[TEF] Don't Get In Our Way

[Liam]

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The vehicle bay was abuzz with activity when Grace arrived, rifle in hand. The activity wasn't really anything new, but she marveled at it all the same. Somewhere in the vast room a welding torch could be heard in operation, drums of water were being lifted via crane on the beds of half-tracks, and new vehicles rolling off the GR-75's into the area. Well new, being a relative term. Nothing the TEF possessed was exactly state of the art. Either way, their equipment was still in good condition and there were no complaints coming from the volunteers that were stationed there. Grace had been on convoy duty before, but the one she was about to go on was a bit different. The other times the goal had simply been to get from point A to point B. This one though had a double purpose. Not only were they open up the first real trade route between the TEF base and Wayfar, but they were to dissuade any Tuskens they came across from interfering again.

This differed from other times where the Tuskens shot at them, and they shot back, but neither really went after each other. This time though, the TEF was going armed to the teeth. In addition to the four Ronto's carrying tons of liquid water that would be used as currency, an equal number of Sand-rats were being readied for combat. What the Tuskens had in stealth, and an intuitive understanding of the terrain, the TEF had in firepower. Lots and lots of firepower, compared to what the Tuskens could bring to bear. The quad-blaster cannon's on the back of each would be more than enough to deal with any raiders.

At least Grace hoped they would be as she headed through the crowded bay towards one of them. She looked at each of the Sand-rats closely until she found her Baby, the transport that she called hers. The TEF wasn't really a military in the traditional sense, none of the spit and polish that would have accompanied an old GA, or an Imperial operation was here. Nobody arrived at the exact same time, so leaning against her vehicle, Grace figured she a bit of time before everything was assembled and they set off. She double checked to make sure her rifle was in working order, that she had a comlink in case anything went wrong, and of course that her green goggles didn't have a scratch on them.

 

[Andrewza]

Derik walked through the bay and watched has a swarm of mechanics completed there final checks and works finished loading the supplies. No one said any thing, there was n nothing to say, every man and women knew there job. Finally Derik spotted Grace. Walking up to her Derik gave a friendly greeting. "Good day, so is this the convoy to Wayfar?"

 

[Liam]

"It sure is." Grace replied to Derik, a Dressellian whom she had met a few days before. Grace greeted the man with a friendly smile before gesturing to the vehicles around her."Impressive, is it not?" she asked the older man. "4 Ronto Half Tracks, 4 Sand-rats. We're pretty decked out for this mission." Grace had a nervous energy about her, but the emotion was mostly just excitement for the mission to begin. After a few more moments of preparation and waiting, the large group that had gathered began entering the vehicles, ready to go on the move. Grace was about to get into her own Sand-rat when she stopped herself and turned to Derik.

"You wanna drive or get on the turret?" she asked, trying to be courteous to her fellow volunteer. Grace preferred driving, but she would let her new companion get first choice. After all, this wasn't a solo mission. Grace would have to learn that everything wasn't always about her, and she has to make exceptions every once in a while for teammates.

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[Andrewza]

Derik looked the convoy over. He had seen better but that was a life time ago in the GA.

"While hope fully it is enough"

Walking towards the half track Derrik gave a nod to the gun. "I will take the gunners seat."

Jumping in the back Derrik straped him self in. The eletric drive of the turret made no sound and the display consil showed green lights accross the board. She was not pretyy but she was in tip top shap.

 

[Liam]

"Sounds good to me." Grace called to her companion, who had jumped into the Sand-Rat's turret. The Siren yanked open the door to the Half Track, climbing into it's warm cabin. She turned the ignition and the vehicle roared to life, kicking on the air conditioner along the way. Grace let out a soft sigh as the cool air poured into the driver's seat, cooling the woman down from the hot desert air. She rolled down her window and stuck her head outside, calling first to Derik. "You all good?" she asked him, making sure the man was ready to go. Once his reply came, she turned her head to the front and shouted to the trucks at the front of the long line of vehicles. "Let's get a move on! We're killing daylight." After the last remaining volunteers had either gotten into a vehicle or left the bay, the convoy was ready to go. The first Sand-Rat lurched forward, followed by another, followed by the four Ronto's. Another Sand-Rat came after those, with Grace, Derik, and, of course, Baby bringing up the rear. The Ronto's were carrying enormous amounts of the Force's water, which was going to be used to trade and sell once the TEF made it to Wayfar. Unfortunately, that meant that the four transports would have to be unarmed, which left them open to all sorts of attacks. It was the volunteers in the Sand-Rats responsibilities to protect these shipments at all costs.

