Rebellion in Flames; Imperial Dominion of the Bothawui Hex

[ToKola Bakari]

{2}
Location: Bothawui
Objective: Fly Fighter Escort for Bombers assaulting Rebel HQ
Fighter: Bloody Mary

Wraith Squadron stood by, maintaining a holding pattern above the Imperial fleet as they awaited the bombers they were tasked with escorting.

"Hey L.T. I've got eyes on our package." Wraith one called out, causing Dominic to glance down to the instrument panel before him. He watched as five large triangles came onto his scanners. Turning to the right he watched as the TIE bomber squadron flew into position towards the planet. "Lucky, keep it tight. By two's let's go Wraith Squadron." He ordered.

Wraith one, or lucky, followed closely behind Dominic as he flew his predator towards the bomber squadron, passing the ships confidently. His ship led the group, making way for the planet's surface.

"Bomber Squadron this is your escort, we're in position." He called out over the comm channel. The bombers had formed a singular line, descending towards the planet's atmosphere. Dominic and Lucky flew parallel to each other leading the ships down, while the other two members of his squadron maintained a rear defense.

"Should be an easy run boys, let's keep it pretty." Dominic stated.

"What's the target we're going for, boss?" Wraith three, or Kixx, asked. "Something nice and exposed I hope." He added.

As they came through the atmosphere and breached the clouds Dominic adjusted his tools to the planetary setting, accounting for wind, weather, and atmosphere. "The rebel HQ, we're gonna send them a parcel from the Empire." Dominic said. It was not long until the capital city of Bathawui came into the team's view. The main resistance and defenses had already been dealt with and the city was all but theirs, now all that was left was a bombing run and a strike team to clean the plate.

"This is Omega Squadron, prepping payload, keep us whole Wraith." The squadron lead to the bombers finally spoke up, giving the notice that they were prepared for a bombing run.

"Peel off, Wraith Squadron, watch your sectors and be ready to link up once the payload is delivered." Dominic ordered.

Dominic and Lucky both changed their courses, peeling off towards the skies, giving the bombers a clear and free path to their target. As the bombers made their way towards the Rebel HQ Dominic's squadron circled the area, much like vultures circling their prey. It was not until he saw the bright flash of a proton bomb that he smirked at the sight.

"The payload is away, preparing to pull out." The bombers called out. As the bombs impacted the headquarters Dominic smirked before calling over the comm channel. "Ok Wraith, let's get these boys out of here so we can provide some air coverage."

 

[Enara]

{1}​

Location: Bothawui​

Objective: Rebel HQ on Bothawui​

Allies: Imperials, @ NT-6922​

Establishing the Landing Zone had been difficult, but the boys in white had prevailed. Now, tents had been set up to act as a temporary command center, others were acting as medical centers for the wounded. Elsewhere, more troopers were coming down from landing ships dispatched for orbit, and the whirling howl of bombers came screeching overhead as they made their way to the city. Artillery platforms were thundering their shells out their barrels, sending them off to level entire blocks of the now ruinous urban sprawl.

Alema patrolled the perimeter of the Landing Zone turned Forward Operating Base, she had been more towards the center but she was far from a strategic genius and so had little to offer the officers. She had even less medical expertise and so she served only to get in the way of the medics. She had been securing the city itself with some of the troopers who had breached the city limits initially, however, now that the rebellion had forced the Empire to resort to bombing raids, it wasn’t safe to be in the city center. She and the others had retreated to wait for further orders.

“No, ma’am,” she said to a Bothan woman with two children hidden behind her. While she spoke, a squad of white armored troopers kept blasters aimed warily at the family. “Listen,” she said softly, doing her best to ease the tense situation, “the Empire is only taking these actions,” she had to raise her voice as another explosion took down another skyscraper, “because the Rebels were trying to force a very violent, very bloody, street-by-street, room-by-room battle. That would have trapped civilians like yourself in the crossfire.”

