Log:First Order/All: Civic Outreach

The First Order go in hard. The Resistance comes back harder. Innocent people die.

OOC Date: December 9, 2015
Location: Nar Shaddaa
Participants: Fuze, Triz Dermout, Rheisa Dirleel, Eilam, Sabella Lockheart, Corr Waldin, Kath Hounds, First Order

The First Order's presence on Nar Shaddaa has not been unopposed, and recently the resistance (with a small 'r') against them has become more palpable. Graffiti and low-level sabotage, stones thrown at First Order speeders and the like, were the norm. Now, however, on- and off-duty First Order soldiers have been attacked, and in some cases killed or disappeared, so much so that patrols have doubled in force in the slum districts where these brutal events have taken place, and air support has been added.

Now, new forces have arrived on the planet, and in the early hours of the morning, those night-dwellers of the underbelly of the city find white-armored troops marching in lock-step down the streets, escorted by armored speeders with heavy blasters on turret mounts, and with overflights of TIEs, their twin ion engines screaming overhead at low altitude.

The First Order tactics become brutally clear. Across the slums, doors are being kicked in or blasted open, individuals identified by name. One such name is "Mitla Chury?" a Sergeant growls, and when a pale-faced near-human, groggy with sleep, nods in the affirmative, two Troopers seize him by the arms and drag him into the street...and shoot him in the head. As his body collapses and his shrieking wife runs to the corpse, another Trooper tosses an incendiary grenade through the doorway of the pitiful apartment, flames bursting out of the shattering windows. Scenes like this, different names and peoples, are taking place across the underbellyies of the Hutt and Spaceport districts. Amplified voices boom from the support vehicles: "This is the First Order! Resistance will not be tolerated! Citizens of Nar Shaddaa will comply with Lord Gnuda's orders! The Peace will be enforced!" And those sort of helpful civic outreach statements.

It didn't take long for the word of the new tactics being deployed this morning to get to Hound Base and the Resistance (with a big 'R') heard of it. Triz was at breakfast when the call came in. Not even a full cup of coffee down before she was running to get into her flight gear and to Spark 4. The usual non-superstitious preflight rituals are done the last being a kiss to her lips and then onto the dash of the X-Wing. Belts tight, DATE, her R2 unit loaded and plugged in, the engines of the fighter wind up. <<Spark Four, taking off to vector Alpha Alpha Seven>> she says then takes off into the air, climbing up to gain altitude as she banks the fighter towards the last location of the Helmet heads. "Be sharp, DATE, we got to look both high and low," which the R2 unit beeps back affirmative.

Sabella Lockheart was out early, way early that she ever expected honestly and was on a supply run for a few parts she needed for a ship or two, well perhaps three honestly but that is not the point. The point is she missed any new of the white marching band coming to town and is just now making her way out from a shop looking over something she picked up and pondering it seems before tucking it into her shoulder bag. The mechanic has on a dark black shirt, blue pants, boots and an olive green patchwork jacket that has a bunch of different patches from different planets are sewen into it, she also has a pair of goggles upon her head and a pair of ear like buds rest within her ears and she is about to flick some music on until some movement catches her attention and the sudden booming voice is heard. "Bloody heck..." There is no time to send anything over the comms though seeing how close they are, she is actually a touch unsure if they would be able to pick something up at this range. She turns and is starting to walk the other way, perhaps she can just play the dumb and she even flicks her music on. See... Can't hear you, can't see you.. Nope...

Eilam himself usually wasn't out this late, especially in this part of town. The only reason he /was/ here? Business for his Hutt owner. Specifically, rubbing elbows and looking pretty for various business partners who were looking to import and export some less-than-legal merchandise. The Ghostling, who was looking fairly like he belonged in some kind of Twi'lek nightclub with his current outfit being garish and quite easily stand-out to the rest of the 'seedier' locations of the underbelly led to a lot of looks. Though the sounds of chaos and the likes led to Eilam quietly moving to the side of the walkway he was on and stopping what he was doing to just turn and watch as in the distance, he saw some commotion going on. Lord Gnuda? Well, that was a good enough reason alone for Eilam to just stand still, hands held together in front of him while otherwise holding onto a datapad, having fallen into 'well-behaved slave' mode. Which was the usual mode with him, to be fair.

