Open Invasion Dusty Dusts Plooroid IV

[Essla Ta'dek]

Essla swore quietly as she looked up at the Kom'rk class ship and the troops descending from it. Now, she was pinned. Run, and the ship would fry her. Stay, and the infantry would fry her. To most people, surrender was the only option. But Essla wasn't most people. While the Glymphid spoke, Essla groped around on her survival belt for a blaster powerpack and grabbed the only one she had. "This had better be worth it," she grumbled, opening the panel and pulling out a few coils. Then, she dropped it and ran, staying low. To everyone else, it would look like she had lost her mind. The real reason exploded about one second later, sending a large cloud of dust and rock into the air. The blast caused Essla to stumble and fall, but she quickly recovered, wiping a clump of dirt off of her helmet's visor and running towards the hill. If she could get there before her opponents recovered from the blast, she would have a much better position.
@Darasuum
@Fantasy Liver

 

[Dusty Daytonus]

Given that Dusty was near the bottom of the hill and Essla was at the top, the explosion didn't really eviscerate so much as it sent a large amount of dirt and pebbles showering down upon the Glymphid king below. It knocked him on his ass and made him quite dirty but given that the alternative was him having a hole where his face was, he wasn't too put out by it.

"Good work boys! If one of you can nab the pesky human running on foot, that'd be much appreciated. Alive if you can." Dusty commed over to his Kordan warriors, before switching his comm channel to hear how the rest of the battle was going. Seemed like the ARC-170 pilot had been the only one on the battlefield to actually be worth a damn since Dusty's forces reported, for the most part, successful forays into enemy territory. The fields that had been set on fire were mostly kept localized, thanks to the firefighting efforts of Ka'ra'yc and Dusty's ace.

If the battle progressed in the most likely manner, victory would soon be Dusty's. All that was left was to make sure this annoyingly good human didn't somehow hop into another ship to cause trouble. Now that Essla was running away, Dusty had time to grab his dropped pistol and head over to her ARC-170. The odds of her doubling back for her crashed ship was unlikely but Dusty didn't want to take any chances. He was confident that the Kordan mercenaries would be well-equipped to catch a lone human on foot.

And if they weren't, he might have to seriously reconsider their bonuses.

@Darasuum @Interdictor

 

[Ka'ra'yc]

The average biped was decent at cross-country running. While the twi'lek had a head start, an explosive cloud to cover her escape and could probably run for awhile, it would not do much against an airborne host with jetpacks and advanced shipboard sensors. Ka'ra'yc wanted to make sure that their patron was safe before giving chase personally. While the green skinned woman attempted to gain some distance the simian commander spoke to the glimphid monarch. "ARC-170s typically have a minimum crew requirement of 3 pilots and 1 astromech." It was one reason why he personally found them atrocious. The King probably already knew as much about the ship design but he hoped that Dusty understood what he was implying.

He spoke to the crew of the Kom'rk and gave them orders. "If she's alone now, she was not when she was flying. Search the wreckage for more bodies, a droid and report what you find."

The three other kordans that remained would join Ka'ra'yc and spread out in the sky in a search pattern. With that being said, Ka'ra'yc's jetpack ignited as his large form took once again to the sky. The jetpacks carried each of the nearly one ton gorillas through the sky along with their heavy armaments and bad tempers. He remained at least a dozen meters above the tree line but otherwise low until he was past the cloud of dirt and smoke left by Essla. The Vhett clan member searched the ground below for his quarry and anticipated a counter attack.

@Fantasy Liver @Interdictor sorry for the super late reply

 

[Essla Ta'dek]

Essla managed to make it back to her original spot on the hill without being shot, which was nice. Apparently, the explosion had done its job. Now that she was in cover (at least for now), she contemplated her options. Option one was to make a stand and shoot it out, but that wouldn't get her anything. She'd just get killed. Option two, on the other hand, was much more viable: run for the Wespre and try to escape to friendly territory on whatever systems remained operational on the fighter. If the fighter didn't work? Well, she would need to surrender. "Cee-Too," she said into her comm, "See if you can prepare the ship." A mournful whine was the reply. "Well, do the best you can. I just need enough power to take off." Without waiting for an answer, she shut off her comm and pocketed it, then sprinted down the hill and across the open field to her ship. Please don't see me, please don't see me... she repeated over and over in her head, looking back over her shoulder to see if any of the enemy troops had seen her.
@Fantasy Liver @Darasuum (All good)

 

[Dusty Daytonus]

"Noted. Uh...so speaks the king." Dusty radioed to Ka'ra'yac casually, before quickly adjusting. In the heat of battle, he sometimes forgot he was supposed to carry a certain sense of gravitas with every word he spoke. You know, general king stuff.

He rolled his eyes a bit though at the Kodrans warning about the ARC-170. Of course he knew about the crew requirement. The Glymphid king used to be a swoop racer and transport pilot. That being said, he didn't see any trace of other copilots or gunners as he arrived at the ARC-170.

What he did see was a pesky looking astromech that looked ready to power up the ship and take it away from Dusty's prying hands. A couple shots at a prone astromech head wasn't terribly difficult for Dusty to make and while the droid might be able to repaired later, it was temporarily disabled and the Arc was stuck now.

@Darasuum @Interdictor


Ooc: did essla have two other pilots? Not sure if it was mentioned. Fine with whatever but assuming they died or bailed on the crash if she did since they weren't mentioned anywhere else.

