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Ugnaught children scampered down the thoroughfare, giggling as their shadows chased them across the duracrete. Gabe looked on from beneath his cloak, a smile lingering within the confines of the cowl. Maybe things weren't so bad. With how much those children reminded him of his own twins, he allowed a small hope that life beneath a fascist galactic tyrant could be something resembling alright. Or, perhaps, it was testament to their will and strength. That despite being governed by an Imperial entity, not too far from the sort that had once enslaved them and sent them into indentured servitude not four generations removed, they could still find happiness. He hoped it was the former but he held a cynical view, despite outward expression of optimism.
The door clanked open but stopped halfway. In such distant futures, he wondered what sort of monstrous machine could have been put in place to simply prevent electronic opening of the door when given proper prompt. It was obviously an extreme oversight. Afterall, it was an incineration plant. Just imagine if people were caught inside as the incinerator caught fire, locked down due to some protocol that wasn't clearly thought out. He, again, hoped it wasn't that sort of mechanism. Needless deaths would arise from it should that be the case.
Just as he moved to try and pull the door open himself, the door whined open with a groan. Inside, he saw the red eyes of a droid standing quietly in the hall. Gabe looked forward and stopped for a moment before realizing that the scarab infiltrator beetle had, indeed, found a host in which to inject basic lines of code. Nothing too pertinent, just the sort that would bend the droid to its purpose. Instantly, it began the process of downloading security protocols, facility schematics, and other random tidbits such as custodial schedules. Tuesdays seemed like a rough day of the week.
Stepping forward, he stepped passed the droid and confirmed operating protocol.
Stepping towards the other location, near to the second infiltrator drone, he clicked on its protocol. With a couple of checks, confirmed with what was mined from the droid, not only did he realize that this facility was under sudden lockdown, but it was also about to receive some guests. Concerned that opening this single door was enough to give away location, he intrigued the droid to continue with that process.
Across the facility, through communications in line through the incinerator plant, a couple of other doors would open and stop at the physical block. In this transmittal, the command would come with an error regarding the facilities lockdown procedure. In essence, to the untrained eye, the doors were misfiring on some sort of miscommunication in the code. Nearby security feeds, if any should exist, would have been looping moments recorded prior to the entrance - another benefit of the infiltrator droids. To help with the effort, Gabe released another against the wall - to proceed with tinkering and slicing.
Gabe looked back as he continued to mess with the infiltrator drones, downloading information in close proximity to avoid capture of information. Sending a message across their encrypted channel, to those who were near him, it would read.
::Facility is on lock down, forces are en route. Pair up and disperse through the facility. I am sending schematics to each of you. Make way to control center.::
The defense drone continued to linger, out of sight along rafters or in hidey holes, waiting for threat of danger to enact friend or foe protection protocols.
If [member="Adder"] had her encrypted holonet account open, she might get a blip or mail icon pop up, depending on her settings. In that message, she would receive updates on current overarching security profiles for the mining quarters and residual levels.
[SIZE=9pt]B E S P I N[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]Allies: [member="Makai Dashiell"] [member="Kaili Talith"] [member="Rekha Kaarde"][/SIZE]
Bringing her wrist comm up, Chloe gave a quick press to send word to AL and Geetee. "Hey, on the move-out. DOT, I'll need you to stand by --- we may need a quick exit depending on how things go."
The Aurora Hawk had a hibridium cloak that could help keep it undetected, but even flying in all this gas and the clouds would be a quick way to have anyone figure out just where they were at. Nah, Cloud City wouldn't be too far off from here. If the going went tough, the slave circuits along with DOT would ensure that the Aurora came to the Warden.
Of course, it wasn't but a hot minute before the floppy dark curls and the ice blue eyes of one [member="Makai Dashiell"] caught Chloe's attention. Surprise, concern, and then mild amusement swept over the Corellian's visage, watching [member="Rekha Kaarde"] take charge and grab the boy along.
"Makai!" she cried, barely containing herself. "Just what are you doing here? He wasn't alone either. Mr. Zej took one glance and his face gave a scrunch as if trying to put a face to a name. In that time Rekha managed to lend a wallop of a surprise. Thrantas!
An expression of whimsy swept over Chloe's expression, as did a broadening grin. "Now that's more like it." Of course, [member="Kaili Talith"] likely wasn't going to be too happy about this.
With a thumbs up, Chloe was the first to head on over -- after reaching over to ruffle Makai's dark curls. "Reckon you came here to do your pa's business? Getting big."
A pause, then a slight frown. Turning to Rekha, the woman gave a slow nod, her expression sobering. Aye, they were here for a reason and it wasn't just cause.
"Not a coincidence at all." seeing as there weren't folk around, Chloe took a step closer. It was Rekha after all. "Bespin may be under the First Order, but there are folk here who long remember the times when they dealt with the Pyre and the Lords of the Fringe... even after it fell. Word has it that the Underground has always had connections here, so I am to touch base with them and see if there is something we could do. If the Alliance are here, then just perhaps we may be able to get the cogs turning."
A deep breath came to the woman, already moving towards one of the gentle creatures. Her hand came down to caress the grey dome of its head. Omega Pyre may not be the Protectorate anymore, but it still has company connections here. Those hadn't changed in a while. All it needed was a spark.
"Any help would be helpful, as would any intel that you might have on Cloud City since the First Order came." she turned to Makai, who would know what it meant for a company to get involved with this.