The woman, reasonably, pointed out that her home was rubble now. “I hope that isn’t true, but you’re safe now. I can’t let you pass this point for security reasons, but stay here- between us and the city, and you and your children will be safe. The Empire isn’t here to hurt you.” She sent the woman back into no-man’s land, hoping her promise would prove true and noticed a landing craft taking off. “Where are those troopers going,” she asked pointing to the craft.

“Rebel HQ supposedly,” the Sergeant answered matter-of-factly.

“Thanks,” she answered, watching the vehicle’s path, “I’ll see if they need my assistance. Best of luck to you Sergeant. Keep your men safe.” With that she left and darted back into the make-shift base, spotting the last craft taking off, its doors open and a full complement of troopers on board. She sprinted, weaving in between medics, officers, and privates as she made her way to the last vessel. She leapt and, relying on the force, managed to land in the craft. “Thought I’d hitch a ride,” she said with a laugh to the nearest trooper, “sorry if I gave you a fright.”

As they sped towards the theorized location of the Rebel headquarters on Bothawui, she had a chance to survey the smoldering crater that the capital city had been reduced to. It was a sad sight. So many had to die, and all because a handful of rebels were ignorantly resisting the resurgence of the Empire and all the benefits that resurgence brought with it; peace, prosperity, order. They had to be stopped. The craft landed while she was still reflecting on these matters and she, along with the troopers headed out. The various troopers looked identical as they gathered, preparing to breach the HQ. However, Alema had an eye for authority and spotted one trooper who seemed to be rallying the others, she approached slowly, afraid to interrupt her. When she was certain she was finished, she spoke.

“Hello,” she said to the soldier, “Alema Valla, Inquisitor. Are you the CO here? I’ll provide backup.”

@ NT-6922

​

​

 

[ToKola Bakari]

{3}
Location: Bothawui
Objective: Escort the bombers out of the Atmosphere
Fighter: Bloody Mary

Moving away from Bothawui's capitol, Dominic and his squadron linked back up with the bomber squadron, holding the same defensive pattern they had during entry. The bombing run had been a success as far as Dom was concerned and now all that was left was to provide air support until another bombing run was requested.

"Boss..." Wraith two, Radar, spoke into the comm, his voice sounding unsure as he did so.

"What's going on Wraith two?" Dominic asked, glancing at Radar's indicator light on his screen.

A moment passed as there was a low muttering over the comm channel, it sounded rushed and Dominic could not make it out. "What?!" He asked.

"Incoming!" Lucky yelled over the comm channel, bringing the squadron's attention to a group of blips loading on their radars. "What the he-" Before Dominic could finish his sentence laser canon fire rolled over their formation, striking the wing to one of the bombers. As the wing was ripped from the frame the bomber began to spiral towards the ground.

​"Defensive maneuver's! Protect those bombers, Lucky you're with me!" The Bombers accelerated up towards the skies as Dominic and his squadron peeled off to face the direction of the incoming fire. A flight of X-wing fighters had been sent to intercept the fighter group, most likely to end the bombings on the headquarters.

"Where the hell did these guys come from?!" Lucky asked.

"They must have had a remote airbase, get ready to engage!" Dominic ordered, activating his targeting computer. The four X-wings immediately broke off into two teams, one team headed back towards the planet's surface while the other veered up to the bombers.

"Wraith three, four, protect the bombers, come on Lucky let's ground these bastards!" Dominic accelerated his fighter, feeling a sharp jerk as it turned down towards the surface, on the tails of the X-wing fighters.

 

[Graf's Archive Account]

XI

The squad's already raised blaster rifles would've snapped to the source of sudden noise, brandishing the weapons with unparalleled skill. Even when the subject identified themselves, Commander Kayrce Sonn of Inferno Squadron, the death troopers continued to train them on the friendly Imperials as it was a protocol that had been hardwired into their minds during their arduous 'conditioning'. But that wasn't the only reason, something felt off to them, something tugging at their senses.

"Switch to thermal vision." DT-5981 ordered immediately in his scrambled speech, doing so.

