. Behind his right lightsaber rested a modified yet pristinely maintained DT-29 Heavy Blaster Pistol.

He looked at the Regent and bowed his head forward in respect before taking a seat at the conference table unlike the others had been doing, and sat the helmet next to his chair.

Eevie was glad to be wearing her helmet. She saw the uniformed ewik and her eyes felt like hearts. She had never seen anything so cute as the furry little Taldryan sitting at the table.

Deciding she didn’t care to stand anymore, the Mandalorian Sephi sat at the table as well. She observed the others before pulling out her blaster, and twirling it in her hand.

“Well. We’re all chipper rays of sunshine today aren’t we?” Shimrah commented with an amused snort that attempted to hide his paranoia.

The dull thuds of his footfalls echoed across the otherwise silent corridor as Kul'tak marched towards his mark, his tattooed brow furrowed. His fingers played with the buckle on his waist, thoughtlessly tracing the curved symbol of his clan that was etched upon it. There was something concerning about the timing of this summons by the agents of the Regent. A sudden mission to investigate droids posited to the clans at the same time Plagueis was reforming their slave network to some of the same models of hardware was quite coincidental. Kul didn’t believe in coincidence; neither did his Consul, hence his “volunteering” for the ragtag ensemble summoned to Mattock Station. His connections within the Inquisitorius had confirmed the other clans who had sent envoys, but specifics on who they were had been slow to arrive. The Zabrak mentally shrugged. He preferred judging abilities for himself anyway.

The door to the meeting room came up on his right just as a dark object darted past him. The bundle of short, midnight fur and claws skidded by the entrance as it tried to stop, its claws unable to find purchase on the smooth flooring. Kul stifled a chuckle at the Vornskyr’s expense, giving it a quick scratch as he caught up and opened the door. He quickly cut off his grin and marched to the far side of the table, directly opposite another Zabrak who clearly had the same idea about spatial awareness. The Regent Zxyl sat front and center, clearly waiting for the crew to assemble, while a few others had taken positions around the table and room, as well.

Apparently there was passing small talk, but Kul focused on settling the Vornskyr down to sit at his side, while removing his hood to expose his face and the jagged black tattoos streaking across his crimson skin.

The giggling.

It came out of nowhere, high-pitched like that of a teenaged girl. The voice was clear as daylight and directed from the chair next to Eevie, although no person could be seen, just an empty seat.

Then, Eevie’s arm shook and a light pink hand shimmered into existence along with the body of a Zeltron woman, staring directly at Teebu with her jaw on the floor, her neon red hair bobbing around her delicate face. She kept shaking the Selphi’s arm - armed arm - in disbelief.

“Oh my Maker, they’re soooo cuuuuuute!!!!”

Teebu sat there with a neutral expression on his face, completely oblivious to the outburst. He saw this so much with Shi'kar, Supreme Chancellor Appius Wight’s child, that it was commonplace for him to be used to.

“It is a pleasure to meet you.” he said in a soft welcoming tone, giving the slightest hint of a smile and nod of his head.

Eevie listened to the mission details. As fun loving as she was, mission time was serious time. She also groaned inwardly at the slow mode of transportation. She would get there is half the time if she were piloting.

“You said this isn’t intended to be a combat mission, but I’m assuming if these rumors of hostile droids are true, we are allowed to defend ourselves and eliminate the threay?”

Teebu as well very closely listened and analyzed the information given, already running scenarios through his head. It now made sense why he was asked to assist with this, while his combat skills generally left things to be desired; in the event things went south, his expertise in tactics would be of invaluable use.

“And what was the last transmission or communication from Qolomite? Any irregularities or differences when compared to previous ones that may indicate anything of use?” Teebu asked after Eevie finished, diving straight into an overview analysis.

This told him quite a bit as he interlaced his fingers, elbows on the table, and rested his chin upon his hands. Either the source moved quick to disable the external lines almost immediately before moving on with whatever task they wanted to perform, or they had moved so quickly that there just was no time for them to react. Potentially an artificial intelligence gone rogue, perhaps…it wasn’t unheard of. But it had been decades since the last major incident of that caliber.

Eevie nodded to the Regents response. She understood the preference for disabled droids over destroyed droids.

“The good news, I can fix most things that are broken. But I will be sure to take care. Though…I was hoping to test out my new friend.”

The Sephi-Mandolorian pulled out her new bowcaster. She stared at the weapon behind her mask with a grin.

“For emergencies only though, I guess.”

“He did say repairable, meaning if you need to take out their arms and legs with some precision shots to render them incapacitated…at least it wont it won’t kill them.” the Ewok threw in with a bit of excitedness and a soft smirk of his lips, though hidden by his hands.

Winch didn’t like what he was hearing. Clankers… why did it always have to be Clankers? At what point was the universe going to learn that combat droids were nothing but scrap waiting to be destroyed?

Whatever happens, happens? Winch liked the sound of that.

“What are the intentions of these droids? What were they being made for?” Winch asked.

“So not just one purpose. I assume combat droids will be amongst them.” Winch stated.

Winch didn’t like the sound of that. “If we are walking into a nest of Clankers, is it possible to have a file of what exactly is in there so we can be prepared?”

“For emergencies only,” Xee agreed with Eevie, her head nodding vigorously. “Droid lives matter too.” She remembered little Kirra proudly bearing that shirt once. Droids are friends!

Winch overheard Xee. “Droid lives do not matter.”

“Redacted?” Winch questioned. “I take it those are the models not ready for sale.”

Shimrah snickered under his breath at Xee’s comment about droid lives mattering. “You said there were reports of hostile droids. How did we get the reports if the personnel on site are MIA? What exactly did these reports say? Were the droids targeting the locals?” Shimrah’s line of questioning got more and more heated with each question, he knew the Dark Council never shared all of the information willingly.

“Sounds pretty straight forward to me. A little cavalier maybe. But I prioritize my family, so ensuring a working supply chain is most definitely ideal.”

While she was apprehensive about the wasted lives of the locals, this was a job that needed doing. Eevie was hungry for a mission, for excitement. She couldn’t wait to get started.

“If these are my mission parameters, then consider them accepted. Now between Mandolorians, assuming we are successful, and we will be, let’s talk imbursement and compensation.”

“This is the way.”

Eevie smile a wide toothy smile underneath her helmet. She couldn’t wait to get underway.

Turning towards the excited member of the party who stole of the positivity of droids, Eevie smirked.

“If you like droids, you should meet my body guard, Beetle. He’s something else.”

Eevie then leaned in really close.

“And you’re right… the furry one is cute!”

