Ghosts of Endor

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

Endor, site of one of the most significant events in galactic history, scene of the final downfall of Emperor Palpatine and possessing natives who had humbled the Imperial army with nothing more than sticks, rope and stones.

For Maelion Liates standing in orbit above the planet, the Battle of Endor had always been…difficult to understand. How an outnumbered and trapped fleet had defeated the Imperials was as much a mystery as how the Ewok natives had slaughtered supposedly well trained and armed stormtroopers.

It would however provide the perfect testing ground for new technologies of war that Archangel wished to use. It was remote and inhabited by primitives, yet said primitives had proven a challenge before. It would do nicely.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


Some called the Battle of Endor a shining example of great powe arrogance and the failure of COIN. Well, that was one way of looking at it. Here the second Death Star had been blown to bits, here a race of primitive, teddy-bear like natives armed with sticks, rope and stones had defeated an 'elite' legion of marines armed with high-tech weaponry. It was very bizarre, though perhaps also fitting in a very ironic way.


However, oftentimes logic did not reign supreme in this universe, but no matter. Endor was a suitable testing ground for a new weapon Archangel had developed. After the successful operations on Eriadu and Kaeshana, Archangel had acquired enough organics to process in order to create the first enteched walker. Countless organics had perished in the process of getting the formula right, but now finally they had a successful prototype in form of one colossal assault walker powered by the souls of organics.


Equipped with powerful anti-personnel weapons, its main gun was a proton cannon and a missile launcher provided air defence. Likewise it was outfitted with tendrils to defend itself against pesky organics who managed to sneak underneath it. Archangel dropships were descending upon the planet, ironically close to where the old Imperial base had once stood. HRDs and battle droids streamed out, securing the LZ for the deployment of the war machine.

 

[Project Uriel]

Uriel V1.5e Prototype Testing Model.
Archangel Deployment: Single HRD Drone
Accessing Uriel Unit Command Matrix:
Primary Mission: Awaiting Clarification
Secondary Mission: None
Tertiary Mission: Discover if Ewok makes an effective melee weapon. Error... rogue routine, diagnostic required.
Directives


Deep within the awaiting cargo chambers, the latest uriel prototype stirred to life. Uriel model 1.5e was deployed in a drone capacity as usual, perhaps as a test subject or perhaps as a test’ee, the programming was similar, approach the test area and either shoot or be shot. The latest balance of her weight was tested as stable and her fine motor skills had been tested on several sentient jawa, finding the results acceptable with only three jawa lost per hour of thumbwar and other associated anomalies.

Awaiting instruction her unit had received the activation code, and was in a holding cycle, her primary function call stated the testing of new technologies critical to the central program, the central program being her equivalent of an operator, something her core circuits had come to recognize as essential to her function. You could say Uriel looked upon her primary missions and directives almost religiously, if such frivolous notions were possible for cybernetic machines of motor propelled death, especially drones who were constantly being reworked into better models.

Suddenly her head clicked back and her internal query on the possible uses for ewoks as melee weapons, mass produced jam or projective explosive containers was halted.

"Awaiting command" her voice said mechanically, nobody had programmed the drone yet with much of a greeting when it was first activated.

[member="Moira Skaldi"] | [member="Maelion Liates"]​

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"] [member="Project Uriel"]

The Leviathan Armoured Walker, or LAW to organics who required such abbreviations, was deployed using a large escape pod like device. A cylinder four metres tall by three wide, it slowly opened like the skin of an orange to reveal a coiled machine.
Slowly, the walker stirred and got to its feet slowly, unfolding like a nightmarish spider until it stood nearly ten metres high.

In the transport with Uriel, Maelion approached the unit.
“Unit Uriel. Activation code: 550436446114584 Alpha.” She waited for acknowledgement, then continued. “Primary objective; accompany Walker 001 and analyse performance. Protect Walker 001 with alpha 2 priority. Secondary objective; analyse effectiveness of Archangel units in arboreal terrain. Tertiary objective; perform diagnosis on your unit’s accuracy and combat effectiveness.”

