Hammer and Anvil - SJO Dominion of Kintan Hex

[Varindar Asyt]

Objective 2: Sneaking in
Allies: [member="Drystan Marakos"] [member="Josh DragonsFlame"] [member="Tanaski Yumi"]

"Alison, I suppose you have an idea of what you may desire: there is a wide variety of merchandise to choose from, with the proper safety deposit and cash on delivery" the henchman told Varindar, while showing her the storage area and how it was laid out, alongside their fellow operatives.

"Maybe, you know, a shipment of Quesh venom"

"Quesh venom? That will cost you a security deposit, and cash on delivery. As with all security deposits, please keep in mind that it can be forfeit if the merchandise gets seized while in transit, or if other complications occur that may result in the merchandise not being deliverable"

"Here, take these two crates of electrothermal weapons as a security deposit: one crate is an armor-piercing electrothermal rifle, the other can switch between slugs and blaster bolts. You'd better even have Quesh venom in stock, or at least on order"

Unbeknownst to the henchman, the weapons in the crates are all equipped with communications equipment such as cameras, recording devices, and all the little things useful in espionage. As for Quesh venom, it was the street name on Kintan for what was properly called Quell toxin. From what she heard about it, Quell toxin didn't affect Hutts, but would affect Niktos. In Varindar's mind, it was about just how much Quesh venom she could secure while the two crates were pledged as a security deposit. Fourteen electrothermal weapons total. Then again, Quesh venom was a restricted substance outside Hutt space, so she had to think of a delivery point that would be a neutral or sparsely-inhabited and also not too far from Silver space. What if they didn't even have Quesh venom for sale? This means we may not even get anything more than a negative lead for the cost of two squads' worth of that electrothermal stuff, Varindar thought, while the crook estimated the black-market value of the two crates' contents as 100,000 credits total. Once the estimate was made...

"Don't need to jump the gun: do you want the Quesh venom delivered to you now, do you want it delivered elsewhere or do you want to return here later?"

 

[Handy Man]

Behind Enemy Lines

[member="Valkren Calderon"] [member="Tom Taff"] [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] [member="Masaru Varga"]

The Forest lit up with the sounds of war cries and shouts as the cultists popped shots off from concealment, cover and superior positions. Their weapons were a mix of A280's, other kinds of long-gun styled blasters and repeater, SMG styled slugthrowers. There had been several reports from scouts of heavy repeating blasters getting maneuvered into position, but none had started shooting at them yet. As Valkrem. Masaru and the rest of their group assaulted the hill they found it was relatively speaking lightly defended. In short, the cultists were smart enough to know that they did not want to group up when the enemy had tanks capable of taking out large, packed groups with a single high explosive shell, so they kept spread out in small groups of three to four. Their lack of size did not mean taking the ridge would be easy.

A hail of fairly inaccurate but rapid fire sailed at the brave group as they advanced, but as they continued to press up the ridge, with one of the dozen or so cultists getting taken out by a burst from Lowder before he advanced, while a second took a nasty hit from one of Valkren's rounds. Masaru tagged a third one as they advanced, roughly eight enemies left on the ridge. The next situation happened with a blur of motion as Valkren and the rest got within hand grenade range. The Cultist shouted something before popping behind cover after throwing several grenades. Two fragmentation grenades which would bang them up right well but with Katarn class armor, not likely to be lethal. The more worrying one was a thermal detonator, which didn't really care much at all about armor or shields. After all three went off, four of the eight Cultist warriors ran back down the opposite side of the hill, while the other four leapt over their cover and rained down suppressive fire while charging into melee. With the distance being around fifteen meters and the combination of doing downhill, the four warriors were on top of them in what felt like an instant and as they piled on top of them they wielded a mixed variety of vibroweapons. They were far more skilled with these melee weapons than they were with their blasters they would soon find out, though with them being outnumbered they would still fall, but at what cost?

After the intense melee battle and as they began clearing the top of the ridge, two things would become quickly obvious. One, was that they had indeed gotten the attention of quite a few cultists. It took them a bit to react but within moments of them being spotted they had an entire flank firing at them, roughly forty enemies. The second, was the location of the enemy energy cannon that had been nailing them. It was an adhoc piece of equipment, a ship grade heavy blaster cannon mounted on the back of a small skiff. It was actually designed to be towed, but it had been what looked like welded down into the back of the vehicle, a fairly impressive piece of workshop engineering in all honesty. It also showed why there was such a delay between shots, the power system on the vehicle was not designed for such intense power draw that such a weapon needed to defeat heavy armor and shields, but given how it was starting to shift around it was preparing for a third shot and it looked to be aiming at another Bengal.