Almost immediately did his vision go almost entirely blue, save for the red humanoid shapes of the Imperials they were rescuing; His squad mates did not show up because the armor they wore concealed their own thermal signatures. He noticed an anomaly behind the members of Inferno Squadron, and correctly concluded that the small squad of heat signatures overlooking the crater was indeed not friendly.

A small twitch of the wrist and the death trooper would fire, a bolt of energy evacuating the barrel of his rifle; soaring towards [member="Kayrce"] until it passed her completely, very nearly singing her hair by the looks of it, hitting one of the unidentified individuals in the chest, causing it to crumple down, dead. His troopers followed suite, diving down to use the lip of the crater that they were standing on as both cover and to prop up their weapons.

"Rebels! Defend the mission parameters!"

 

[ToKola Bakari]

{4}
Location: Bothawui
Objective: Escort the bombers out of the Atmosphere
Fighter: Bloody Mary

The X-wing fighters had been a bit more tricky then Dominic had originally predicted. Once the group made their decent back towards the surface they found themselves advancing towards a rang of mountains, the perfect place for a dog fight.

"Lucky, keep your eyes peeled this may be a trap. If it is we'll have to burn out pretty fast." Dominic warned.

"You got it boss, just get me one chance and they're a headstone!" Lucky said, enthusiastically.

Your chance is coming... He mused, watching as the fighters began to slow their speeds. Right before they reached the mountain range one of the fighters peeled into the air, no doubt attempting to flank the duo. "He's mine." Dom said, bringing his fighter up towards the sky in pursuit.

Syncing his targeting system with the X-wing's movements he waited until the fighter was close enough before opening fire. "Come on....come on....come on!" He enthused, smirking when the targeting system finally lit up. Activating his twin laser cannons he watched as the green lasers flew towards the X-wing. The pilot, who could see the lasers growing closer quickly banked to the left, lowering back towards the mountains. Dominic followed in a very close pursuit as he did.

The X-wing flew through a crevice between two mountains, most likely hoping to shake Dominic off his shebs. However, in doing such an action he put himself at a disadvantage. Though the mountain crevice was not extremely narrow it limited the X-wing far more then it did Dominic's predator. "Idiot." He muttered.

 

[Alasdair Sitra]

20​

There was indeed a moment of worry as the blaster shot had fired towards her, sudden thoughts on the Imperial’s desire to remove any evidence in the result of failure. However there was even less time to consider the consequences as the call for Rebels in the area went about the Imperial units.

She hit the ground hard, spinning as she did and immediately released a series of shots towards the area where the Deathtroopers had began their assault. She tried to take heed of where her helmet was, for the thermal imaging within would make it an easier task to fight back. However it was clearly nowhere at hand.

“Beric lay down cover.” She called out and was immediately answered by a salvo of blaster fire towards the tree line that gave her the chance to move back into the more secure Imperial held area.

[member="DT-5981"]

 

[ToKola Bakari]

{5}
Location: Bothawui
Objective: Dog fight
Fighter: Bloody Mary

The dogfight between Dominic and the Rebel pilot had been little more then a game of cat and mouse, so much so to the point where Dominic worried about the objectives of this pilot. "He could have gotten out of this situation more then once, why the hell are we still in this mountain?" He questioned to himself, waiting for his laser cannons to come back to a full charge.

Just as the laser cannons came back down from an overheating the X-wing shot up into the air, making way for the upper atmosphere. "You sly son of a-" Dominic pulled back on his controls, allowing his predator to make a sharp turn up in pursuit. "I'm not going to play this game all day!" Dominic worked to get the fighter back into his sights, however before he could laser cannon fire impacted on the back of his ship, forcing his shields to pulse as they came online in defense of his TIE unit. Dominic looked to one of his rear surveillance screens, biting the bottom of his lip when he saw a new X-wing tailing his own ship.

"Oh hell...." He said, before immediately banking to the left, abandoning his pursuit of the other fighter. Dominic did a swift barrel roll before zooming down towards the mountain range once again. "You gotta work for me boys!" He called out, diving back into the safety of the elevated fissure.

