A Helping Hand - OP Dominion of Zonju V

[Kaida Taldir]

@[member="Anya Venari"]

There was an earthquake in the making and they were supposed to head into the city and save people. At least they would be in a gunship. Sometimes being nice is sort of a queen, she thought.

"Yes, Princess. Come on, let's get going," she waved to her comrades and quickly rushed towards a gunship that was waiting for them, climbing in and giving the pilot a gesture so that he would take off while the soldiers strapped themselves in. Beneath her feet the ground shook, a pillar crumbled and fell down with a loud thud as the gunship took off into the air, rapidly gaining in altitude as it ascended.

Beneath them chaos was taking over, people were rushing across the ruined streets of the wrecked city towards the spaceport, a massive onslaught fuelled by fear and desperation, for not all would make it. "Evacuation is proceeding. All citizens are ordered to head to the spaceport now for OP transport. Do not panic," the broadcast blared through the loudspeaker.

"Do not panic, you know that line actually really makes people panic?" Kaida asked rhetorically, sarcasm dripping from her voice. It certainly did nothing to deter the panicked stream of civilians racing across the streets. Such was the desperation fuelling them that no doubt a few of them fell and were trampled on by their fellows, but then all wished to survive.

"Look, Corporal, over there," one of the soldiers called out, pointing her towards a fallen piece of wall while the Gunship swooped down to get a better view. Vaguely they could make out make out civilians lying beneath it, two women, evidently still alive but unable to shake it off. "Get down there," Kaida ordered and the Gunship descended, while on the earth shook strongly, swooping down at great speed. Needless to say the sight caused civilians to rush towards it, coming out of their homes. The soldiers quickly rushed out and gripped the pillar, with groans getting it to move up.

Just then Kaida felt a prickling in the Force and one of her comrades grabbed her and pulled her down to the ground as suddenly blaster bolts and bullets shot through the air. "Cover the civvies and get them on board," she ordered, her lightsabre flying into her hand as she quickly deflected bolts, a blaster round narrowly missing her to embed itself into the pillar.

One of the soldiers had been shot in the back and now lay there reeling, a comrade gripped by the shoulder and pulled him up, firing at the attackers with his blaster pistol while pulling him to the Gunship, which soon laid down a volley of heavy laser fire that smashed the attackers', who were clad in the livery of the militia, cover, along with the soldiers lobbing grenades. Two were cut down by reflected bolts that bounced off Kaida's sabre, a third who charged her was speared through his chest.

 

[Jsc]

Solomon CIC

Karen spoke with Doctor Gand briefly. Their introductions short, she immediately began to show him the Map and the data they were collecting. Some translation was necessitated for technological expertise? But shortly the Doctor and his Staff were underway.

"...And. What say you Doctor?"

"I believe I may have the answer. If only in observation."

"I'll take it."

"To start. Here is a drawing of the Fault Lines that create the borders of our planet's shifting tectonic plates. We call them, the Volcanic Rings. May I draw on the screen?"

"Do it."

"There. You see. These are most unstable regions. Should any shift occur? These regions will be completely unpredictable for kilometers. Fire, ash, and massive pit falls. I'm afraid the cities in these regions would be... Doomed already."

"Specialist Tear. Get that Tectonic Online on the Map ASAP. Anya will want to know where not to send our boys stepping."

"Oh quite right Miss Roberts. Step on a crack? Break your operations back? Hahaha. ...I made a funny!"

Karen sighed. This was going to take awhile. At least now the soldier's would know where NOT to go hunting for civilians. Still? She would need more time with the Doctor to locate the Epicenter of these shifts. Almost there.

 

[Nyos Val]

Nyos awoke with a start, his head was spinning, or was he spinning? He checked his surroundings, he indeed was the one who was spinning. He activated his internal mag-boots and connected with the nearest surface with a clang. He was on the wall of the cargo bay. He walked to the floor and activated the lights. MD was in hibernation mode in the corner. Nyos made his way to the cockpit, a chill ran down his spine, the human parts at least, as he looked out the forward viewport. What he witnessed was akin to a massacre. Ships were torn apart and frozen bodies floating across the area. He quickly ran over the diagnostics of his vessel the "Phoebus" and was relieved to find no major damage aside from some near misses. He rebooted the systems and began scanning for survivors. Nyos picked up a small life sign inside a life pod of the starboard side, approaching with caution, Nyos guided towards the pod. He got near, sealed the cockpit from the cargo, vented and opened the hatch. He backed the "Phoebus" like a shovel to scoop up the pod. He closed the bay doors and set a course for known space. Blasting into hyperspace, Nyos took the time to go inspect his new cargo. MD was up and scanning the pod intensely. He turned and noted "It appears to have sustained minor damage and was venting atmosphere. Life signs are weak but stable. I suggest opening it as soon as possible."

