Sergeant Karina Lowe
Location: Orbiting Kintan, aboard a MAAG Transport > New Kalandra Northern Siege Lines
Objective: Rendezvous with armoured detachment at the staging area
Enemies: Silver Jedi Order | Reggie Faayare | Aaran Tafo | Wyatt Morga | Jessica Med-Beq | Ryv | Lanik Dawnstar | Beltran Rarr
Allies: The Sith Empire | Darth Voyance | Irveric Tavlar | Aerarii Tithe | Darth Bellum
Equipment: Autokrator Assault Blaster Rifle | SIF-57s Charric Pistol | Thermal Detonators | Commlink | Scramble Key | Field Slicing Kit | Legion Service Dagger
Sergeant Karina Lowe was the last to board her transport, climbing into the belly of the ship as the heavy cargo doors began to swing shut. A moment later, they were in darkness, Karina’s ocular sensors adjusting to provide clarity in the dim interior. She sidled over to her squad, her gaze flitting between their set faces and hard eyes, shining like precious stones in the red haze of the ship’s interior lighting.
Forty soldiers, ten of them hers, each of them about to be thrown into the crucible, as she was. This particular battalion was fresh, made up mostly of new recruits, with a few specialists without much combat experience thrown in. Kintan would be the proving ground for all of them, Karina just hoped they would last the through the first hour on the ground. Corporal Tera nodded at her, his eyes locked to the spot where hers had once been. Karina nodded curtly back.
She ran through the mission plan once again: first, the 2nd platoon would land with the rest of H-company on the outskirts of New Kalandra, and establish a staging ground for the landing of the armoured division. Once the tanks were on the ground, they’d move into the city, joining with the 12 Armored Assault Army and fighting their way towards the centre of the metropolis to Fortress Kh’aris, where they’d reinforce the Legion troops there. Simple on paper, but she knew, in reality, the mission would be fraught with danger. They were the vanguard force, leading the charge and securing the way for the rest of the Legion and Armada to follow behind. Her gaze passed over her squad again. How many of them would die in the coming hours? Would she herself fall in the fighting?
Karina checked her weapon to busy herself. Artificial tendons and synthetic nerves meant her hands no longer shook, but still she felt the urge to be doing something. Still, the tension of waiting in the dark metal box was wearing on her. From the edge of her vision, she saw her squad doing the same, ensuring their equipment was in order, checking their commlink connections, that their armour was fitted correctly. They were looking for her to guidance, following her example. She had to lead them if any of them were going to make it through this.
“Seal your helmets and check IFF tags. Make sure our squad is highlighted and tagged. Captain says we’re readying to depart and I don’t want to have to do it on the ground.”
Karina’s herself was without a helmet, the metal mass off her head not allowing for one, but her ocular implants provided all the information their HUDs would and more, and she had long become accustomed to the feeling of exposure from the lack. The metal casing that substituted for her skull was strong, and it had saved her from potential harm several times before.
The ship came to life, the humming of the ion engines filling the space like a swarm of insects. As the volume rose, her mechanical ears adjusted to compensate, until the sound was merely a low background buzz. Karina walked to and fro, checking the harnesses of the soldiers nearby before securing her own, and gripping the dangling wrist strap tightly. A moment later, she felt the ship jolt and imagined the vessels rising into the air in a line. The hum of the engines grew to a roar, and the passengers were suddenly thrown back as the ship accelerated rapidly, Karina barely keeping her balance as they hurtled forward, out of the hangar and into the fray.
They screamed to earth with furious speed, every bump and jolt of the craft rattling the bones of the soldiers inside. In mere minutes the gunship flattened out, the huge doors at the back sliding open, revealing the scene outside as the transport raced along the battle-scarred ground. A few moments later, the craft banked hard, entering a tight spiral dive as it descended towards the staging ground, where artillery emplacements thundered against the defender’s positions.
They pulled to a stop as the ship thudded against the ground, and with a rallying cry the forty Legionnaires leaped out from the transports, Karina herself jogging a short distance away from the ship, her head panning back and forth as her squad caught up with her and she looked over the scene. She frowned, they’d landed a few hundred metres ahead of the planned LZ, and were instead much closer to the edge of the city proper, having set down in an open square on the New Kalandran outskirts.
The transports took off just as the first rounds of the defender's barrage fell upon them, mortar shells raining upon the position where the Legion forces were gathering. One MAAG, rising to the air after the others, was struck and careened out of control, crashing into a nearby building in a massive plasmatic fireball. Moments after the first volley, rooftop emplacement opened fire with laser cannons and other smalls arms fire, tearing into the company's relatively open position.
That was all the encouragement Karina needed. She leaped forward, tearing her rifle from its mag-plate on her back and sprinting towards the nearest cover: a line of bombed-out shanties across from the main road.
"Rally on me! We'll need to take out those rooftop emplacements and hold the Northern Line until our armoured complement deploys. Dig in and hold your ground!"
Her voice echoed over the local commlink, and the remains of a shattered squadron joined her own, boosting her numbers to sixteen. They each found their positions, lying across rubble or crouching behind shattered pillars and beams, holding the line, and awaiting that inevitable order to advance.
