Now what?

[BrianM]

Brim turned and whispered to Dan. "Whoever was out on the balcony has moved away from here. Perhaps we should check on the patients in the infirmary. It could be that someone is after Neja." Without waiting for a reply, Brim moved quietly into the hall leading to Neja and Kex's rooms, keeping his blaster trained ahead of him.

[sdrotar]

  Caden's probably recently nodded off to sleep; his cabin locked, his blaster on the table by his bunk and his computer link to the cockpit still as active as always. 50/50 that he just conked out in his clothes.

[donimator]

Sam considers the implications of the information and recognizes the folly in trying to regain control of the systems. Whoever sliced into the Senator's secure computers knew exactly what they were doing and likely were monitoring it or had safeguards to prevent tampering. They were likely doing it to hide their true purpose, which was most likely of the nefarious type and occuring right now. There could be little coincidence that these events were linked to their discoveries of the past few days.

Sam went to the locker and grabbed his slugthrower rifle and satchel of equipment. As he did so he composed a text message and sent it out on a secure burst to all of the party's communicators:

Perimeter compromised.
Unknown attackers in compound.
House security systems down.

He pounded on the bulkhead hard with his fist. "We've got trouble, Caden."

[ZehnWaters]

Britton quickly turned and headed to retrieve Ranie, using whatever communications he could to warn everyone else in the mansion of of the explosives. (ie. communications being yelling, comlink, ect.)

[tomcat]

  Tommy likey!



Dan and Brim both heard the warning transmission from Sam, and although both knew that the house had been compromised, it was a comfort to know the whole team was aware.

Dan nodded at Brim's suggestion and the two quickly moved up the hall to the infirmaries two recovery rooms. Rounding the corner, they each felt their hearts begin to race when it became clearly visible that the rooms had been forced open. Brim went to Neja's room, and Dan to Kex's - both were empty!

Suddenly, emanating through the ceiling above, a sharp cry was heard, "NO!"

Then came a distinctive sound of a snapp-hiss, as an energy weapon flared to life.

Kara, still in a bit of a stupor, heard her comm start to chime and then Sam's voice...

"Perimeter compromised.
Unknown attackers in compound.
House security systems down."

She wanted to react, but she still wasn't sure what she was hearing...

Caden heard the metallic pounding on the bulkhead of the Aegis, more than heard Sam's alert... until the droid's message began to chime from the pilot's own comlink. He snapped awake and quickly looked about to catch his bearings and try to make heads or tails of what he just heard.

Rand picked up his personal communication device, along with his blaster, and ran from his room. He followed down the long hall from the apartments where he and his fellow teammates lived, towards the stairs that led up to the main house. It was dark in the corridor, which threw him off, as it was normally lit - only two battery operated emergency lights were active. In the murk, as he came towards the stairs, a crumpled form of a body lay at the foot. Rand immediately recognized the man as one of the security team who were on night shift. The wound in the man's back showed how he had met his fate. Britton estimated it to be a vibroblade of some sort.

Stepping over the body, he sent out a quick communication and began to climb the stairs. Just then, another shape, at the top, moved slightly into view and a blaster erupted fire in his direction.

Throughout the mansion, everyone could hear it.



Gregg, the first floor map of the mansion will be up shortly along with the rolls I need from you.

[sdrotar]

The thumping was what woke Caden up, and he instinctively grabbed his blaster and glanced at the computer screen. Then Sam's message came through. The crime syndicate had taken the fight to them. Kal, Kex and and the rest were in big trouble - and if the security systems were down, the monorail was too.

They were trapped on the landing platform, a half-mile tightrope walk across the narrow rail in a coming storm. Even if they made it across by some stroke of luck, it'd be all over by then.

Caden leapt into his pants and boots, threw on a shirt without bothering to button it and raced for the cockpit. He heard Sam sifting through his locker on the ship and shouted as he went: "Sam! Get the rescue gear and buckle up!"

Caden's going to start the Aegis up and lift off. He doesn't know if there's room to land in the driveway (probably not) or anywhere else, but staying where he is isn't an option. He's planning on moving to a position in front of the home with a clear view of the roof and windows, if possible, and hover there with repulsors.

[BrianM]

  Crikey!

Brim had heard that sound before, and he knew it meant trouble. He looked down at the nice shiny blaster in his hand and once again recalled the old Rodian proverb about the fool bringing a stick to a gunfight. In this case the same probably applied to bringing a blaster to a lightsaber battle.

Brim turned to Dan. "Did you hear the lightsaber? We need to go upstairs. If there is a good Jedi up there, we can rejoice and be glad that all of us are saved. But if it is a bad Jedi, we need to shoot many times and as quickly as possible." With a nervous grin he added, "Sometimes they actually do miss a deflection ... sometimes."