That was about all that was required. She reached for a controller on her belt and inputted commands for the Walker.

The Walker…Republic Walker AX-411…was in action again. They had been designated the leader of a strike force to Endor to purge a One Sith operation there…worse still the Ewoks were involved on the Sith side!

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"], [member="Project Uriel"]


Verily, those dastardly Ewoks were a most heinous species. One might remember that once upon a time, well, actually just a couple IC years ago, they had managed to steal a DeathWatch Star Destroyer at Mustafar. Actually, come to think of it, that had been a good deed because it was DeathWatch!


Regardless, the LAW was powered by organics enteched in a sort of crystal matrix. Conveniently these crystals were detachable, though that was a delicate process because breaking one would obviously be bad. The organics were kept in what could be best called a 'Matrix'-like dream state. Thus as far as they knew, they were part of a walker assault company in the Republic army, charged with fighting the good fight for Truth, Justice and the Corellian way against the evil Sith.


The Sith were up to evil deeds on Endor and had persuaded corrupted Ewok tribes to side with them. Slowly the massive walker stirred after having reached the ground, unfolding like a massive spider until it stood to its full height. Diagnostics, were made, its weapons primed. Today Archangel would see how well the walker performed and how reliable the entechment formula was. Depending out the outcome, it might mean going back to the drawing board and experimenting on more organics!


Moira was there on the ground with a unit of HRDs. "Walker 001 is ready. Deploying HRDs and recon units. Scans indicate a nearby Ewok settlement in the north of our landing zone," Moira transmitted to Maelion and Uriel. Intelligence indicated that in addition to the aforementioned Ewoks who were obviously native to the planet, rogue troopers from the now defunct Lords of the Fringe might still be mucking around. Needless to say they would make nice targets as well. Mechanical wasps were swarming out, performing recon of the immediate area.

 

[Project Uriel]

Uriel's holding pod beeped and integrated the new commands, with a hiss the door gave way and out stepped Uriel 1.5e, heavier than all other models, testing the density of the new exoskeleton. This was her second trip out in this weight, perhaps a bit heavy for the surface area of her heels, because the floor creaked under the new model's feet at the rear.

Updating Uriel Unit Command Matrix

Primary Mission: Accompany Walker 001 and analyse performance. Protect Walker 001 at alpha 2 priority.
Secondary Mission: Analyse effectiveness of Archangel units in arboreal terrain
Tertiary Mission: Perform diagnosis on your unit’s accuracy and combat effectiveness
Rogue Routine: Discover if Ewok makes an effective melee weapon.
Functional Directives and Parameters

“Analysing Alpha 2 priority... acknowledged. Commands accepted.” Uriel tried to smile to Maelion but it came off as more like an unnerving attempt at mimicking a human, then it stopped, mercifully. It seemed work had been done on her facial expressions but they had a long way to go for the drone’s exterior to resemble a human at anything but a very passing glance.

With the clunk of metal on metal as the walker moved, beside the group Uriel walked following in time with the HRD, behind them soon because it allowed her to complete her mission more efficiently if she had a full view of its performance. Large amounts of data were able to be recorded and stored by the drone, a trade off in her not needing the vast amounts of data it required for much social interaction.

Her bolter was strapped to her side, and her vibrosword to her back, a standard loadout and basic armor, nothing special as this drone was here for testing and recording only, but having an expendable HRD model on call was never a bad thing, because its entire loss was replaced with the click of a button rather than having to find a brand new clone, or new body for one.

[member="Moira Skaldi"] | [member="Maelion Liates"]​

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Project Uriel"] [member="Moira Skaldi"]

The Leviathan was in some ways similar to the walkers which had fought here so many centuries ago, but different in others. Whilst the AT-STs had been effective scouts they had been uncertain on their feet and prone to falling or being tripped. They had also lacked effective means of dealing with nimble threats and targeting multiple locations.

The LAW was an improvement and evolution on this. With is 8 legs, arranged octagonal, it could keep balanced if even half the legs were disabled, but it also had superior handling in rough terrain, able to scale and steady itself climbing hills, rubble or loose sand. It could not climb vertical of course, but it could ascend any slope up to 45 degrees which was impressive.

