STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- The Hunted

My apologies. You can find them right HERE.

In any case, we will begin.

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The Last Laugh punches its way out of the atmosphere, which the Star Destroyer Blackguard is hovering just above. Ahead is the open void of space, where you intend to rocket off to once the hyperdrive is in. Until it is, you must worry about those TIE Fighters streaking straight toward you.

But suddenly, the Last Laugh curves its own path under the direction of Kyle and sets off towards the Star Destroyer. This act is completely unexpected as most would consider a direct run on a cruiser of this size and power to be suicide. The TIE Fighters fall behind as he jets off.

The forward batteries of the Star Destroyer begin to open fire once its crew realizes what it is you are going to do, green lasers streaking across space towards you...

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ESCAPE FROM TATOOINE

The Last Laugh: 15/10

TIE Fighters x12: 2/21

Blackguard Turbolasers x10: x

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For reference, the numbers are 'Armor/Pep.' Armor on Aces counts up, Armor on Pilots counts down. Each turn you will be electing an action that you are taking against the Star Destroyer and whether or not you wish to Gain Pep or make your pursuers Lose Pep.

We have an Evasive action declared, now for Pep.

Eerin, set up on the top gun, decides that he will keep discouraging the TIEs with his blazing turret fire.

"[I hope you know what you're doing, Captain..." Eerin says into his headset.

"Yeah, me too." Kyle answers hastily. He buckles down in his seat and focuses; he tunes all out but his ship and his enemies'. Staring hard at the spot he is aiming for, he pours all steam into the ship's engines.

(Gain Pep, full throttle)

Okay then! Kyle is jetting forwards at top speed while dodging the incoming turbolaser fire, the Last Laugh spinning toward the Blackguard's nose. Eerin and Zane are firing backwards to throw off Kyle's pursuers.

Kyle has a Pilot skill of 14, +1 from Favorite Seat, +2 from Speed King for the purpose of gaining Pep... but the Evasive action negates Kyle's bonuses from Speed King with a -2 penalty for performing evasive manuevers while racing ahead. Regardless of a high difficulty being imposed upon the Last Laugh, Kyle drags in 4 points of Pep on a roll of 14.

As TIEs race to catch up with the fly-away smuggler, Eerin and Zane give them trouble. Even with Kyle flipping the Last Laugh like a flapjack to avoid getting it, Eerin manages to rake a TIE with a four-point Pep loss. Zane outdoes him, taking a TIE down by five points.

The difficulty for TIEs is less. They receive a +1 bonus for gaining Pep as Kyle is taking the defense against the Destroyer. Six TIEs take this approach, including the ones that the gunners targeted, intending to come in closer. Luckily (or maybe unluckily), the two TIEs that fell behind are the ones that pull off good rolls and speed ahead.

The other six try shooting at range to slow down their prey, but with the Last Laugh weaving about as it is, they are unsuccessful.

Turbolasers flash across the shields, but inflict no meaningful damage.

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ESCAPE FROM TATOOINE

The Last Laugh: 15/14

TIE Fighters x10: 2/21
TIE Fighters x1: 2/20
TIE Fighters x1: 2/18

Blackguard Turbolasers x10: x

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Radars indicate that more TIEs are closing in fast to join the chase.

The Last Laugh is now over the Star Destroyer, twisting around over the top side of its nose.

Kyle flies as low to the hull as he can possibly manage, hoping to get down further than the turbolasers can depress. At least if they can fire, misses will damage them or a TIE.
"Zane, don't look up!" Kyle advises, knowing Zane is upside down relative to the ship's gravity in the lower turret.

(Manover to make the TIE's lose pep. I'll zig and zag around the obstacles provided by the SD's hull.)

Are you taking an evasive action or simply flying?

I say assume evasive action, Rexmeister. We don't want our bucket of bolts to be blasted down over this behemoth that is attacking us...

Eerin guns at the TIEs again, hoping to drive them back with his spraying of lasers in their area.