Kul remained stoic throughout the exchange, though he had shrunk a little at the assignment details. He had hoped for something a little more pugilistic, but ensuring a satisfactory flow of droids to Plagueis would certainly boost his standing amongst his power-hungry compatriots. Considering it was a Brotherhood controlled facility, though, the Shadow had to be sure about the ins and outs so he spoke up.

“How tight was security before it went dark? If by chance someone has gained access to the facility and over-ridden the Brotherhood’s control, there’s the droids, obviously, but what other defenses might we encounter? Any surprises set by the Exchange for unwanted guests that may hinder our path?”

The Vornskyr perked up at its master’s voice and swiveled its gaze towards the Regent while it’s nostrils tested the air in his direction.

Shimrah looked on as the giggle sisters continued to fawn over the ewok, while all of them were being spoon fed the answers they wanted to hear after he had been silenced form the conversation. His face was hot with anger, his lips pursed together, his hand gripped tightly around the pommel of his lightsaber in frustration and embarrassment. He closed his eyes and reached out with the Force to see if there was any sign of misdirection from the Regent.

With everything already prepared, Teebu arrived on the Lethargic Gizka. While not the typical design or quality of ship that he would fly on, given the nature of the mission it made sense why it was being used. He located his crate before opening it and rummaging through it, ensuring everything was there still from his initial loading of it back on Kasiya, before grabbing a small light brown bag of cleaning supplies and weapons parts before sitting on closing the crate back up and sitting on top of it, pulling one of his sabers from its clip.

He reached into the bag and pulled out a small screwdriver and removed the white casing from the blaster and began disassembling the saber itself. As a weapons specialist and master of blades, he knew that saber inside and out. Carefully examining each piece, cleaning of them as he went, he continued meticulously removing parts in a specific and intentional pattern as it revealed a strange blue kyber crystal. The crystal, unlike a typical one, gave off a soft light blue discharge as if it were at sub-zero temperatures in the warm environment around them.

Carefully he removed it and sat it down on the bag, going back to examining and cleaning his saber.

Approaching the run down looking vehicle, Eevie thought only one thing. “Is this really all they could give us for this mission? This hunk of space junk?” While she understood the necessity of not looking a threat to the civilian populace, the Mandalorian preferred to fly in much sleeker and significant style. Behind her the distinct sound of metal on metal clanking followed closely. Beetle remained close, as was in his programming.

“Query. There is a man on this team who resembles the clones of the old republic?”

“Yeah. I’m pretty sure he is one of those clones. What of it?”

“Response. Smart move, don’t you think? Bringing along a droid that looks like those from the Clone Wars. I just know he will be filled with…insert positive emotion*…when he sees me.”

“Oh don’t worry your precious bolts, Beetle. He’s a professional.”

“Response. Yeah…a professional droid killer. My favorite kind.”

The two boarded the vessel and found the short cute Ewok already there. Eevie sat down and Beetle leaned in close as she pulled.out a small data pad, and started playing a codified variant of Sabaac.

“Query. Are you seriously gambling right now?”

“Back off rust bucket, mama needs a new Interceptor.”

“Response.Yes, true professionalism right there.”

Quietly he stared at it, not having had this…feeling…before. Normally it was a simple procedure, but something seemed off. It had been a significant amount of time since he last reset the components that maybe the alignment was potentially not completely set. If not, working on it now was quite the smart idea. He would have to wait for Kul'tak or another lightsaber wielder and have them check it out. In the meantime, he finished cleaning the parts and proceeded to reassemble them back in the exact order he took it apart, leaving the outer panel off so the crystal array was still visible.

After meeting with the motley crew to get their errand to run for the Regent, Shimrah felt much better about the fact that this wasn’t another assassination attempt set up by one of the “clans”, again.

It was a mostly uneventful walk back to the Lethargic Gizka, but as he stepped through the durasteel doors of the docking bay, he noticed exactly how run down the ship was. All of a sudden, that creeping paranoia crept up the back of his neck again.

Getting closer and closer to the ship, things were looking more bleak as to the ships condition, but he decided to board it anyway. When he did so he walked past the droid berating his owners professionalism, Eevie screaming at the datapad about a losing hand, or dice throw, he wasn’t sure which.

Then there was the Ewok. Shimrah was curious as to what the little guy was doing. The smell of cleaner was in the air, somewhat dirty rag in his hand, if you could call it that. But the lightsaber wasn’t fully assembled.

“You forgot a part.” He said pointing to the crystal.

“Yes, I know.” he said, staring at it for a moment. “When I removed it while cleaning and checking the saber’s interior construct, I’m getting an odd feeling around the array’s alignment. Something feels off about it. So I was going to ask someone more skilled in it’s technical aspect to make sure it’s still aligned before I return the crystal to it’s rightful place.”

After laying down the saber with the panel off, he reached to his left side and then removed the other saber from his belt. He removed the screws on the underside which held the panel in place, opening it to reveal a brilliant orange crystal with a crimson red flame emitting from it. Without touching the crystal or the array, he carefully examined it’s positioning.

With a flick of a small switch, the saber ignited into a bright orange blade with a similar red crimson flame enshrouding it. This blade was definitely fine.

“Mind if I take a look?” Shimrah asked, hoping to ingratiate himself upon at least one of the squad before the shooting started.

With a glance, the Ewok carefully examined Shimrah. “Are you familiar with the functionality and interior structure of an array? Not all force-users are, which is why I ask. If so, I have no qualms with you looking at it.”

Eevie watched the two boys playing with their toys. Her eyes turned back to the screen as she conned her way to another victory. In her head she rejoiced at the gained credits. But playing like this felt…cheep, so she logged out and focused on her companions with a grin. Removing her helmet, she made her move.

“Hey there boys, up for a little game?”

Beetle made a noise reminiscent of a chortle. The Sephi pulled out two card decks, one of Pazaak, the other Sabaac.

The Sith turned to Eevie, slightly offput by her friendliness, but in his current situation with little friends on the ship, he accepted it. He grinned at her.

“Of course. Let me just help our friend here first. I think he’ll be needing this,” gesturing to the lightsaber, “where we’re going. If I may?”

He gave a soft nod, having replaced the panel back onto the other lightsaber and returned it to his left side. “But of course.”

Shimrah reached over and grabbed the much smaller lightsaber delicately between his forefinger and his thumb. With the shoto in the palm of his hand, the Sith kneeled and closed his eyes, reaching out with the Force, scanning the contents of the saber. Moments went by as he checked each of them, finally settling on the array and it’s alignment. It was off, all off. In fact, had the crystal been replaced, the results would not have been good.

