Smash and Grab

[Aldo Raine]

Dice Thread​

A man, with fire in his eyes, creates a path for those lost.

Aldo Raine lay prone peering over the edge of a cliff face on the planet of Makeb. His expression was as stoic as ever as he surveyed the landscape. Using a pair of macrobinoculars he scanned the surface of the cliff below and spotted their mark. A small convoy moved due west on the pillar below them. Five vehicles moved in a loose formation across the plain below. Their opposition was well armed but unaware, and that's exactly where they were supposed to be.

"Looks like Intel is finally starting to get it together," he teased Hugo before passing the binoculars to him.

To the third member of their motley crew, he said, "Hope your ready for some action, Thumper." He joked then passed the binoculars to the Kushiban. He wanted to make sure they were all on the same page and their insight on the situation was critical to his assessment.

Two speeders, one with a sidecar turret attachment, rested behind the trio. Their plan was simple enough, use the system-wide holo-net blackout to set as many refugees free as possible. Aldo peered through the binoculars again, bringing into focus the main event. The transport craft carrying a group of wrongly incarcerated beings. The Corellian's casual smile soured into a grimace as the severity of the mission reared its ugly head.

Raine queued his Com and asked, "Diz you in place?"

Diz Avers a cunning Kel Dor Rebel replied back in his usual laid back manner, "You know it Rain--"

"Diz?"

"Sorry boss, we got a boggy tailing us. We can't move without exposing you." The calm in the Kel Dor's voice was apparent and that was unusual for him.

"Don't worry about it. Fly casual and rendezvous ASAP."

Aldo frowned and turned to his comrades, "Looks like we're going with plan B."

@Minuteman75
@Raydo

 

[Hugo Ion]

Commander Ion rolled his red orangish eyes at Raine’s jab toward Alliance intelligence. “Corellians and their jokes.” He watched the convoy dash through the plains with the offered binoculars. The Imps didn’t want to lose their merchandise, Hugo noted with silent disgust. Well, it was good he was teamed with Aldo once again with new company in the form of the small Kushiban with them.

The rebel leader to keep himself from staring at the little guy with amusement. Subsequently he listened to Aldo’s conversation with Diz and frowned with concern with unexpected trouble. No plan survives contact as the old saying goes. At the mention of the second plan Hugo nodded and got up, saying. “Good luck gentlemen see ya both on the other side.”

Jumping into his speeder with his ape like bodyguard Loapa on the sidecar turret. “About damn time.” The hairy giant muttered loud enough for Ion to hear. Activating the speeder Hugo drove it away from the two other rebels. Minutes later his speeder swoop in on the left flank of the Imperial convoy. Lapoa fired on the group, trying to get their attention.

However, the hostile escorts refused to be diverted but stayed with the transport but did shoot back with several blaster bolts. One caught Lapoa in the side of the right arm, causing him to cry out. Ion scowled in frustration thinking.

The only easy day was yesterday.

@Raydo @Zay

 

[Firen]

"I was born ready." he responded also passed him the binocs, which were not Firen sized at all. He struggled to hold up to his face right but got a look out of one eye. He didn't say a thing about them causing him trouble, though it was apparent. He quickly passed the back to Aldo as casually as he could.

He was glad to be chosen for this mission. The Imperials were mean folks and Firen knew if he was their prisoner, he would want to be free. That didn't stop him from being nervous. He had never been all that good at fighting or anything.

His stomach rumbled. He had eaten before, but being nervous made him more hungry. As Aldo continued to survey the area and talk to someone on the radio, Firen reached for one of the few pouches on his armor. He was probably supposed to keep something important in the porch, but he had opted to fill it with some lettuce he found. Pulling a piece out, he crunched down on the crunchy leaf.

"Plan B is always more fun anyways." he said smirking.

He casually saluted the Rebel Commander "Good Luck, boss" he said standing and moving to the second speeder. He thought the sidecar was for him, but he wasn't about to question the commander about it. So he would climb on the back of Aldo's speeder. "You better not throw me off!" he warned stuffing the rest of the lettuce into his mouth.

 

[Aldo Raine]

Aldo gave Ion a proper salute as he left. Hugo was one of the Corellian's closest friends, and he had the utmost confidence in him, even if Plan B didn't go the way it was supposed to, it didn't matter. After all, Plan B was: Wing it.

To Firen Aldo said, "I'm going to get close to the transport speeder, once there it's going to be up to you to get control of the thing."

As he spoke they mounted the speeder. The little guy seemed confident he could pull the job, even firing back a wisecrack at the Corellian.

"You keep talking and I won't be able to help myself." He teased. Aldo fired up the vehicle and they shot off trailing the Alliance commander momentarily before breaking off to hit the enemy broadside.

Aldo watched as Hugo made his run. His stoic expression became grim as he watched Ion go into evasive maneuvers. While he'd not been able to scatter the forces like they'd hoped the Duro had definitely gotten their attention.

"Hang on!" Aldo called over the roar of the engines as he threw the throttle forward. The speeder accelerated with a powerful surge of velocity as they entered the fray.

