"Captain on deck!"
The half growl, half bellow came from Lieutenant Harbok Mrawr as Beltran passed through the threshold of the main briefing room on board the
Deliverer. Before him, four Lieutenants-including Mrawr himself, sixteen Sergeants and as many Corporals all bolted upright out of their chairs and stood at attention. This represented the entire command structure of Paladin Company.
"As you were," Beltran replied easily as he came to stand in front of the group. The Lorrdian scanned the faces, making eye contact with a being here and there and offering a nod. With only a moment's hesitation, the group as a whole returned to their seated position. Some of these soldiers Beltran knew, others were more recent additions to make up for the losses the company had sustained on Onderon. In either case, each being here was a veteran of at least one combat operation.
He nodded to his second in command, the tall and rather imposing Togorian Lieutenant, as he was the last to retake his seat. Then Beltran's cool green eyes made their way to the only non-Antarian Ranger in attendance,
Mathieu Brion
.
"Good to see you up and about, Jedi Brion." Beltran said to the younger man. The last time Beltran had seen him, he'd been unconscious-lying on the floor of a slave pit on Chroma-Zed.
He had been informed that the Jedi would be accompanying him on this mission as a liaison between the Rangers and the Silver Jedi. Apparently there was some fear that if left unchecked, the Rangers might go off marauding or something? At least that was the rumor. But it didn't bother Beltran.
A lot of that kind of stuff was going around in the aftermath of Tulan Kor's fateful mission against the Duros Senator of the Galactic Alliance. So, if the Jedi wanted to see how he operated, then they were welcome to tag along. His Rangers were consummate professionals and the only thing they had any intention of destroying was the enemy.
Turning his attention to the group at large, Beltran motioned for one of his men to dim the lights. A second later a holographic display lit up, showing the planet Voss.
"This is Voss," Beltran said simply.
"At one time, it was the capital of the Silver Jedi Order. But for the last several years, it has been under Sith control. As you can imagine, this has been something of a sore spot for our Jedi friends. And apparently, with the recent centralization of the new Concordia government, the Jedi have decided to go on the offensive to retake their former home."
Beltran hadn't been with the Rangers when Voss had fallen. Back then, he'd still been working as a contract-killer on Lorrd. It didn't have the same significance to him that it did to the Jedi, and even to those Rangers who had been active when it had been taken. Still, Beltran was happy to see the Order
finally going on the offensive. Maybe the council was finally waking up to the idea that the only way to win the war with the Sith was to actually
win it.
The hologram of Voss disappeared and in its place appeared a topographic map of the planet's capital city Voss-Ka. Zooming in, deep into the city a moment later a tower became visible.
"This is Voss-Ka, the capital city. We will be landing the majority of our forces here. The primary objectives are to capture this tower, known as the tower of prophecy and to push any Sith resistance out of the city. Expect heavy resistance and be wary of collateral damage. The civilian population have been held hostage by the Sith for several years, they don't need us destroying their homes and livelihoods trying to liberate them."
"We will be inserting via Arch-Angel Dropship over the city. We will use jump jets to touch down inside the city. From there we will form into two units. First and third platoons will move quickly toward the Tower. Our hope will be to capture it quickly, before the Sith can fortify it. Second and fourth platoons will proceed to the city walls and attempt to open a passage for the bulk of our forces to enter the city." Looking to his second in command, Beltran continued.
"Lieutenant Mrwar, you will lead the force to the walls. I will command the force attempting to take the tower. Jedi Brion," Beltran said, nodding to the young man.
"You will accompany me."
Beltran didn't mind the Jedi being along for the mission, but he wasn't going to let the young man out of his sight. The last thing he needed to do was tell the council that a Jedi had died on his watch.
With the briefing concluded, Beltran dismissed the group. The officers and NCO's would return to their platoons and squads and brief their men on the plan. Within the hour, they would begin moving to the hangar bays and loading onto the dropships. With any luck, the operation would be underway soon after.
***
The
Deliverer would exit hyperspace a few moments after the
Break of Dawn. The Captain would use the larger ship's profile to protect the frigate from the incoming fire of the Sith defenses. When the ships got close enough, the
Deliverer would break from the main group and begin to skirt the planet's atmosphere.
When the Captain gave the order, a squadron of
Arch-Angel Dropships would disembark from the ship, with a squadron of
Ares Fighters as escorts. On his dropship, Beltran would be standing near the front, holding one of the overhand straps to steady himself. From there, he would divide his attention between the cockpit, where the pilots worked to bring the ship safely over the city, dodging and weaving through the enemy anti-aircraft fire that now filled the sky and the men of his platoon who were doing their final weapons and gear checks.
Jedi Brion, prior to leaving the
Deliverer, would have been granted access to a suit of armor and jump jets of his own. It would be up to him whether he wanted to use the gear to complete the drop, or rely on his prowess with the Force. The man would know his own abilities far better than Beltran. For his part, Beltran was suited up in his Katarn Mk. II armor and had his jump jets attached to the ports on the suit's back. He was growing stronger in the Force each day, but did not trust his abilities enough to risk dropping several stories into a combat zone without aid.
"Two minutes!" One of the pilots shouted, and the ramp at the end of the ship lowered. Outside, hundreds of crimson bolts, missiles and other ordinance could be seen detonating all around them. A particularly close explosion would rock their ship to the side, causing several of the soldiers to stumble as they pulled themselves to their feet.
Using the overhand railing, Beltran walked along the rows of troopers nodding to a few as he moved closer to the edge of the ramp. Gusts of powerful wind whipped around him as the ship moved over the city. When he was at the edge of the ramp, he looked back and saw that his men had formed up behind him.
Beltran would be the first onto the battlefield, and the last one to leave it.
"Go! Go! Go!" Came the order and without hesitation, Beltran flung himself into the air. For himself and Paladin Company, the battle of Voss had begun.
