A second wire?!?

Zaye disappears with the guy - probably knocked out - to stash him out of sight. I dash back to Zil and try to hurry him up. He responds with frustration that there are thermal dets tied together in sequence . He has been able to identify and isolaoted all except two of the devices, but now we have to cut them in the correct sequence - not simultaneously. He wants to send me to find the second one, but there are two directions that we need to check. I head left and Ranger Zil goes right to check the next door. He is convinced that the wiring is such that the next door to either diretion is as far as the wiring would work. I go past where Hicks is and find a doorway with a keypad attached. I gently pry open the kepad, being very cognizant of the potential hazards of the bad soldering mentioned. I find the thermal det - or at least the proof that it is attached to this keypad. I inform Ranger Zil and he says he will head back to the first door. I double check that he did not find anything attached to the keypad and he says no and that the door was sealed shut.
 
While I am waiting for him to get back to the door so he can check to see if I have to cut first or if he does, I hear footsteps stomping behind me. I contact Hicks to suggest he come and handle the situation, but he responds by suggesting I should "thnk small" which I do not consider helpful. I shrink in on myself and then I see a trandoshan stalk by my alcove. It doesn't get far past me when I hear a blster whine and then a body hit the floor. Hicks grunts slightly as he drags the body out of the hallway and lets me know that I don't have to think small now. I grumble to myself a bit about not really needing so many wiseasses around me. I glance back at the keypad and start trying to work out the best way to handle the cutting of the wire and I determine it will need to be stripped in order to cut this wire.
 
As I am investigating the best place to strip due to the huge amount of solder, I see another wire. This one is actually wired in and has been painted the same color as the keypad. This has obviously been added by someone who is better at the job, but based upon the details both of these traps were set at the same time, but by two different people. This wire is carrying a lower charge and going up and to the left where the thermal det wire is going straight up and into the room. I follow the path of the wire and see a gas canister painted the same color as the wall. The business end looks like it will send the contents into the room, but there is a three minute delay. I focus on the keypad and work to disconnect the wire, but the canister's nozzle is stuck and I can't let it fall. If it falls, then I will be innudated by the gas inside the cannister - whatever it is. I reach into my pouch and pull out some sticky tape - no reason to not have some in my pouch as it is good for things inside the ship - and use it to hold the cannister in place. It holds, but it is not very secure. I turn back to the keypad, carefully strip a section of the wire, and check with Rnger Zil.
 
He confirms that I can cut as he is ready and I carefully put the tool in place, tell Zaye I love her, and cut the wire.
 
Nothing happens except Zil confirms he has cut his wire and opened the door. There are fifteen people in the room, confused, but okay. I am about to head his way when I hear a group heading towards me at a gallop. I turn to grab the cannister - which was about to fall off the wall anyway - and turn to face the horde. I contct the group to tell them what is going on and that we need to get the rescued people to the ship. From the sounds behind me, I think there might be some injuires among the grou, but then I hear six armored pirates heading towards me with weapons drawn. I grabe the cannister and pitch it down the hallway towards them. I allow it to roll a little bit and then fire trying to make it explode, but there wasn't enough of a punch which caused the cannister to roll faster. I then send a second shot which rips it open and it explodes. I am left with my ears ringing and I can see a greenish gas that fills the tunnel. There are shouts of alarm and they being firing wildly in the mist. I drop to the ground and army crawl back to the crew with lots of blaster fire behind me and lots of shouts of confusion and anger. My ears are still ringing, but it seems that there is less noise behind me. Maybe they are running away?
 
I reach the junction and I see Hicks watching for me while Zaye is helping the rescued and Zil is rearguard. The rescued is a mix of humans, rhodian, and umbarrans (rare race not often seen in the univers with gray skin) of various ages. I can see desparate hope as they are looking at me and I am very much of the opinion that they should NOT be looking at me like that. However, based upon the physical liabilty this group poses, I quickly determine that we are going to need mechanicel assistance. I calculate the probability of that being available and am glad we are on the back side of this temple. It is more likely to have some farm vehicles that we can use to get these poor people up to the ship. We get out the door and I glance over to where I hope there are some vehicles and there are four! Hicks and I run over and grab two vehicles. They are fully powered and when we flip the power switches on the start. We get half of the people loaded into each vehicle and start up the incline. As we are half way up the incline the pirates start boiling out of the door and firing. Hicks has Ranger Zil take over the vehicle and he jumps out and takes the attention of the pirates to give us time to unload the rescued into the ship.
 
Zaye is working to help Hicks by throwing knives to hit soft flesh and joints. I toss her my plasma blaster and while my group is unloading, I dash into the cargo bay and grab a piece of rope, run back to my now empty vehicle and tie the sterring wheel to the door after making sure that the wheels are straight. I glance down the incline to see the yuzzim now fully armored with claws out providing a shield wall for the pirates and advancing on Hicks and Zaye who are slowly retreating. I aim the vehicle towards the biggest one and hit the communicator to tell Hicks and Zaye to roll right on three. They hear me say three and they disengage and turn to run to the right. The pirates throw concussion grenades and Hicks and Zaye stumble and because they are not able to move as fast as I planned, the vehicle is now careening towards them more than the pirates.
 
I grab my emergency locator transmittor and throw it staight at the face of the yuzzim. It hits him on the head and he turns to glare my way and sees the vehicle bearing down on him. He graps a weapon from one of the pirates behind him and fires at a supposed driver. That has no effect and he finally turns to run and get hits in back and flys through the door as the vehicle accordians into the back of the temple. We hurry up the incline and Ranger Zil informs us that everyone has been settled into the cargo bay with blankets and emergency rations. I send Zaye to med bay to get checked out so that I don't have to take Ranger Zil out and drop him off in the ion cloud. I set up Hicks as co-pilot and handling the sensors while I get the ship fired up and taking off from level six. I think I see a notice that one of the ships we followed in starting to fire up engines, but as their ships were disabled, I am not worried about them catching us. As we are leaving the ion cloud, Ranger Zil arrives on the bridge after interviewing the rescued people. He asks if we can see anything as he is expecting a response to the message he sent for pick up. Hicks checks and can see a freighter ship and escort vehicle from the BSS. The Starrise Falcon has the ability to transfer passengers from space so we make sure the rescued are safely transferred.
 
Ranger Zil returns and offers to help with the other part of our mission. I hesitate a moment and agree as we will need the help more than likely. I open secure comms and reach out to Vanya letting her know that if she can't talk to just click the comms or just responsd to tell me where to land to pick them up. No response from Vanya. I give it a minute and then ask Zaye who she suggests that I reach out to and she thinks one of the mentats would be best. I have to pick Kit Kat as he is the only sane one. I send him the same message and he sends me a map of where they are and the giant hole they apparently made,but makes no mention of fighting so we head to the same landing platform. We land and head inside to take the lift down to their level and walk out to a droid army guarding the team with bombs sitting in pretty rows wtih a space rift in the middle of it all. So'Zen says it was diplomacy.
 
Ranger Zil is in shock with the mines and is in conversation with the Twi'lek girl. Suddenly a Nautilan appears wearing a monk's robe and calls for So'Zen. They confer quietly and So'Zen replies "As the force will it." He give his palatrium to Kat Kat, turns and bows to all of us and says, "May the force be with all of you always until our paths cross again." He turns the corner and we see a glow and feel a faint breeze. The Twi'lek girls turns to us, "He said I will be safe with all of you. My name is Noki Sunfell". Then turns to Zaye and tells her to stay by her side as she woud be safest with her.