 

[Ka'ra'yc]

The distant thunder of the Guerrila Group's capital ships rolled across the hills. Booms like mountains erupting and cracks of lightening storms were emulated with the firing of cannons and dropping of bombs. Collumns of smoke continued to rise across the landscape as defensive Plooroid emplacements burned along with fields they had set alight themselves. All of it was just backdrop for what was happening right now in front of Ka'ra'yc and Dusty.

The sight was clear for the airborne mandalorian. His roaring jetpack was not loud enough to drown out the wind or the distant sounds of combat. But the far away battlefields were not the chieftain's concern. He needed to find this pilot and anyone else nearby.

The Kordan's eyes scanned the trees and ground for any sign of his quarry. His men also kept their eyes open for any sign of movement. It was hard to do and Ka'ra'yc may have almost missed the green skinned twi'lek among the flora. He let out an ape-like grunt and huff before relaying the ARC-170's pilot and the direction she was moving.

He flew thirty meters over the ground as his trio of warriors aligned with him and banked with their jetpacks. The four figures were within range with their weapons. But Ka'ra'yc held his fire with his shatterbeam rifle. The deadly weapon was lethal and had no stun setting so the Kordan secured it on his back. He replaced two handed rifle with a pair of westar sidearms and promptly switched them to stun. The dual heavy blasters each fired four times for a total of eight blue circles of stunning energy aimed at the pilot's center of mass and a little ahead to compensate for motion. As he fired he would try to close the distance and get even closer. If blasters did not work, Ka'ra'yc was fine throttling the twi'lek until she was unconcious, if that's what it took.

@Fantasy Liver @Interdictor

 

[Essla Ta'dek]

Essla looked up just in time to see the Glymphid pilot shoot Cee-Too. "No!" she cried, bringing up her E-11 to the firing position and pulling the trigger, sending ten blasts right at the offending enemy ace. Her focus, solely on her ship and the events around it, didn't sense the stun blasts until it was too late. She dove to the side, but unfortunately for her one of the shots still caught her lower leg. Fortunately for the Twi'lek, the blast was off-center enough and the armorweave of her leg provided enough protection that she didn't fall unconscious. Still, the hit was enough to down her. She crumpled and fell onto her back, gasping as the shock overloaded her nerves. Her limbs tingled, her vision blurred, and her fingers released her blaster, sending it flying into the brush. "Owww…" she groaned. Her semi-functioning brain managed to think Well, kriff. The only good news was that when she fell her lekku hadn't been hit by her helmet. Instead the two appendages were splayed awkwardly to either side of her head.
@Darasuum @Fantasy Liver (No, no other pilots. Essla reorganized the controls a long time ago so she could fire from the pilot's seat.)

 

[Dusty Daytonus]

Getting off ten shots before diving off to the side was a bit time consuming. Either Essla took the time to aim each shot, meaning the stunblast hit her before all ten got off or she wildly fired all ten before diving. Either way, Dusty wasn't quite dealing with ten shots aimed at his person but, given their positions, a hit was inevitable. The blaster bolt in question hit his leg, prompting a string of expletives from the monarch that sounded most unkingly.

He crawled towards one of the ARC-170's landing gear for cover and took a couple of hastily aimed potshots to try and keep his assailant down. Little did he know, the assailant in question had already been hit by Ka'ra'yc.

As he crouched under cover, his comm kept squawking out updates about the battle. Resistance had been fierce but the Ploo forces had taken control of the skies and it seemed like only a matter of time before air superiority gave the ground forces the victory as well.

OOC: With Essla now immobilized, fine to wrap up the invasion @Interdictor @Darasuum ?

 

[Ka'ra'yc]

The humongous mandalorian descended with a surprising agility and degree of grace as his jetpack flared to decelerate his mass. His blaster pistols remained raised and pointed at the unconcious Twi'lek but kept his senses on alert for any other threat. This was still a warzone. Ka'ra'yc also did not know that Essla had modified her starship to operate on a crew of two and thus remained on guard.

He was soon joined by other members of Guerilla Group that gave the immediate vicinity a sense of security. The Kordan used his dexterious feet to grasp and secure the pilot's weapons. He holstered his pistols and picked the twi'lek up by the back of her flight suit vest. His warriors had been killed by this pilot and he had the opportunity to kill her and get revenge. The warlord's nostrils flared as his warriors looked on, waiting to see what he would do.

Ka'ra'yc's heartbeat was pounding in his ears but in the end he overcame his bloodlust. "Clear." He said for the injured monarch's sake. Continuing to carry the pilot by the back of her vest like she was luggage, the Kordan walked to their ship unless Dusty protested. They would scoure the ARC-170 for anything of use and collected the droid as well. However, the present location was not suitable for an interrogation and they had an invasion to get back to.

@Fantasy Liver @Interdictor Sounds good to me.

 

[Essla Ta'dek]

When the big ape-being descended and hoisted her up by the back of her armor, her first (groggy) thought was well, there goes my neck. Fortunately for both her neck and her continued existence, her neck did not go anywhere but instead remained nice and secure on her shoulders where it belonged. Essla remained limp, dimly aware of her captor going over to her ship and picking up Cee-Too as well. She hoped they didn't trash the Wespre. It had taken forever to fix up, but it was probably worth a pretty penny even in this beat-up state.

"Next time," she mumbled, voice slurring, "Not shooting me down...would be nice." Immediately after she said this, the effects of the stun shot overtook the Twi'lek, and she lapsed into unconsciousness.
@Fantasy Liver @Darasuum (Sounds good.)