As Kyle strives to throw off his pursuers by letting turbolaser blasts pass him and streak toward the TIEs, he loses two points of Pep for his evasive action. He also finds it incredibly difficult to lure the TIEs into the crossfire, as they are nippy bastards. A 2 says that the TIEs do not lose any Pep from Kyle's flying.

Eerin does not quite pull of his shots this time, but Zane violently tears a TIE out of the race by blowing it apart.

Neither turbolasers nor TIEs slow Kyle's rapid oncoming... but another TIE Fighter has joined the chase. It appears to be an experimental model.

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ESCAPE FROM TATOOINE

The Last Laugh: 15/12

TIE Fighters x9: 2/21
TIE Fighters x1: 2/20
TIE Fighters x1: 2/18

TIE Booster: 0/23

Blackguard Turbolasers x15: x

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"Squadron Leader on our tail!" Zane alerts you. "Looks like he has some kind of advanced accelerator unit attached to his TIE Fighter..."

The bridge of the Star Destroyer looms ahead of you as you come into range of its additional turbolasers.

Kyle sees the bridge of the big ship and comes up with a new idea.He pulls back on the controls and brings the ship up off the deck, he's decided to go over the bridge instead of under. (No pun intended) As soon as his ship is in line, he starts firing topedoes at the control deck of the bridge.
(Use sudden manover to gain pep, dodge, shoot at the ship's Captain.)

Launching torpedos at the bridge makes this a Bombing Run! This inflicts no penalty upon your flying as you make the target lock, but you do not have any Tricks to assist in a Bombing Run, either. On top of this, the bridge is heavily shielded by the massive shield generators that sit atop it.

But with a true stroke of luck, Kyle lines up his sensors and gets a target lock... and rolls a perfect 20. The torpedoes sail through the shield and collide with the bridge, orange blossoms against the gray hull. You did not destroy the bridge, but it does have some impact (pun possibly intended)! All turbolasers experience a -2 penalty.

Gaining Pep does not come so easily, Kyle. As the Last Laugh raises on, you roll a 10 for no outcome against the difficulty.

Unfortunately for Kyle, as useful as the Bombing Run was against those turbolasers, they are still functioning and he is more vulnerable to enemy fire! The Last Laugh takes 8 damage from turbolasers.

Yikes! The TIE fighters score some significant rolls as well, your shields flaring as their shots come terribly close. You lose 9 Pep as you redouble your efforts to lose them...

The Squadron Leader in his modified fighter is racing up behind as well, scoring hits with a Fortune spend so that you lose another 2 Pep...

Zane destroys another TIE Fighter as it closes in on the Last Laugh. Eerin does not.

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ESCAPE FROM TATOOINE

The Last Laugh: 23/1

TIE Fighters x8: 2/21
TIE Fighters x1: 2/20
TIE Fighters x1: 2/18

TIE Booster: 0/23

Blackguard Turbolasers x15: x (damaged: -2)

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"Come ON!" Zane shouts. "Faster, Kyle! They're right on top of us!"

Eerin curses that he is unable to provide any significant difference in the battle, having a less-than-productive skill with blaster weapons. Nonetheless, he blazes away at another TIE Fighter, hoping to slow it up or bring it down.

If he can, he will shoot at the TIE Booster that this Squadron Leader is using... though I think turrets follow Dogfighting rules by default.

(Rex, I think you're forgetting Kyle's Daredevil bonus for gaining Pep!)

(Aw, Man! That sucked. Are we past the SD yet?)

You are nearing the bridge...

And yes, it looks like I did. Because will make little difference at this point whether the TIEs drop out or not, I will give Kyle four additional Pep points, putting you at a Pep of 5.

Kyle, I've got some ideas to help our situation...

If you put a Fortune point into the the Gain Pep roll from last action, that's +5 to the roll and we get 5 Pep.

Then we should try to gain Pep and take evasive action this turn. Those turrets won't even be a problem if we do that, they can't roll high enough to hit us. It's the TIEs we need to worry about.

Also, another idea for losing TIEs... once we've got a good chunk of Pep built up and we are over the bridge, make a Bombing Run on the shield generators. If it doesn't destroy it, Eerin and Zane can coordinate their blaster fire to take it out and the TIEs will be caught in the explosion.