"Nah...dau grut. Mehkt yau." A soft whisper barely permeates the trembling air as an orange and white face peeps cautiously from the shadows between buildings. An atrocity this way cometh. Wide eyes grow wider still as masked bodies in white pull a disoriented family from their home, throwing accusing words. The rumble of many stomping feet stirs the ground beneath her bare toes. The overhead thunder and whine of their armored birds only worsens this assault on her senses. And emotions. Well, the Muse's little curator thinks to herself, today's breakfast run is officially over. Three small bodies laden the weight of her satchel. A fourth was about to be devoured, but Rheisa's appetite is suddenly no longer there.

It was only a matter of time before this sort of thing started happening. Corr has seen it a dozen times on a dozen worlds. The white plastic bucketheads move in, play friendly, and blow the whole town to bits. Now he's been tasked to lead a tiny strike force to disrupt the anti-'sedition' tactics, himself and two other fireteam members. They've split up to cover ground more rapidly, keeping in touch on a scrambled comm channel. The sound of explosions and the scent of smoke begin to grow loud as they make their way through the streets, Corr dressed in civilian protective gear with a more civilian Quicksnap slung over his shoulder instead of a standard Resistance rifle. Totally just an ordinary guy, everyone.

Triz is wise to be checking up as well as down. For her sensors pick up that as well as the TIEs skimming the surface below, navigating through the narrow concrete canyons of the undercity, there's also two TIEs up in the clouds, circling. Waiting.

Sabella finds her way blocked by two of a patrol of six Troopers; a man and a woman, to judge by the armor, and it's the woman who speaks. "You," she snaps, "You seen this woman?" A holoflyer is thrust at her; the woman in the flyer is young, blonde, and a complete stranger to Sabella. The two Troopers have moved in close, one in front, the other closing in from the side. Intimidation 101. The same patrol, standing in the drizzle in the middle of the street watching two of their kind interrogate Sabella, spot Eilam. "Hey," one jeers to his companion, "Get yourself a piece of that." The shorter companion Trooper's helmet is directed towards the well-behaved slave for a long moment before she says clearly, "Not my type. Maybe yours, HY-1848." And there's snickering from a third. The final member of the sextet has spotted Rheisa lurking, and he casually lifts his rifle to his shoulder, aiming it at the Togruta, waiting for Rheisa to look back at him. He's toying with her. And not in a nice way. "Reckon I can shoot a tentacle off?" he announces generally. Corr's arrival goes unnoticed, what with the multiple distractions going on to this particular patrol. Their armored speeder is pulled up in the next street; it has a crew of two, a gunner and a driver, and the driver is relieving himself on a small bucket someone's filled with earth and planted some flowers in, by a doorway. A splash of color in the dismal concrete gray, now splattered and battered down by the man's piss. His companion, a buxom female, cradles the heavy blaster that's pointed skyward, idly watching the passers-by.

DATE sounds the alarm as instructed by Triz. A quick look at the scans then up through the transparasteel canopy of her fighters "What say we take care of those up high, make those down low come chase us, DATe?" She doesn't make a straight line for it, flows with the direction of most of the early morning traffic but steadily climbs upwards. She falls away from them before she pulls hard back on the stick and goes to get above those that were above her. When she feels that they are now below her she turns the fighter, spreads the S-foils and heads in on an attack profile, aiming the trailing one first.