It didn't take long before his tail had made his way behind him and was firing his lasers through out the mountains, trying to destroy his fighter.

 

[Graf's Archive Account]

XII

"Grenade out!" Came the feminine voice of DT-9888 when she threw a fragmentation grenade in the general direction of the rebels assaulting their position, causing two of the interlopers to get sent flying through the air by a moderately-sized explosion followed by a shower of displaced earth. "Two-Two-Three-Zero; Get down into that crater and assist the wounded." DT-5981 barked over the roar of blaster fire, receiving a nod of acknowledgement as Reaper Regiment's dedicated combat medic ceased his fire and slid down into the crater with his black satchel of medical supplies.

"Estimated strength of around thirty, some in the trees and some near the crater!" DT-7238 reported, firing his DLT-19x right between the eyes of a rebel soldier. "Four-Five-Nine-Nine! Hotel Hotel dash Four at ten, twelve, and two!" 5981 ordered, watching while DT-4599 brandished a grenade launcher and began firing rounds in different directions in front of the squad.

[member="Kayrce"]

 

[ToKola Bakari]

{6}
Location: Bothawui
Objective: Dog fight
Fighter: Bloody Mary

Back in the mountains Dominic once again had taken the advantage with his slightly smaller ship, allowing him more maneuverability. However, he knew it would not be long until the other X-wing joined in the fun and when that happened he could be easy pickings. They came to a pass in the mountain where the two stony structures had been linked by a formation of rock and stone. Dominic glanced at the bridge as he flew past it, smiling as an idea came to his mind.

"Ok buddy, I appreciate the fun, but let's get this over with." He said, lowering his speed to allow for a sharp bank. Just as his speed lowered he could feel another cannon blast impact the rear deflectors on his ship. "Keep up!" He called out, bringing his control stick to his chest, forcing the predator into a full loop. Not able to turn as sharply as Dom's ship the X-wing had to fly higher into the sky to allow for the movement. It was not long until it was back on Dom's tail once more, just as planned.

"Rebel scum." He muttered, as they came back to the bridge where the mountains were linked Dominic opened fire on the bridge, his laser cannons shredding the connection between the two. Just as he did he sped his fighter up, flowing under the debris gracefully. However, the X-wing behind him had not been so lucky, it had been impacted by several of the stones before crashing into the ground and exploding behind him. "Yes sir!" Dominic cheered.

 

[Alasdair Sitra]

21​

A series of shots from her blaster connected with a Bothan who had come charging out of the tree line, his body slumping to the ground in a puddle of sea water. She could hear the orders of the Deathtroopers, but much like Inferno’s own communications they were distorted and twisted by the voice modules within their helmets.

“There are a lot of them Ma’am.” Beric had moved to position near Kayrce and between the flurries of fire had managed to slid another sidearm her way. “We need to get assistance down here.”

“They seem to be doing a fine enough job.” She indicated at the Death Troopers who were making short work of any Rebel that showed their face.

“Another unit to the west.” Beric’s eyes were on his wrist unit, scanning what surrounds he could. “There going to cut us off from the shuttle.”

“No their not.” She grabbed his wrist unit and pulled it close. Her fingers scattered across the controls before pulling it close. “This is Inferno One. I repeat this is Inferno One. If you read initiate IN-Forty Two. On our position multiple Rebel units. I repeat multiple rebel units.” She released Beric. “Now we wait.”

——————

“We have established contact. IN Forty Two has been requested and cleared. Repeat, IN-Forty Two has been cleared.” The order sent through the Ravager like an echo as communication orders and scattered commands were issued.

Near the ambush site the sound of TIE engines would be heard on the wind as the other half of Inferno Squadron were deployed fast and low with orders to lay waste to the area around Kayrce’s beacon.

