I'm Gonna Make It Right Back

[Maurice Dalton]

Maurice's city was on the up and up. Back from when the First Order had first brought the Noghri people and the planet of Yalara into the fold, Maurice had been assigned to the planet, but charged with the orders to create an entirely new city. A city that wasn't yet on the map, but would include the hiring of unsavoury folks, community service and all that, along with retired military personnel searching for a new place to live. Despite Yalara being a difficult place to live, even deserts had at least one oasis.

But the city would finish completion after the Yalaran Citadel, home to A'sharad Graush and his White Wolves Regiment that was home to the First Order's most notable unit.

The former Commando walked about his office. On this day he was to visit the Citadel as it was scheduled to be finished that exact afternoon, whch was excellent timing considering he was free that evening, only up to tomorrow morning anyway. Considering the distance and time to get there, the Citadel should be completed long before they actually got there, which was all well and good.

Still, he had some concerns regarding the planet's allegiance.

Before the First Order had even come to the planet, there was the possibility of the Noghri people rebelling against them due to past transgressions that they wouldn't forget, yet the Imperials had.

Dangerous territory he would be travelling through he knew, but Maurice, as large as he was, was confident in his security team's ability.

 

[Maurice Dalton]

"Sir, your airspeeder is here," said one of the security guards outside of his office. Dax, he recognized the voice as. A soldier that had taken his spot in his One Sith unit after he had left the service. A man who followed orders. Useful. Kind of like him in a way, he just doubted he was as good as Maurice when it came to the job. But, he doubted that there'd be a time soon when that would be tested.

"Let's go then," he said, clapping his hands and proceeding to rub them together as he exited the office.

Within a few minutes they were exiting one of the many government buildings that housed the commissioners of Yalara all over the planet. Descending the steps, a landed speeder was awaiting him, door open, and he entered with a small nod of his head and a flash of his charming smile. When he sat down, he picked up the waiting datapad and looked it over.

So... the stormtroopers are recruiting Noghri warriors to train their people? The Sith shoulda thought of that.

"Let's get moving," he said to his chaperone who nodded his head and immediately set about lifting off.

 

[Maurice Dalton]

The airspeeder had lifted off of the ground and was heading towards the Yalaran Citadel, codenamed Haven for those in the military, though, he only knew that for he had met with the Colonel at the time. Looking out the window, he saw that the City he was meant to be heading was still under construction. Still though, there were shuttles coming in transporting both construction droids and construction works.

"It's coming along nicely, sir," the chaperone said, a deep voice. Not someone that he knew since he usually walked... Or rather, didn't really have anywhere else to go.

"Yes. Took a while to finalize the designs," Maurice said in his slow, but pleasantly deep voice.

"How long do you suppose until we get there?" He questioned with a turn of his head to the driver, tearing his gaze away from the window.

"A little over two hours."

[member="Rexus Wenck"]

 

[Rexus Wenck]

Operation Havenshield is what they called it. The mission, secure objective, codenamed Angel to the citadel or Haven . For Rexus, the name of the operation made him feel like the Gundark Gunners were to embark on a mission to assassinate the Silver Jedi's grandmaster clan. Alas, The name wasn't a typo, and was in fact a glorified transfer job. An important one. But it was still his men combing a whole damn desert for imaginary enemies. However, it was a necessity, and something Rexus was going to put all his efforts into to be proud of the results.

Riding shotgun in a First Imperial speeder, he and four others inside waited for the Commissioner to come out of the city. When the civilian speeder zoomed past, the unit began to trail, "This is Guardian One," Rexus said on his comms, "Haven is in sight."

"Guardian one, this Guardian four, we have you and Haven on scopes." A signal came. Guardian four was the sniper/lookout unit. Posted on a large hill, they had a line of sight from the city, to the Commissioners destination. Although their rifles wouldn't be too much help at this range, they did have speeders to rush out, and intercept attackers.

"Good-o," Rexus said, "Keep your eyes on the prize boys," he said leaning back and prying off his helmet. if the mission was gonna be this easy, why shouldn't get a wee bit of a tan.

[member="Maurice Dalton"]

 

[Maurice Dalton]

"Our escort just came up, Mr. Dalton," said the chauffeur over his shoulder.

