Following right behind High Commander Laphisto and the quartet of
Szayel Class Cruisers was the
Kathhound Axehead Merchant Command Frigate, piloted by the now-elected Governor of Dantooine, Ova Ziss. It has an overly wide head and a thin body, appearing like an elongated sword.
Although Ova did not receive any comms from his friends (they had ordered strict radio silence), he flashed his lights on and off, in a subtle sign of solidarity to those retrieving the Oracle. The Gree knew they were coming. It didn't matter much anyways.
While Laphisto and Credius continued to travel above the atmosphere searching for The Oracle, Ova would begin to land on Asation. The Kathhound Axehead Frigate and its partner frigate began a steep but certain descent, heading straight for the Hypergate Operations Center.
[…]
The barrage of lasers and missiles came immediately.
The atmosphere of the planet of Asation sucked in the Kathhound's axehead and then struck it harshly, like the end of a spear hitting a shield. This would be a rough landing, and not the daintily smooth commercial yacht slide-in that Ova was used to at the spaceport.
The flagship ordered their descent. Spacing rules dictated that larger ships give berth to smaller ones, and so that meant Ova and his
son-in-law and Minister for Security, Grenz, would be going in hot.
The Kathhound had one quark of a landing as it maneuvered into place, being rocketed and lasered from every direction. The frigate blasts to the left when one of the missiles hit the “hilt” of the craft, causing Ova to bounce around in his chair. The Gree weren't very welcoming hosts.
“Taking heavy fire! Gunships, get behind us!” He says frantically into the allied comms.
Well, I couldn’t expect to do perfectly during “baby’s first fleet". Grenz provided secondary piloting, but even with his help, the entire ship was rattling with blaster fire.
The Kathhound’s tough doonium axehead repels the laser fire as it lets out a cacaphony of twangs.
The ST-70 gunships coasted steadily behind the axehead, where they are partially protected by the anti-air fire. The Kathhound is forced to release two of its anti-air countermeasures, which blast through the anti-air missiles. The gunships provide supporting fire to the Kathhound and the secondary dropship frigate as it slowly makes its way down to the planet’s surface from a safe direction.
Slow and steady, just like pops taught you.
The two Kathhounds and the Security Gunships nearly crashed into the planet's surface due to the anti air turret fire. They land. The troopers inside drop the boarding planks with a series of loud and asynchronous “bangs”. The gunships don't travel in a single squadron, but rather, as one big group. The secondary frigate in the Kathhound Contingent unloads their entire armada of ground troops:
one thousand tactical autonomous battlemech droids. The perimeter of the industrial facility is filled with the sound of mechanical boots striking the cement as the droids un-board: their tan exteriors form an ocean. The droids assume an offensive stance as they join the deluge of other ground troops and vehicles marching towards the facility.
The Kathhound, however, seems to have carried far less troops into battle. It carried some kind of special cargo, and no ships at all.
You can see a small squad of a new type of war machine inside: something you’ve never seen before.
Something
large is being wheeled out of the frigate with repulsorlift dollies.
Several machines.
It is a "something" with
many legs. Six of them, to be exact.
You see the cargo in the bay hangar: something glistening with a dark, shiny, lightweight metal. Its front laser cannon burns brightly, making the great walker beast appear to have a bloody and frightening face. Its claws glisten with machine lubricant, and its three anti-air slug launcher gatling guns were primed with what looked like thousands of rounds of slugs. At the back of this fearsome walker was its stinger: a plasma mortar, pulsing with power, ready to level the Gree Resistance.
It was Ova Ziss’s brand-new walker design, the
AT-SX Scorpion Walker, and he would use it to bust down the defenses of the Hyperdrive Operation Center and then stroll right inside.
Perhaps the troops could establish a forward-position, if they could dig into the basement of the facility?
Once the Kathhound Contingent ships had deposited their ground troops, they closed their bay doors and roared back into action, providing covering fire.
Grenz, Ova’s bodyguard, would take the Kathhound back into orbit, so that the frigate could act as a re-arming station for gunships, a refueling point, and a commslink extender for the orbital assault. The second Kathhound would help bring the gunships home...Ova hoped...
The droid-piloted
ST-70 gunships careened towards the Hyperdrive Operation Center and began engaging with the anti-air turrets, playing a dangerous game of chicken as they weaved through the facility, outpacing the missiles due to their speed. The anti-air guns have already brought down one of the uncareful gunships, which bursts into flames, careens downwards near the outskirts of the facility, and erupts into a ball of fire. The TAB droid inside releases an anguished,
"Yahhhahahahahhhh!" The rest of the squad seemed to have learned from their mistake, and the anti-air platform is pegged with laser fire.
Ova mounted the scorpion walker and slid open the door of its blackened steel “belly” as the TAB droids marched onwards. Ova assumed the operator's seat, then shut the metal door and locked it. Now, Ova truly was in the belly of the beast, in more ways than one.
Ova seized the controls and powered the machine on. The AT-SX’s mouth and eyes came to life as it lifted from the ground. Ova gave its tail a little wag, checking the hexapropulsion system. He would wait for any allies that boarded the other two Scorpion Walkers. The hexapropulsion was so precise that he was able to stride right past the droids.
“Scorpion Command: drill straight into the basement – if there is one!”, Ova’s comms crackled.
“FOR THE DIARCHY!”
[ AT-SX DRILL MODE ENGAGED ]
With that, the scorpion walkers began making a rapid approach towards the operations center, their legs clacking with a shocking amount of speed. When they are certain they are far enough from the main ground force, and they've put some speed on them, they burrow into the ground. As the Scorpion Walkers breach the dirt and cement, they contort themselves into the shape of bullets, spinning on their tails and burrowing quickly.
Meanwhile, inside, the innards of the scorpion walker rattle. Ova turns on his depth-finding sonic instrumentation, looking for an underground egress into the facility. The narrow visor-like viewfinder is filling with dirt, but the 18-monitor instrumentation springs to life. The room is bathed with the blue-and-white of the monitors as Ova begins finding his way.
“Depth finder is on”, he said into the comms, his eyes searching the monitors and GPS as he carefully maneuvered the rotating drill. They were heading straight towards the walls of the facility.
"Now let's see where they keep those little treasures."
Diarch Reign
Diarch Rellik
Gavin Vel
Darth Caedes
Naamino Zuukamano
Leshanna
Alina Tremiru
Haro Aven
Tertius C. Nargath
Ova Ziss
Kali'ka
Ryu Jung
Laphisto
Darth Nathrax
Rocho
