Dox and Oddball ROAE Episode 2: Part 3

Dox and Oddball were two retired clone troopers during the time of the Rise of the Empire (ROAE), who decided to retire by flying, specifically as smugglers. However, in this case, their ship has crash-landed (it was Oddball's fault, Dox claims), and they are up to their own means to get it flying again...

Previous to this point, in the first part of this Chapter, Dox and Oddball just barely escaped a fiasco at a marketplace where they wer trying to aquire parts.

Later, in part 2 of this Chapter, the group stole a speeder transport from an imperial depot. In the process, they crashed into and damaged quite a bit of stuff (it's captured in a gif), and now have troopers chasing them down in their much slower, manually-overridden troop transport...

-----

A Long Time Ago, in a galaxy Far, Far away... 

(it's a little less vague if you read The First Chapter)

-----

Dox And Oddball ROAE Chapter 2

A little Summary for those who missed the first part:

Dox and Oddball found themselves stranded on a planet, and as usual, they are now on the run from the Empire. They hijacked an imperial speeder with the help of a mysterious jedi, who currently is berating Dox for trying to escape in a speeder on manual mode, when Imperials are chasing in more efficient, automatic speeders...

"You'll never make it!" the Jedi exhorted-- but mostly berated.

"Really," was all Dox could think of replying. He really was starting to question if they should have ever got this guy's help. So far he had been good with a blaster, but his useless hammering away was counteracting that pretty fast.

"What, you think that you can escape in a speeder on manual mode, when Imperials are chasing in automatic speeders, which can take any turn, perfectly balanced? Meanwhile, we'll probably flip if this ever turns."

"You don't even know where we're going!" Dox yelled back. He knew the 'Jedi' guy was right, but he still wasn't in the mood to agree. "I've never trusted Robots anyway."

"The Empire apparently does," noted the Jedi. 'For good reason' was probably the unsaid part of that argument, as the empire was gaining fast.

Dox was about to make a retort, when Oddball cut him off.

"Hold on you two bucket-- and random skilled-dude-- heads," Oddball yelled. Those speeders were getting closer. "We can use their droid brains to our advantage. Here take this."

Oddball handed the 'Jedi' a rope dispenser. Oddball kept the other for his own side.

"Wait, you guys' ideas are just getting worse and worse. If you're trying to swing off the speeder and let them keep chaisng it, you will find youself in handcuffs quicker than ever. This rope dispenser won't work. I suppose you could grapple on their speeders if you really--" The Jedi stopped mid-sentence, a flicker of understanding crossing his face, though neither Dox or Oddball could have telled with all the dust everywhere. "You're Genius!"

"Yes I am." Oddball proudly said amidst the now blazing blasterfire from the too-near-for-comfort stormtrooper pursuit speeders. "Dox, I am now CT-whatever-something-number: 'Genius'"

Dox cringed. "Oh Oddball, not the time for that." He said, mentally banging his head --Or literally; the speeder seemed to have taken a hit near one of the repulsors, now starting to bounce rhythmically up and down.

"But I like jokes. It helps you get past the idea of lasers blaring at your cockpit." Oddball said. He was still standing on top of the speeder, beaming about his clone trooper pun (which was nowhere close to one; his instructor would have been embarrassed for him).

Dox turned his head back, and decided to change the subject. Clones were the ones who enacted order 66, and they had a Jedi right here, and that Jedi might not like the mention of clone troopers, even though he was in a party composed of them. "Look! here they come."

"Okay, so Dox, you stop when I say so, and you, Jedi, fire the harpoon at their speeder. Make sense?" Oddball instructed them, as he himself got ready to shoot his harpoon at the other speeder. "Connect the handle of your grapple to ours."

"You can call me Kanan. I'm not a jedi." The jedi- Kanan- now briefly smiled. If he was a Jedi, he must have thought that these clone troopers were actually smugglers with clone-trooper armor, and was now trying to conceal his identity from them. However, if he truly was not a Jedi, then he must have decided to take the 'Jedi' mention as a compliment. It's an interesting line of thought, one worth looking at, Dox mused.

Kanan twisted around and spoke: "I'm ready."

"Now?" Kanan asked.

"No." said Oddball.

The laserfire from the pursuing speeders was getting thick, now starting to be joined by all troopers on the speeders. Dox had to duck behind the minimal shielding around him as he continued to adjust the speeder's computer inputs; his lifeline to manually controlling the speeder. It probably wasn't designed for this... Dox thought.

"NOW?" The jedi anxiously asked.

"No."

"If you're waiting to see the whites of their eyes, you never will. They're bucket-heads, you know. --present company excepted to that insult, of course." Kanan added rather stubbornly.

"Not yet... almost" Oddball said, too focused to respond completely.

The troopers had stopped firing now, as Kanan and Oddball now had their hands up in the air, still with their rope dispensers in hand, subtly aiming toward the rear of each flanking speeder.

"Anytime would be good." Kanan yelled, as the speeders whizzed down the street. They were almost in melee range now. And, if the speeders got any closer together, they would be.

"NOW!!!" Oddball yelled. His helmet microphone cut out halfway through that, but Kanan got the message anyway. Holding his breath, which was a very greenie thing to do, he pressed the trigger on his grappling rope dispenser.

----------

Twin harpoons lanced out to the flanking speeders, originating from 'artistically' placed points on Dox's speeder.

Kanan then realized that Oddball had not handed him a basic rope-dispenser, but rather a camofauged vine-style rope dispenser, not at all a thing suited for desert operations. But again, that was probably why Oddball had found it. It didn't matter now. Their plan looked to be working good.

A perfect hit on both sides, with the aid of Kanan's force ability, and the lines grew taught as Dox's speeder abrubtly braked.

Both Droid-brained speeders, a little too late to notice that they had been suddenly anchored to something now behind them, jerked backward from their forward motion, with the offset anchors on their backs forcing them to merge into the center path in front of Dox's speeder.

They collided with a resounding crash, much to the surprise of the stormtroopers onboard.

The inner-most troopers smashed heads together, while the outer-most troopers were thrown off when their speeder swerved inward.

__________________________________________

All of this was to the delight of Dox, Oddball and Kanan, who stood triumphantly on their speeder, unharmed except for the slight damage done to their armoured Imperial Troop Transport speeder.

They then cut the rope-vines and quickly swerved away to the site at which their ship had been grounded.

"Rebel Scum!" One trooper yelled at their departing quarry, their objective of pursuit, as he roused himself.

"I thought that was pretty cool, actually." Another tooper calmly stated with a touch of admiration as they got up. 

The first stared at the second. "You hit your head too hard!" he retorted.

"Maybe."

The End ...of this Chapter in the Rise Of An Empire series...

As I have said before, Thank you for viewing, and may you enjoy a great Star Wars Experience!

If you missed it, here is Part 1 of Chapter 2,

And Part 2 of Chapter 2,

with this post that you have read being the Part 3 of Chapter 2.

The short introduction to these characters is also posted here: Dox And Oddball Introduction.