Operation Sandstorm

[Kelsie Sylvan]

It only took a single shot -- despite their companion's warning, the two snipers slumped onto the ground once the .48 cal flashed out of the barrel of Kelsie's Enforcer. The pain in her ankle stopped her from going up and using her knives instead. What a... pain.

The young woman crawled over towards the two former snipers and squatted behind the window, peering out over the battle below. Seemed like these rebels were taking a beating, especially without the support of three of their gun nests in the apartment complex. Kelsie chuckled softly to herself. She wasn't even on the job and she'd already killed eight people. Was she ever really off the job, though? Her life was an act, she was a killer and a lab project... the young woman slumped against the wall and stared down the hall.

Something was off. She coughed and closed her eyes for a moment. It'd been too long since she'd been injured... it brought her back.

An image flashed before her eyes -- her squad, gathered around her, prepping for an op. She missed the camaraderie, but she felt she'd never experience it again. Then again she'd also doubted she'd ever have a real friend again. Kahlil was a godsend, in a way. The young woman took a deep breath and sat up. "Let's not die," she muttered, heading towards the stairway to her left. She still needed to go help the civilians still waiting just away from the battle. Hopefully those soldiers could handle themselves for a while longer.

[member="Luna Terrik"] [member="Kahlil Zambrano"]

 

[Luna Terrik]

Location: Planetside, proceeding toward alpha’s objective
Wearing: Armor based on the design and coloring of Commander Wolffe
Team: |Alpha| [member="Iapo Sim"] [member="Pei Ven"] [member="Damsy Callat"] [member="Zavek Ambrose"]
|Bravo| [member="Allya Vi'Dreya"] [member="Rato Hus"] [member="Lis'Ra Fennick"]
| Civilians | [member="Kelsie Sylvan"] [member="Kahlil Zambrano"]

​

At this point, there was no reason for Luna to wait any longer. Iapo was not getting the job done with clearing out the nests, and to be honest, she had no idea where the woman was in the building. They needed to get moving again, as they had been stopped at this apartment complex for far too long. She had lost too many men, and had no desire to just sit here as sitting ducks any longer. The snipers on the third floor had to be taken care of, and she was done just sitting on her hands.

Getting the attention of the demolition squad once again, she made the motion toward the sniper nest. “End it!” She couldn’t know whether or not this rocket would bring down the whole building, or if there were even still civilians still inside. But she was finished letting her men die around her because she chose not to end it the quick way.

And quick it was. Under the cover of his squad mates, the rocket demo man quickly lined up another shot, then fired it directly into the nest. It exploded outwardly, and for a moment, it looked like the whole building might collapse. But slowly, the durosteel settled, and the building still stood upright, albeit shakily. With the last nest destroyed, the courtyard was quiet. No more blaster fire, no more garbled speech from all the groups trying to communication enemy locations. The only sounds were the clicking of armor pieces moving against each other, and cries of pain from the commandos unlucky enough to get hit during the ambush.

Luna slowly stood from her position behind the fountain, surveying the situation around her. She began motioning toward the men and women laying on the ground, ushering medics toward them. “Let’s get everyone patched up. We need to meet the Adjunct at the meetup on time. We can load them onto transports there.” Her eyes slowly moved from her injured men back toward the apartment building in front of her. Thoughts drifted back to Iapo and her squad, enough for her to call over one of the sergeants. Nodding toward the building, she spoke in a quick tone, motioning toward the front entrance. “Gather some men, search the building for Iapo’s squad and anyone else inside. It’s not structurally sound, so you get 5 minutes. In and out. Go.”

He nodded quickly at his commander, then went to gather a small squad, whom of which quickly headed toward the front entrance to carry out the redhead’s orders. For Luna, she quickly slung her rifle back over her shoulder and began to gather up what squad leadership still remained, trying to come up with a plan to get all of the wounded to the airdrop site.

​

 

[Allya Vi'Dreya]

Team Bravo Lead
Location: Market Bazaar
Tags: [member="Luna Terrik"] | [member="Damsy Callat"] | [member="Kelsie Sylvan"] | [member="Kahlil Zambrano"]

Allya and her squad hid behind the stronger stalls while she caught her breath. Her actions had caused the enemy to flee for a moment, but they would regroup soon enough. She had used so much energy just to get them here alive, that she had to take a moment to recuperate, and catch her breath. The force was an infinite well of power, but, the body could only use it for so long at a time. Especially when attempting to concentrate on so many things at once.