Nyos nodded, drew his saber, and in one motion, slashed the seal on the pod. It popped open with a hiss. Nyos pried it open the rest of the way by hand. He peared inside and saw a Twi'lek woman cradling a child. Both were unconscious. Nyos carefully lifted the pair out and brought them to the exam table. Md began his work as the alarm went off in the cockpit. The ship had picked up a cluster of communications on the OP channels. It also appeared that Nyos was headed right for it. He came into real space and immediately witnessed a dusty, grey planet, with small puffs of fire scattering the landscape. A battle had occured but now it seemed as though the OP forces had triumphed.

"2nd Lieutenant Nyos Val, reporting for duty. Forgive my recent absence, I am ready for direction. Where shall I lend my services?"

 

[HK-36]

@[member="Noah Corek"]
In his shuttle, HK was set securely onto one of the free seats as the engineers did quick repair works on his damaged legs, in the mean time he sent a transmission to Noah
"Noah, HK here, how much room do you have on your ship? The Siege Tower is beginning to fill up and we still have plenty of shuttles to land safely on one of our larger ships."
The droid also picked up a transmission incoming from Nyos, gleefully replying to @[member="Val-ient Cyborg"]
"Nyos, it has been a while, report to Crown Princess Anya, she has been placed in charge of this mission, we just finished up getting the people safely off of the planet."

 

[Nyos Val]

Too long my metal friend, I want to hear all about your adventures in my absence once we've finished here.

How's the subjects MD? I will be lending my services to our allies soon, so be prepared to take on any and all comers.

Affirmative, subjects are stable but still unresponsive.

Nyos slowed his ship to a crawl to give time to alter course when he received his orders. This is 2nd Lieutenant Nyos Val of the Omega Protectorate, I am requesting permission for transmission with the Crowned Princess @[member="Anya Venari"]. I come to offer my services and my ship, I am equipped with a medical transport vessel and a functional surgical unit. Where shall I direct my attention your majesty?

 

[Kaida Taldir]

@[member="Anya Venari"]

Pure chaos reigned where Kaida and her small squad had landed. They had been cornered by a group of attackers, dressed as militiamen, who rained down salvoes of blaster fire at them, though there were civilians among them. Kaida's yellow lightsabre slashed bolts out of the air, creating a zone of denial, but so desperate were some of the attackers that they stormed towards them across the street, heedless of the danger. They were cut down by reflected blaster bolts or the bolter fire from the Omegan soldiers, creating a wild cacophony of sound as the lightsabre hummed, bolters barked out grenades, civilians screamed and the city fell apart.

The Peregrine's laser cannon spewed out bolts, razing wreckage the attackers had used as cover so that they fled, covering civilians racing towards it. In this moment the quakes intensified and became so vehement that civilians and soldiers alike fell over as the earth was shaken by tremors. Piles of wreckage were hurled into the air and Kaida was struck, being knocked back. The corpse of a militiaman smashed into her arm, the impact of the man's helmet crashing into it had the effect of deadening it and making it to numb. The roof of a shopping centre was torn asunder and caved in, the window burst and glass flew towards her. Her vision grew hazy and was dim as she lay there and the glass flew towards her and the fleeing civilians, threatening to strike them like shards. Seeing this Kaida managed to regain her bearings and focused, drawing on her Sciia as wild blaster bolts flew around, she focused on the moisture in the air. Her lips turned blueish and her skin looked frosty, then the gust of a cold wind swept through the air, stopping the glass shards and driving them back so that they smashed back into the collapsing building.