Location: Orbiting Kintan, aboard a MAAG Transport > New Kalandra Northern Siege Lines
Objective: Rendezvous with armoured detachment at the staging area
Enemies: Silver Jedi Order | Reggie Faayare | Aaran Tafo | Wyatt Morga | Jessica Med-Beq | Ryv | Lanik Dawnstar | Beltran Rarr
Allies: The Sith Empire | Darth Voyance | Irveric Tavlar | Aerarii Tithe | Darth Bellum
Equipment: Autokrator Assault Blaster Rifle | SIF-57s Charric Pistol | Thermal Detonators | Commlink | Scramble Key | Field Slicing Kit | Legion Service Dagger
Sergeant Karina Lowe was the last to board her transport, climbing into the belly of the ship as the heavy cargo doors began to swing shut. A moment later, they were in darkness, Karina’s ocular sensors adjusting to provide clarity in the dim interior. She sidled over to her squad, her gaze flitting between their set faces and hard eyes, shining like precious stones in the red haze of the ship’s interior lighting.
Forty soldiers, ten of them hers, each of them about to be thrown into the crucible, as she was. This particular battalion was fresh, made up mostly of new recruits, with a few specialists without much combat experience thrown in. Kintan would be the proving ground for all of them, Karina just hoped they would last the through the first hour on the ground. Corporal Tera nodded at her, his eyes locked to the spot where hers had once been. Karina nodded curtly back.
She ran through the mission plan once again: first, the 2nd platoon would land with the rest of H-company on the outskirts of New Kalandra, and establish a staging ground for the landing of the armoured division. Once the tanks were on the ground, they’d move into the city, joining with the 12 Armored Assault Army and fighting their way towards the centre of the metropolis to Fortress Kh’aris, where they’d reinforce the Legion troops there. Simple on paper, but she knew, in reality, the mission would be fraught with danger. They were the vanguard force, leading the charge and securing the way for the rest of the Legion and Armada to follow behind. Her gaze passed over her squad again. How many of them would die in the coming hours? Would she herself fall in the fighting?
Karina checked her weapon to busy herself. Artificial tendons and synthetic nerves meant her hands no longer shook, but still she felt the urge to be doing something. Still, the tension of waiting in the dark metal box was wearing on her. From the edge of her vision, she saw her squad doing the same, ensuring their equipment was in order, checking their commlink connections, that their armour was fitted correctly. They were looking for her to guidance, following her example. She had to lead them if any of them were going to make it through this.
“Seal your helmets and check IFF tags. Make sure our squad is highlighted and tagged. Captain says we’re readying to depart and I don’t want to have to do it on the ground.”
Karina’s herself was without a helmet, the metal mass off her head not allowing for one, but her ocular implants provided all the information their HUDs would and more, and she had long become accustomed to the feeling of exposure from the lack. The metal casing that substituted for her skull was strong, and it had saved her from potential harm several times before.
The ship came to life, the humming of the ion engines filling the space like a swarm of insects. As the volume rose, her mechanical ears adjusted to compensate, until the sound was merely a low background buzz. Karina walked to and fro, checking the harnesses of the soldiers nearby before securing her own, and gripping the dangling wrist strap tightly. A moment later, she felt the ship jolt and imagined the vessels rising into the air in a line. The hum of the engines grew to a roar, and the passengers were suddenly thrown back as the ship accelerated rapidly, Karina barely keeping her balance as they hurtled forward, out of the hangar and into the fray.
They screamed to earth with furious speed, every bump and jolt of the craft rattling the bones of the soldiers inside. In mere minutes the gunship flattened out, the huge doors at the back sliding open, revealing the scene outside as the transport raced along the battle-scarred ground. A few moments later, the craft banked hard, entering a tight spiral dive as it descended towards the staging ground, where artillery emplacements thundered against the defender’s positions.
They pulled to a stop as the ship thudded against the ground, and with a rallying cry the forty Legionnaires leaped out from the transports, Karina herself jogging a short distance away from the ship, her head panning back and forth as her squad caught up with her and she looked over the scene. She frowned, they’d landed a few hundred metres ahead of the planned LZ, and were instead much closer to the edge of the city proper, having set down in an open square on the New Kalandran outskirts.
The transports took off just as the first rounds of the defender's barrage fell upon them, mortar shells raining upon the position where the Legion forces were gathering. One MAAG, rising to the air after the others, was struck and careened out of control, crashing into a nearby building in a massive plasmatic fireball. Moments after the first volley, rooftop emplacement opened fire with laser cannons and other smalls arms fire, tearing into the company's relatively open position.
That was all the encouragement Karina needed. She leaped forward, tearing her rifle from its mag-plate on her back and sprinting towards the nearest cover: a line of bombed-out shanties across from the main road.
"Rally on me! We'll need to take out those rooftop emplacements and hold the Northern Line until our armoured complement deploys. Dig in and hold your ground!"
Her voice echoed over the local commlink, and the remains of a shattered squadron joined her own, boosting her numbers to sixteen. They each found their positions, lying across rubble or crouching behind shattered pillars and beams, holding the line, and awaiting that inevitable order to advance.