Maelion, monitoring the situation using the Wasps from the command ship, noted the terrain.

“Slight watercourse ahead, proceed bearing 218. Watch for organic opposition,” she communicated to all units.

One thing the LAW was not was inconspicuous. At ten metres tall, all shining metal and whirring insect legs, the device could be seen and heard approaching.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Project Uriel"], [member="Maelion Liates"]


One of the HRDs who were part of the same team as Uriel was her old buddy Callisto, with whom she had fought beasties and Jedi on Dxun to recover the wreckage of a Shadow Droid. So it was only fitting that they teamed up again and murdered creatures on Endor!


They were the vanguard, charged with advancing forth and protecting the walker. Loaded out in standard Archangel armour, with her bolter at the ready and a vibrosword strapped to her back, she advanced. The forest of Endor was as lovely as it always was. Birds chirped happily, the sun was shining, but obviously the droids were wary. One problem was that HRDs were not that silent given the terrain and their march was impeded somewhat because the ground was rather muddy.


Callisto was scanning the area as they came close to the watercourse, then suddenly what seemed like a net, obviously a prearranged trap, seized her, as it had done the Rebel heroes centuries ago. Unlike them, she was killer droid with super strength and so she simply tore the net open. "Contact. Multiple hostiles, coming from the flanks. Exterminate. Unit Uriel take the left, I take right," Then there were Ewoks, Ewoks everywhere! The little furries, having hidden in the bushes, began raining down totally sophisticated projectiles such as rocks, sticks and arrows upon her.


Needless to say the aforementioned projectiles simply shattered when they connected with her armour and she pressed on, unleashing a hail of bolter rounds at their hideouts. Cover was blown away, little furries got blasted into pieces of flesh and the other HRDs in the group responded likewise, one of them bringing forth a flamethrower to set part of the bushes ablaze and produce roasted Ewok.


One Ewok, who had evidently advanced with the times, fired a blaster salvoe from an antique E-11 rifle. The laser blast actually knocked her back slightly but then she advanced implacably and, ignoring his antique rifle, simply ripped the Ewok's head off before kicking one of his companions with such force that he crashed into a tree and died. Logs dropped upon the massive walker, which was unaffected and unleashed a hailstorm with its anti-personnel weapons.


((Skipping Moira for this one. Presumably she's with Mae doing mission control))

 

[Project Uriel]

Walking through waterlogged ground was never all that easy for Uriel, the uncertain ground was still being processed, with the millions of minute recalculations made for the position of each and every joint to allow her walking to continue unimpeded. She much preferred the stability of metal, as it allowed her to use her processing power more efficiently.

Beginning combat analysis of Ewok’s…

Several stones hammered against Uriel’s side, impacting the walking dreadnaught's shield generator with a crackle and a thump or two. Uriel rotated her head slowly as one of the ewoks swung in on a rope, she caught the rope in her vice grip, wrapped it around the sentiment’s head and sent it back, the reverse journey wasn’t as profitable when the rope stretched out. Somewhere in the middle of her rope handling display, spears were thrown, and the shield started sparking out, one spear even scrapped across her knee armor. Uriel had never been attacked by spears, and so she took time to consider them in fine detail as one hit her square in the forehead, it even left a small ding in her helmet which she analysed thoroughly.

Ewok threat level minimal
Rating them slightly more than cannocks, and slightly lower than tight doorways, but far lower than the wet or swamp terrain which they now stood in. If Uriel could have exterminated the ground first, then the ewoks she would have done, having to pull her legs and weight up from the sinking deep footprints she made.

Receiving blaster fire from a nearby bush that kept moving, she did some bolter orientated gardening on the camoflaged shooter.

[member="Maelion Liates"] | [member="Callisto Scarlett"]​

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Callisto Scarlett"] [member="Project Uriel"]

Maelion had devoted processing power at one point to researching the course of the Battle of Endor. In her logical mind the Imperial forces had made three key errors:

• Not concentrated fire and destroyed the rebel infiltration force to give themselves a strong avenue of retreat.
• Failed to utilise all their forces; the ‘Legion’ was barely 10% used.
• Most grievously, the Imperial forces had pursued the fleeing Ewoks, leaving themselves open to ambush and slaughter.