For the time being, the Ghostling stood still, straight, silent. Eyes forward, not really looking around. The slight glow of the ghostling against the otherwise pale and dark areas did make them standout even if not for the garish outfit. That said, a soft sound causes Eilam to look down as he adjusts the datapad to look at it, pausing before touching it with a finger. Somewhere else in Nar Shaddaa, a message was sent to the slaves datapad. 'Rumors of violence in the area you were sent to. See that you are unharmed and return as you can. - A'

Upon seeing the message, though, Eilam looked up and noticed one of the troopers seemed to be looking at him. The look was briefly returned before he looked down at the datapad again as if considering something only to step a bit closer and say aloud, "I am a slave of a member of the Hutt Cartel. I have been asked to return to my owner. May I depart or am I to stay here, per Lord Gnuda's orders?" The datapad was half offered. Totally suspcious, though, right? Someone asking to leave? Surely no one was that... direct and open? To be fair Eilam didn't exactly seem scared, so much as he was simply going along. Almost droid-like in demeanor, though quite alive.

Sabella Lockheart pauses and her gaze lifts to the pair that happen to be before her and she tilts her head slightly and a faint ah escapes her before the music is flicked off and she glances to the woman in question. "No... Should I?" Is qustioned after a moment as she lifts a hand to pluck the little earbuds free, they don't have any wires and are thus tucked into her pockets. She is relaxed though so the intimidation bit doesn't seem to be really working on her at the moment at least. A curious glance sent towards the two looking over to Eilam, the comments making her frown a touch and then comments send about shooting something off someone makes her head lift a bit more and she eyes the ones toying with with another further down. "Hey... Don't need to do that. You scare the piss out of enough people around here." Another approaching well she does send a glance over though her attentin is back towards the fellas and ladies in white at the moment.

Rheisa's gaze is lowered dismally downward, studying the headless rat cradled in her palms. A twinge of regret forms in her gut for it and its three companions, as the possibility arises that their deaths may have been for naught. Like many of the civilians whose bodies already line the streets elsewhere. Her lips silently move in utterance of a prayer and she lays the fourth to rest with the others, in the bag.

At last, the Togruta lifts her eyes to acknowledge the squad that her montrals have been abuzz about for quite some time. She stares, looking not at the barrel aimed at her, but into the souless pits where eyes ought be on that masked face. Hunter vs hunter. One, of course, is grossly outarmed. She takes one small step forward, left hand tapping her staff along to assist. And another step. And another. She's out of the shadow now and cants her head to the right. "I see...there are six of you," her right hand flashes the number with an assist from her left index finger. "I have only four. But maybe you share, if you so hungry for blood." Stiffly, she shrugs the satchel off and holds it at arm's length.

"Tracker, fade back," Corr hisses quietly into his comm unit, moving to cling to the nearest wall as he presses himself into the frame of a door to watch the squad of troopers do their generally oppressive business. "Ewok, you too. Swing east, track back this way from a block down or two." Careful, wary eyes peer around the doorframe, counting the stormtroopers and making note of their positions. "We'll do the old Corellian ring, copy that." Nothing. "Copy that. Tracker, you out there?" Nothing. "Krif."

The trailing TIE is slow to respond, but the lead TIE whips round in a stomach-churning maneuvre that spins it almost like a top. The shield spreaders creak and twist under the torque but hold, and then it's going head to head against Triz's X-wing, opening up with the laser cannon as it nears. There's definitely something familiar about that trick, that piloting....confirmed a moment later by Fuze's cheerful voice in Triz's ear on an open channel, "Ever played chicken, babe?"

The shorter female Trooper glances uncertainly at what by the shoulder flashes on his pauldrons must be the squad leader, but he's tied up with Sabella. So she looks back at Eilam. "We gotta leave the slaves alone, right?" she asks generally, and without waiting for an answer she grunts and gestures. "Go. Get out of here." She's speaking loudly and slowly, as though Eilam might be hard of hearing or hard of thinking. "Go home."

The trooper trying to intimidate Rheisa steps forwards, his rifle lowering towards the satchel. "What's in that?" he barks suspiciously. "Sergeant, we got something here....it's a bomb!" And the rifle comes up towards Rheisa but does not, as yet, fire.

