EPISODE X: PEACE AT LAST?

Loose Ends:

    With the ship in for modernisation all there is to do for 3 weeks is keep a low profile. Not much chance of that!

    Before the ship was taken away to be upgraded our personal equipment needed to be transferred to a hangar provided by the starport. We somehow managed to move all our stuff without causing any suspicion. This was quite amazing as we moved a damaged chopper, an arsenal of about 40 guns, an armed speeder bike, and various armoured suits, etc.

    The shipyard would not take cash for the upgrade so it was my job to go into town and open an account to put it in. I sorted out a disguise and background and went to the 'Third Bank of Fornax', since I was a Correllian I told them I needed a seperate account to keep my game winnings in. They bought it.

    The account was opened and an armoured truck was sent to the ship to pick up the money. When they left, I followed in a taxi to make sure it went to the bank. It did. I was sorely tempted to 'disappear' as it were and see what the rest of the group did. They trust me too much (poor suckers), but I returned to the ship.

    The length of the days here was only 10 hours (5 day, 5 night) and the temperatures were very hot (day) and very cold (night). Environmental suits were required during the day, and the most popular drink in bars was water!

Busman's Holiday:

    Freddie (whose name is now actually Striker 'Sure Shot' Courageous , or Striker for short) went into town and met up with another Sullustian in typical style, nearly causing a full scale riot.

    Striker returned that evening to tell us about a job we could do. We were to meet the other sullustian who would then fill us in on all the details. His name is Vorsprung Durk Technic (silly isn't it) or Durk for short.

    [At the Bar]... "The job, should you accept, is to defend a village from a group of bandits that have been attacking it for some time now." Durk said.

    "How much do we get paid?" McJimmy asked.

    "That's all you ever think of isn't it, money" said Mattlock "How much?" he continued.

    "E 500 on arrival, transport and food provided" Durk answered.

    "Only E 500" Striker said.

    "That's all the village can afford".

    "How far is this village?" I said.

    "You'll have to ask their cheif, follow me".

    We walked into a back room and in there were two men, one in desert rags , the other in armoured suiting.

    "May I present Savage and Trooper" Durk said, "Savage, these people are willing to help us".

    "We havn't agreed yet!" Janso said.

    "Savage, how far is it to the village?" I said.

    "About 300 miles".

    "What transport will we be using?" Mattlock asked.

    "Banthas" came the short reply.

    Mattlock and I had a quite discussion, we couldn't sit around for 3 weeks and not shoot at anything.

    "Okay, when do we leave" I said.

    "What! we haven't discussed this properly" Janso exclaimed.

    "I don't care, when do we leave Savage?".

    At first light, we'll meet you at the city limits, and, thank you" Savage replied.

Across the Desert :

    [Back on the Ship]... We got together all we required for the journey. McJimmy removed the Blaster cannons from the bike and I hid them inside it, since they were illegal on the planet.

    We met up with Savage and Trooper who had 3 Banthas with them. Savage and Mattlock were on the first, Janso and Trooper were in the middle, and Durk and Striker were on the rear one. McJimmy and myself were on the bike. Getting onto the Banthas was difficult and once up, the ride was uncomfortable, fortunately I had no such problems.

    The convoy set off across the desert, and it was very, very warm. The journey for the first two days (Fornaxian days) went by without incident. On the second night we stopped as usual. Durk and I were on guard duty while the others rested.

    We were talking about our travels, well Durk mainly, when we heard some noises. We looked around and saw some people sneaking up on us. The rest of the group was alerted and the firing commenced. The people (creatures actually) were very small, and numbered about 10. They started throwing spears in, one hit Savage and one hit Striker.

    After my first shot I hit the deck and fired again. Nothing happened, "Shit". I quickly checked my gun and found to my horror it had malfunctioned. During this time Trooper had taken off (with the aid of his Grav Belt) and was fighting 3 of the creatures hand to hand.

    I lost my bearings and started to go away from the group convinced we were being attacked from that angle. By now I had a Laser pistol in hand. Striker had been hit again and the creatures were charging but now only 4 of them.

Dark Creatures :

    I finally realized that there were none behind us and started to look back to te original group. There was a trembling of the ground, and then in the distance a huge 'thing' could be seen coming towards us.

    "What the hell is that!" I shouted.

    "Don't know, but I bet he's got something to do with it" Durk said, pointing to one of the creatures up on a rock. Durk fired at him, but it just disappeared, only to re-appear somewhere else. Savage by now had got to the Banthas, trying to get away. I ran for my bike and jumped on. Actually I jumped over it and missed. I got on at the second attempt.

    At that very moment the 'thing' started throwing rocks in at us, and the Banthas panicked. One was charging straight for me, but I was equal to it and gracefully sped off out of the way. McJimmy was tracking down the Shaman (the guy controlling the beast), so I went off in that direction. As I was passing the beast, a rock gave the bike and myself a glancing blow.

    Durk and Striker were firing at the Shaman, but to no effect. Mattlock was busy dodging rocks and fighting the small creatures, while Janso was generally doing nothing. Trooper was on top of the beast, trying to distract it.

    I flew over McJimmy, sighted the Shaman and fired the bike's Blaster cannons but missed. Suddenly ahead of me was a rock face, I neatly pulled a tight turn to avoid disaster and turned to fire at the shaman again.

