Scalpel strained, and managed to get his torso free. Then something caught on the scrap.
Probably my holster, the clone thought. He reached down, feeling at his belt for the buckle of his blaster’s holster. It was caught between some torn plating on the vehicle. He fumbled with it, but it remained stuck. Suddenly, he remembered the buckle’s purpose. He snapped the buckle open. The holster dropped to the ground, and he crawled out, with only a few bruises and scratches. He knelt down and grabbed the holster, and buckled it back on his belt, looking around.
“General? Commander? Anyone?”
The bridge was empty, though a few bodies protruding from the wreckage showed that much of the crew had been crushed by the debris. Scalpel felt a momentary shock. He had seen such disasters before, but not this bad. He turned on his infrared vision, hoping to see any living persons in the wreckage.
Having retrieved his blaster, Legacy jogs up to the rest of the group and drops off his rocket launcher instead of reloading it. He then starts looking for the other droid he can hear well, but he is oblivious to its exact location yet.
Scalpel looked through the windows of the bridge. The glass was shattered, chunks of it scattered across the floor, but he could make out several sections of the Venator below. With his infrared scanner, he could see some faint lights in the wreckage, but it could be burning equipment for all he could tell.
Let’s see. I’ve got a blaster, some bacta, a knife, and my armor. Maybe I should see what else I can find, he thought.
Wannabe gave a couple seconds of staring in silence as an immediate reply.
“I am baffled that you would consider decadence at this moment.” He raised one arm to point at Tesz Nel’Sha. “Is your programming at fault, or did you not hear the Commander?”
Called it, Bravebird thought, slightly amused. “All right…”
Should Wannabe cooperate, Bravebird would tie the wire around him to make a harness.
“There, that ought to do the trick.” Bravebird said, reasonably confident in his handiwork. “When I get up to the Commander, I’ll try to hoist you up,” he added as he prepared to begin his climb.
Scalpel saw a box mounted to the wall of the bridge. It was an emergency medical kit, placed there in accordance with Republic safety regulations. That’s good, as a start, he thought. He pulled it off the wall, and emptied the contents into his medical bag. It consisted of five disinfectant sprayers, a similar amount of bacta patches, and a roll of bandages. He smiled, picked up the bag, and stopped. This was the bridge. Why hadn’t he thought about using the radio?
He stepped over to the comms array, avoiding the remains of two crew members. The controls were heavily damaged, with metal chunks embedded in them. A gun from a small turret was sticking out from behind them, showing the extent of the cruiser’s damage. It was obvious that the radio was dead. A quick glance at some other panels showed that the electrical systems were about out, as the reactor was critically damaged. The weapons systems were obliterated, as the wreckage could easily attest to. And finally, the elevators were knocked out by the crash. It looked like Scalpel would have some stairs to use. Some very long stairs.
Wannabe stood emotionlessly and watched Bravebird tie the wire around his body, the droid’s eyes calculating how his arms should be positioned to keep it from slipping. He stayed motionless as Bravebird began to ascend, deciding his ego had been offended by the obtuse intellect of the clone and further response was too dignifying.
Despite the disorienting nature of the bridge, which currently gave him a frightening view of the wreckage below, Scalpel’s infrared vision would pick up a faint heat signature from beneath a pile of rubble located toward the back of the bridge.
The glass panels which would have to serve as a floor now would inspire confidence (especially considering a good number of them were already cracked or missing), but the metal beams between them seemed stable enough.
The climb probably wouldn’t prove too difficult for the soldier, the only real hazard being the chance of another sudden quake in the wreckage.
Wannabe could slowly see the wire start to grow taut as the Jedi continued her climb.
“I think this it.” She called down to the others between an exerted grunt as she pulled herself up onto the elevator door ledge. “I think I found the elevator to the command bridge.”
Duke made an attempt to shove Legacy’s head down behind a a pile of rubble as the captain braced fo the impact from another volley from the final droid. “Keep your head down soldier.”
Scalpel began crossing the shattered viewport, staying on a convenient metal beam. It swayed slightly as he neared the middle, glass cracking from the movement. He pressed on, knowing that any attempt to look at the ground would spell his doom in large letters. He reached the last quarter, and a particularly strong gust of wind struck the bridge. Scalpel dashed for the end as the metal twisted, sending glass shards raining down into the wreckage. He arrived on the wall of the bridge, breathing heavily. Looking back, he sincerely regretted taking that particular beam, which was now twisted slightly, but just enough to prevent him using it again.
Buoy kept low behind his cover, readying to a crouching position to try and jump for another spot if fired upon He keeps his head just above it to keep tabs on the Vulture, muttering the same two words in his head over and over again.
Come on, come on!