Kaida got up with a groan, shaking slightly as she tried to survey the situation. "Grab the civvies and get back aboard. Get the engines prepped for take-off," she called out, still a bit shaky on her legs as she tried to run towards the Gunship. Some of the crazed militiamen kept on firing wildly. With the Gunship laying down covering fire, soldiers grabbed civilians that had fallen onto the ground and dragged them to the Gunship. Kaida ran, then yelped as a dead body was flung towards her and hit her in the back, she rolled as blaster bolts flew towards her. In this moment suddenly the ground between the Omegans and the Gunship was torn open, causing a crack in the ground that soon widened.


"We must get out of here. If we don't leave now, we'll fall into the pit!" the pilot declared over the loud noise of blaster fire. At that panic engulfed frightened civilians and some of them ran as fast as they could. One man, so desperate to escape the mayhem, tried to jump over the pit, but it was too wide and so he fell to his death.

"No, you stay here," Kaida barked out as she ran, almost stumbling over some wreckage as she moved towards the pit. Over the noise she heard the words being yelled to her from the pilot. A whirlwind tore through the air as the Gunship tried to ascend into the sky and spun it through the air. "I'm losing control! The whirlwind is pulling us into the pit. It's full of water!"


Oh, that sort of sucked.


Wait, water? She could work with that. "Try to get it under control, I'll try something!" Kaida yelled at him, trying to make herself heard over the pure pandaemonium. Down in the pit a water pipe had broken and she sank more deeply into her Sciia than before. Trying to calm her nerves and still the fear that threatened to overtake her she focused, stretching out with her powers to abruptly drop the temperature in the air so that it rapidly fell below freezing point. A cold chill set, making anyone shiver, as the whirlwind lost its force as the coldness in the air took the power out of it. The water shooting up from the pit, which by now had turned into something like a sea, was frozen to ice. The Gunship ground to a halt on the field of ice she had conjured up, soldiers and civilians racing towards it. Kaida dropped down to one knee, then was knocked forward by another tremor before one of the soldiers roughly grabbed her and hauled her into the Gunship, which soon took off into the air. "You know what, I've changed my mind. I like Reavers more! Strap yourself in and fasten your seat belts. This will be a rough ride!" the pilot announced.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@[member="HK-36"], @[member="Anya Venari"]

Aboard the Loki - it was totally auspicious that the ship was named after a trickster god known for being a backstabber - the chaos reigning on the planet had not gone unnoticed by Moira as she processed information fed to her from several computer monitors and comms specialists. Her minions - not colleagues or subordinates, simple minions - had finally gotten the message and were doing their job. She also was informed about the state of the Siege Tower, which thanks to HK's dilligence was now filled with evacuated natives, no doubt all grateful to the Omega Protectorate in general and the Iron Baron in particular.


"Get medical supplies loaded on shuttles and transport them to the Siege Tower and the Solomon. It would miss the point of the mercy mission if these benighted souls died of infection. Especially before they can express their gratitude," she ordered flatly as she stared at a screen.

"On it, ma'am. Should I dispatch a holocamera team as well?" Birkoff asked innocently.

"Not right now. Too obvious. It would look forced."

 

[Noah Corek]

@[member="HK-36"] @[member="Kaida Taldir"] @[member="Karen Roberts"] @[member="Anya Venari"]
Eastern Village
"I don't really know HK,you'd have to ask Roberts,she's in control of the Solomon for now." Noah said as he strained to lift some stones blocking the entrance to the local schoolhouse. "Move! Move! Get to the shuttle in the village square!" Noah yelled to the teachers and students as they ran by. It was then he heard shouting and saw four armed men advancing towards them with K-47 Blaster Rifles. "Sirs,I'm going to have to ask you give me you weapons and then proceed to the-" But that was as fare as Noah got before the lead man raised his rifle and attempted to fire on him,lucky the rifle jammed and Noah,angry as a hell,went forward and drove one of his dual vibroblades through the mans chest. The other three men attempted to raise theirs as well before they were cut down by the rest of Alpha Squad. "Okay,well I admit that was fun. Jenkins,you take half of the squad,under the designation Alpha 1-2,and get the rest of the civvies out. Me and Alpha 1-1 will go and clear the riff-raff out."