    After Mattlock regained his senses he looked around, saw the shaman and fired. To say say he was luckly is an understatement. At his first attempt he saw and killed the shaman. Instantly the 'thing' disappeared and the air was suddenly quite again.

A Man and his Bantha :

    The injured were seen to, nobody seriously hurt. We now had to find the Banthas. Trooper went off in one direction whilst McJimmy and I went the other way. After losing our bearings we overflew the camp and then found a Bantha. Unfortunately it was a wild male and it charged us. I managed to dodge and then started firing at it.

    We then found a group of six females, one of which was ours. That male turned up again and tried to chase us off. I started to herd the group away in the direction of the camp. I radioed them the news, "Hey guys, you got 6 Banthas heading your way, get ready to receive them" I said.

    Before this group arrived, Trooper had returned with Fred, our male Bantha. Also Striker had seen a large creature approaching and fired. He killed our third Bantha with one shot.

    The group now arrived, I'd managed to slow them down a bit, however Fred managed to control them. The wild male turned up again and Fred met him head on. The fight was on. Trooper was cheering Fred on (wierd guy). After a few moments it was all over. Fred had won but had suffered a broken horn. Mattlock got out his superglue and stuck it back on. Fred gave him a big sloppy kiss.

    I was asked to return to the ship and pick up the power droid and two blaster rifles. I did this at first light. The others would carry on. It didn't take long to get what I wanted. By the end of that day I had rejoined the group.

The Ricketery Old Bridge :

    The next few days were uneventful. I repaired my laser pistol after that too malfunctioned on me. On the sixth day we came to a ravine and a wooden bridge.

    Suddenly we were fired on and Striker was hit. Our return fire was poor initially, but once we warmed up they were as good as dead. There were five bandits on the the other side of the ravine. Savage got hit and so did Durk. In rapid succession four were taken out. Two had their heads blown clean off, such was our accuracy. We captured the remaining one and interrogated him later on.

    We got over the the ravine and rested until the following day. The captured bandit was interrogated. We found out that the leader of the main bandit group is Mad Dog Decker and he (this bandit) belongs to another group.

Explosives to defend a village? :

    The seventh day saw us arrive at the village we were to defend. It had a typical layout: Saloon, stables, church, etc. It had been recently attacked (the night before) as some of the buildings were still smoking.

    After surveying the village and checking our firepower I was again asked to go back to the ship to retrieve more supplies. Striker was to come with me. We were to pick up four laser rifles, some explosives and a vehicle. I powered up the bike and left.

    When we got close to the city we stopped and removed the bike's blaster cannons. We arrived in the city and found a vehicle hire place, picked up a grav vehicle for E 1000 + E 500 per day. I paid the E 1000 and we left. I told Striker to stay with the vehicle, while I go and get the rifles from the ship's hangar.

    [At the Village]... Everyone was settling down for the night and discussions were underway for the defense of the village. Janso wandered off into the desert...

    [In the City]... It was night now, I got the four laser rifles and my assault blaster, dismantled them and hid them in the bike. I got out of the starport after having a little chat with the guards and met up with Striker.

    The grav vehicle was big enough to get my bike inside, so in it went. In order to get the explosives I figured I'd need proof of authorisation so I knocked up an authorisation note and to me it looked okay.

    In the morning we looked around and found a hardware store dealing with the stuff we wanted.

    "Can I help you sir?" the man said.

    "Yes I like some equipment for the Fornax archeological dig" I said.

    "What do you require?".

    "200 lbs of explosives, 100 ft of rope and a dozen sacks".

    "I'll need some authorisation, have you got your professors number?".

    "I've got authorisation papers" I said.

    "I still have to check, its the law".

    "Well if thats how you treat your customers I'll take my business elsewhere, goodbye" I said and walked out.

    I got in the vehicle, "No Luck" I said "lets get going". And off we went back to the village.

"I'm Yul Brunner" :

    [At the Village]... Everything was peaceful and then someone shouted "BANDITS! BANDITS!". Mattlock immediately wanted to get all our stuff in the cellar beneath the church.

    "We're not ready to fight them yet" was his reason.

    "But there's only 3 of them" a villager said.

    "Oh, in that case, lets get 'em!".

    The bandits swooped down on grav sleds and landed in the square. Everyone was hiding now.

    "Come on out villagers we want more food" one bandit said.

    "We've got no food, but you can have this!" was Durk's reply.

    Instantly Durk, Mattlock and McJimmy opened fire. Two bandits went down immediately, the other tried to escape. McJimmy and Durk combined to take him out as he escaped. One of the bandits was still alive, so he was interrogated.

    At this time, Striker and myself arrived in the grav vehicle. The equipment we bought was unloaded, and I joined in the interrogation.

    The information we found out was helpful but only just. The bandits would be worried only after about 3 or 4 hours at their non return. They may come in numbers that night, but probably the following day. With this in mind we checked over all the firepower at our disposal. I put together my assault blaster and McJimmy rebuilt the 4 laser rifles. I also replaced the blaster cannons on my bike.

    During the remainder of the day Mattlock and Striker decided to try out the grav air sleds. Mattlock was a bit shaky but otherwise okay. However, Striker managed to cock it right up and fall off, only to break his thigh bone. Janso had returned from the desert earlier in the day and now\ reluctantly assisted Striker.

    During the night we rested and the next morning prepared to unleash electric death on Mad Dog Decker and his bandits.

    (If you can remember the plot for the 'Magnificant Seven', then you've got a pretty good idea of what happens in the next episode).

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