He hovered his other hand over the lightsaber and began to move his fingers, carefully moving the sensitive array mechanics around with the Force. With a final click, he opened his eyes, his top hand gesturing to the blue crystal, floating it over to him and replacing it within the lightsaber with his telekinetic abilities. Shimrah outheld his hand with the lightsaber to the Ewok.

“There. Just need to replace cover. It’s not perfect, but its usable.”

Winch shook his head. He was right there, and Teebu knew he was a dab hand at technology after everything with Saijo. All they had to do was ask, and he would have assisted, but he was more than content to watch them struggle. How else were they going to learn?

Beetle.

Is that what she called that thing? It didn’t deserve a name, much less a part of the team.

Winch remembered the Clone Wars, the blaster fire, the never-ending slaughter of all his brothers and fellow clones beside him. He clenched his fists, his fingertips touching the tips of his sidearm. It was so tempting to put a hole in it right here, right now. Old habits died hard…

Alas, Winch was an intelligent man. The droid had shown no sign of hostility yet, but he’d be keeping an eye on it. Oh yes. He’d be watching.

The hauler ship was what some might would call Well-traveled. The metal creaked under his boots as Kul strode up the main ramp and into the docking bay, a cursory glance at the gathered party his only greeting. They appeared to be getting comfortable in preparation for the journey, even going so far as to pull out playing cards.

All of Kul’s necessary gear fit on his person so it did not take him long to plop down in a nearby seat after he adjusted his holstered Ryyk blades and drew his hood over his face. Maybe no one would bother him until they arrived on Qolomite. His loyal Vornskyr stood guard at his feet, keeping wary, yet curious, eyes on every move the rest of the squad made.

The same Zeltron woman from the meeting shimmered into existence while sitting on a crate, as if she had been there the whole time. “Hi, I’m Xee!” She swung her legs back and forth as she waved at everyone. "Eevie I just loooove the color of your armor. Did Socorra teach you to be Mando? I can’t believe we’re going to a desert world and she isn’t with us, I can’t imagine anyone else being better suited for it, having named herself after one. What kind of dog is that he seems really nice. I’m not a boy but Sabaac seems kinda fun, is Pazaak the same thing but with a P?”

Shimrah had been so tunnel visioned with the Ewok’s lightsaber that he hadn’t even been aware of the Zeltron sneaking on to the ship which caused him jumped out of his skin in surprise when she dropped her cloaking.

“Dank farric Xee!” He glowered for a moment before remembering the whole needing to make make friends bit. The six foot nine inch Zabrak stood up from the kneeling position, towering over the rest of his companions. He stuck a pale, meaty hand out at her.

“I’m Shimrah. Pazaak I know, sabaac, not so much, but I’m sure Eevie could teach us.”

This was going to be a long trip. Winch was more than used to Jedi and their tricks, but sometimes he had to remind himself that the Jedi Order he once knew of was long gone. In its place were several other groups including this one which.. whatever the so-called Brotherhood even was. Between the gossip girls, and that damn battle droid, Winch knew he was going to have to be vigilant.

“Can we focus, please? We almost have no idea what we are about to walk into,” Winch removed his helmet and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to fight back the developing migraine.“

Eevie drew her gaze to the “Clone” who looked their way with such annoyed derision. A snort escaped her as she responded.

“This ship is gonna be a slow ride. The Regent told us it would be a two day journey. There is little reason to sit here in silence for that time frame, only to…what…reflect of past misdeeds like killing comrads who fought by our sides?”

Eevie didn’t know if her words would lead to a fight or not. Truthfully, in this moment, she didn’t care. They were a team now, like it or not, and no team would work well with that level of disrespect sent their way.

“Now, I don’t know you, any of you really, and I don’t really care. We do have a job to do, and when it’s time to do said job I will be mission focused, but this is down tome before said job. I’m gonna enjoy my life. Spent too long not able to do so.”

Eevie turned back to the others, pulling out a deck of Pazaak cards.

“So, let’s have some fun. While we can.”

“Hi Shimrah!” Xee extended her pink hand, tiny in his palm. While on the crate she didn’t have to look up to the ceiling to see him eye to eye. “Gosh you’re tall. And horny. Did you eat all your vegetables as a kid?”

Winch glared daggers at Eevie and asked her a simple question;

“Were you there?”

“Was I where? The end of the Clone Wars? No. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is this mission, and that we all remain level headed, and succeed. You have your way of doing that, we have ours.”

After replying, Eevie turned back to the game.

Xee’s eyes grew as big as a death star and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Whoa…”

“And if we don’t co-operate, your way won’t matter and neither will mine,” Winch was absolute. “You are right, though. The mission is the most important. How long until we arrive?”

Winch strapped himself him. Trust a clanker to not pilot a ship properly. His training paid dividends as he placed his hands on the side of his helmet, lowered his head, and braced for impact.

Shimrah lost his footing but was able to keep himself mostly upright from the ship’s rocking and bucking. As soon as he knew his own feet were stable, his two pale hands reached out to Xee ( <@141239709291511808> ) and braced her from falling off the crates.

“C'mon. We need to go buckle in.” He said to her.

As the Jedi would say, thank the Force for helmets.

Maybe they didn’t actually say that, but the point stood. Winch unstamped himself, his ears rang from the sudden impact and high pitched screeching of durasteel. His visor protected his eyes from the dust, though he stayed glued to what remained of the interior.

If he was right, and he usually was, something had shot them down, or interfered with their ships electronics.

“Everybody alright?” He asked.

“I blame Winch for letting the droid fly.” He grumbled and groaned as he unpasted himself from the bulkhead.

“Xee looks ok. I don’t see any blood. I broke her…crash.” He added, going to great lengths to peel the Elder off of him with delicate care, assuming his size would hurt her.

“I guess we should figure out why we crashed.” He said, standing back to his feet and dusting himself off.

Winch pointed his weapon at the droids head and pulled the trigger.

Winch raised his weapon, finger on the trigger…

“Go ahead, you did the first one.” Shimrah said, looking on and attempting to make is way to the massive hole in the freighter.

Shocked at the nerve of the clone to just fire on their ally droids, Eevie stepped in between Winch and the droid.

“Is there a reason you’re destroying the Droids assigned to us by the Regent? Do you really think that’s a smart idea?”

“The ship crashed, in case you didn’t notice,” Winch did not lower his weapon. “I’m eliminating the possible cause.”

Shimrah sticks his head out the hole in the ship to find out what he can see.

“So you just assume it was a piloting sabotage?”

“The droids must be the cause, right?”

“In my experience, they usually are.”