Main Battle Line

[member="Willa Isard"] [member="Caelag Vass"] [member="Cassius Droma"]

The Cults use of defense in depth in the forest against a superior, armored force was starting to work disturbingly well. Each group of enemies they ran into were more prepared, dug in and had greater numbers than the last, requiring more supplies, ammo and manpower to plow through. The restriction on Mortar Support did not help matters either, the lack of overhead indirect fire making digging them out of their holes that much harder. The friendly support from Cassius Droma and his squadron helped by drawing fire from missile weapons and Anti-Air guns that would have otherwise been getting positioned to fire on the advancing ground troops. The main key that kept their forces rolling forward was the simple, sheer firepower in the form of noise a Bengal brought onto the table. Nobody wants to poke their head out of a foxhole when high explosive rounds are going off nearby, but that was taxing on how many rounds they were carrying, It could only be kept up for so long. The massive artillery rounds dropping in from the Siege Knocked punched a hole and then some in enemy lines, friendly mechanized infantry pushing through followed by Bengal battle tanks pouring into the breach. But like every last group, there was another line of defense and this time, they had big guns prepped. A hail of air-burst munitions came down, capable of shredding through standard armor and even damaging more lightly armored vehicles. Next was a barrage of heavy repeater fire from several machine gun nests, forcing the rest of the infantry into cover. The wall of fire was finalized by several emplaced anti-tank grade energy cannons firing off into Bengal battle tanks, two going down in flames while a second sustained heavy damage, a forth being forced to find cover as it fired off its particle cannon and 40mm autoripper at the gun emplacements, the second wave of four additional Bengal's following right up behind it and just behind them, was the Command Vehicle Dusaro was inside.

Between the last defensive position the Cultists had taken and the next was a long, large and fairly clear valley, with just light brush inside and few tree's and little cover. The position they had taken up was on top of the opposite hill and was littered with heavy cannon emplacements, machine gun nests and plenty of fox holes. What made matters worse was what several infantry found out the hard way as they had advanced further ahead to take shelter from the enemy shells. Mines. A squad of infantry disappeared after they tripped off an anti-personnel mine which had been placed just a bit too close to an anti-tank mine, vaporizing them in an instant. This well defended position brought the entire Silver Jedi mechanized assault to a sudden and complete halt, unable to simply charge in through a mine field against such a well defended enemy position. Pulling back to where they had better positions, the Bengal's got into position to fire over the ridge as the Tango APC's unloaded their troops, the Rangers deploying into whatever cover they could find to begin bringing the heat down on the enemy. Fighting such a battle traditionally how ever, was sure to be both time consuming and supply consuming and the Silver's were already getting dangerously close to the bottom of their supply barrel. A quick, decisive tactic was needed to uproot this position, but none as of yet presented itself as an obvious out.

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

Objective: 2
Equipment: Duel Vibro Wakizashi, Sasori Masquer Armor, Sabre, GGT-33
Allies: [member="Drystan Marakos"] [member="Varindar Asyt"] [member="Josh DragonsFlame"]
Post: 4

Sudden talk of Quesh Venom was a little confusing to Tana as he listened in on the conversation between Varindar and the guard. Why did she need such an item in the first place? Was she planning on using it for one of her many sting operating against slavers? What ever he assumed that such a question was for personal use and as long as it didn't effect the mission at hand Varindar could shop for what ever she wanted to.

As the two parties continued to talk Tana walked up next to Varindar as the guard posed the question on shipping location, the young Jedi whispering into her ear. "It would be better to have it shipped somewhere safe, if things go south during this operation it would b a shame to have to leave them behind". "Can't risk having our cover blown either, so letting it stay in a safe out of the way location for someone on our side to picket up in secret would be beneficial".

 

[Gir Quee]

Location: Kintan - somewhere in Khel'rath forest​

Objective: Link up with other Silver Jedi Forces​

Assets: elements of the 1st Directorate Rangers Regiment - "The Survivors of Eryn III"​

Gir watched Matec fiddle with the comlinks. For something so common, Gir was surprised that he had never bothered to take a look at their internals: Tuffs of short wires snaked out of metallic prisms in irregular patterns that Gir could not comprehend. But Matec seemed to know his way around at least part of the internal circuits. After splicing two sets of wires from each comlink, he gingerly placed it back in a pouch.

"This is a one-time trick," explained the man, "and we need to be in the best place to use it. If we need to use it, that is."

Noticeable silver reinforcements had begun to stream into the battlefield. He had caught sight of at least one A-wing through the forest canopy, though he thought he could hear at least two of the ships. Similarly, the deployment of the RAC and its troops, especially when they were firing slugs, was something that was difficult to not notice. Their presence comforted him, if only because that meant that the cultist would be far busier engaging everyone else directly that they may not notice the Directorate Rangers' gradual incursion into their rear line. Matec signaled for the squad to continue forward, causing the irregular line of troops to slowly advance among the foliage to towards the back of the ridge where the cultists engaged Calderon's Radama Raiders and their accompanying vehicles.

The admiral carefully followed in Matec's footsteps, using the man's path to not only ensure that he didn't make a misstep, but also to better conceal himself from the opposition. As they crept closer to the ridge, their consistent long stride through the woods turned into series of short but quickly executed bounds from cover to cover. He suddenly himself pressed up against a downed tree whose parts continued to smolder after being hit by weapons fire. He poked the top of his blaster rifle over the tree to look up at a handful of the enemy's positions. The enemy appeared to be operating in small, dispersed firing teams. Matec turned his helmet towards him.

"Now's the time to use it. We're going to fire, and then run away. You'd best be ready to move too, sir."

Gir nodded. The Rangers weren't exactly known for battlefield theatrics or for playing fair. Shoot'em in the back and run away. I guess that keeps losses down. And I can't argue with that philosophy right now. Gir briefly scanned his near surroundings, noting that the rangers had taken precautions to better conceal their fighting positions by a mixture of draping their field cloaks over their positions and moving bits of foliage around to better conceal their position. Last thing I need to do is stick out here. Gir shifted somewhat over to his left, bracing his rifle against the crook of a branch that still clung to the tree. Hopefully, it'd better conceal him and provide him with some support against the weapon's recoil, as minimal as it was. He peered up through the weapon's site towards the nearest enemy position. Matec's voice flowed through the comm channels.