The Ewoks themselves were ferocious and cunning, but their weapons relied on organic weakness. Their accuracy was impressive. Many HRDs were struck in joints or weak points in their armour, others struck from behind or above by rocks or clubs. Unfortunately, such weapons were simply ineffective against the droids.
HRD accuracy was greater than that of stormtroopers, mainly because they used weapons with a strong area of effect. Flamethrowers, bolters, grenades, even automatic slugthrowers, all of them were capable of catching the Ewoks in the brush.
Wisely, the enemy retreated, trying to lure the attackers on.

“Unit Uriel, Unit Scarlett, hold pursuit. Keep on current course. Deploy Wasps to follow retreating organics and find trap.”

The walker meanwhile had dealt with threats admirably. The heavy cannon was of little use at that moment, but the anti-personnel weapons were. For the Ewoks who had snuck under the walker and attacked it with hammers, the tendrils had uncoiled and seized them, using the poison spines in the claw grips to purge the attackers.

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Maelion Liates"], [member="Project Uriel"]


The fourth key error in Imperial strategy lay in the failings of its supreme leader, Emperor Palpatine, for his strategic concept had been fundamentally flawed. Leaving himself as bait for the Rebel fleet rather than sending an impostor to the Death Star had been bad enough, but in truth the dictator had regarded stamping out the insurgency as a sideshow to an attempt to convert a dangerous insurgent to his cause.


Luke Skywalker was a super-empowered religious extremist from a desert planet who had great symbolic value but no command and control over the movement he was a part of. Converting or capturing him would not end the Rebellion, but by contrast the Emperor's death sent the Empire spiralling into warlordism after his own minion, Darth Vader, turned on him, after a terribly flawed recruitment attempt. Fifthly, it appeared the Imperial Fleet had been held back for most of the battle despite the fact that the death star was untested and its precedessor model had already failed.


Regardless, Callisto's bolter fell silent as the Ewoks turned tail and fled into the forest. All around here lay smoking, mutilated corpses of sentient teddy bears, many of whom were missing significant body parts. Rocks, clubs and arrows had struck her, but caused little damage. Acknowledging Maelion's command, she passed on the order to halt pursuit. It was presumably an advantage for the HRDs compared with the stormtroopers that they did not use guns as useless as the E-11, which had an apalling firing rate and accuracy.


"Acknowledged. Deploying wasps," she transmitted and then the Stecher Wasp Drones swept through the air. They were tiny, about the same size as an actual wasp, and very fast. They could either be equipped with sophisticated surveillance equipment or with a stinger containing a toxin strong enough to end a human's life.


Wherever the Ewoks went, there would be no safety or escape. And so the swarm of tiny, mechanical insects followed the furry creatures as they pulled back, feeding Maelion and the other HRDs with data as the furries retreated towards what seemed to be their village. One had to hand it to the Ewoks that though primitive they were not mindless, for several traps had been prepared on the way, in form of nets, logs and large rocks prepared to be dropped on any pursuing attackers. Even a few antique blaster rifles were being wielded by Ewoks, who lay in wait in the bushes, camouflaged, along with more modern blasters that had probably been stolen from a Fringe outpost.

 

[Project Uriel]

Uriels routine to test the value of ewoks as melee weapons was overriden by the new order and her primary mission to evaluate the walker’s performance, returning to the advancing column to watch as rat like targets were dispatched from around it. More than once she was blindsided by a stone as an unknown furry target hurled one at her back with shouts, shouts which made it easier to identify which bush to zero in on, leaving several smoking trees and bushes in its place. It took a lot of energy to displace a large stone or a spear, compared to a blaster shot, so she was forced to put on her backup shield after the first one saw its fair share of wear and tear.