“I would prefer your prejudices not get us on the wrong side of a member of the Council. We will find out the actual reason for our crashing, and if it turns our to indeed be our droids fault, feel free to unleash your frustrations”

Looking around, Shimrah doesn’t see a whole lot that can help him figure out how they crashed, or even where they’re at. Looking back at the two fighting about whether or not to violently decommission the pilot, he added to the conversation.

“Guilty or not, this ship isn’t flyable. If one of you can pilot whatever rescue craft we find, pop its tiny little droid brain and lets get a move on. If the droids weren’t at fault it means that something very likely shot us down.”

After finishing his speech, he jumped out of the hole in the freighter and into the sand dunes. Clawing his way up to the ridge for a better vantage point.

Winch didn’t need to be told twice. He pulled the trigger.

Eevie sees the bolt fly over her shoulder and turns her helmet back to Winch, daggers forming in her eyes.

“I will be reporting this to the Regent.”

Beetle exits the ship and walks up to Eevie, it’s gaze never leaving Winch. Eevie motions for the droid to follow after Shimrah.

“Screw with my Droid and I will drop you where you stand.”

“As long as I doesn’t give me a reason too, we’ll be fine,” Winch ran off in pursuit of Shimrah.

Teebu followed out behind the group, keeping pace without saying a word. He would definitely be mentioning this to Appius at the least.

It took Kul a few extra moments to recover as he untangled himself from a corner of the vessel, where he and his Vornskyr had fallen. He had tried to shield his pet from the impact, but they had ended up sprawled against some supply crates with a few bumps between them. After checking to make sure neither had any breaks, he led them towards the gaping hole in the side of the freighter. He glanced at the one called Eevie as she scowled at Winch’s back.

“No point in waiting around here for whoever brought us down to finish the job.”

The Zabrak pulled his hood over his horns before hopping lightly onto the sand and following the others.

The Sephi Mandalorian shook her head as she heeded Kul'Tak’s words. Arming herself with her rifle, she followed the team, keeping her eyes open for any dangers that they may face.

Teebu smacked his gloved hands together, rubbing them as he eyeballed the ridge. Immediately after, he went at it.

“Well, looks like it wasn’t entirely the droids fault.” Shimrah said to Winch.

“And would you look at that. We were shot down. Not sabotaged by our pilot droids.” Eevie narrowed her gaze on Winch.

Shimrah shrugged. “At least whoever the sabatouers are won’t have a chance to modify and weaponize them against us. I probably should’ve checked the ship for a flare gun…” His voice trailed off at the realization.

Seeing the town a distance away, Eevie wasn’t worried on her end. She could get there fairly easily with her jet pack, as well as through her athletic build. But she did worry for the others, especially the cute Ewok.

“We didn’t have a speeder of any kind on the ship, did we?”

Winch remained silent. Maybe it wasn’t the fault of the droids, but he wasn’t going to admit that. It was damn satisfying shooting them.

Teebu kept churning along, while albiet small, luckily avoided the typical traps of sand falling back on him as he moved. He had a thought, laid forward, and began scurrying along like an Ewok crawling along the forest floor.

Eevie faced the village and began making her way toward it. Beetle followed her through the desert.

Having set down his pet Kul peered upon the town while he tried to catch some breath. Climbing the soft dunes had been quite different from the plains of Aliso he’d gotten used to. Whomever had sought to down their ship had picked a decent location, but perhaps had not accounted for the possibility that they’d fall so close to a populated area. He found it odd that there had been no one to make sure the small group had perished in the crash. Shaking his head, the Zabrak gave a curt whistle to his Vornskr before making his way. A rivulet of sweat trailed down one cheek and he swiped it away.

“If I find the mali who shot us down. They’ll wish they’d finished the job.”

Xi'ana was annoyed at the violence upon innocent droids but her tiny attention span was quickly distracted by other thoughts. She pointed to the sky and shouted, “Adventure!” before attempting to run up the dune.

Eevie approached the old man, keeping her eyes peeled for danger.

“Hello there. Our ship had some…engine troubles…a few kilos back. We are in need of supplies, and possibly a transport, if you would be able to lead us in the right direction.”

“You been shot down yourself?” Winch asked.

Amongst the serious discussion Xee pouted at the Ewok and opened her arms wide. “Aww you poor thing, your widdle paws must be burning. Wanna piggyback?”

He gave several nods and extended his arms upward towarda Xee.

“Yub-yub.”

“That would be correct. We never meant to be stranded in this desert, something shot us out of the sky. We’re just lucky we’re alive, I guess.”

“How long have you been having droid problems?” Winch asked.

“We’re on our way to a factory to check on it’s status. That place sound familiar to you? We’re not entirely sure where we’re at.” Shimrah replied to the man.

“We’ll, you’re in luck, droids are our speciality.” Shimrah motions to Winch.

“Yub, yub,” she nodded emphatically and knelt down, hoisting the furry one onto her back - or shoulders - whatever he preferred. The zeltron wasn’t really paying attention to weight or size or.. well, anything other than the cuteness.

Winch gave a small nod, taking note of any detail he could hear.

“Bombing settlements? Are these attacks at random, or is there a pattern to them?”

“Well we were gonna fly, until our ship was blown open. I don’t suppose you have any suggestions? As a resident of this desert, I’m sure you know the best modes of travel.”

“If it’s within my power, these attacks will come to an end. By creed, you have my word.”

Eevie checks out the controls, getting a feel for them. She smiled under her helm, always a lover of speeders and starship. She noticed the picture, and rolled her eyes a bit. Turning to the oldman, She gave a respectful bow of her head.

“Thank you for your cooperation, I will do my best to make sure she comes back to you in one piece. I’m not a bad pilot, if I do say so myself.”

Teebu stared at the decor, the design, in shear awe and surprise that this is what his boss does in his spare time. He assumed he spent most of his time brooding at the stupidity that Appius commits, constantly coming to his aid, or the constant iterations of the word ‘No’ when it came to Regent duties under him. In fact, he almost would consider him an emotionless krayt’s bottom. But this…

This shows a whole new side of the Regent to him, one he would have to contemplate and consider from here on. In fact, he kind of liked it. It reminded him of someone.

Winch stared at the posters and shook his head. How utterly unprofessional.

Hopefully, Eevie was a half decent pilot. Somehow, he had a feeling they’d regret letting her drive…

Shimrah stopped to gawk at the massive picture of the Regent and Voice partying. He had always wondered what kind of weird things the Dark Council got up to behind closed doors and apparently he had found his answer. An answer that only begged to ask more and more questions. But that was for another time, the Sith had thought to himself before stepping into the speeder truck.

Xi’ana set down Teebu at the truck and her emerald eyes lit up at the interior. “Whoaaa,” she whispered and climbed in, finding a spot to sit as she stared at the decor.