"Showtime in five, four, three, two, one...feedback time."

Matec flicked a switch on the jury-rigged comlinks. Nothing seemed to happen at first. He soon noticed a handful of heads pop from the cultist positions as the men struggled to take off their helmets and comlinks. Gir couldn't hear it, but judging by the expressions on their faces, he guessed that they had not been prepared for the sudden looping of loud feedback through their comm channel. The rangers opened fire on their surprised opponents. A hail of mag-pellets cut down many of the surprised troopers, which was quickly joined by a selective bombardment of grenades and light missiles from the squad's heavy gunners. One missile tore apart a downed tree that one of the cultists had been using as cover, spraying the men in a cloud of fiery metallic shrapnel surrounded by a larger cloud of wooden shards. One of the cultist's staggered out of that horror, clutching what appeared to be a branch impaled through his stomach. Without much thought, Gir squeezed the trigger on his weapon, cutting down the wounded cultist in an indiscriminate spray of ruby red blaster bolts. Gir felt a sudden slap on his shoulder.

"Get out of here. I'll cover you," said Matec.

Gir nodded. Got to get the brass out of the way before they get more in the way or wounded. The blonde man from Hast slowly stood up, fired another spray of bolts in the enemy's general direction, and fell back to the another tree that they had previously used for cover. He peered up his weapon's site to help cover the Rangers' withdrawal. The group's sapper, a surprisingly paunchy native of Eryn III, quickly fell back to join him. Yet the other's stayed and continued to fire, making Gir realize that they sudden assault appeared to have placed the enemy in the dilemma of being attacked from the front and the rear. They're unfocused and unorganized. But that'll soon change, or they'll be dead. Gir picked out a cultist peaking towards their position from behind a tree stump. Gir switched his selector lever to turn the rifle from repeater mode to cannon mode, and let out a single shot which forcefully pushed him away from his cover.


[member="Valkren Calderon"] | [member="Tom Taff"] | [member="Willa Isard"] | [member="Dusaro Dresari"] | [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] | [member="Masaru Varga"] | [member="Caelag Vass"]

 

[Tyrell Caphey]

Objective: One - Survive, assist care under fire, give tactical field care.
Location: Kintan - Khel'rath Forest - Furthest region.
Assets: 3rd Infantry, 1st Special Tactics Group

While colonel Calderon advanced towards the hill with his men to draw fire off the convoy, the medical trained corporal had his orders to patch up what he could. His group had been relatively free of casualities as they had travelled in the middle one of the APC, now they were in the defending position of what seemed like a much larger force. The drill of the rangers still held up even if the situation was critical. Much depended on wether the colonel succeeded to draw fire off the convoy, as of now they were like sitting ducks in a fireing range. If it was not for the tanks, they would have been wiped out long ago.

''Get yourself into cover! Now, soldier!'' corporal Caphey transmitted over the black Katarn helmets comms to a private who laid a stone throw away from the convoy with a severe leg injury. If they exposed themselves, the maths would be crystal clear that they would have another man down. First thing when wounded were to return fire, then take yourself into cover for a combat medic to help you out. That was the drill. From his sitting position behind one of the APCs he observed the private with one hand crawling towards him.

''Rangers! Give him covering fire against that area! I'm gonna help him the last way.'' he ordered the four rangers closest to him and pointed with a black gloved hand towards an area to the side of them, into the woods where the most fire seemed to come from. With that the rangers fired their combines firepower towards the area and Tyrell threw his ''Famos Mk-II'' blaster in a strap onto his back and charged for the wounded ranger, blue and red blaster bolts flying over their heads. Even more dirt than already covered the leg guards of his black armor got stirred up when he threw himself into a low position beside his ranger comrade. He grabbed him under the arms and begun pull him into cover behind the APC, all the while the covering fire from the rest of the squad effectively held the enemy down for them to reach cover.

''Hang in there, buddy!'' he shouted when they reached the APC, trying to get a sense of level of consciousness the wounded ranger was in. He brought up a stim pack from his utility belt and broke the seal of it. ''This'll help you heal and ease the pain.'' he said and the second after thrusted the stim pack in between the armor plates of the soldiers thigh. The ranger moaned in discomfort, getting a stim pack were never a pleasant experience but soon it would kick in and help the healing process and ease the pain of the wound. He knelt by the rangers side, in cover of the APCs, praying that the colonels advance would succeed.

 

[Willa Isard]

Willa looked at what happened.... suddenly the full force was stopped.... looking down from the command vehicle. She could see that suddenly the breaker cannon was stopped... Again her confusion and the heavy weapons.... stopped. It was confusing as she turned to look at the guardians, flame units and ones with them. "Ah what just happened?" She was watching them and the tactical readout on the holograms from her palm. "Uncertain." Lorna stood next to her going over it. "An entire guardian unit was.... vanished almost like they were here... same with the drop pods in favor of tanks that were rocketed. Somehow we are back to square frakking one."