Analysis of wasp drones…. Useful

Uriel caught one in her fingers after a few attempts, considering chewing on to diagnose its makeup, but instead she crushed the drone and placed it in her belt for later, what was left of it anyway. She was considering allocating processing power to robotic insectology in her downtime, the possibility for repopulating organic planets with cybernetic sentients for a moment overloaded her primary buffer and she had to pause her walk, somewhere nearby callisto she stopped, then restarted just as suddenly.

What she did learn, was that setting trees ablaze was an effective way to flush out unarmoured targets that caught fire easily, it even saved bolter rounds! A falling tree in fact was headed her way and towards the walker, quite a big one that someone had hacked down in response!

Uriels head looked up calmly at the falling danger, soon to test the stability of either a walker or a HRD unit as it fell.

[member="Maelion Liates"] | [member="Callisto Scarlett"]​

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Callisto Scarlett"] [member="Project Uriel"]

The trees of Endor were some of the largest and most impressive organisms in the galaxy, and to cut one down was a great achievement. Yet, as the massive thing came crashing down the HRDs scattered from its approach. The Leviathan managed to mostly get out of the way, but the impact still struck the back of the machine, tearing off the anti-air missiles. The tree then smashed to the ground trapping a leg of the walker.

However, the walker had a new and interesting feature, built for this very eventuality - it could detach individual legs if they become trapped. Thus on seven legs it continued to move, a bit shakily.

Maelion was not angry or upset. However, she felt that this situation had elevated matters somewhat.
"Deploying droid bombers. Wasps will investigate organic settlement and prepare for bombardment." She looked to [member="Moira Skaldi"]. "Possiblity of creating Ewok Replica Droid?"
Now there was a perverse thought.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Project Uriel"], [member="Maelion Liates"]


Moira tilted her head to the side while she monitored mission progress from the command post with Maelion. The walker was down a leg, which was a tad annoying, but thanks to superior machine design it could carry on regardless. So far the enteched war machine had performed well enough, but then it had not been tested.


Doubtless over the next few hours it would be determined how reliable it was and how difficult it would be to control it. "It ought to be feasible with our current technology," she replied after briefly thinking the matter over and making some calculations. "Strength would be inferior to that of common line HRDs, but most organics will underestimate them. Their small size would make them useful as assassins. Likewise, on certain worlds Ewoks are popular pets." In this case, the pets would suddenly get murderous and kill you in your sleep. Droid bombers roared overhead through the sky as they swept towards the organic settlement.

 

[Project Uriel]

Watching the behemoth tree coming down its vector was tracked till it landed, engaged thoroughly in her research. Dialogue ahead of her, Uriel’s mind was not as adept at filtering out less useful tactical alternatives yet, considering instead their uses as walking incendiary bombs on mass, given their likelihood of catching or spread fire, and as a terror tactic.

Metal vs Ewoks, a glossary of possible scenarios was being constructed for a later date.

Evaluation of their walker continued, assessing the mobility or stability loss incurred through her own visual display and readout. The weight of the tree was then studied, and how it had been felled. She walked inside the remains of the large trunk to find a nest of these creatures, tables, chairs and other irrelevant comforts.

“Ewok nest detected,” a charming way to describe the family dining area, but it explained where they had appeared from so easily at least, now nothing more than a felled and likely empty husk.

[member="Moira Skaldi"] | [member="Maelion Liates"]​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Project Uriel"], [member="Maelion Liates"]


Rocks, stones and even the most intricate traps devised by the little furries could stop neither Archangel nor the cause of progress, though both were synonymous. The Ewoks did not know it, but they were playing an important role in the Grand Project to save the Galaxy. By being test subjects and possible processing materiel.


When the falling tree came crashing down towards them, Callisto quickly scattered with the other HRDs. As sturdy and strong as the machine was, being crushed beneath a massive Endorian tree would've obviously impaired her functionality and this was unacceptable. The massive behemoth that was the Leviathan continued on after detaching its smashed. Labour droids were already on the spot to remove the offending organism so that the leg could be salvaged.


As Callisto was moving to link up with Uriel, she was suddenly struck by a hail of rocks. The stones pelletted her and some hit her in the joints, but could not damage her. However, as she scanned the area to find the shooter, an Ewok suddenly leapt down from a tree and pounced upon her!