The words catch the ears of the man with Sabella. Leaving the female Stormtrooper to deal with Earbuds, he turns towards the end of the street where Rheisa is. "Damn Togruta!" he snarls as he marches towards her. A block over, the one with the weak bladder calls up, "You help me fix this?" The female Trooper sneers and looks away, leaving the man to fumble with his own groin cup and armor. They're oblivious to Corr's approach.

<<Well, glad to see you can make it to the party>> Triz says over the open coms before she fires a burst from her Taim & Bak KX9 laser cannons then pulls up as hard as she can to get out of the head on approach by the crazy TIE driver. <<Ooops, that had'a hurt>> she calls back as she wheels the nimble fighter on over to complete a loop "DATE, keep an eye on that trailing TIE if you would," to which the R2 unit beeps madly. At the top of the loop Triz throws Spark 4 over so she is once again right side up and dives back at the TIE.

Oops. Rheisa freezes, doing her best impression of turu grass in the stagnant, summer air. Which of course is useless in this urban environment of gray and shit. It's just dumb instinct, a throwback to the days of primitive living. Purple-flecked eyes dart left, watching one of the two troopers harassing the civilian woman abandon the act in favor of pursuing her. She smiles a close-lipped smile. "Is not bomb. Is food." As though that's going to allay their concerns. "You do not have to take. But I offer."

Sabella Lockheart woul dbe ok being called Earbuds, she could be called worse after all. She looks to the Stormtrooper before her then back towards the Togruta once more and a brow is lifted at the talk of a bomb. "Honestly... If someone wanted to blow you lot up I'm thinking they wouldn't just wander out and offer it to you like that." Though she does half eye the bag pondering if it is a bomb for a moment there. She even inches back a few steps because well, if it is she is going to dive behind the lady trooper for cover perhaps.

"Thank you." came Eilam's response, nodding his head and starting to turn only to hear the 'It's a bomb' as well as hear ships start firing overhead, flinching a bit and turning to look to try and figure out what he should do exactly. Eilam wasn't a fighter, nor was he particularly the most intelligent when it came to tactics or anything of the sort. He usually just did what he was asked without complaint. So he defaulted back to the 'See to it you're unharmed' bit in the last message he received and began to leave.

"If there's a bomb you should all leave as well." he said helpfully towards the trooper who had instructed him to go, stepping away a bit quicker now. Though the ships fighting overhead did seem to worry him a bit more than the bomb, if only because he was fairly certain where the bomb was(Over there), but the ships were all over the place above and who knew if one of those stray shots would hit near him.

It's not clear what's gone wrong with Corr's backup, and he doesn't have the time or inclination to figure it out. He's facing down the crew of the vehicle, which happens to sport the biggest gun the ground side of things has to offer, which easily makes it the biggest threat to everyone on the street. There seems to be a bomb threat distracting the rest of the Stormtroopers, and this poor sap has his dick in his hand. Pretty much literally.

The soldier decides this is what you would call the 'opportune moment' and whips his Quicksnap carbine into a firing position before the Stormtroopers can notice him and unleashes a rapid salvo at ol' Bladder Control over there, shots cracking out like static thunder.

The crazy TIE pilot holds her course, even as the shields shiver and die at the incoming fire. Electricity courses through the little fighter, panels sparking and displays dying as the shields go down, and take with them the fire controls. That's why she doesn't return fire, even as the X-wing exposes its underbelly to her. Fuze whips the TIE around to try to follow, cutting across the arc of Triz's path as she fights to reset her circuitbreakers.

Rheisa's bag is causing mass confusion. All the Troopers are now paying attention, the female beside Sabella turning her back to 'Earbuds', poor Eilam ignored, the First Order thugs fanning out around the frail form of Rheisa. "Open it!" barks the Sergeant, gesturing. "Drop it!" chips in the original fellow who was talking about shooting her. Who knows what it's safe to do, with the contradictory orders flying around.