Willa sneered under her helmet, they had stealth ships, a hundred and one options and..... everything was being thwarted with ease because.... "Damn, make a note for the engineering teams.... whatever technology they have to tank one of the siege cannons and entire divisions would be invaluable." There were nods of agreement and they were making notes as Willa stood there and looked at the others with her. "So ahhh... my plans of punching a hole using superior tech and things we've had for years failed.... anyone want to get something to drink?" She said it with a look under her helmet getting some nods of agreement as they sat down cracking out some of the flavored meads.

 

[Kei Amadis]

Location: A bar called Nowhere
In a small town called Sidhe.
Post: #5
Gear: Me, Myself and I
Objective: Two shots for the team.

He got no answer to the feeling question, but the sentiment was there.

“Making a mistake,” Kei said with tension in his voice for effect, even as the cuffs came on. He was pulled up by a few of the mercs out of the chair and held. “Won’t play out well.” The Jedi stared the old ill Hutt straight in the eye.

“His eminence Skorg the Hutt will take you as his captive, and bargaining chip.” The mercs hauled Kei off with no real resistance, except for the fact he made an offhanded comment to get a punch in his gut, coughing a bit, then got another shot to the jaw to soften him up.

Skorg was on a hovering platform of sorts, because he was not only too ill to move under his own steam but also apparently was having trouble directing it, and had to be assisted. All the assembled gathering made their way outside the back door of the bar, to a very large speeder, made for the hutt and about four of his men. There was some argument about who would escort him, with a Jedi Master being a dangerous passenger, and so an extra man jumped up board. Everyone tensed.

Typical. Thrown into the chair, Kei looked at the extra merc opposite straight in the eye for a few minutes as they were transported off. Waiting, not really fussed or much good at deception. “Nothing personal.” Kei said with a grin, force stun made the man drop, his nerve endings clamp up and go completely limp. One of the others caught him before he banged his head.

The cuffs came off Kei, and the Jedi Master moved his wrists about. “I said one punch,” Amadis said to the merc, who shrugged looking amused. Kei moved his jaw to see if his teeth were still attached.

Skorg said something in Huttese, Kei's grin was pained as he watched just how ill Skorg was. “Done a lot for us old friend, wouldn’t know half of the intel without your help. Least I can do is get you out.” The Hutt disagreed, wheezing and coughing. “Time is precious for all of us, need to be with your family.” He just looked at the Hutt, who was getting weaker by the day. Despite what you might think Hutts loved their family as much or more than any other race.

Weren’t out yet. They had to make this look really good.

 

[Varindar Asyt]

Objective: 2
Allies: [member="Drystan Marakos"] [member="Josh DragonsFlame"] [member="Tanaski Yumi"]

"Chalacta please" Varindar answered the guard, while giving the guard coordinates to the shadowport on Chalacta that replaced the old spaceport she ran fumigation on.

"You'll never find authentic Quesh venom anywhere else on Kintan, and the non-Cartel suppliers claiming to sell Quesh venom are selling fakes. These Nikto gangsters used Quesh venom facsimiles to kill a Hutt a few months ago, and were thrown into the Gonk's Infinite Loop once they were caught"

"If I'm satisfied with the product, especially if it sells well, I may as well purchase future orders of Quesh venom directly from your suppliers on Quesh"

That was just as easy as Chalacta thus far, but I can't help but feel that we'd need to run tests on that Quesh venom back on Chalacta to determine if the Cartel was trying to defraud us: as far as we knew it, they held a monopoly on Quesh venom, Varindar thought, while Drystan and Josh kept quiet and neither of them did anything to compromise the operation. Meanwhile, the weapons used as a "security deposit" were being displaced: one of each weapon type was being placed in the weapons showroom, and the others remained in the warehouse. She was taking the risk that the Cartel would force her to forfeit the security deposit and therefore apply at least the sold portion against the cost of the Quesh venom. However, the other henchman, while placing these long guns on display cases, began to giggle when he overheard Varindar talking about Quesh venom suppliers, and Varindar could sense that henchman is secretly wishing that their suppliers on Quesh will throw her to the Gonk's Infinite Loop there. Yet, from the looks on that henchman's face, she could tell that Quesh was a dangerous planet to go on business even without being thrown into the Gonk's Infinite Loop.

"Here, Poisonwater Mining Operation, the main supplier of Quesh venom to the Cartel. I must warn you, however, to buy Quesh venom directly from them, you must have a ready pool of customers and have proof that you can sell a certain volume within a specified amount of time" the henchman warned Varindar, before giving her a schedule of Quesh venom prices, and how much Quesh venom she could plausibly be buying. "The first thing they do with prospective buyers is to check your sales history concerning that one product"

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

Objective: 2
Equipment: Duel Vibro Wakizashi, Sasori Masquer Armor, Sabre, GGT-33
Allies: Drystan Marakos Varindar Asyt
Post: 5

More waiting, well that was his so called job, Varindar was the dealer he was just the guard, only speak when necessary and keep an eye out for anything that could be conceived as a threat to the mission. He was unsure if the hotel owner was prepared for this mission or was just always wanted to pull the 'fake weapons dealer' card, she seemed way to well rehearsed for this to be on the fly.

Finally it seemed as though the deals was finalized, now their actual mission could begin properly, though he did wonder who the spy ware in the shipped weapons worked. Did it send some sort of feed back to the safe house? or did it record the data and have to be manually extracted to avoid being intercepted but slicers or something? Perhaps he could learn about it from Varindar, it would certainly come in handy for other missions not just one like this.