 

[Kaida Taldir]

"You know, on any other day this would usually be the moment when a thresher maw or some other big beastie appeared," the pilot said conversationally, having apparently forgotten the terror he had been in just moments ago when the Gunship had almost fallen into the pit. Or maybe it was just his way of dealing. "I was there, by the way. When the Colonel..."
"Fought a giant wurm on Vandelhelm before Mare bombed it. Yes, I know. She likes to often tell the story and then when recruits get sent to the planet they find out it's a real bore," Kaida interjected, not in a chipper mood, but then she was nursing a rather nasty bruise. More like brag about it, she thought.
"Tsk-tsk. Youngsters these days. No appreciation for the old classics. I was about to tell you about Roche. Now that was one hell of a ride. So many Sith on that freaking asteroid it was clogged," the pilot muttered. "Everyone hang on. Unfortunately the weather is bombing."
"I'm older than you and will live a great deal longer. Now cut the jokes and focus on flying." Perhaps she was being unfair but she was annoyed. The pilot snapped her a rather cheeky salute and was quiet at last. Beneath them it was chaos. As she gazed she could see buildings sinking into the ground and crumbling, pillars fell and were smashed. So strong were the ripples that large cracks were torn into the ground, the rudimentary roads burst. The Gunship swerved and dodged as pieces of debris were hurled its way, gaining in altitude and then was spun through the air by a whirlwind. It rocked with such force that Kaida had to draw on her telekinesis to stabilise herself. In the cramped Gunship the squad medic tried to provide rudimentary care to the rescued civilians, but there was little she could do while living through their pilot's erratic flying.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@[member="Noah Corek"]

The Eastern Village had long fallen under the sway of gangs, some of the thugs had just been expertly terminated by Lieutenant Corek, but more were hiding in the wreckage of the village. There was the roar of engines as suddenly speeders burst out of the ruined village, piloted by men dressed in fatigues and equipped with repeaters.

They swarmed across the plains, clearly intent on either killing or capturing the Omegan soldiers. Blaster bolts whipped through the air as they fired. In the same moment a loud roar and an ominous shadow upon the surface announced the coming of a Peregrine-class Gunship as it swooped down. The speeders scattered, trying to evade as it came down upon them. One of the thugs leapt off a speeder as it ground to a halt near the wreckage of a house, rolling hard sideways as he gripped an RPG and took aim upon the Gunship that promised death from above.

His fingers moved to the trigger then suddenly he was thrust through the air as burnt chunks of flesh when a missile shot out of the Peregrine's launcher and blasted him and the speeder, causing a small fireball and raining down debris on another of the speeders that was ignited, amid the satisfying scream of its pilot. The laser turrets of the Peregrine opened fire upon the fleeing thugs, wrecking a hell of their own as red laser bolts shot through the air.

Aboard the Loki Moira watched the mayhem unfold on a computer screen, while sipping a cup of starcaf. Hot and well brewed just the way she liked it.

 

[HK-36]

@[member="Noah Corek"]
"Roger that, Noah, thanks!"
HK responded back, his own shuttle entering the full hangar of the Siege Tower, quickly getting the refugees off and refueling.
As engineers were wrapping up work on his legs, HK now contacted @[member="Karen Roberts"]
"Karen, dear, this is HK here, I need to know how much space you have on the Solomon, I have few more shuttles in space and no room aboard the Siege Tower, think you could take them in?"
The droid would love to stick around, however, there were things he needed to do, sending a quick contact to @[member="Anya Venari"], he queried
"Crown Princess, this is First Baron, what are my next orders?"

 

[Jsc]

Karen and the Professor remained hunkered down over the data streams. Writing notes and compiling thoughts. HK buzzed and Blue stepped aside for a moment,

"Roger that HK. One moment."

She moved to the bridge and asked the Deck Commander. He nodded but wondered what they planned to do after that. Karen shrugged. She'd never evacuated a whole planet before.

"HK. This is Roberts on the Solomon. The Deck Commander has approved arrival for your ships. But he is wondering what to do with them? This Cruiser is not equipped for refugees and we'll need to put them somewhere eventually. Maybe ask the Princess where she wants you to put your taxied refugees. ...It would be at least fifteen hours if the Solomon had to jump back to Fondor to drop these people off and refuel. And that's assuming Fondor will even take these people."

She paused to sigh,

"But yes. For now you can package them here. Tell your pilots they have the green light."

