Jammers Summary: Chapter 3, Turn 22

----------- = Meanwhile, elsewhere...
*********** = Later...

Round 7:

"Hey!" Kain says entreatingly. "Someone help Talus or come take my place so I can!"

Italapate backs across the deck, crouched low against the wood. He slides into place beside his wounded comrade, Talus, as he pulls a strip of cloth from his seemingly bottomless medicine pouch. "This isn't going to be pleasant, buddy, but it will keep you alive." He quickly ties the bandage tight over the wound, his first aid rendered by necessity to its most basic form, using the tight knot to cut off all blood flow to the arm. "How many times do I have to tell them not to put Raken on the helm in _anything_ resembling a combat situation, hmmm? Ah well, you probably can't hear me anyway... or don't care anymore." He brushes the top of Talus' head. "Don't worry, no one is going to get to you, and we'll try to get you out of here so you can heal up."

Seeing 'Pate with Talus Kain continues to man the lines, watching the damaged sailfin as he follows the course adjustments ordered.

Holland's voice emits from near the ladder well, "Leera, you can keep the spell going, just get the scroll to the Bridge NOW!!" Holland continues, "Ferric, keep swerving and keep us headed off planet" The still invisible Holland then, keeping his arms spread out to keep his balance, speeds down the ladder well and rushes to the bridge.

Leera adds her voice to Holland's... "Yes, Ferric.... we'll be making a run for it soon." Down the ladder well she calls to Holland, "I'll be down soon with the scroll. I'm almost done."

The extremely noxious-looking smoke suddenly shifts, as the port side clears the starboard side is obscured by the smoke. Through the haze, shadowy figures can be seen moving about on the STAR's deck, then suddenly clutching at their throats and falling to the deck.

Shaking his head at Holland's orders Ferric shouts, "You heard the Captain Gentlemen, lets at least make this tough on them." Ferric continues to give orders for evasive actions, jerking the STAR through an erratic course that is still essentially a straight line.

Billy runs over to Galan and kneels down beside him setting his crossbow aside. "Vais! We have wounded! Your services are required." After a brief examination he sees that there is nothing that he can do. Galan stares blankly into space, a surprised look on his face.

Seguld draws up the next arquebus and moves it to his shoulder. Quickly he fires a shot at one of the scro arquebus warriors, but a sudden turn keeps him from seeing if the shot hit.

Nilaroo continues to fire his long bow at the nearest vipership, but neither of his shots manage to connect.

From the helm room, Raken calls to those on deck. "Hey, I just had a thought! Seguld, can you whip up a smoke powder bomb to chuck over to the starboard vipership? If we create a smoke screen on that vessel we might be able to loose her" he says hurriedly. "Then we'll have better odds!"

Vais opens the chest on the bridge and removes two potion vials. Then he exits the bridge and heads towards the ladder well, "I believe my services are needed above." he explains to Raken on his way out.

Deigatt mans the catapult alone, slowly cranking the massive arm back.

Taking note of what Ferric is ordering in the way of movements for the STAR, Robert quickly reloads his crossbow, steadies himself, aims at one of the scro, and pulls the trigger; watching the quarrel fly off, then quickly pulls out another quarrel to begin reloading his crossbow.

The forward [red] vipership drops back and down to the STAR's level, matching up on the port side, as the other [yellow] vipership continues to match speeds on the starboard. Both remain approximately 100 yards out from the STAR. As they match speeds each vipership unleashes a broadside from two ballistae. One bolt from the port vipership goes high, passing above the STAR and the vipership beyond. The other three slam into the SILENT STAR's hull, shattering planks. One of the bolts sinks deep into the STAR's keel.

The scro arquebusiers can be made out crouching behind their vessels' sideboards as they reload their weapons.

Round 8:

Italapate leans over Talus, using his body to protect the half-elf as best he can.

Holland's headband enters the bridge, "Raken, let's switch places... Ready... switch,"

When Raken hears Holland say that he's ready to switch, he slides out of the chair quickly and heads towards the back of the ship.

The switch goes amazingly smoothly, considering the circumstances, with barely a surge to indicate it happened. The invisible Holland sinks onto the helm and orients himself to flying the ship.

Billy runs over to Talus, yelling out to Vais again, "Vais! Quickly!" Billy motions 'Pate aside so he can examine the wound, then Billy takes a deep breath and concentrates. He exhales slowly as he places his hands lightly on Talus' wound. With the healing, the flow of blood stops and his breathing steadies, however the young half-elf still appears deathly pale and remains unconscious.

Kain continues his work on the sailfin, following Ferric's orders.

Leera moves as quickly as possible down the stairs to her bunk. As she begins climbing down the ladder her illusion ceases, and the noxious looking smoke and dying figures disappear as if they were never there...

Leera snatches a scroll lying with her gear alongside her bed and sprints to the helm room.

Seguld drops to one knee drawing the cask of company smoke powder over from behind the ballista bolt's storage case. As he ducks behind the ballista he struggles to construct the desired bomb by digging a hole in the cask and stuffing a pitch-stained rag into it.

Nilaroo continues to fire his long bow, despite the jinxing and the scro taking cover he manages to drop one with an arrow, sinking the broad-bladed arrow into its skull just behind the ear.

"You know Holland, surrender is sometimes a viable option. Just something to keep in mind since they seem to keep shooting at us." Ferric takes cover from the continued missile fire and fires his own bow as he continues to order jinxing and shifting back and forth to the sail crew.

Deigatt continues working at the catapult.

Quickly reloading his crossbow, Robert once again aims at one of the enemy scro, waits for a steady moment and pulls the trigger. Not waiting to see what happens, Robert pulls another quarrel out to start reloading, while having a quick glance around at his fellow adventurers.

The viperships continue matching speed as their ballista crews work frantically to reload their weapons. The arquebusiers all seem to have reloaded but sit motionlessly behind cover, obviously awaiting orders to fire.

Round 9:

As Billy continues to heal Talus, Italapate hovers over both of them, using his body to shield them from scro fire.

Vais walks over and says, "Step back. Won't do to suffocate him." As Billy and Italapate move aside Vais kneels and feeds one of the potions in his copper hands down Talus' throat. "Drink this, it will fix you right up." The blood flow lessens dramatically and some color returns to Talus' pallid face. Talus awakes on the deck, his clothes soaked with blood from his wound.

Smiling, Billy recovers his crossbow and reloads it.

Holland's hands grip tight on the arms of the Helm, his knuckles turning white as he struggles to shoot the STAR away from Spiral as quickly as possible.

Kain moves between lines for the sailfin easily, following Ferric's orders.

Leera enters the bridge and sees Holland's bandanna on the helm. She quickly chants the words on the scroll, with only one agonizing moment of tension as she stumbles over a phrase. She recovers swiftly, however, and finishes the spell with confidence. The magical incantation releases a surge of power into Holland and the STAR surges forward, quickly placing some distance between itself and the viperships.

Seguld curses aloud, "StillWorkin'OnIt!" His fingers nimbly dance about the smoke bomb with his penknife and he continues his efforts.

Seeing the distance increase well beyond longbow range, Nilaroo turns to help Deigatt with the catapult. The two begin to spin the loaded catapult towards the rear so it can fire.

Raken grabs his medical bag and heads into the cargo hold. He comes up carefully and searches for wounded, but sees only Galan's dead body.

"This is not the end I had in mind." Ferric sighs to himself as he continues to give orders for evasive actions.

Robert reloads his crossbow and watches the scro vessels recede behind the STAR.

The STAR's burst of speed seems to have caught the scro momentarily off guard.

Date/time: 6:15 am 12th day of the 6th Month, 5049 OC