His gaze lingered on the giggling henchmen for a second, Tana keeping the gaze until he had arranged all the weapons on the display case. His silent deminor and face visor leaving little emotion to be seen, the stare almost icy in it's manner. Once again he had to play the role of a guard, an no guard would just sit their and let some thug make fun of their boss or business.

 

[Valkren Calderon]

​

Objective: One - Survive, wait for Silver contact.​

Location: Kintan - Khel'rath Forest - Furthest region.​

Assets: 3rd Infantry, 1st Special Tactics Group​

7-18th Cav group​

​

Valkren heard Masaru shout out his position, urging the colonel to turn out of his cover and move toward his next destination. However, he was quickly ushered back behind the fallen tree after a hail of bolts and slugs zipped by his position.

Seemed like the small team got the diversion they were going for. At least forty or so combatants were focused on Calderon, Varga, Lowder, Harris, and Clark. Their weapons were taken away from the main battle group of Hammer One to focus on the stray team of shooters.

The Colonel cursed under his breath; obviously, his plan worked for the most part, but that still didn't prove good for his own squad, now completely separated from the rest of his rangers and vehicles. With this many enemy eyes focused on them, moving from cover or returning fire without catching a slug or blaster bolt would be a challenge.

"Incoming!"

Lieutenant Harris's voice came through clearly on his communications, soon after that came flashing red proximity warnings on his heads-up-display. Some form of explosives was identified, but what was it?

"Get small!" Valkren bellowed this out, before tuckering down behind the same log that was continually peppered with rounds. The rest of his team followed suit, attempting to make themselves as 'small' as possible behind their respected pieces of cover. If they were to move for new cover, they'd surely be picked off. In holding position, Valkren hoped that whatever explosives they threw would be small enough for their armor to absorb.

One of the grenades was short, bursting just beyond Valkren and Masaru's position. The second grenade was closer, sending shrapnel bouncing into the dirt and rocks around them. Valk' even felt the 'ping' of stray debris as it skimmed by some of his platings, leaving a nasty mark for the memory. The third, Valk knew the feeling and sound of the third. The thermal detonator went off just ahead of their position, absolutely obliterating several of the trees and rock formations that were in between their current assailants and themselves. The shockwave was intense, forcing most of the small squad out of their cover from sheer force.

They were barely given enough time to regain their composure before four cultists were on them. They seemed to use the confusion of the explosions like a smoke screen, keeping their quick advance unknown to the rangers. Valkren was quick to react, falling onto his back away from the log just as a cultist began to clamber over his cover.

With vibrosword overhead, the cultist was out for blood, a ranger's specifically. From his position on his back, he was quick to give a flick at his firing options before sending a single powerful blaster bolt from his blaster rifle into the chest of his assailant. The cultist flew back a couple feet and crumpled into the crater the thermal detonation caused. He knew more than just one had to rush his squad, but he didn't know where.

The colonel quickly pulled himself back into cover behind the log, well what was left of the log atleast. He made an effort to exchange his spent power cell for a new one while reaching out for his team members, including the mercenary with them.

"Raiders, check in." He took a peak over his cover, before focusing his eyes on the ridgeline that the other cultists fell behind.

"Lowder, here. Had to gut one of these punks with my karkin' knife, but I'm here."

"Harris here, I'm with Clark. Kid took a good bit of Shrapnel, karked up his suit real nice. Need to get him off of this hill, boss!"

"Copy, stay with him Konrad. We can't get off this hill yet, but we will soon. Lowder, Varga, on me! We're moving up!"

Valkren hopped over the log that he knew as cover for quite some time, pulling his blaster rifle up in front of him as he moved at a quickened pace. Expecting the other two to fall in line with him as he moved toward the ridgeline. From his position, he could see the pockets of cult forces engaging Hammer One all along the hill. There also still seemed to be a good group advancing more up the hill toward their team's position, more than likely due to the cultists that retreated from the ridgeline. Although, it seemed as if the cultists were being split between themselves, hammer one, and some other threat in the opposite direction. Unbeknown to the colonel, [member="Gir Quee"] and his directorate rangers were even closer than they thought. Valkren leaned out from behind a rock formation he chose as cover, flicking the firing option once again on his LPD blaster rifle so it moved to its normal firing mode. He let out a quick burst of bolts to keep the oncoming force suppressed.

While out of cover, his eyes caught something. Just below their position on the ridgeline rested possibly the ugliest excuse for an anti-tank position. The ship-born weapon was slow moving, as Valkren could tell, but it was still a threat and dug in well it seemed. All around the skiff were cultists tucked behind cover and in trenches, not to mention it seemed like the weapon was turning to claim its second tank.

He quickly turned, hoping to either reach Lowder and Varga by comms or just be location. "Fellas, we're going to need to take out that gun. It's not going to be an easy one though!"

[member="Gir Quee"] | [member="Masaru Varga"] | [member="Tyrell Caphey"] | [member="Celeste Rigel"] | [member="Willa Isard"] | [member="Handy Man"] | [member="Dusaro Dresari"]

 

[Varindar Asyt]

Objective: 2
Allies: [member="Tanaski Yumi"]

"In fact, come with me, there is something I ought to tell you about the sale of Quesh venom, another caveat that I should not tell you about in the showroom, that your henchmen should not know about" the bandit told Varindar in a menacing tone.