A street away, Bladder Control takes two rounds in the back and pitches forwards, face smacking into the wall as he sprawls onto his side in a compromising position. The female on the turret stares in shock, utters an expletive, and swings round to return fire!

The X-Wings shield light up and flash colors as the strike from the TIE find their mark. "DATE, see if you can repair those, I'm gonna need them," Triz calls out. Even with getting slammed around in the cockpit she still gets Spark 4 lined up, though very briefly, onto the TIE and fires. But the move is just to much and by the time her mind says pull and her finger reacts the TIE is gone. "Damnit" she curses. DATE of course has something to squawk about when she does "Yes, yes, I know," Glancing back over her shoulder as the TIE now has the rear advantage on her. "Hold on, DATE," She pulls back on the stick at the same time cuts the throttles back to nearly a full stop. Being in the atmosphere the air brakes her speed, her hope is that the TIE will fly right under her. If so she will slam the nose over and put the power full on and take a rear shot on the TIE.

The outburst of shrieking fighter fire overhead jerks Rheisa out of her relatively calm composure. You'd think a whip had cracked 'cross her back, the way she flinches. And then there's the distant sound of blaster rapport - nothing new on Nar. But still sad. The Togruta's skin twitches with a minute shiver as she bows her head aside at a slight angle, eyes averted, and she sloooowly stoops to her right knee to best accomodate both orders. Dropping means to put on ground, and opening means to, well, open! The flap gets peeled dramatically back to reveal...lumps. Furry lumps. Three whole duracrete rats and 1 headless.

"S-see?" She breathes. "Is food." The rats aren't beeping, blinking, or detonating. A silver band on her left wrist IS beeping, however, alerting to the quickening pace of her faulty heart. She closes her eyes, lips pursed. Those headtails are arched just slightly away at their bases, stripes boldening.

Sabella Lockheart frowns as she watches, her gaze lifting slightly at the sound of airfire and she glances to the stormtrooper that was near her and she looks back to the others near Rheisa. "Enough.. Look she can't hurt you what could she do sneeze on you give me a break?" She isn't to sure what else she can possible down and actually moves forward a few steps towards Rheisa once the other seems to be on the edge of falling apart there. "The rats sure look like bombs..." Is muttered out at the furry lumps.

Let the fun begin. Corr quickly folds himself back inside the doorframe, hoping he was able to get back behind cover before the female 'trooper had a chance to see exactly where the shots were coming from. He did seem to have the element of surprise with poor Bladder Control, there. Taking a few quick breathes and then one long, steady inhalation, the man springs out from around his cover again, short-barreled rifle spraying a volley of bolts directly at the armored woman. Practiced aim and precision pays off.

The old airbrakes trick. Fuze has seen that before, hell, she played it on Triz not a week ago...and she rolls the TIE as she comes up on the X-wing, trying to give both herself and her gunner an opportunity to fire...but she isn't expecting that trick to be played on her quite so soon!

One of the Trooper goons around Rheisa spots the beeping flashing thing on her arm. "BOMB!" he yells, bringing his rifle up, and fires! The others dive for cover, doorways and a long-abandoned civilian speeder; mercifully none of them bar trigger-happy over there actually fire at poor Rheisa; Sabella is ignored, the female Trooper nearest her pressing herself into a doorway lest Rheisa explode!

One street over, Corr steps out of the doorway before the gunner can adjust her aim. Two of his bolts fly true; they strike her in the chest and belly, melting the armor plates and the flesh beneath, burning away her organs as she is flung backwards; her heel catches at the base of the gun and she dangles inverted, arms brushing the ground, her helmet rolling off down the slope of the street, short curly blonde hair framing vacant, dulling eyes.