[member="DT-5981"]

 

[Graf's Archive Account]

XIII

The sounds of TIEs approaching the crash site of Inferno's shuttle were undeniable even with the sounds of blaster fire and grenade explosions emanating throughout the air. Apparently Inferno Squadron had called in an air strike; less damaging than orbital bombardment but more accurate, very sloppy on their part, as the death troopers had had the situation under control by then.

"Incoming air strike! Move into the crater!" 5981 shouted, standing up from his position on the ground and skidding down next to the remaining members of Inferno Squadron.

The rest of his own death squad clumped together with him as he set down a squad shield for the lot of them. Even with a precise airstrike, there was still the threat of being vaporized by your own people.

[member="Kayrce"]

 

[Alasdair Sitra]

22​

On the way to the crater with the Death Troopers Kayrce managed to gain possession over her helmet again and took no time in securing it over her head. The communication streams became clear again and suddenly the larger picture had become clear once more.

“Inferno team this is Inferno One, we will mark enemy positions.” She ordered as they took cover in the crater lip. From her belt two cylinders were pulled and one tossed to Beric. “Mark the Southern, I’ve got West.” They both threw the cylinders at the same time and released a solid red stream of smoke as they did that settled across the trees where the rebels were entrenching themselves.

“Here they come.”

The green laser scattered across the ground creating large explosions as each impacted with the dirt. Bodies of rebels went flying as the TIEs did their first pass-by filling Kayrce with a sense of pride at the Imperial war machine.

 

[ToKola Bakari]

{7}
Location: Bothawui
Objective: Find Lucky
Fighter: Bloody Mary

After defeating the X-wing that had trailed him Dominic opened up his comm channel, linking it to his second in command's. "Lucky, where are you?" He asked, waiting for a moment before activating the comm device once again. "Wraith one, come in." He called. Again, nothing. He exhaled a bit, taking a moment to pull his helmet off, sweat pooling in the bridge of the device. "Damn thing....Wraith one where the hell are you?!" He called once more.

When silence met him for a third time he placed his helmet back over his head, bringing his fighter back up to the skies as he searched for his wingman.

The mountains that had been fogged with clouds gave way for the clear blue skies. His eyes sharpened as he saw the sight of a dog fight, ensuing above him. It seemed one of his squadron's fighters was tangling with two other X-wing fighters. One was most likely the one that Dominic had been chasing from the beginning. "Lucky, is that you up there?" He asked.

"Yea yea I'm here boss! Having a couple of troubles if you can't tell!" She declared.

"I've got your back, bank down!" He ordered. As soon as a window provided itself Lucky rocketed back down towards Dominic. As the two X-wing's followed suit Dominic opened fire on the furthest fighter, his lasers ripping it to pieces as he passed Lucky.

 

[ToKola Bakari]

redacted

 

[Graf's Archive Account]

XIV

DT-5981 watched with slight bemusement as the TIE Fighters finished their first fly-by, blowing up the rebel positions as best as they could from their position in the skies. To be perfectly honest, it was rather impressive to see the way the pilots expertly handled their ships, as if they were not separate entities but one single mind and body intertwined with each other. The death trooper lifted his wrist and activated the comm frequency to the shuttle that they had brought mere minutes earlier, "Requesting shuttlecraft to crash site for exfiltration." He spoke into the wrist comm, looking up to the blue skies of Bothawui.

"Negative, Zeta Commander; Scanners are picking up three squadrons of modified A-Wings moving in. Rebels seem to know that two special forces units are present."

"Kriff!"

For the first time in a long time, DT-5981 deactivated the scrambler suite in his helmet. "Commander, a new group of signals have appeared on sensors. Enemy fighters, A-Wings." He informed, his emotionless helmet staring into the eyes of his compatriot's.

 

[ToKola Bakari]

{8}
Location: Bothawui
Objective: Help Lucky
Fighter: Bloody Mary

The death of the X-wing pilot's squadron mates must have made him go ballistic. The fighter pilot's moves were becoming far less organized and more erratic. Dominic smirked as he brought his fighter around, onto the X-wing's tail. "Lucky, I have an idea." He said, hailing her once again.