Shimrah pokes his head into the “cockpit” of the speeder truck. “I think maybe someone should…” Shimrah looks around to make sure “the old man” wasn’t within earshot, “give this thing a once over to make sure it actually works. And no boomers. Someone "here” already has 6 counts of attempted murder and treason….“ he let his sentence trail off to let them each get the point on their own.

Teebu looked around before taking a seat. It was unusually comfortable, something else he didn’t expect from the Regent. Comfort wasn’t something that he felt was in his vocabulary.

While he sat there, he ran though his mental thoughts on projects that he knew of from the Regent and the various droids they had been planning on pushing through to manufacture. He had rough ideas of the ones listed, they shouldn’t be terrible to handle. But the unlisted ones…he felt it strange he would not be aware of them. Maybe ones that only himself and Thran were privvy to. If it absolutely came down to it, he could always attempt to use his staff credentials in his code cylinder to try and see if he could access that information once they arrive at the location but would only do so if the situation absolutely called for it.

He doubted even that it would work if he tried, that’s not something the Regent would overlook if it were only himself and Thran. Teebu definitely wouldnt in that scenario. But if it were some variant of the Super Battle Droid, or worse, a Droideka, he would have to try.

Given the Regent’s inate hatred of the round ball and his disgust towards it, he sincerely doubted one of them was a Droideka.

He brought his thoughts back to the here and now after realizing how deep in thought he was getting and looked around at the others, patiently waiting for them to start moving.

Winch jumped into the co-pilot seat. Like hell he was letting Eevie drive on her own.

Once everyone had settled in the speeder Eevie was ready to roll. Having done an initial inspection of the controls she felt certain that this baby, old or not, would be ripping through the sand dunes under her loving touch. The Mandalorian then saw Winch take the co-pilot seat, not that she needed the assistance.

“Don’t slow me down, old man.”

Eevie began flipping switches and adjusting various knobs on the control deck. Her fingers danced like a pianist with their keys.

“Disengaging forward dampeners, raising acceleration and velocity. Speeder vitals looking good.”

The engine roared to life, surprisingly clean and not overly loud.

“Listen to this baby purr. She’s gonna do nicely. Ok guys! Here we go!”

Activating the forward thrusters, the Speeder took off.

“Yes! Cone on old girl let’s see what you can do! Time to really open you up!”

“Listen up you lot, we’re being targeted by something out there, man the weapon stations! I’ll do my best to keep us and this speeder safe as well!”

“Where are they coming from?” Winch looked for a console that would provide more information.

While accepting that someone else was probably a better fit for manning the weapons, Shimrah looks around the crew section of the vehicle to see if there’s anything of use.

Shimrah moves to the access hatch, opens it and peers out to see their attacker.

The Battlelord checks all around him until he finally ceases his search on the vulture droid following them. Closing his eyes, he braced himself against the access hatch and reached out with the Force, attempting to grab ahold of it…should Eevie miss.

“Hold onto your butts, shutta messed with the wrong lady.”

Eevie took the reigns and her hands flew on the control panels. As smoothly as possible, she turned the speeder, attempting to line in the Vulture Droid in her sights as she fired the old girls weapons.

“Eat this, vulture boy.”

For just a split second the Sith’s grip on the Vulture Droid slipped when the turret’s blast rocked it with a clean hit. Shimrah redoubled his efforts and focused his hate and anger into his hands as he held onto the flying vehicle as if he were about to eat a sandwich. With all of his fingers curled around the space between his hands, he tilted his hands into him causing the Vulture Droid to follow suit and nose dive into the sandy dunes beneath it.

Luckily for the team, the Vulture Droid was slowed considerably when it hit the sandy dunes, shearing it into pieces that the Sith was nearly afraid would act as gargantuan shrapnel on the party bus. Shimrah felt as if he could reach out and grab the droid shrapnel skipping across the dunes after them.

“One down. Wonder how many more of them are out here…” His sentence trailed off as he came down from the access hatch, closing it behind him and throwing himself back against a seat.

With the Vulture Droid down, Eevie spun the bus around, speeding towards the facility.

“Nice work Shimrah!”

Winch gave a heavy nod of approval. He had a small smirk hidden underneath his helmet that thankfully, no-one else could see. “Agreed. Great job.”

“Whoaa!” Xee shouted and clapped. “That was amazing! Go Team Adventure!”

Winch’s helmet turned to her in such a way it said. ‘Really?’

The biggest grin spread wide over her pink face and her head nodded vigorously, chin length neon-red locks bobbing with it.

Eevie sees the turrets and begins evading the blasts. She tries to lock on to them to take them out while shouting to the group behind her.

“Hey you lot. Use your space magic and get those doors open for us!”

Grasping the weapon controls, the Mandalorian fires on the turrets.

“Yes, Sir!” Xee shouted above the combat noise and leaped from her seat to the hatch, offering a congratulatory high five or something to Shimrah. “My turn to shimmy up there. Hee.”

Popping through the portal the Zeltron dramatically raised her pink hands and waggled her fingers at the main door like performing an unbelievable magic trick.

“Oopeeen.. Says… XEEE!!!”

Shimrah slams open the vans exterior hatch and steps out of the vehicle. He makes hand movements like he’s pushing his fingers into the space between the doors, pulling them open with the Force.

Eevie’s hands continued to buzz across the flight and weapons controls. They were coming in hot, and the doors were not fully open yet. She knew that they might fit through, but it wasn’t a risk she was willing to take. She turned her attention away from the turrets.

Focusing all firepower, the Mandalorian targeted the door. It was time to see how powerful these cannons were. Her team’s lives were in her capable hands and she refused to fail them.

“Everyone hold on, and you!” Eevie spoke directly to Shimrah. “Get your butt in this speeder and close that door. This is probably gonna suck!”

Shimrah struggles under the pressure of the moment and utterly fails to give Xee the extra oomph to get the door open. The Sith heard Eevie’s command and took three steps to cover the distance that would find himself tucked safely in the van’s confines.

“Dank Farrik! Fracking turrets! That Old man ain’t gonna be happy about that. Ok guys, time to line it up and get it in!”

As Eevie began to sweat in her helmet, she pondered how long it would take to fix up the damage to the speeder. It would be doable, but she felt like she had, in part, broken her word. And by creed, she deemed that unacceptable.

“Beetle, once we’re in, Imma need you to cover us, ok? We’re probably gonna need a second. Everyone, stay strapped in! This is really gonna blow.”

Winch spotted the hole, and immediately got to work ensuring that the speeder didn’t fall to pieces whilst they were on it. He looked around gor anything be could use.