She stopped just outside the Briefing Room Door. This was becoming rather particular already.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

@[member="Anya Venari"], @[member="Val-ient Cyborg"]

It was after a harrowing journey that Kaida's Gunship finally returned to the spaceport, filled to the brim with people after having made a few more stops to rescue trapped civilians or step in when speeder gangs attacked. The Gunship was still relatively intact, but it had sustained blaster fire and had dents from being hit with debris.

Even here the ripples were intensifying, a good chunk of the road had been ripped out. The ground trembled as the Gunship came in to land and touched down, further away, a pillar broke at the base and collapsed on top of a speeder, smashing into it. The landing ramp of the vessel was lowered and soldiers streamed out, helping civilians walk down, while others were carried on stretchers.

Their pilot had picked up on the earler transmission from Nyos, whose return incidentally is awesome, and now Kaida responded. "Second Lieutenant, just in time for the big bang. What took you so long? There's plenty of civilians at the port that need medical attention and we're lacking in ship space," she spoke into the comm, then hailed Princess Anya. "Returned with a large batch of civilians, city's coming apart by the seams and we had some run-ins with gangs and a pit."

 

[Noah Corek]

@[member="Moira Skaldi"] @[member="Karen Roberts"] @[member="HK-36"] @[member="Kaida Taldir"] @[member="Anya Venari"]
"Son of a-! Where in the krif did that Peregrine!?" Shouted a young Private on Noah's left as he ducked behind a fallen column to avoid the heavy amount repeater fire that was being poured down upon them. "I don't care kid, I'm just happy that its helping us." Noah told the Private as he ducked himself and pulled out his OPSR-1 he had modified with a longer barrel and a Hybrid sight that had a red dot sight that could be switched between it and a 6x zoom scope. After drawing it he put two slugs through the mans brain. "This is Corek,I need some fire support in the Eastern Village!"

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@[member="Noah Corek"], @[member="Anya Venari"]

Moira watched the mayhem unfold from her secure position aboard the Loki, sipping her cup of starcaf as she listened to the comms chatter. "It is heartening that one's faith in sentients' inherent murderousness is never disappointed. Hence why peace is a delusion of the mind. At best an interval," she said more to herself, for Moira was in the habit of randomly philosophising or dispensing words of wisdom. Her subordinates had learned not to question her, for she was not particularly liberal.

"Terminate all resistance with extreme prejudice," she spoke flatly into the communicator as she received a transmission from the pilot of the Peregrine. She then switched the channel to contact Anya. "Princess, squad reports hostile contact in the Eastern Village. Hawk One has been deployed."

The Peregrine quickly steered past Corek's squad as the troopers sought cover so that they would not be caught by friendly fire, raining down a hailstorm of repeater fire that struck the fuel tank of a speeder, igniting it, then as thugs retreated into an already wrecked house it shot out a missiles, making part of the wall fall down and catching them in a fireball.

 

[Anya Venari]

While this frantic activity had been transpiring Anya had not been idle. Zonju V was a world far from the centre, and the population seemed to be both larger and more varied than anyone had suspected. Put simply, they were running out of space!

With that in mind she had put a call in, routed through Exarch Alcori’s security clearance, to get extra lifting space. Bespin was the nearest major Protectorate world, and though most of the transports there were tibanna gas, she had managed to get two bulk freighters lined up.

“Understood Lieutenant @[member="HK-36"] and Commander @[member="Karen Roberts"], I have two large transports on their way. They will be here in approx. four hours. Until then we just need to get the people somewhere safe, even if it’s uncomfortable. Better cramped than crushed,” she added.

“@[member="Val-ient Cyborg"], I need you to go to the Siege Tower and start treating the injured. Take the worst ones onto your ship and try and save as many as you can. Prioritise those who you think will survive, understand?”

“@[member="Kaida Taldir"], good work. Ships are on their way. For now, let the transports go into space. Is there anything important that you saw that could be salvaged quickly? I’m talking minerals, medical supplies, weapons, anything of use? I fear it’ll all be gone very soon.”

“@[member="Noah Corek"], I am dispatching support to you immediately from the militia here, along with a fight of armed gunships. Use them as you will. You are in command of your operation, but don’t hang around too long!”