It worked, but the skill of Fuze didn't give her the greatest opportunity she was hoping for. Yes she hit, no she didn't bring the TIE down but damage was done. With the throttles full to the wall she twists and turns so that neither the pilot nor the gunner should have a good shot on her. A slight pull up of the nose before she slams the stick forward all the way till she is screaming downwards to the durasteel canyons below and the action that is going on on the ground. Rolling the ship in tight loops so she can get a good picture of the city and streets below her. <<Spark Four coming down to take out the big guns>> she calls out over the Resistance scrambled Channel. <<Coming in from Sector Charlie Golf Delta>>.

There's a shout. It's a bad word, the way the vocoder screams it. There's a noise. It's worse.

What may have been an instantly fatal shot turns just less so as the submitting Togruta makes an effort to twist away from the angry rifle fractions of a second before it fires that burst of plasma. An inhuman shriek, TRULY out of this world, wails high into the air. It's shrill. It's warbling. It's a noise that is meant to carry a distance and warn the pack of impending doom. Like a swan song, only uglier. Grade A banshee quality here, folks. What makes it worse is the visual granted by those wrinkling, snarling lips - a glistening set of unfurled fangs, one of which still has a small clinger of rat tissue smudged around the base.

Eventually, that ear-murdering howl dies away, as does the cursed breath it was born on. Rheisa lays crumpled, hands clutched over her smoldering, right ride. Awfully close to the lung, but apparently not close enough to keep her quiet. Initially. Her whole body quakes, The offending PulseOx continues to quietly blip its alarm.

<<Tracker, do you read me, repeat, Tracker, Ewok, come in,>> Corr calls doggedly over the comm channel, switching it over to the open channel to try again in time to miss Triz's transmission. <<Ewok, Tracker, do you->> And then a howl splits the night like the cry of a Banshee haunting the highlands, coming from the next street over, quick on the heels of a 'bomb' and the sound of blaster fire. Without a word, the soldier is moving, ducking into an alleyway and sprinting towards the sound. A fence rises up to meet him, tall disjointed bars woven together cleverly to make climbing more difficult, but undeterred, he flings himself upon them, scrabbling up with some difficulty and then dismounting in an ungainly manner on the other side. Okay, he falls.

The scream there is enough to make Sabella pause and she is quiet there just watching, everything is in slow motion and she is in shock there for a few moments that the trooper actually just shoot the other. "No!!" Is half yelped out but it is to late and Rheisa is on the ground. With the troopers diving for cover the mechanic actually darts froward towards the fallen woman and holds her hands up slightly. "I'm not going to hurt you, please... Let me try and help you." Honestly Sabe is not one for battle especially when innocents are around. A rag (YES CLEAN) is pulled from her bag and she is moving to try and press it to fallen Rheisa's side. So what if there are some troopers around with itchy trigger fingers, right? The pulseox is looked at slightly and it dawns on her what it is, though at the moment even she knows that alarm will not stop.

Fuze ignores some voice call in her helmet, probably from her wingman, not to follow the X-wing down. She tips the TIE on its nose and, red lights blinking around her, puts it into a death-dive behind Triz, rolling as she goes so it's a death-spiral towards the ground. Her clear, laughing voice over the open channel might sound in Triz's ear, "Running away already?"

At Rheisa's banshee screech, the nearest troopers reel back, the one who shot her dropping his rifle on its sling to stumble and clutch at his ears - except they're in his helmet which he pulls off, flinging it at (and missing) the injured Togruta. "You alien _______," he yells an obscenity, deaf to the volume of his own voice, and lifts his gun again to fire, either at Sabella or Rheisa, it's unclear which. But the Sergeant comes up to poke in the bag of dead rat-things, blocking the trigger-happy soldier's fire. "Awww, shit," he mutters. "It really was her damn dinner. Come on. Move out. Where's my speeder? Leave it, the thing's gonna die anyway." It's not clear if the last sentence is aimed at his own troops or Sabella. There's no pity in his voice.