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The group was making good time so far. The weather was, as usual, hot and uneventful. The same went for the roads. Grace kept her eyes peeled at all times, carefully awaiting anything that might happen. The TEF had been getting multiple reports that a large group of Tuskens had been spotted out this way. With the group so exposed like this, Grace wouldn't be surprised if there were some sort of ambush. The Sand-Rats' armor was strong against Tusken cycler rifles, and the Rontos had also been modified to add more protection. However, they wouldn't be able to last too long if they were completely pinned down. With her eyes still looking ahead of her, Grace stuck her head out the window and called to the Dressellian in the turret. "See anything?" She asked, curious about his input.​

 

[Andrewza]

Once he was straped in Derik reposed to the qustion. "Good to go."


The convoy rolling through accrose the road. All though the term road was incorect. No man build it. It was just hard ground. So even though the escorts could drive a straight line over the dunes they weaved there way on ground hard enough for the transports.

Peering accross the horizen Derik could see nothing. But the tusken where masters at ambush and stealth. So it did not mean that they where alone.

"Nah, I see nothing."

 

[Liam]

Grace was a bit relieved to hear that nothing unusual had surprised them. However, her satisfaction quickly dissipated as the Sand-rat's radio crackled to life. "Um, Grace, this is Reggie." Reginald was another Desert Krayt, a human that Grace had grown quite fond of. He was driving the Sand-rat that was at the front of the convoy, so his eyes would be the first to notice any sort of problems. "Go ahead, Reg." Grace replied, holding the dusty handset to her mouth. "We're going to have to stop the trucks." he stated, a drop of worry in his voice. "Why's that?" the woman asked, obviously concerned. "There's something blocking the 'road'." "What is it?!" Grace practically yelled, slightly angered by how long it was taking Reggie to report. The radio was silent for a couple of seconds. Suddenly, Reggie's voice came back on, only saying one word:

"Banthas."

The Twi'lek girl's eyes grew wide. The front of the convoy slowed, and Grace pushed her foot down on the brakes, gently coming to a stop. "Everyone, keep your eyes peeled." She didn't have to explain further. Everyone knew, where you found Banthas, you'd find Tuskens. Grace grabbed her rifle from the passenger seat and exited the cab of the truck, slamming the door. Her brown boots slid slightly as she the loose sand below her repositioned. She looked through her scope at the area around the vehicles. The terrain went upward slightly around the convoy, which meant that they could be ambushed easily at any time.​

 

[Andrewza]

The chance of a ambush was rather high now. They where in a very poor position tactically. "cant we just shoot our way through the heard?" Derick asked to no one in particular. scaning the area Derik sear he spotted something. "Movement 9 o clock, I think we got company."

 

[Liam]

Grace's senses snapped to attention as Derick let out the warning. She lifted up her pair of binoculars and aimed them at where the Dressellian had indicated. Sure enough, a small pack of Tuskens had positioned themselves in a dune high above the convoy. Grace looked closer, and it was only a few seconds until she realized that they were positioning weapons. "Get down!" she shouted, but her warning was too late. A volley of rifle shots rang out, blaster bolts raining down on the group. A single shot whizzed past Grace's head, inches away from hitting the Twi'lek in her face. The Siren lifted up her rifle and sent three shots into the swarm, which had now doubled in size. She pegged one of the Tuskens in the chest, causing it to collapse. Running to the opposite side of her Sand-Rat, she called out to everyone around her. "Is anyone hurt?" Only one person was hit, a passenger of one of the Rontos. The wound was in the leg, and it wouldn't be fatal, so Grace was relieved. "We need to protect the water and get rid of these damn Tuskens!" she shouted, emptying a clip of her rifle into the crowd of sand people above them.​

 

[Andrewza]

Derik acted on muscel memoray. Squicing the triger has soon has the tusken fired there first voly. The rapid fire cannons killed no matter where they hit. Soon sand on the dune was kicked up by the 4 quad lasser cannons. But it seemed this was a distrancstion. From oposit ridge tusken began to fire. Has both groups of tusken where elvated there was no risk of them shooting each other.


"We need to get out the kill zone"