---xxx---

Aboard the Solomon, Professor Gand was drawing overlays on the map. He was so absorbed by this process that Zara had to get him to focus instead of doodling on spare sheets of flimsy. Finally he had it complete, and the map aboard the Solomon lit up.

“Is that right?” Zara asked slowly.
Irwin Gand was not the sort of man who liked his work being doubted. “Of course it is! Have you got a better idea? Hmm?”
“But…look at where they’re converging,” Zara said, ignoring him.
The tectonic plates were a fair way from Zoronhed…but Professor Gand’s predictions had placed the capital right in the firing line….

---xxx---

Anya was just getting back to work organising and encouraging when a tremor, much worse than those before, started. The ground shook and rippled, buildings not already ruined crashed down. The sudden shifting was starting to open fissures deep into the earth. As Anya watched a building topped and fell, undermined.

“Get the rest of these people out of here now!” she ordered. “Get into space-“

She cut off, because with terrifying speed a crack spread across the ground and suddenly she was falling…as the ground gave way beneath her!

 

[Kaida Taldir]

@[member="Anya Venari"]

As Anya descended into the bottomless pit, surely to fall to a painful death and thus make Kerrigan and Alcori extremely upset for they would lose a master of snark, she was suddenly gripped tight by an invisible force. Kaida raced towards there, trying to control her fall with her powers.

Kaida was not a telekinesis master like Siobhan and so she struggled to maintain focus as Anya rose back up, beads of sweat dripping down her temples, then she surged forward and grabbed the Princess, taking her hand and trying to haul her up. Tremors shook the earth and she fell forward, struggling to maintain balance, but with one furious effort pulled Anya up so that she fell on the ground, toppling over herself.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

@[member="Anya Venari"]

Moira Skaldi was bored. Hawk One was mowing down thugs quite efficiently. Shuttles had been dispatched to help with the evacuation, much as she disliked the idea of dealing with refugees and helping people. Her minions were actually doing their job, so she did not even have a reason to give them a good dressing-down.

"Ready a Peregrine for me. I will direct this personally," she stated flatly because even Moira Skaldi could use dramatic Harbinger quotes once in a while. "Make sure they do their job," she snapped at Lieutenant Broderick, who saluted.

"Aye, aye, ma'am. By your command."

"One day that filter won't stop me," Birkoff muttered then nodded meekly. "I'll keep you updated, ma'am. Good hunting."

Moira still felt like processing someone, but figured Alcori would not allow it. Sometimes working for a Neutral Good boss was a real queen. She would appreciate someone more...practical. At this moment Moira gazed into the multiversal spectrum and saw that working for a fascist Empire had not worked so well for her the last time!

 

[HK-36]

@Anya Venari
"Roger that, Princess, the people have been safely transported to the Solomon, let me know where you will need me next."
He responded as soon as he received confirmation from his pilots that the civilians were transported to the Solomon by approval from @[member="Karen Roberts"], to whom HK was sending a signal
"Thanks again, Karen, let me know if you will need more shuttles to get them to those transports Anya has summoned."
With that the droid pushed himself off of his seat, rapping on the door to the shuttle's cockpit. One of the pilot's looked back, he ordered
"Get us back to the planet and get us rendezvous with the other Protectorate forces, I will see if there is anything else I can do."
The pilot nodded shortly
"Yessir"

 

[Moira Skaldi]

Reinforcements soon arrived at the location of Noah Corek's unit. Countless speeders and thugs on foot had coalesced at their position, but now as the flotilla of Gunships swooped down they faced death from above. Barrages of missiles and salvoes of heavy laser fire rained down upon them, blasting speeders and hurling the debris into the air as beautiful explosions blossomed. If Colonel Kerrigan had been here then undoubtedly music such as 'Hammer of the Gods' would have been played.

At the same time across the city the tremors were getting worse and coming close to critical levels. Buildings crashed down onto the ground, the air became choking as clouds of smoke rose up, open fissures were ripped into the path. One of the Omegan shuttles, whose pilot had been brave or foolish enough to fly close to the city, was engulfed by a powerful whirlwind and spun through the air, crashing into a falling building before being pulled into the pit. Panic spread through the ranks of civilians and militiamen as mayhem wrecked the city and they ran for their lives, many being trampled on by their fellows, others buried under rubble as buildings were torn down all around them.