Too late. Winch strapped himself in. He had a feeling this was going to be a bumpy ride.

Shimrah groaned as he pulled himself up to one of the chairs. He wrapped the nylasteel restraints around himself and buckled them together. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in.

“I’m in!” He yelled to the cockpit.

Xi'ana sat back down in her seat and lifted the restraints, demonstrating for the passengers.

“When the seat belt sign illuminates, you must fasten your seat belt. Insert the metal fittings one into the other, and tighten by pulling on the loose end of the strap. To release your seat belt, lift the upper portion of the buckle. We suggest that you keep your seat belt fastened throughout the flight, as we may experience turbulence.“

"In the event of an emergency, please assume the bracing position.”

She then leaned forward with hands on top of her head and her elbows against her thighs, eyes peeking out to make karkin’ sure her Ewok was buckled in.

Winch had a terrible pain in his neck as he unstamped himself from his seat. If they could avoid any further crashes today, that would be great, thank you very much.

Winch lowered his head for a moment out I’d respect for the BATTLE VAN. RIP.

He immediately began searching for survivors, coming across Shimrah first.

Winch offered him a hand. “You ok?”

Xi'ana hopped out of her harness and surveyed the occupants.

“Please check around your seat for any personal belongings you may have brought on board with you and please use caution when opening the overhead bins, as heavy articles may have shifted around during the flight!”

Eevie groaned as her helmet lifted off the control panel. The crash had been fairly jarring to say the least. Debris from the wreckage had bounced off of her armor, the Beskar worth its price.

“That…was most certainly… not wizard.”

The Mandalorian stood up from her seat, a bit shakily as she felt pain in her leg. Checking herself over she noticed a Shard of metal sticking into her undersuit. Judging by the the levels of pain a d shape of the shrapnel, it wasn’t in too far, but it would be painful all the same.

“Dank Ferrik.”

She grasped the metal and pulled it ouch, about an inch of it soaked in blood. She was lucky it wasn’t larger, ir some serious damage could’ve been dealt.

Gathering her self and her gear, she approached the others.

“The landing wasn’t ideal, but we’re in. Let’s just get this job over with.”

Looking at the wreckage, Eevie knew the van was far beyond repair. She happened to notice the picture of the Regent and Voice within the rubble and stopped to collect the image. She would have to reimburse the old man for the failure of keeping his vehicle safe. Her word was her life. By creed, she would make it right.

This is the way.

Eevie stood with her back against the wall of the broken van. She could hear the battle droids speaking outside. Using the uncleared dust to her advantage she slowly turned a corner, keeping low to the ground and aimed her Westar pistol into the dust cloud.

Her AI systems activated her armors optical camouflage to better hide her from the droids vision. Her blasters omnisight allowed her locate the droids though the dust and Eevie smirked as she lined up her shots.

“This is for the "van”.“

The Mandalorian pulled her weapons trigger.

Winch took whatever small amount of cover he could get. There were two ways to deal with Clankers. The first was a good ol’ fashioned blaster bolt to the head.

The other…

Winch grabbed his Slicer control pad and got to work seeing if he could turn the droids against one another.

“Uh oh,” Xi'ana whispered to herself before disappearing. She immediately starts moving toward one of the crates to the side or behind the droids for cover, ready to flank or distract or both.

Eevie remained low, her optical camoflaging making her insivisible to the eye. Moving slowly and as silently as possible through the blaster fire, the Mandalorian kept her wits and aim about her. Lining up her shots, she had the droids dead to rights.

Beetle remained at a separate spot from Eevie, centering his firepower on the other droids. He was doing his job of trying to draw their blasters from the biologicals.

Shimrah emerged from the back of the Battle Van! rubbing the back of his head from the crash, luckily his species were pretty durable and he didn’t suffer any major damage.

Upon clearing the fog from his head, he noticed the rest of the team moving aggressively in a specific direction. This snapped him back to reality and their current situation of breaching the hostile droid factory.

Two droids opposed them, Shimrah was intent on making it only one. He used the Force to assist his leap to bring him within range of the droid and during it, ignited his lightsaber with a snap-hiss.

Teebu went along with the others, taking a careful stance while under the cover of one of the crates and pulled his DT-27 from it’s holster. He carefully aimed a shot at one of the droid’s head units, and fired off several shots.

The B1 Battle Droid raised its blaster rifle at the Sith, firing off a pair of shots at him.

Shimrah whirled into a spin, sending his twin blades into a blurred arc that deflected one blaster bolt into the ceiling and the other harmlessly into a nearby wall.

A scowl crossed his face at the irritation of not finishing off the droid once and for all.

Kul emerged from the wreckage of the speeder truck bearing his own cuts and scrapes, but fortunately all in one piece. As he shook away the leftover haziness from the shock his attention turned to the sounds of battle. His fellow Zabrak was locked in combat with a B1 droid, deflecting some blaster fire away.

While the droid was zeroing in for another salvo Kul suffused himself with the Force and felt its amplifying power coalesce in his legs. Using the deck of the Van as a springboard, Kul launched himself towards the droid while at the same time ripping his larger saber from his belt and igniting the crimson blade. As his speed increased he held the blade to the side, aimed to slice through the very center of the combat droid.

Winch weighed up their options. If there were enemy on the way, and there likely was, they’d need to get out of here quickly. “I say we head towards the turbolift.”

“Hey Winch, I’m no genius, but is there enough left of that “clanker” to pull its data? Maybe there’s a clue?”

Winch gave a nod of his head. They were mangled, but if there was one thing Winch understood, it was Clankers could be annoyingly durable. He attempted to retrieve whatever data he could from them.

Winch rose to his feet. “Looks like they are being controlled by a point on the administrative level. Whatever is causing this might be up there. In any case, it’s a place to start.”

“Well, it’s better than nothing.” He said with a shrug.

Winch didn’t bother waiting, heading straight towards the turbolift.

Xi'ana didn’t discloak but she did make her presence known. “All aboard! To ah.. administration level! Keep your hands feet and other limbs inside the ride at all times.”

“Sure, let’s all get in the tiny death box. Nothing could go wrong…” He said as he followed the group into the turbolift.

Winch took a deep breath. “It’ll be fine. Stop complaining.”

“I have a bad feeling about this…” He said under his breath.

Winch attempts to Slice into the console to gain access to the Administration level.

Out of the corner of her visor, Eevie noticed a faint red light. She saw the lens of the camera aimed at winch and zooming in on the clone. With the flick of her wrist, the Mandalorian pulled out her blaster and fired on it. As the camera sparked and fizzled, she holstered her weapon.

“Well, we’re being watched. Best be careful now.”