Diving down into the canyons Triz flattens out the X-wing and lines up the White clad stormtroopers as well as the big gun. Her lasers fire, then before she can really see what occurred she pulls up before twisting down a side street, diving under an elevated walkway and blasting awnings off the front of some the buildings. <<Hope that helps you all some>> she calls out on the Resistance channel. "Date, find me that TIE, quickly," she calls back before turning again down another street, twisting her neck back and forth trying to locate the TIEs.

"Ss..s'food..." Teeth-chattering Togruta tries to say. That's it. That's all she was doing here. Scoring a few extra fresh meals with squeals for little Umak. Once-predatory eyes have gone soft, fixing the human face hovering over her with a pleading, hurt feelings sort of look. Shocky would be the best description for her expression and rapidly fading color. "W..whaay--" her stuttering breath turns into a squeak when Sabe pries her hand off of self and replaces it with some rag. "Sssiiiiiide." Her other hand creeps a few fingers out to ensnare Sabella's wrist.

Blast, blast, blast. I've got a bad feeling about this. The Wilhelm scream. These and more Star Wars lovely repeating motifs play in Corr's head as he limp-runs to the end of the alley, peeking his head out around the corner to spot not one, not two, not three, but six stormtroopers. "Blast." And they're about to head his way. His eyes scan the area, spotting a fallen Togruta and is immediately struck with a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. Without another moment of hesitation, he wheels out of the alley and unleashes hell on the nearest two troopers, sending a pair of blaster bolts screaming toward each.

Sabella Lockheart doesn't even look up at the trooper. "Your a bastard..." She hisses out at the one that is leaving saying Rheisa won't make it. "You shot her for no reason, help her!" Is heard while she lifts her narrowed gaze up slightly towards the troopers back before that hand is around her wrist and she looks back to Rheisa. "I... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry." She didn't have a medkit she is a mechanic after all, not like she planned on coming upon this after all. "I'm going to get you help... Please just hang in there alright?" She isn't sure how. Her gaze lifts quickly at the sound of blaster fire and she shifts to place herself over the falling Rheisa to try and protect her from any flying blaster bolts if they come flying this way.

Fuze's TIE whips around the street, past the little drama, at rooftop altitude in search of Triz's X-wing. With the shields down and damage to the cockpit, she's not going spaceside any time soon; the bubble Perspex is fragmented and air whips in, swirling and making conversation near-impossible were it not for the masks in the bulbous helmets. Spotting the X-wing, she cuts down a sidestreet and jinks over the rooftops, trying to get a firing solution. In the back, her gunner, Edie, is just hanging on for grim life.

As Triz's X-wing strafes the group of Stormtroopers, the first to die is the one who shot Rheisa. He turns at the sound of the incoming fighter, raising his rifle, his unmasked face set into a scowl that disintegrates (together with the rest of his head) as the heavy bolt hits it, sending his headless corpse slithering across the street to a stop, limbs twitching. The same blaster bolt catches the Sergeant in the leg, neatly amputating it, and he falls screaming and writhing.

Corr's shots are likewise telling. The short female Trooper, the one who spurned the offer of an Eilam, takes a blaster in the back and falls against a wall, slithering down and sideways, unconscious or dead. Her leering companion takes a stray round to his arm, losing his rifle in the process, spots Corr and charges him with a roar of pain. That leaves just the other female, Sabella's 'friend', and a stocky male; they, too, spot Corr, and raise their blasters to fire!

The blaster bolts from the TIE come at her in probably the least expected place "Oh crap," Triz calls out, even ducking in the cockpit as they burn right over her head, before she dives down another street then going vertical "Deflectors to the Rear, DATE, lets draw them off the folks below." Twisting the X-Wing around so to give the hardest of shots to Fuze. <<Well, that was interesting, any one you know down there?>> She calls out on the open Coms. She has her bird set up to spin around, if the TIE should happen to follow her up above the streets.