Truth be told, that had been a bit unexpected. Ineffectually the furry clawed at her face and tried to bite her, but the redhead simply grabbed the Ewok and crushed its throat. Her eyes flashed a bright crimson for a brief moment as new orders were fed into her command matrix, instructing her to capture Ewoks if possible. An Ewok was running out of the large trunk of a tree, fleeing scene. Producing a stun blaster Callisto let loose a couple shots, knocking the creature out, then reached Uriel. Meanwhile, the Leviathan walker was starting to move a bit erratically...

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Callisto Scarlett"] [member="Project Uriel"]

Maelion, monitoring the situation, tilted her head to the side.
“Walker 001 performing…erratically. Control proving difficult. Impact has damaged control matrix.”
The impact had done damage for sure, and now the dreamworld was starting to dissipate.

Tomas Andyrson, a former mechanic and pilot caught up in the Eriadu raid started to wake…and found that everything was horrific. He couldn’t feel, could not move, could not do anything but think…and control his metal coffin.
A loud, wailing cry burst from the speakers on the walker as it staggered, crashing into a tree.

“Initiate Omege Protocol. Disable Walker 001,” Maelion ordered, still calm.

 

[Project Uriel]

Uriel’s primary mission to ensure the walker’s protection took her to stand directly beside the slowing form, in front of the damaged areas, any projectiles hurled at the vulnerable spots collided with her first. This would be an opportune time for the furry defenders to make their move, but the probability of them having an organised response Uriel calculated at less than 5%.

“The walker is non operational, suggest defensive ring and engineering deployment.” Ever the mechanical statement of the obvious from the drone, it would prove a way for the HRD to improve field repair times, useful for later more dangerous situations, she had no concept of whatever torments the pilot inside was going through.

One rock did manage to pierce the secondary shield, marking her helmet’s jaw, almost cracking her visor, and twisting her head around sharply. At least one now smoking crater had found the timing suitable, afterwards she considered he might have made a target for the cloning spoke of earlier. The trouble was by the time she could calculate worthy clones, she was only left with small holes or a lone pair of boots where they had been.

Uriel test, primary directive update – suggest a subroutine that allows for questioning first, then crater making later.

[member="Maelion Liates"] | [member="Callisto Scarlett"]​

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Project Uriel"], [member="Maelion Liates"]


And so Mr Anderson awoke and discovered that he was trapped inside the Matrix. He could not feel, he could not move, he could not do anything except...think and move this metal coffin that had become his tomb. Perhaps he could end the agony!


And so the Leviathan walker spiralled out of control. A loud, wailing cry born out of pain and agony burst out of the loudspeakers and the massive titan crashed into a tree, with such force to break it. Moreover, the guns of the walker began firing blindly as if the frightened organic was lashing out. There was a loud, resounding boom when the proton cannon fired, blasting apart several trees and causing a fire.


"Walker is compromised and not responding to shutdown command, maintain distance and guard against ambushes. I shall disable it," Callisto broadcast, for it seemed some Ewoks had decided to use the chance to toss rocks again. Quickly Callisto broke into a sprint towards the back of the walker. Conveniently her gauntlet contained a grappling hook and she fired it, using it to scale up the massive war machine.


The walker shook violently, as if the enteched pilot sensed her intent or perhaps he was simply too distressed, throwing her from one side or another so that she almost crashed against a tree, but she managed to press on. An ion charge was placed by her, timer set and then she cut the hook and leapt down, falling to the ground with a loud thud and breaking into a roll.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Project Uriel"] [member="Callisto Scarlett"]

Maelion gazed at the scene as Callisto showed considerable initiative in scaling the walker, attaching the ion charge and then jumping away. The blast of blue energy flashed, but the HRDs had wisely put enough ground between themselves the walker, so when it crashed to the ground none were crushed.

“Walker too reliant still on organic failings,” Maelion stated. “Suggest reworking of design to permanently link all enteched organics together and erase personality. Coordinated processing power would provide increased skills and redundancy in case of error.”