The gun speeders guarding the convoy were distracted with Hugo allowing, Aldo and Firen to slip in beside the prisoner transport. The Corellian matched the speed of the transport bringing Firen as close as he could to the vehicle.

"Alright," he started doing a hasty perimeter check before continuing, "this is close as we're gonna get, bring that transport to a stop at all cost. Commander Ion and I will take care of the gun speeders!"

Firen would be able to make the jump without a problem, but how he managed to stop the speeder would be up to him.

With his feisty little friend on the prisoner transport, Aldo swung out and around coming in directly behind one of the gunners aimed up at Hugo. He pulled his R5 blaster pistol from its holster and fired. The gunner stopped firing, dead where he sat in the guns harness. The skirmish had begun.

@Minuteman75
@Raydo

 

[Hugo Ion]

As an answer to a prayer the other rebel team finally intervented. While the engines roared and blaster shots echoed, the commander watched Aldo drove his speeder toward the transport and Firen jumped onboard. Thank the force. He thought with relief before the enemy fire stole his attention once more. Swinging right and left to avoid being hit Hugo grimaced.

Lapoa his gunner let loose a steady rate of blaster shots, taking one without difficulty. The second target went down as well crashing into a rock and exploding but not before catching the big ape in the left side. The third rider fired as well hitting Lapoa in the right shoulder rendering the rebel gunner crippled unable to keep using the turret.

”Hang in there Lapoa I’ll get you out of this.”

Hugo called out to his partner before drawing his blaster pistol with one hand and holding on the controls with the other.

@Raydo @Zay

 

[Firen]

He held on for dear life as they rushed towards the transport. He could jump, but that didn't mean he enjoyed the prospect of missing and falling to the ground at this speed. "I bet you will deal with the speeders..." he mumbled but Aldo would be able to hear him. "Sureeeee...Just jump onto a moving speeder..." he continued mumbling as they pulled up the speeder. He swallowed hard and managed not to look at the ground below for throwing himself on top of the speeder transport.

He managed to find a decent handhold on the roof and made his way to the front of the transport. Pulling one of his blasters out, he took aim at the windshield and fired. He managed to fire twice before the driver wrenched the speeder to the right, almost sending Firen flying but he managed to hold on. He had lost his blaster though. "That was my favorite one!" he yelled angerly. In truth, his two blasters were identical but it would be a pain to replace them due to their small size.

He hoped to make more of a hole or kill the driver insider, but he swerved back and forth still. "Well Kriff this..." he said, mimicking the curse he had heard others use. He liked the way it sounded. He grabbed ahold of the bar and swung down, slamming his feet down into the windshield. Surprisingly, he went through the glass and slammed into the driver. The man's neck snapped back, instantly sending him into unconsciousness. "Maybe this will be easier than I thought" he thought as he righted himself, sitting in the unconscious man's lap so he could reach the controls.

He then slowly looked over and saw the man in the co-pilots chair. The man had been slow to react. The locked eyes, everything seeming to freeze. "Hiiii" Firen said right before the man snapped too and started fumbling for the blaster on his hip.

 

[Aldo Raine]

Aldo fired off two more shots at the gunnerless speeder before him, but changed his target when he saw a volley of fire arc toward Hugo. Lapoa howled with pain as he took a hit and the Corellian opened fire. He allowed the heat of the moment to get the best of him and his shots went wide. It got the attention of his target and the gunner twirled in his turret swinging the barrels of his weapon toward the approaching Corellian.

The gunner took aim and fired. Aldo threw the speeder bike to the side, but the rear repulsers took a hit and he could feel the power in the bike become unstable. He threw the throttle forward and after a stuttering hesitance, the bike shot forward. He lifted his blaster and took a shot at the gunner. A plume of vaporized viscera told him his shot rang true. The speeder below him bucked in protest to the additional stress on the weakened power core. With gritted teeth, Aldo kept his speed up and closed in on the now defenseless gun speeder. He moved beside and with one final boost and lunged from his speeder grabbing the speeders rear railing.

His speeder bike fell away and collided with the ground exploding behind him, as the power core failed. Raine pulled himself up with an effort and pulled his Stun Baton from its sheath. He set the power level to incapacitate the driver of the speeder. He entered through the back and in a single practiced move, pressed the activator to the driver's neck activating the weapon and, once knocked out, pulled the being by the collar to the ground. The Corellian took control of the speeder and continued after Firen and the prisoner transport. The only opposition still active was the gun speeder without a gunner and Aldo had a good feeling Hugo was about to deal with it.

Into his com he said, "How's it going Thumper?"

@Minuteman75
@Raydo

 

[Hugo Ion]

Commander Ion watched with amazement at how Aldo took out his opponents with style. He must’ve been watching too many holofims. He privately joked. No matter it got the results and Hugo wasn’t going to let his men down either. They were rebels after all.

The remaining Imperial rider saw her companions and was about to beat a hasty retreat when Hugo began firing in that direction with his pistol. The shots were scattered, and the hostile dodged them and fired back with a pistol of her own. A bolt nearly caught across the Duros in the head when he duck and nearly lost control of the speeder.