Her suit's medical suite pushed a stim into her, and she felt the sharp prick of the needle entering her skin. A couple moments later, she pushed away from the wall, and moved back into the street. A blaster shot went at her head. The hum of her lightsaber was a comfort here, it swatted the bolt away as if it was merely a fly.

Push on, get to the next part. Push on, get to the next part. Allya repeated this to herself, over and over, As she once again acted as bait. Death of entire squads should have been the outcome. But through the force miracles happen, and by making sure all eyes were on her, she had managed to keep them all alive for now. How long that would last would be anyone's guess. Death was the price of war, the price of the freedom of the CIS.

In the distance the sound of blaster fire and explosions could be heard. She gritted her teeth, and waved on her troops. They double timed it, nearing the end of the bazaar, and about the enter the street that separated them from the governmental plaza. However, their luck didn't hold out.

A group of heavily armed terrorists poured down the stairs that separated them from the street level. “Cover! Open fire!” Her dauntless dived behind stalls and plants, and anything else that could offer even a bit of defensive cover. However, Allya on the other hand sped up. Force speed, mix it with force jump, get behind the group. Even clad in the beskar'gam, her body became a blur as it rushed towards the oncoming fire. Right before it impacted her armor, she jumped, leapt into the air, aimed at the wall of a nearby building. She twisted her body in air, so she impacted the building with her feet and legs, knees bending. One more jump, she launched herself through the air again, and performed another roll, reorienting her body quickly, as she landed on the steps behind the terrorists. A quick turn, and she reignited her lightsaber, and from there....Well, flesh doesn't like a saber running through it, or her blaster shooting through it. From both sides, the enemies were slaughtered.

However, not without cost this time.

 

[Luna Terrik]

Location: Planetside, proceeding toward alpha’s objective
Wearing: Armor based on the design and coloring of Commander Wolffe
Team: |Alpha| [member="Damsy Callat"]
|Bravo| [member="Allya Vi'Dreya"]
| Civilians | [member="Kelsie Sylvan"]

The search through the first few floors of the apartment didn’t take long for the sergeant, who reported back to tell Luna that nobody had been found in the apartment. It saddened the commander, knowing that she had let Iapo lead the group into the apartment complex, and since they were suddenly now MIA, it weighed on her. Frowning, she gave a curt nod to the sergeant, who quickly then headed off to help with the moving of the injured troops.

Luna, for her sake, took a moment to compose her mind. Losing troops, friends, on the battle field always hurt, but at least there was a body most of the time. She had no idea what had happened to Iapo and her crew, and now had to tell her squadmates that the woman and their friend was MIA, with no idea what had happened to her. Even though it was part of the job, the job that Luna believed deep down that she was born for, it still saddened her. Though, now there was no time for this, and no time to be dwelling on what had occurred in the past.

There was still a mission to accomplish.

Quickly she called over another sergeant who had been busy doing a headcount. Of the 3 squads of 12 men each that had walked into the ambush, 6 were dead or seriously injured. Another 4 were injured but could walk. It was disheartening, but acceptable numbers, ones that could be replaced once they secured a dropzone halfway between point alpha and point beta, just like the plan called for.

With a motion of her head, she pointed forward, while slinging her rifle off of her shoulder. “Lets get moving. The quicker we get there and set up a place the shuttles land the quicker we can get these men the medical assistance they need.” With that, she watched as the two serious injured Dauntless commandos were lifted up into the air by repulse stretchers, then started down the cobblestone street, the hardest part of their mission accomplished. It was time to meet up with Allya, from whom she had had no status updates, due to their radio silence.

She hoped the girl was handling herself well enough.

​

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

A certain reddish-brown-haired young woman soon stumbled out of the front door to the apartment complex. The Dauntless, of course, were quick to respond, raising their blasters to meet her -- but she raised her hands, showing that she meant no harm. Then again, it'd be rather simple to just flick her wrist and pretend to be a threat for a moment... but now. Today there were others depending on her.