Not wanting to break her cover, Varindar simply followed the guards to a separate room on the upper floor. Believing that maybe she'd ascertain more about the Cartel's activities on Kintan by following them to the backroom. Hopefully there will actually be some proof that this is one of the Cartel's locations on this planet, Varindar thought, while Tana would not realize that the information contained inside would be transmitted at regular intervals on secured channels to the safehouse on Chalacta, maybe three or four times a day (might depend on which model of weapon, however) and from the telemetry module fitted to the scope. She can also feel that there could potentially be a catch pertaining to the Quesh venom she just purchased from them. Plus, with Josh and Drystan quietly doing their work elsewhere, she knew it was better not to interfere or else the entire operation can be compromised and it would be her problem.

"The Cartel will throw you into the Gonk's Infinite Loop on Quesh if you don't sell the entire shipment within one week of its receipt. To us, you're a consignee, and there's only so much inventory we can hold on consignment at any given time. One week from the delivery date, send us the list of Quesh venom sales, including the names of the clients, the quantity and the sales price"

"What's there at the Gonk's Infinite Loop? A sarlacc called Gonk? An arena whose champion, sentient or not, is called Gonk? Or some other contraption that can survive the toxic atmosphere?"

"Gonk is a formidable opponent, a huge battle droid on four legs!" the thug warned Varindar.

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

Objective: 2
Equipment: Duel Vibro Wakizashi, Sasori Masquer Armor, Sabre, GGT-33
Allies: [member="Varindar Asyt"]
Post: 6

Seemed that the talking was not over yet, their dealer offering to show Vardinar into some back room and give out some more information on the venom stuff she was getting for herself. She was certainly going along with this trader story, leaving Tana out the front to have staring contest with one of the thugs, each keeping an eye on one another. It was kind of awkward but he knew why they were doing so, neither could trust one another while their bosses were talking businesses elsewhere, being slip up was not ideal... but it did have it's own advantages.

Looking around Tana confirmed that the two were along, the rest of the criminals heaving taken the weapons away for storage and to probably collect Varindars order himself walking up to the thug. "So what do you get up to around here"? It was an attempt at small talk but in addition Tana used some simple force persuasion, not enough to completely make him under his control just enough to make him divulge a little more information then he would usually.

"Eh you talk, pft nothing much only really deal with people like you, selling stuff on the black market, get all sorts of goods, what bout you"? His own question carrying a 'eye for an eye tone', clearly Tana would have to give up some information in return. "Blade for hire, want something killed I do it, want something protected I do it". It technically wasn't a lie, just not something he had done in a while, round about 3 years, still it managed to satisfy his question for the most part, now it was his turn. He only hoped Varindar was doing well on her end as well, what ever that may be.

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

​

Objective: 1
Location: On the ground, behind enemy lines
Nearby: [member="Tom Taff"]

​

The information rolling in over the comms pulled the girl up short, her head jerking back as one finger came up, pressing against the earbud before she rose up off the floor, calling on the force to pull her up off the floor and settle herself onto her feet, the leaves and twigs he'd been using as a disguise falling away from her body as she slipped her rifle over her head on its strap, the large weapon thumping against her back. Ready and secured she turned to face Tom, raising one hand to get his attention. "Sounds like there's some kinda heavy artillery just up over ridge over there," a nod of her head indicated the direction of the energy cannon and it's complimentary vehicles. SHe'd only heard the most basic of reports, but what she'd heard was enough for her to know that they neede to take that thing out if they stood any chance of holding off the incoming forces. It was never an easy ask, but with a weapon like that, sooner or later, no matter how much you moved or how fortified your position it would get you after all the crew only needed to be lucky once, you had to be lucky every time. "Do you feel like going to cause some mayhem?"

 

[Masaru Varga]

It didn't take long for Masaru to sit back in cover as more cultists seemed to find their way to the squads position. He saw Valkren begin to move, but quickly fall back behind he log. there were too many guns on them at the moment for them to fire back, so they were stuck for the time being.

Once he heard one of the Rangers shout incoming, he ducked as low as he could without a second thought. He heard Valkren shout something, which was soon followed by the first grenade going off. The second and third grenade were the ones that were worrisome though, some of the debris barely giving him a lethal hit. If it wasn't for the armor he was wearing, there would probably be more wounds than he was already given because of the attack. For the most part, the debris skimmed his arm and shoulder, which was better than the alternatives.

When the cultists advanced on their position Masaru tried to move so he wasn't caught on the other end of their blade. He was a little too late though, one of them climbing over the log and stabbing at him while he was still on the ground. Fortunately, Masaru's training kept him alive. The mercenary moved his head to the side to avoid a timely end, and pushed himself off he ground to bring the cultists down. The enemy was taken by surprise, which gave Masaru the time to remove his knife and make quick work of them. Soon after, he heard Valkren on the comms and responded after taking a second to start breathing again.

"Varga here, still breathing."

Once Valkren finished checking in and began moving up, Masaru moved with haste. He caught up with Valkren soon after, just a bit behind him. Once the leader turned and spoke about taking down a tank, the mercenary moved up a bit to see what they were dealing with. With the small squad they had, it surely would be more difficult to take out the gun. This was nothing new to him though, so he was all but ready.