"Good... Good," he said, closing his eyes. "I'll catch up on some rest," Maurice said, "I trust you won't crash on purpose?"

There was a low chuckle in response before Maurice blacked out almost immediately.

...

Nearly an hour and a half later, on the edge of the horizon was the structure of the Citadel rising up in the distance. Far away, but they could see the tallest centre spire above Haven Citadel. Maurice awoke, but his eyes remained closed as he listened to the chaperone. "What do you mean we can't get to the Citadel? Situ- Situation?! I've got the Commissioner on board!" He cried out in response. At that, Maurice couldn't help to open his eyes, but when he opened his mouth to say something, there was a rumble through the airspeeder, and then suddenly, even with the inertial dampeners that all speeders would have, he could feel the immediate shift in height.

They were dropping.

All commando skills kicked in, but he couldn't do much from the backseat.

Unbeknownst to them, a focused sniper bolt had struck the engines, disabling them, at this point, they were just plummeting to the ground. The shot had come from the ground, but the one that had fired it was camouflaged, unseen due to their choice in clothing.

"Hope you're buckled in, Commissioner."

[member="Rexus Wenck"]

 

[Rexus Wenck]

"Lieutenant! Lieutenant!" The driver called out, "Rexus, get the kark up!" Rexus' eyes fluttered open, and he looked rather annoyed.

"W-what is it?" he asked with a yawn, stretching his arms.

"Sir, Angel was hit!" The driver called. Rexus eyes shot open, and he watched the landspeeder begin to plummet to the ground.

"Kark, kark!" He barked, sliding his helmet back on. "Guardian Four, what the kark happened?!" He roared at the top of his lungs.

"Sniper sir, from the south east, hit the engine." Guardian Four reported.

"Get a speeder out here, understood?! I don't want this mission going to poodoo. Reinforcements, stat!" Without closing the comms with the traditional 'over and out', he instead reeled on the driver, "Get us to the speeder, Angel will ride shotgun with us, understood?!"

"Yes sir!" The driver said, speeding up towards their charge. The escort speeders gunner, a stormtrooper in control of a heavy repeater blaster scanned the horizon, firing off a few shots from where the snipers came from.

[member="Maurice Dalton"]

 

[Maurice Dalton]

The airspeeder struck the ground hard. Had the pilot not angled it up at the last second, it surely would've killed them both. Of course with all the stormtroopers searching for those that had shot down the speeder, it left the airspeeder susceptible to being assaulted.

This time three forms were moving towards the airspeeder, one from the direction of the sniper shot, but the other two from locations much closer to the airspeeder.

Maurice's brain was rattled. His face was stuck to the cushioned seat in front of him, but after pulling away, he could taste the tangy crimson liquid on the corner of his lips. His own blood and he grunted as he looked through the front of the speeder.

"H-hey! Get up," he said swatting at his downed chaperone, who in turned groaned. His legs were crushed, that much he could tell. He wasn't going to be able to pull him out of there. But what he almost missed was the blaster pistol sticking out of its holster. Maurice took it into his hand and checked the ammunition. A good old slugthrower pistol. Good. He checked the magazine. Sixteen shots. And when he thought he heard the sound of feet atop the airspeeder, he pointed it to the ceiling and did the only thing he could.

Fire.

[member="Rexus Wenck"]

 

[Rexus Wenck]

"Alright boss, we got them on, coming up a hundred meters from now!" The driver called as they sped closer to the speeder "Rev, turn up the gun!"

The gunner nodded, and began to open fire, spraying down the landspeeder with blaster bolts, cutting down one of the hostiles in it. "Good job!" Rexus called, "Guardian Four, reinforcements, where are they?"

"Sir, they're coming in now, they're on the way. Codenamed archangel." Guardian Four Replied.

"Archangel, what kind of name-" he paused, "Keep us updated." Rexus snapped.

"Understood sir." Guardian Four replied.

The First Order speeder stopped, and began to drop the hostiles. Rexus leaped out of his craft, and jogged to the Commissioner. "Sir, sir, are you alright?" he asked, offering his hand to Maurice. In the background the gunner laid down suppressing fire from where the sniper fire had come from. "We need you out now, we're sitting targets here!"