Shimrah has a general look of unamusement on his face as his elbows Winch. “It’s a trap.”

Winch attempted to hack in to the console to reverse the turbolift’s direction.

With the access he has, Winch attempted to get the lift moving upward again.

Shimrah slaps Winch on the shoulder. “Never had a doubt!”

Winch looks for a potential terminal where he can deactivate the Ray shield.

Still invisible, Xee stood out of the way, used to people bumping into her. “Yay! Good thing we have a Winch. A Winch is a very useful tool.”

Winch rolled his eyes, because of course he’d never heard that one before…

Shimrah emits a low growl of frustration, thinking that nothing can ever be easy. With his saber still in his hand, he ignites one end of his crimson weapon and attempts to cut a hole into the door.

Eevie slowly opens the Door of her room, casing her corners. She held her Experimentally designed, unique Bowcaster at the ready. She hadn’t had a chance to use it yet, but now felt a good time for it. As she entered what was clearly a lounge area, she began to search the room for any terminals, or any evidence of what happened in this facility.

Eyeing the bar, the Sephi briefly thought about having a drink, but tis was mission time. Perhaps once they were finished she’d return and mix up some shots and stuff for her team.

Steeping up to the body, the Mandalorian felt some sympathy for the deceased. Whoever he was, UT looked like he’d been through he’ll and put up a fight. She reached down and took hold of the datapad. She hoped he had left some kind of evidence on it before his extermination.

Powering on the device, Eevie hoped for some answers.

“Let’s see what we’re working with here.”

Eevie selects the Communications option.

Shimrah steps through the him sized hole and looks around the room. He first moves over to the workbenches and begins to look around to see if there’s anything of value or interest.

Not really know what he was looking at, Shimrah instead turned to the first terminal, attempting to turn it on and see what was on it. He was curious about the droid models that the Regent had eluded to that were confidential.

“Well frack.” Eevie said to herself as she saw the secret droids being created by the facility. If the Regent didn’t know about these, he wasn’t gonna be happy about this.

Shimrah’s eyebrows would’ve hit the ceiling had they not been attached firmly to his forehead when he read the last two lines. He attempted to open the last three folders, in order, to learn about their features and capabilities.

Eevie reads through these files and messages before turning to personal data logs.

Eevie turns to the facility diagnostics, and she will finish with the maintenance logs.

Shimrah flips through the folders. When hes finally through, he doesn’t bother to shut the terminal off and goes back to the hallway, checking on door #3 on the right hand side to see if its locked.

Having gone through all of the files, Eevie accesses her armors A.I. functions to copy the files from the datapad. When finished, she tucks the datapad away for safe keeping. She then left the room and regrouped with the others.

“Anyone figure out how to get through there yet?

Shimrah shakes his head.

“Just files on the kind of droids that are made here. Figured out the redacted files though. Commando and assassin droids. As well as that star fighter we junked on the way here.”

Shimrah hits the access pad on the #3 room on the right. Realizing its the Big Boss’s office, he yells for <@206692046424113152>.

“You may want to check this out!”

As Eevie checks out the door, sizing it up, she hears Shimrah from another room. She follows his voice and enters the room.

“You called for me?”

“Yeah.”

He motioned to the office.

“Pretty sure the big guy will have some kind of encrypted files in here. He’s got to right?.”

Winch eyes the office carefully. “Be cautious. It could be trapped. Someone doesn’t want us seeing what is in there.”

Eevie huffed as the command room camera was gone. Reading though the logs, she remembered the heavy duty door from before.

“Hey horn-head. I don’t remember your name but I got a job for that lightsaber of yours.”

She.led him away from the big wigs room towards the server room.

Shimrah falls in behind Eevie, finally ready to put his saber to more use. They stopped before the server room, a snap-hiss brought the red saber into existence before he plunged it into the door and began cutting.

Winch decided to follow the wires. Perhaps they led to something important? Perhaps there was another door or…

“Can you cit a hole in the wall?” Winch asked.

The hums of electricity fell to silence and Xi'ana Xa'u, first of her name, queen of all things that zap, was quiet along with it.

Until she didn’t. “Oh…” she said, looking towards Shimmy in the darkness. It almost sounded apologetic…another awkward beat and then it finally manifested:

“ADVENTURE!!!”

But realizing just how loud it sounded in her ears, and the droids might hear…she dropped her feminine voice to a whisper, cupping a hand over her mouth:

“Adventure…”

“Oh boy.”

Eevie looked their her helmets visor. The lights were off. The enemy was alerted. But hey! The door was open. Armed with her bowcaster Eevie called to the others

“Hey you lot, the shields are down. Let’s get this sorted out once and for all.”

Eevie looks over to Winch.

“Time for you to kill clankers. Don’t miss. ”

Winch readied his weapon. “Gladly.”

Eevie switched on her helmets light, and looked to the once guarded door.

Eevie slowly approached the door, gesturing for Beetle to take.point beside her. She inspected the door, looking to see if she could open it easily.

“Any luck?” Winch asked.

The snap-hiss of Shimrahs lightsaber appeared next to the group. The lightsaber bathed the group in a crimson glow as it hummed excitedly, as if expecting an imminent battle.

“Allow me.”

Shimrah steps up to the door, plunging the blade deep into the door, reducing the ambient light on the Regent’s mercs and focusing it brightly on the Zabrak himself as the blade began to cut a neat hole.

Eevie kept her bowcaster aimed. Her eyes scowered the droids, settling on the big one.

“I’m assuming you’re the reason this facility is karked up?

Xee’s emerald eyes went wide and she vanished from sight.

“What, you Clankers have feelings now?” Winch would have spat on the floor if he could. “You are killing machines. Nothing more, nothing less. I’ve seen the kind of harm your kind can do.”

“Oooh I see.” Eeive replies, her voice taking on a slightly condescending tone. “This is a revolution. The justifiable mass murder of any you deem unfit or unworthy to live if it interferes with your plans. And I gotta tell you, while I disagree with your methods, I actually agree with your stance! I would love to just let you all leave and rejoin your Droid Imperium bretheren.”

Eevie’s finger remained trained on her bowcasters trigger as she spoke.

“Unfortunately there’s gonna be a hiccup in those plans. See, I’ve got a guy here…Winch. you know Winch? Clone boy back there, looks like he wants to rip yall to pieces. He don’t like droids too much. Shocker I know. But see, he’s gonna start shooting. And then you’re gonna return fire. And he’s gonna get himself killed. Then im gonna have to fill out reports cause a teammember died. And I really don’t wanna do extra work, ya know. So I’m gonna have to join in and keep him alive. So how about we just skip the pleasantries, ey?”