"It wouldn't be a battle if it were easy."

He said this was a small bit of amusement in his voice, the warrior within him seeing the obstacle in their way.

[member="Valkren Calderon"] [member="Willa Isard"] [member="Tyrell Caphey"] [member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Celeste Rigel]

Objective: One/Byoo
Location: Outskirts of Khel’rath Forest
OOC Note: NPCing Lila Arrel and Ilana Marsh, members of the Silver Circle

Ilana sped back into the tent, following along the side of one of the newest arrivals as she was brought in on a stretcher. Her clothing had already been cut aside by the field medics, and the wounds were given a quick cleaning as they set her down in the shelter of the white canvas medical staging area. From what she could see, the woman had a rather nasty blaster burn on her shoulder, and she had taken a slug to the abdomen.

“Please,” Ilana grabbed the sleeve of one of the medics. “I need your assistance, if you would.”

She would focus on lowering the woman's pain level enough for the medic to retrieve any pieces of the projectile that may still be in the wound. This was a very important step, so they did not accidentally heal over any bits and pieces. Closing her eyes, she went to work, letting her aura surround the injured soldier. Ilana felt the woman ease, her breathing grew slow and steady, much like she sunk into deep slumber.

“Good... she's ready.” Ilana said, nodding. The medic went straight to work, dropping pieces of metal into a small dish.

And once they were quite certain that the wound had been properly cleaned, Ilana focused on closing the wound. She used the force to mend it closed, giving the patient a much higher chance of survival. All that was left of the grisly wound was a thin scar, she would likely carry this mark for the rest of her days. Ilana instructed the medics to monitor the patient and request for a fresh transfusion, she'd lost quite a lot of blood.

She stood and made her way to where Master Arrel was with another critical patient. But, she turned the corner to find the Mirialan healer with her head bowed in solemn silence. Her fellow Master's gently held the patient's hand in her own, though his had already turned cold. He was gone. Ilana bowed her own head.

This was the hard part of their job. No matter how they tried, sometimes... it just wasn't enough.

 

[Liuna]

Objective Two – Shadow Streets
Location: Karpesh City, docks

Liuna wondered how the others were getting on. She herself had been stalking the shadowy dock yard, watching various shady figures coming and going from what seemed like an abandoned warehouse. None of them arrived via speeder or transport, nothing that would draw attention to the shell of a building. Most had simply drifted in through the dock, leaving their transports far off. Of course, she hadn't quite come alone... hiding out were the members of their strike team -- they just needed the word.

She'd parked herself behind some cargo containers, a small listening device placed in her ear. Unfortunately, she had not heard anything of real use. Those that had entered were tight-lipped. The Mirialan had been holding out for a small slip-up. But, she knew that she wouldn't be able to hang around like this for much longer. Time was short, especially if they were to pull this off.

After quickly stowing her equipment, she gently pressed her Eclipse Ring. A number of different skin colors and features were projected onto her as she scrolled through the options. Needless to say, her Mirialan markings and green-hued skin made her rather recognizable. And so, she settled on a fairly plain appearance – light skin, brown hair, and brown eyes to match. She'd worn an outfit of rugged leather, ensuring that she'd fit in well with the criminal elements.

Peeking up, she watched as the current guard slipped inside the heavy door. There was just a few moments pause before another man emerged from within the building. He leaned up against the wall, a freshly lit cigarette in his large hand.

“C'mon...” She whispered to herself.

She hoped to hear back from their team, then it would be showtime.

 

[Willa Isard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7qkQewyubs​

Plan A: Deploy drop pods with equipment, armor and garrison units to provide support behind enemy lines.... vanished without a trace. Plan B: Fire siege cannon into enemy lines and punch a hole that just found more enemies and did next to nothing.... Plan C: Use stealth ship that deployed rangers with Willa to fly in as she was looking at some of the others. "Set the course." The small ship had been designed for just this purpose... few faced the RAC and with the chance for rangers she looked at a few of the guardians who had returned after their super soldiered power armored. "We managed to scout some of the areas but it was thick commander."

THe one gave it as Willa stood on the bridge and was setting the course for where to go. THe lack of the subdermal transceivers among them well hurt finding them quickly, tracking the universal rylith cells signature was not there but she didn't fret standing there. "Whelp then there is only one thing to do." The vahla's helmet opened for a moment letting her golden eyes burn with fire and she pointed. "Send in the gunships." The twin ships were slower moving true, they didn't have a high top speed compared to some but they had heavy shields, armor plating.... lots of weapons along its thirty meter hulls and the ability to hold a squad. The gunships rose up from the command post.

THey were moving off in front of the cloaked RAC was behind it and she tapped a little closing her helmet while they moved in quickly to evac and find them. Willa herself was reaching out with the force and she could feel it just under her skin. Fire and flame.... energy..... then there. The gunships opened with a volley of lasers as she could feel it in the distance. Heat and energy that she was feeding into. The air around it expanding and heat increasing for the shots. Shapers were impressive when it came to fire.. she had seen one or two that the Ember might have considered delightfully adapt. Like children... few others could match a trained vahla as Willa lit up the trenches and soldiers who got in the way.