Watching, wishing, for the Vulture to come close enough to its fallen comrade to detonate his makeshift bomb. Shifting his sight every ten milliseconds towards the detonator, checking his sights to blast it when the time comes.
Boomstick did this.
As Boomstick stays at pace with the group, he looks back to see Legacy leaving a perfectly good rocket launcher on the ground. Boomstick does not, and did not, condone behavior such as this.
Scalpel heads through the wreckage toward the pile of rubble, avoiding numerous pieces of computers and equipment that are scattered across the room. He climbs over a control panel, several monitors hanging from wires stretched to their limits knocking against his helmet. I think there’s someone back here, he thought. He tries his armor’s radio, but it’s blocked by the wreckage, and only picks up static and some automated signals from the computers.
Bravebird started working his way up the wall. So far, the metal he was using to pull himself up had only broken off in his grip twice, but he caught himself quickly both times. He looked up as the Commander finished speaking. At least the turbolift will be easier than the hallway… he thought.
It took a couple more minutes to reach the platform Commander Tasz was standing on. He took a brief moment to catch his breath after the long climb… and that was probably the easy part…
Bracing himself for the next challenge, he called down to the irritable Droid. “Okay, Wannabe, are you ready?”
The 2-1B Medical Droid hesitated for just a moment and therefore lost the opportunity to complain about his given name of Wannabe being offensive to him.
“Your inability to adequately hoist your own person using all limbs gives me confidence in your using only two to assist me.” Wannabe replied, his eyes looking at what used to be the ceiling and assuming he would need to plant his feet against it to assist. “Never the less, my opinion is open to change.”
The vulture droid continued its swoop right over its less fortunate counterpart, speeding toward Buoy’s position. If there’d ever be a time to detonate, this would probably be the best shot he’d get…
Tesz gave Bravebird a nod as she firmly gripped the wire, handing him the lower half of the dangling cord tied around Wannabe.
She shot the clone a sheepish smile after the droid’s remarks.
“Almost makes me not want to bother hauling him up if he’ll keep that attitude.” She said in a voice just loud enough for Bravebird to hear. The joke was forced, and it was clear she was trying to stave off panic.
“All right, we pull on three. One, two, three!” She said in voice loud enough for Wannabe to hear, muscles straining to pull the machine up.
If Scalpel was looking carefully, he would notice a gauntleted hand protruding from under one such overturned computer. Unlike standard issued gauntlets though, this one appeared to be fingerless as the tight fabric gripped around a calloused hand.
Whats more, it looked like there had actually been two heat signatures, not one, under the wreckage, as evidence by the unnaturally shifting rubble from behind the wrecked computers…
@MakutaOisli Grime would feel the weight of broken monitor fall off him, and proceed to slide out of one of the broken windows of the overturned bridge. His head hurt like heck, and as his vision cleared, he’d see a medical trooper standing inquisitively in front of him. The name would be on the tip of his tongue, it was “S” something…
Assuming Bravebird assisted, the droid, while heavier than his 2-1B counterparts due to the extra armor and storage built into his frame, was a manageable weight. It only just now occurred to Wannabe that, perhaps, the Padawan could use the force to lift the droid upwards instead of this irritating process, but perhaps it was not medically sound to force the point.
Wannabe’s knees buckled as he pushed himself up the wall to assist his upward descent. His legs paused inexplicably for a moment before continuing as if nothing had happened, although he was now looking behind him at the floor.
Buoy fires several shots at the detonator, hoping just one will strike it. With any luck, it would trigger the second detonator inside and blow up the downed Vulture’s fuel and take the live one with it.
Grime’s HUD lit up, the red light filling his eyes. He thanked the excessive reprogramming of his suit, before turning his attention to the person standing before him. “Scalpel, right?” He asked, before clambering to his feet. He checked his blades. 1,2,4,6,8,10,12…All accounted for. He felt for his pistol…check.
Finally,long blade…check. He looked himself over, ignoring the excessive stains of his armor.
Bravebird pulled on the wire with all of his might. Yep, this is hard part, he thought as he and the Zebrak Padawan assisted the Droid’s ascent.
Wannabe was finally dragged up over the edge by the pair, pushing back onto his feet as he ascended to full height. He wordlessly looked back and forth at the pair for a moment before continuing forwards, the elevator shaft of the bridge beckoning him to do so.
But only two steps forward, he turned and looked suddenly back at Tesz Nel’Sha, again saying nothing and only staring, one eye obscured by the hood of the jedi robes he wore. Were the force as evil as Wannabe perceived it to be, it might whisper in Tesz’s ear all the worrying thoughts Wannabe raced over, most of which involved the likely scenario in which General Viego Norr was deceased. Nothing in that scenario would be more important than protecting the mental state of the young padawan.
…But saving face was also important, especially with a silence as long as this one. “The cable.”