Amidst the roar of the engines Hugo scowled and regained balance, as he twist away in time to avoid hitting a boulder. The blue humanoid increased thrusters chasing after the last Imp from behind. Without further hesitation Ion let loose with two shot burst that struck into the driver’s back. It killed her instantly and causing the vehicle to divert and fall off a cliffside on the left flank.

Sighing, Hugo Ion turned around to head for the others, calling Aldo on the comms. “Raine status report now!”

@Raydo @Zay

 

[Firen]

They stared at each for a long, drawn-out second before the cockpit burst into chaos. Firen jerked hard on the stick to the left, causing the man's head to slam into the side of the transport. Firen used the second he was dazed to reach for his blaster. "AHA!" he cried as he grabbed the oversized blaster pistol. It was too large for him to wield gracefully.

Before he could shoot the man, he was hit across the face, causing his comm system to activate and get stuck on. He was vaguely aware of Aldo asking how it was going but didn't register the words. Pain surged as the man grabbed him by the ear and lifted him up. The Speeder kept flying straight. "OWW! Let go of me!" Fired cried, unaware of the hot mic. The sounds of struggle would fill the comm system as he struggled to get free.

Finally, he pulled himself to the man's arm and bit down as hard as he could. The man yelled in pain, dropping Firen. It was the small window he needed to fire and end the man before he anything else could happen.

He sat back down, composing himself, mic still active before saying. "Things are just peachy." he said trying to hide the heavy breathing. "Yeah....piece of cake." he said slowing down the transport. "I have been waiting on you guys..." he continued.

He could use a snack...

 

[Aldo Raine]

Aldo repeated his question to Firen, but the little Kushiban, wasn't talking to him. The Corellian put the throttle to the floor and closed in on the Prisoner transport. He could see Hugo overhead dealing with the final gunspeeder, and knew there'd be nothing stopping him from getting to the transport. His ship clawed over the earth below as it slowly but surely inched closer.

"OWW! Let go of me!"

The sounds of a struggle came across the com and Aldo called out, "Hold on Thumper, I'm coming!"

The feral roar came across the line, and Aldo gritted his teeth trying to coax more speed from the engine as he closed in.

"Things are just peachy." said Firen. He sounded hurt, but the transport wasn't slowing. Then suddenly the transport started to slow. The little rabbit reporting, "Yeah....piece of cake."

Aldo closed in and threw the vehicle into park, leaping out, blaster held at the ready as he thundered across the distance left between him and his comrade and just as he yanked the driver's side door open Firen said, "I have been waiting on you guys..."

Aldo laughed as he helped Firen out of the Transport. Ion's distressed call for a report told the Corellian he'd heard the scuffle too. With an appraising smile, the grizzled man reported, "Transport secure, Commander. Looks like we've got one hell of a Rebel on our hands, sir."

Aldo moved to the back of the transport and opened the doors. The interior was packed with refugees. They looked scared, children clutched at their mothers. The me stepped forward timidly, eyeing his weapon. The Corillian held up a hand in greeting and said, "Ladies and gentlemen if you'll please step this way, the Galatic Alliance would like to offer you safe passage off-world."

The fear on their faces hesitated and then melted away, cries of relief filled the room as the passengers began to file out the transport.

Diz's cunning voice came across the com, "Sorry for the delay sir, security is tight around here. Let's get you guys out of there!"

A moment later Diz's Overhead freighter appeared. Once it landed his crew joined in to help speed the process of getting everyone on board. This mission was nearly wrapped. To Hugo he said, "Another one in the books, Commander."

To Firen he asked, "Where's your next assignment? I've got a job coming up I could use a willy rebel like you on."

@Minuteman75
@Raydo

 

[Hugo Ion]

Upon hearing the report, Hugo breathed a sigh of relief. It all paid off in the end. “You better buy a round this Commander.” Lapoa grunted, still in pain from his wounds. The Duros nodded and promised.

“I’ll buy three rounds for you all this.”

The rebel leader drove their speeder closer to the transport on the opposite of Aldo Raine. Turning on the commlink he remarked. “Well done team. This couldn’t have been done with your efforts. I’ll remember this.”

Silent pride filled Commander Ion’s soul as the freighter came to pick them all up. The war was far from over but they won this round at least.

@Raydo @Zay

 

[Firen]

He gave a thumbs up to Aldo as he gave his report. The opened the doors to the transport revealing the terrified occupants. Firen hoped up into the transport, ready to give his heroic speech. He had been practicing for such occasions since he was going to be some type of magic space hero one day.

"Citizens! You have been save...." he was cut off as a human child rushed him with a squeal and picked him up. "Not again!" he thought, struggling slightly before giving up, his ears falling limp. This lightened the mood, many of the adults and children laughing. "This always happens..." he mumbled but the girl didn't pay much attention. She let him go after a few seconds and Fired tried to compose himself, but the moment was gone. Next time no one would stop his heroic speech!

The commander addressed them briefly. It felt good to do something good, something he could be proud of. He turned to Aldo. "Uhh I guess I don't have one?" he said. He wasn't sure who these things went. "I'll come!" he said excitingly as he started to hop away before turning around. "BUT! This time I get to drive the speeder!" he said.