Raim's going to be so mad at her. This is the next thought to get a grip in Rheisa's frazzled brain. They'd just had a long conversation, too, not two days ago about the risks of her upcoming transplant. About how she may die. 'Well,' Rheisa's stare gets a little more vacant as it bores through Sabella's head, 'Looks like he won't have to worry anymore about that.' Which leads her to a thought on the wee one who also faces to lose in this transaction. "Umak!" she chirps hoarsely.

While Sabella's acting as human shield, Rheisa starts to move beneath her, trying to use her left leg as propulsion for a scoot back towards the alley from which she'd come. It isn't so far. Just a few healthy people steps. Her staff and satchel lay where they'd fallen, unclaimed. But, the scooting doesn't go so well. Her foot keeps planting on the hem of her skirt, which is snug enough around her hips that she gets stuck every time she tries to crawl. Also there's Sabella, who didn't look all that big at first, but she's starting to appreciate what mass the gal has in the wake of her failure to escape it. "Ahway...ways," she whimpers.

Corr is not following sound tactics at the moment. The sight of a Togruta lying crumpled in the street seems to have dashed that approach. Instead he comes flying out of the alley at a quick glide, taking down one trooper and injuring the other, who reels back and drops his rifle. The two in the rear take aim at him, sending a bolt screeching past his ear, while the other hits him hard in the lower abdomen, the energy dissipating in a flash that bruises his ribs, scorches the flesh under his armor, and sends him to one knee. Not one to go down without a fight, though, he uses this new position for extra stability, sighting in on the Troopers still standing to return fire and launching two quick shots at each of them, choosing to ignore the white-clad fury bull-rushing him without a blaster.

Sabella Lockheart catches sight of someone.. wait is that someone she knows? She blinks while looking past the troopers that are running towards someone and she is about to say something before Rheisa is trying to get away? "Wait. wait.... I need to get you help. Please?" She questions while shifting to move so she doesn't hurt the other, she is filled with worry to say the least. "Let me help you? I can take you somewhere?" A glance is sent back towards the troopers and the person in question which through blaster fire and everything going on she is still struggling to see, but whoever it is just got hit. This is not a good day.

Fuze has lost Triz somewhere in the maze of concrete canyons, and now she disappears towards the morning sun rising like a bloody orb, mostly behind the low cloud.

Corr's shots down the two Troopers shooting at him; the stocky man coughs, dropping to his knees and then faceplants, and then folds over, while the woman screams shrilly as she's hit in the belly, down on her knee whimpering. The crazed fellow is almost on Corr when...

...a blaster bolt comes out of nowhere, taking him in the back, flinging him to the ground almost at Corr's feet. And suddenly there is a girl with flaming rainbow hair, piercings....and a vibroknife. She moves swiftly, ripping off helmets and slicing open throats of the injured Stormtroopers, their blood splattering on the concrete as they collapse and shudder and die, eyes losing their focus; one even has time to beg "No, please, no..." but she shows no mercy. And then the rainbow-haired girl grins at Corr, blows him a kiss, and disappears back into the shadows. Just Rheisa, Sabella, and Corr are left alive. The rising sun breaks through the clouds. It's a brief respite from the rain.

Triz has lost Fuze, she did some damage but she still has to face the wicked TIE pilot again it would seem. She turns Spark 4 in a slow lazy circuit to return to the hidden Hound Base, before landing it and climbing out of the fighter. Legs a bit weak, sweat drenched.

Rheisa's stopped struggling under there. Stopped moving alltogether, really, by the time she's being peeled off the pavement and hauled away towards Wayside, save for an occasional blink and the shallow, uneven pants that constitute her breathing. Her left pupil is dilated, but the right seems to have a mind of its own and continues to function as normal happy eyeballs should. Her lips, while grey on a healthy day, have turned quite ashen with a tinge of ... lilac? That ghastly looking mouth opens and closes a few times, trying to articulate words that are complete while her senses become increasingly numb to the chaotic flurry of movement around. Fail.