There was a certain smell of battle that made Kelsie a little homesick -- homesick in the way that she'd much rather be putting down rebels alongside her friends than for a bunch of civilians she didn't know. It was probably that wonderful smell of emptied bowels. Gross, but in an odd way nostalgic.

She paused for a moment, surveying the shelled up soldiers in front of her. "There are a large group of civilians, just around the corner," she said, waving her hand to her right as she spoke with a hint of exhaustion in her voice. "Get them to the spaceport, they should be safe there." She didn't really care if they listened, she just needed a quick rest. The young woman limped slightly over to one of the intact benches a few meters away. How long had it been since she'd been in the thick of it? Too long, really. She groaned a little, then drew her .48 cal and checked it over, quickly reloading it before watching the soldiers as they began to move once more. There was that thrill, that feeling... she needed a little more to satisfy her. The fight was far from over.

[member="Luna Terrik"] [member="Allya Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Luna Terrik]

Location: Planetside, proceeding toward alpha’s objective
Wearing: Armor based on the design and coloring of Commander Wolffe
Team: |Alpha| [member="Damsy Callat"]
|Bravo| [member="Allya Vi'Dreya"]
| Civilians | [member="Kelsie Sylvan"]

​

Luna heard the rustling of the movement from inside the apartment complex before she saw the group beginning to emerge. It was instinct at this point, with every dauntless solider in the vicinity raising their blasters and pointing them toward the doorway and those that emerged. Too many dauntless had fallen because of that ambush that it would be silly to think any other way. Luna slowly made her way to the front of the group, where she was met by a smaller woman, holding her hands in the air.

The only weapon she seemed to be holding was a large caliber blaster of some sort, which was tucked away neatly in her belt. Luna stood there, observing her for a moment as the woman spoke. When she spoke of the civilians, she leaned to the side to observe the people behind her. They didn’t look to pose much threat at all, though at this point, nothing would surprise the dauntless commander. They could be in disguise.

Regardless, the woman seemed to have genuine intentions to get the people safe. Luna didn’t respond as she watched her hobble over to one of the benches. She looked toward the civilians for a moment more before turning to her second in command, nodding toward the civvies. “Spaceport isn’t too far out of the way. Take these people there. Take two with you. Deliver them and get to the meeting point asap.”

He nodded, did quick to pick out two others from their squad, then moved to gather up the civilians and heard them down a side street toward the spaceport. Luna made the motion for the group to keep moving up their main street before walking over to the woman, blaster in her hands but pointed toward the ground. “I don’t know who you are, but good work with the civilians. What are your plans from here?”

 

[Kelsie Sylvan]

Kelsie took her time, sitting on the bench and resting as the throbbing pain in her right foot began to subside. Deep breaths. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted one of the many white-armoured soldiers giving orders to the others. A commander. And then the commando walked over towards her.

The young woman's hazel eyes studied the mildly intimidating shelled-up soldier, quietly taking in the other woman. She was partly stalling to allow her foot to feel a little better, but after another few moments she spoke. "Honestly I don't know. I just didn't feel like I could leave the civilians where they were, and now that they're alright..." Her eyes wandered, watching the people she'd saved file out of the square outside the apartment complex. She spotted a young girl, which she locked eyes with for a moment. The girl mouthed something, and Kelsie paused before looking back at the other woman. "I think I'd like to tag along, actually."

She pushed herself to her feet, pausing to make sure she was balanced. "Might be useful to have someone who doesn't stick out like a sore thumb, yeah? I can sneak around, infiltrate whatever place you're going into and soften their defences before you send your troops in. No harm in it, I'll be fine," she said, turning towards the centre of the city as if Luna had already agreed. "Let's get to it."

[member="Luna Terrik"] [member="Allya Vi'Dreya"]

 

[Paragon of Virtue]

As the Dauntless continued forward with their mission, little did they know of the stories, adventures, grief, loss, and joy that would be following in the months and years to follow. Where new friendship forms and certain members went MIA, the Dauntless continued on, never once giving up, never once throwing the towel in.

The Dauntless would know many more hardships to come, both personally and upon fields of battle, but under the leadership of the Dauntless Commander, Luna Terrik, they would also overcome them all, and grow into one of the greatest legions, whether they were placed in the front lines, or in the shadows.