[member="Maurice Dalton"]

 

[Maurice Dalton]

Perhaps the first slug had hit something, he couldn't tell as to whether or not, but right after blaster bolts were piercing the airspeeder's roof and he was forced to throw himself down on the speeder floor to do... Something. A smaller target? Was he even the target? It didn't really matter at that point as he remained there until the speeder was no longer under assault.

Rolling onto his back, he pointed the speeder at the door that was being opened but he stopped when he saw the ghostly white armour of the Stormtrooper Corps.

He was rushed out, but he was large. He most definitely used that to his advantage as he pressed [member="Rexus Wenck"] against the opened door. "The driver. He's still alive!"

 

[Rexus Wenck]

"Oi, Dabbs, get the kark over here! We have wounded!" Rexus commanded, before turning to the Commssioner, "We're in a bit of a conundrum 'ere boss. We can have someone ride on the back, but we don't have another karkin' seat." he said, "Its your call, but I'd rather leave your driver to fend for himself than have-"

Rexus was cut off by Dabbs grunting, "Lieutenant, poor suckers stuck!" He called, "Give me a hand 'ere!"

Rexus complied, and tried to help heave the poor driver out. Their moverments were gentle as not to injure the man, but it was no use. No dice. "I think he's stuck 'ere. Only way I can see getting the poor bloke out is jindaburraing his legs." Dabbs called.

Rexus turned to the Commissioner, "Jindaburraing?"

"We're gonna have to cut them off at the thigh," Dabbs said, "As far as I can see, there's no other quick fix."

[member="Maurice Dalton"]

 

[Maurice Dalton]

Maurice let go of the stormtrooper. Clearly, he wasn't a medic, he couldn't blame him for the trouble that they were in. In the back of his mind he was going to have to thank the Colonel for sending out an escort for them at the scheduled time, especially since his office wasn't in the business of hiring extra security. Much of his security force was still in the City, and the Police Force hadn't finished its formation yet. Yes, thanks were in the future -- if he got out of this.

And then he heard the words of cutting the legs of his driver.

He was knocked out, unconscious.

That was when another shot pinged off of the hood of the speeder. The sniper was moving, making it difficult to target.

Or there was more than one.

"Cut them off!" He exclaimed, less in fear, and more as an order of necessity. Sacrifices would have to be made.

[member="Rexus Wenck"]

 

[Rexus Wenck]

"We're taking the cripple? Oh karkin' hell!" Rexus groaned, he turned to Dabbs, who was crouched beside the speeder. He seemed at a loss for words. "You heard the man damnit! Move trooper, move!"

Dabbs did as ordered, and reached for his knife, "You sure sir, I don't wanna-"

"Cut the poodoo trooper!" Rexus snarled, "Move, now!"

"Y-yes sir!" Dabbs whimpered as he began to hack away at the mans leg.

"We'll be lucky if he doesn't bleed out in our speeder sir," Rexus said, "Look, if you want my opinion, we should give him a shot in the mouth. He won't feel a damn thing." Rexus paused and breathed out, "I don't wanna haveta-" He was cut off by a scream, the chaperone was very much awake now, just as Dabbs began to cut through the bone. The trooper had jumped away, knife still embedded in the drivers bone. Dabbs' head shook, this was too much for him.

[member="Maurice Dalton"]

 

[Maurice Dalton]

Maurice was all smiles, almost all the time. Shaking hands with other city officials and business owners. Conversing with those who worked under him as if they had been best friends since birth, but with an unseen enemy and soldiers that weren't sure on how to proceed, Maurice's features could only be considered 'grim.'

He shoved past the stormtroopers, powerful form pushing through the armoured men. His hands were deft, quick, no one would expect such a large man to be a good pickpocket, but he was. He took the nearest blaster rifle. The stun setting was immediately activated. His driver was shot straight in the chest.

Unconscious. No more screaming.

Now it was the would be medic's turn.

He separated the man from the knife and his driver. He grasped the handle tightly and he forced it downwards as another shot turned sand to glass right beside the speeder. The sniper wasn't good, but all he needed to do was shoot in their general direction.