"What ya got boss?" She asked, calling over the comm device.

"Bank left, hard. When you do I'll pass the two of you. Those X-wing's can't bank as fast as us so he'll come after me instead of losing momentum in the turn. When he does blow him out of the sky!" There was a moment of silence before all Dominic was met with was a good-hearted laugh from his wingman. "I'm gonna enjoy this." She said.

As ordered Lucky banked to her left, just as she did Dominic made a wide birth between the other fighters, passing lucky as he did. As expected the X-wing fighter didn't go for lucky, knowing he'd lose momentum. Instead he followed after Dominic, his laser cannons blasting wide open. However, his blasts were getting closer and closer at a much faster rate. "Ok lucky, take your time!" He called out.

 

[Alasdair Sitra]

23​

The news wasn’t the most welcome.

“Inferno you’ve got incoming.” She ordered through to the air unit that had just headed off fast in the other direction. “Try to keep them busy.” She knew the chances of the three TIE fighters against a full three squadrons was pushing the odds a bit but they weren’t called a special force for nothing.

“We’ll need to move position on foot, clear ourselves out for extraction.” She gave her Death Trooper counterpart a look. “Let’s move, due East, keep them under fire. Do what you do best.”
With a flurry of blaster fire the group came over the lip, as the three TIEs came back over to head at the incoming A-Wing units.

 

[Graf's Archive Account]

The death trooper squad leader nodded at [member="Karyce"], motioning for his squadmates to follow the rest of them out of the crate and due east just as the Inferno commander had said to him.

Behind him, DT-7238 began to track the large amount of fighters flying over or around the Imperials at high velocities. "150 meters, 40 degrees, mark." He mentioned while 5981 raised his DLT-19x to eye level and trained it on one of the A-Wings.

The fighter turned around and prepared for a strafing run against the squads, but was suddenly interrupted by the sniper bolt piercing through the cockpit and through the chest of the pilot; causing the entire starship to begin rolling uncontrollably until it whirred past its killer and into the ocean beside them.

 

[ToKola Bakari]

{9}
Location: Bothawui
Objective: Survive the dogfight
Fighter: Bloody Mary

The systems on Dominic's predator were all beginning to blink or beep slowly, to show a lock on by a targeting computer. "Lucky, where the hell are you!?" He called out, worry beginning to spread through him.

Just as the computer's went into a low whining to show that the lock on was completed Dominic could hear a flurry of laser canon fire, before an explosion rang out behind him. Glancing down at his navigation and targeting radar he noticed there was only a friendly target blip on his computer not. "Lucky!?" He questioned.

"Thought I was gonna let you die, huh?" She asked, her fighter flying up beside his own. "Gotcha boss."

Dominic exhaled, pulling his helmet off once more as he turned to face her fighter. "Oh whatever." He said.

He led the way up towards the atmosphere, keying his comm channel to the others in his squadron. "Wraith Squadron, report. Wraith Lead accounted for." He said.

"Wraith one, accounted for." Lucky chimed in.

"Wraith two, I'm here. I got separated from Kixx though, he moved into space while I stayed in upper." Radar said, forming up behind the squadron. The group waited for the final member of their squadron to chime in, but it never came.

 

[Alasdair Sitra]

24​

Karyce had to give credit to the Deathtroopers, the way they moved was impressive. Even now as the battle raged about them they made it all seem so casual that you could say they weren’t even human. Naturally it was often considered that the secret forces of Intelligence were indeed far beyond the normality of human boundaries which was only been backed up now by her experience.

“Rebels to the right.” She declared as her blaster released towards their flank and took down an uncovered Rebel from his perch on a raised rock. Her helmet display quickly allowing her to see the removal of vital signs and move onto the next with another series of well aimed shots.

“Inferno to Ravager, we need extraction. What is the status.” Only static returned to the Inferno commander until finally after a few painful moments the radio channel ripped open yet again.
“Inferno, Reaper, shuttle has been dispatched. ETA eight minutes.”