What say you, Captain?

(I say makeit so! Er, I'll make it so! Fortune into the last turn, Like Eerin said, then I will go evasive to make it over the top, then bomb the snot out of a generator. Great idea, I forgot about those things.)

My apologies, but scratch two points of that extra Pep. Instead, the TIEs lose two points of Pep.

...

A plan is in action!

Kyle begins implementing his dodge-and-weave flight tactics after pulling out of his Bombing Run with surprising speed (gaining five Pep from his Fortune spend). He continues to accelerate toward the control tower, gaining another five Pep from his Piloting roll and completely evading all turbolaser and TIE Fighter attacks.

The TIE Booster misses its shots.

Eerin pulls off an impressive shot and brings down a TIE Fighter of his own, whereas Zane puts in a spray that only narrowly misses.

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ESCAPE FROM TATOOINE

The Last Laugh: 23/13

TIE Fighters x7: 2/19
TIE Fighters x1: 2/18
TIE Fighters x1: 2/16

TIE Booster: 0/23

Blackguard Turbolasers x15: x (damaged: -2)

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This turn, the Last Laugh begins to lug itself up over the bridge of the Blackguard, with TIEs in close pursuit and turbolasers still firing away despite their lack of coordination. The freighter suddenly pulls out of its spins and Kyle produces another lock-on... an 12, a miss! But we will put Fortune on that... Outcome of four! Your torpedoes race in and impact against the bulbous shield generator... but it doesn't give just yet...

And then the Last Laugh buzzes the bridge, swooping up and over it just as it reaches it and gaining five Pep from another roll. Before you pass beyond their range, however, the turbolasers score another seven damage...

Beyond the bridge, the turbolasers cannot get at you. The Blackguard is being forced to turn about if it wants to pursue you...

And then Eerin and Zane fire. Fortune spends are required, but... as a result, with their massive spraying amounts of bolts into the damaged shield generator, they watch as it goes. The TIE Fighters have no chance to maneuver around the fiery cloud that develops in its wake; those chasing you ignite and burst.

But not the TIE Booster. This bastard is persistent! Races directly through the explosion- his ship has shielding- and sends a barrage into the Last Laugh's shields. You lose five Pep.

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ESCAPE FROM TATOOINE

The Last Laugh: 30/13

TIE Booster: 0/18

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You are hoping that hyperdrive is nearly ready, Kyle. The Last Laugh is starting to spark from those turbolaser hits, and that TIE Booster looks like it could be rather nasty up close...

Where do you want to set coordinates for, once the hyperdrive is ready?

Also, Eerin and Zane can now target the TIE Booster, as it is the only remaining target... though more TIEs are closing in...

(Awesome Eerin! That was pretty cool.)

Grinning at the stunt he just pulled off, but not wanting to celebrate just yet, Kyle yells over the comm, "Hey, how's that drive coming? And just where are we going, now that we're Rebels?"

(If Zane or Kara don't have a destination, take the second star to the right and straight on 'till morning. We'll figure the rest out after that.)

"Don't EVER try a stunt like that again!" Zane shouts. "You're lucky that that was just a Victory-class Star Destroyer!"

"Almost set," Kara says. "What was your destination before you crash on..."

The Last Laugh rumbles as the TIE Booster makes a direct hit, having rolled a 20. You lose five Pep as you swerve to avoid further incoming shots from the rapid-firing, twin-linked cannons of the modified starfighter...

Zane and Eerin try to shoot that damnable thing down, but despite its modifications, it is still as difficult a customer as a normal TIE Fighter. It lets their shots pass between its solar-panneled wings as it closes on you, cannons blaring.

You try to shake him off your tail, with a little success.

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ESCAPE FROM TATOOINE

The Last Laugh: 30/8

TIE Booster: 0/16

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"Hey, don't complain unless you're dead!" He respons to Zane. He doesn't say anything to ara, but he sets the nav computer to continue the path they were already on. "How long?!"