She felt the power right there and pushed more into it, allowing herself to burn everything. Golden fire from her eyes almost coming out of the visor of her armor before the leviathan cloak billowed from the energy radiating off of her. Her voice was resonating within her helmet. Even the taozan nodules within the armor wouldn't have been able to mask her from senses before she found them in the force and set the coordinates in her chevron pad on the armor. Selecting the toolkit so that it could give her plenty of options. "Clear a path." She rolled her shoulders allowing the black plated armor to gleam from under the cloak.

Her saber appearing in her hand as nightwish gleamed along the length of it. The sonic blastsaber in her hand as the RAC came down and she was in the gangway as it was opening with a small team of ranger's firing off the heavy assault rifles to make a path. The sleek purple and black ship decloaking to pick up the ones who were there when Willa came out and fire off the blaster with a high pitched sonic shot. Thin but focused when the soundwave struck someone in the shoulder and sent them spiraling. The force making her perceptions strong.. faster when he slowed down and she raised her other hand with a shot from the toolkit.

Several dozen micro ultrasonic vibro flatchettes coming out to launch him into the air. As the small tube spun around being replaced with a jet of flame from one wrist and a second came from the other. Her pyrokinesis making them twist and writhe like snakes that lashed out and became almost solid going into trenches like a cascading water. She barely thought about it beyond getting the pathway clear for the others and spinning on her heel as the flames disappeared and her silvermists came up. The slugs like mini wookiee quarrols. Explposive slugs wrapped in energy that were fired from shatter gun tech at high speeds and highly explosive.

The near soundless nature of them allowed her to fire the few hundred slugs with each clip quickly and without sacrificing accuracy before more she could use the secondary and tertiary fires. The underhanded micro grenade launchers firing a full clip of thirty grenades each with force assisted accuracy and her mind working on the trajectories to find targets or points of weakness. She rarely opened up this much to the force and let it guide her hands as the final nail was fired and apt. Twin bolters, thick heavy highly explosive slugs that exploded on impact with a directed explosive sending tiny shrapnel at high speeds.

It wasn't pretty but Willa remained there as the force sped the world back up, the explosions rocking the area around her, the fires and flames curving to respond to the Vahla's mind and she opened her helmet looking at the people who were now a part of plan c. "Well come on ramblers lets get rambling." She said it and closed her helmet, The remains of Luminous company and Reaper company coming out with guardians and holding the path as the wind kicked up and blew her coat into the path she was walking against. Fire swirling around her feet before ejecting the slug clips and sliding two new ones back into place with fresh grenade and bolter clips.

THe way was opened.

 

[Ravenfire]

Objective 1 : Slip through the lines with support and firepower.
Location: With [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] on the ground
Peeps: The Owls and Cats, The Cat - on the ground, The Owl - in orbit
Armament: The Greeter, Noverskaan Wolves, The Taff Vengeance, Mykes' Defender, Luxurious Cloak, G-11 Shield Gauntlet, T-7 Vibro Brace, Taff Necklaces.

Tom looked up and grinned at asaraa as she suggested it. He picked up the greeter handing it off to one of his cats and owls who had followed asaraa over. "Alright boys and girls your getting out of here with the rest of the main group we were working with while we are gonna cry havoc just make sure you pick us up afterwards." They nodded and began moving out towards the main group to escape. He looked back at asaraa. "Your about to learn something on the fly you ready? I'm gonna if you don't already know how to not only how to bend the light around yourself but keep stealthy footed."

As he said so the light began bending around himself and her hiding them from vision as he began to move quickly but quietly towards the heavy artillery that was causing issues for the rangers. Readying his lightsabres as they went. "Let the Chaos begin."

 

[Varindar Asyt]

Objective: 2
Allies: [member="Tanaski Yumi"] [member="Josh DragonsFlame"]

"Now, consignee, leave this warehouse before the Cartel rescinds the offer!"

Varindar just didn't want to break cover, so she'd rather not say anything and return to the main entrance. It was in that sort of situation where she'd rather use telepathy to communicate the next course of action. In fact, she doesn't think telepathic communications will give any of them away. Even so, she is led to believe telepathic encryption is the way to go here. Now that we know this place is, in fact, used by the Cartel, we ought to scram and, once we are out of here, we should ask the folk at the safehouse on Chalacta to communicate the readings from the rigged weapons to the Niktos, Varindar thought, hoping that both Tanaski and Josh will receive the telepathic message as she was on her way out from the warehouse and hoping that the Cartel will actually deliver the merchandise they agreed upon to her. But she knew that, by the time these folks on Chalacta have been able to process the contents of the rigged weapons, there will be enough proof inside the video feeds that the Niktos will act upon these. For now, anyway, she hoped that Josh was alright, even though Tana was right outside the backroom.

 

[Tanaski Yumi]

Objective: 2
Equipment: Duel Vibro Wakizashi, Sasori Masquer Armor, Sabre, GGT-33
Allies: [member="Varindar Asyt"]
Post: 7


Tana and the guards conversation came to a short end, he didn't want to push he luck and from what he knew any raid on such an area would expose this cartel. With the bugs on the weapons in place all they needed to do was report back, hopefully the other teams were successful in their own little missions, soon the voice of Varindar coming into his mind. 'Good I was getting a little board anyways, no point in risking anything further', they could always come back later to bust the place open. All he needed to do was wait until Varindar left the back room and told him they were leaving, until then he needed to keep the act, which also meant to stay silent and standing up straight as the other thugs went around their buiness.