When he heard the knife begin cutting through leather instead of flesh and cartilage, he immediately starting sawing at the other side with a sort of grim sense of duty about him. His suit? Probably would've been covered in blood had he not been careful, but his hands were slick. The knife's handle difficult to hold. He continued sawing.

"Get your speeder in front of the sniper's shots. I'm nearly done."

Surprisingly, his voice was calm. One would even think that it wasn't the first time he had done such a thing.

[member="Rexus Wenck"]

 

[Rexus Wenck]

Rexus stopped, and watched the man take the intiative. And here he was, thinking the man was some kind of suit. Some kind of business-type bureaucrat. But no, Rexus knew what this was. This man, Angel, was a man of action. Dabbs was keeled over, vomiting at the sight, gagging. "Get up Dabbs!" Rexus commanded, "And Tagge!" He waved the speeder over, "Cover our shots, won'tcha?"

Tagge nodded, and revved the speeder while Rev opened fire like a madman, trying to hit the damn karking sniper. "Where are ya, ya bloody nerf herder!" The gunner snarled.

"Alright!" Rexus said, "Keep this bloke busy, we've got a cripple to manage!" He knelt beside Maurice, "Sir, if you wouldn't mind, take off the suit, I'll make some bandages for the guy."

[member="Maurice Dalton"]

 

[Maurice Dalton]

[member="Rexus Wenck"] was right. The suit would need to go. And off it came, he even loosened his tie after releasing the knife, blade partially embedded in the flesh of his driver. The cut was uneven, dirty, but the knife was clean, or so it had looked before he had taken the job on for himself. But when he had taken off the suit, he didn't move, he had taken it off because it was hot in the Red Desert.

"Get the seatbelts in the back.

...

The speeder that Maurice's escort had been using was filled with people. One person too many in fact, or rather, half a person, but Maurice wasn't the sort to make morbid jokes like that. Not about men who were in the business of protecting him. After reinforcements had arrived, they had a laser designator with them. The laser cannons on the walls of the Yalara Citadel had the range to fire all the way into the city of New Vaiken. Firing on some mound a few miles out was easy work.

The target had been acquired, and with an explosion of sand which was rapidly super heated into glass the threat was neutralized.

His driver, Javier, was hurried off to the medical bay after they landed.

The Citadel's vehicles were deployed as well. Patrols were sent out to scour the Red Desert for remaining insurgents. It was a poor day, but, they had survived.

Now, standing in front of the Haven Citadel, he could only wonder as to why he had left the military life.

 

[Rexus Wenck]

Rexus stumbled out of the speeder, and helped Maurice and Dabbs down. He looked at his troopers, "Did a helluva good job today, didn't we?" He asked. The unit nodded and Rexus then looked at Dabbs, small flecks of bile stood in stark contrast to the rest of the troopers shiny uniform, "Go have a round on me, alright? Dismissed." The stormtroopers ran away to the bases mess, hopefully going to get some kind of alcoholic beverage.

"Helluva day we had there sir," Rexus said, taking off the helmet. "I've escorted a lotta people over the years, but that stands as one of the most exciting times ever sir." he said, saluting, "Thought you'd be another stuck up suit, or dumbass bureaucrat. Never thought I'd be escorting another, honest to Sith soldier."

[member="Maurice Dalton"]

 

[Maurice Dalton]

After all the day's work, it felt weird to smile as he was at [member="Rexus Wenck"]'s work. Surprised. He had surprised a stormtrooper. A man who probably didn't even know who he was, just saw a name on a list and followed his orders.

"That was a long time ago," he said, rubbing his hands together thoughtfully. "I'm in the Government now," he said with a wide smile.

"Thank you," he looked to the rank insignia, "Lieutenant for your service. I'll make sure to put in a word with your CO," he said with a nod of his head. Both of them probably had places to be, and with the sun setting on Yalara, Maurice wanted to be inside. Who knew what else was out there trying to kill him?

Close by, he could hear the sound of walkers. And soon after, the cannon emplacements on the walls fired into the night sky. Tests, he imagined, and probably to scare off whoever had ideas of opposing the First Order. He had heard of this Colonel, he was anything but subtle.