Eevie pulled the trigger sending three bolts hurtling towards the Droid leader.

Like a miniature monkey Xi'ana clamped her mag gloves to the wall and started climbing it to be well out of line of fire and get the drop in on the droids from behind.

Winch didn’t hesitate finding cover over be a nearby crate. It was at times lime this he wished he had his grenades with him.

Nevertheless, he still had ol’ reliable at hand, a weapon he made himself. He changed his blaster to its explosive setting, primed it, and unleashed hell.

Shimrah’s eyes widened at the amount of sheer weaponry he was facing down. Diving into the mess was absolutely his style, but this would’ve been pure suicide.

He unlipped two ion grenades from his belt and tossed them to Winch, almost as if the Sith was reading his mind.

“At least one of us came prepared.” He said with a snort of laughter.

He didn’t really know what the blast radius of those were going to be, but he hit the deck and attempted to avoid any blaster fire while doing so. Certainly the Force was with him. Wasn’t it?

Eevie, noticing the lack of damage her weapon did to the enemies front decided to try another option. She noticed the droids coming her way, and with a grin she used her jer packs thrusters to attempt a quick burst of speed to dodge the incoming attacks.

Winch dives for the nearest available, hoping to prime his explosive launcher for another EMP round, if possible.

Laying on the deck with his ears covered and eyes closed, he had hoped he had landed behind something that would block him from being shot.

As he waited for the the sounds of the Ion grenades that didn’t come, he opened his eyes and saw plenty of red photoreceptors staring back at him and leveling their weapons to fire.

The Sith panicked, jumped to his feet and stretched both arms out to either side of him, calling on the Force to create a shimmering barrier between him and the droids.

“I hope this works.” He muttered to himself.

“How dare you hurt SHIMMY!” Xee suddenly yelled from the ceiling and let go of it, angling her lithe body in the air to tuck, flip, and gracefully dismount on top of a droid, her blades glinting in the lights of the bridge and aiming to really hurt it despite her previous mantra of #droidlivesmatter.

Attempting to gain another angle at the “boss” droid, Eevie pulled on the trigger again, sending 3 more bolts at the machine.

“This droid has some tough armor! Here’s hoping this thing is tougher!” She said as she caressed her gift from the Wookies.

Winch winced at the pain in his shoulder. Thankfully, it was cybernetic and an easy fix, but fracking hell did it hurt! He grabbed his hydrospanner and attempted a quick fix to dull the pain…

The pain blossomed in his abdomen and shin, stretching deeper as if he had actual holes burned into him. For all he knew, he did and the least he could do would be to take a few of them with him before he succumbed.

With his left hand over his stomach, he drew his saber and ignited one end, hobbling over to the group that had just attacked him. Due to his inhibiting wounds, he performed the ugliest Juyo flourish that he had ever performed, striking out at a pair of the droids.

Eevie, noticing that shes been marked by two of the opposition, began to burst speed yet again. Flying across the room, she attempted to plant herself behind some cover.

Winch, with nothing else an option to him, decided to attempt a remote slicing. If he could take control of one of the droids, even for a moment, he could create a distraction.

The droid’s vibrosword only made Xi'ana smile wider. “Can’t catch mee!” she giggled and whirled like a dervish, dancing to the beat of her own song as she weaved around and dodged the weapon.

Winch was going to screw over those droids if it was the last thing he did whilst conscious. He coded the droid to attack the other droids around it..

Eevie, seeing the Droid exiting the building and heading into the desert, searches the room for a terminal of any kind.

“Frack! I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“I don’t know how much longer I’ll be on my own two feet. If you guys see something with a grav lift, throw me over it.”

“Ill give you a lift!” Xee shouted and shot her hand out and pretended to concentrate really hard on lifting Shimmy with just her mind. Her pink face scrunched up as she tried to move him up and out the window.

Teebu popped his head out upside down from a random ventilation shaft, looking around.

He made a quick note of the urgency needed to get out of there, proceeded to the window, and just decides to say screw it; hopefully someone below will catch him as he yeets himself out the window from full running speed.

He’d rather take his chances this way than be blown even further away by the explosion that imminently will be occuring right behind him…

Xi'ana watched the teddy bear chuck himself out and shouted, “You’re supposed to yell parkour!”

Winch tried to make a break for it, but was too injured to do so on his own. “A little help!”

“Allyoop!” Xee launched Winch up and out the window without warning, his limbs helplessly flailing in the air until she placed him gently next to their friends way down there.

Facing the bridge, Xi'ana crossed her arms and fell backwards out of the window, rotating her body into beautiful twists that became a pike and tuck and somersaults before a dismount into the sand so graceful it deserved the highest of awards.

The rest of the team having evacuated Eevie turns to the open hole in the building.

“Beetle, let’s evac!”

The droid and the Mandalorian ran at the hole, activating their jetpack and rockets as they flew through the hole. They sped through the air, making sure that they, and their team made it to a safe distance from the approaching explosion.

Eevie will answer the datapad as the others seem injured or attending to the injured.

“Seems one of your workers was in with the Droid Imperium and allowed the facility to be taken over. An Experimental Tactical Destroyer Droid, a model the worker was tricked into creating, escaped. Whatever it was made of, was powerful enough to take multiple head on shots with my experimental bowcaster without barely a scratch on it. I have evidence of all of this downloaded into my suits AI, and I’ve been recording the events of the day. I feel there will be much to debrief and discuss.”

After speaking, Eevie remembered the old man from the village.

“Also, an elderly man assisted us with a vehicle that I assume he bought from you.”

She fished out the picture of the partying Regent and Voice.

“I’m hopeful that he can be reimbursed with a new ship? I was unable to keep my promise to him that the old one would be safe. We encountered Vulture droids and heavy turrets on approach to the facility.”

“No, the Vulture Droids and Turrets did. There wasn’t any saving it, when we had to get in the facility.”

Xi'ana grins wide, hops up and down and waves emphatically over Eevie’s shoulder at the Regent on the screen. Her neon red bob flings in every direction as she keeps hopping.

“I will be ready to recieve your call. By creed, I give my word that I will assist in any way that I can.”

Eevie bowed to the Regent. Yes she was, by creed, walking the way of the Mand'alore, but she knew that she needed to prove herself Mandalorian. She needed to speak with Socorra of the Erinos clan, and perhaps the Regent himself would be available to her as well.

“If it involves droids, I’m in,” Winch gave a curt nod. He had a personal matter to deal with on Kasiya first, but he’d be ready when the time came.

Xee nodded in agreement. “Adventure!”

“Son of a schuuta. Not again.” Shimrah groaned.