Location: Hoth, north of Echo Base Gear: Signature Allies: Team Smash [member="Aver Brand"] | [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] | [member="HK-36"] Enemies: First Order | [member="Torian Pierce"] | [member="Kyrel Ren"] Music
"One minute until landfall." The hoarse whisper creaked out again, being passed down the line. Almost instantly the silence was broken by muttered chantings from each warrior as they began, ancient spells from a distant planet. The Nightsisters were only one sect of witches and they were far from the only one that existed. The cult were well versed in many Dathomiri spells, and began chanting a few that would allow their short descent from passenger compartment to snow as unnoticeable as possible.
Draco shrugged as he listened to the guttural words echoed over and over by the numerous alien species surrounding him. Shamans they called themselves. Sons and Daughters the Oversoul had blessed with a power they could not understand fully, but that they struggled to manifest each and every day. But they took belief one step further. They believed, that by ingesting the lifeblood of another as their spirit transitioned to the Oversoul from the living, they would gain some great power or insight from the gestalt consciousness of the afterlife, and they practiced that belief. Draco did not however follow in all their beliefs. He simply needed these barbarians, these monsters, for the undisputed might the cult commanded from its members. Once the First Order was done, once they had paid for this son of Eriadu's losses with their dissolution, he could cast them aside to linger back at the edges of the Unknown in silence.
The warriors stood, helmets securing to their armor, Draco's own horned visage locked into place behind them as the two lines of warriors readied themselves at the door.
The little stealth shuttle slipped just under one of the peaks of the mountains to the north of Echo Base, now Outpost Veers or some other Imperial nonsense worshiping of a failure, dipping behind the horizon. Each warrior wore armor, its colors already programmed to be steady camouflage for the snow-capped mountain, encased in sensor-proofing. The only thing partially visible about the warriors were their numerous trophies worn on their person. Skulls, bones, horns, scalps that included padawan braids from a very different snow planet. The doors opened without a sound and the two files began jumping off the shuttle into the snow just meters below them, their forms hazy and shrouded by their magicks.
Whispered chanting was muted now, not audible over the unit comlinks and radio silence being observed to preserve what stealth the Eaters were capable of. Draco's voice leaked through his helmet at a barely audible whisper, garbled to make it unrecognizable. "We hit the peak, and then we see what kind of goodies we can conjure up for them. I know you like food, but I kind of like free soldiers." Their chests jerked and spasmed indicating a silent laugh from the warriors around him. "Go." The shuttle sealed behind them, moving off out of the way to hover nearby until they returned or called for extraction.
At his word, the troop began moving, forty nine strong through the ice and snow.
Location: Ison Corridor
Objective: Control the Corridor
Allies: [member="Zark"] [member="Alexandra Morrow"] [member="Silara Varis"]
Enemies: First Order [member="M33P"] [member="BB-10R2"] [member="Achim Veers"] [member="Carlyle Rausgeber"] [member="Aedan Miles"] [member="Ashin Varanin"]
Music: The Siege of Gondor (Return of the King)
"We're not going to find anything of interest, admiral" the slicer droid reported.
"Abort slicing operation; all units, brace for poodoo! Maybe we can find those hoped-for schematics in an enemy ship that will actually engage us. Once we have a lock on a First Order ship, slice that ship for the crew-less casvac ship schematics, understood?"
"Roger, roger"
"Can anyone tell me why you desire those crew-less casvac ship schematics so much?" the chief engineer of the Excubitor reluctantly asked Cathul.
"Any savings in manpower will help the Alliance one way or another: medvac and casvac are dangerous jobs Therapy Command regularly performs in military campaigns"
"Even though the Resolute Vengeance is jamming the Shambhala's communications, somehow this message has gone through with some static" the communications officer reported.
Silara Varis said:
"Resolute Vengeance Actual to Therapist Actual, acknowledged Ma'am. Please share any sensor readings with us via the TAC channel so we can better adjust. We'll be ready when they show their ugly mugs."
"Copy, Resolute Vengeance Actual, will transmit sensor readings in realtime through the TAC channel"
"To all friendly ships in the Corridor, commence scanning for suspicious displacement of gases inside the nebula, accompanied by suspiciously consistent displacement of charge, magnetic signatures and triangulate their location: once we have acquired a target, pew-pew hypervelocity cannons at it, and transmit the readings to all friendlies in this sector!" Tanith ordered, while blaring over the TAC channel.
"With that said, I'll only activate battle meditation when the enemy starts pew-pew of their own. If we can track a magnetic signature consistent with a capital ship, fire all available missiles and other long-range weapons at that ship! It will likely be slow, lumbering so we might even hit it at that range"
If the First Order wasn't engaging them by now... where the frak was the Itsukusk or the Barsen'thor? Surely the enemy didn't expect to have a repeat of Asmeru, where there was so little pew-pew done. It was an exercise of futility, back then. By now the sensor technicians began to scan the surrounding space for the while any readings would be transmitted to the ANS Resolute Vengeance as well as any fighter, heck, any Alliance ships in this sector. Also, depending on which direction said capital ship comes from, pew-pewing it with hypervelocity cannons will mean that only up to nine of what the gunners call the 88s can be aimed for a 15-second burst of armor-piercing 88x571mm shells in the direction of the target, knowing that even non-long-range HVCs can be fired at standard long-range turbolaser ranges, while all five 380s can be fired in that direction, as well as the other . Also, for all the 58 long-range torpedoes and the three cloaked MIRVs, each of which carry seven assault concussion missiles, things could get a little tricky; they might be primed for launch but they cannot be launched until targets actually arrive in range: a dead-stick missile is as good as useless. Meanwhile the Mustafar, and even more so the Gravitational Anomaly, took cover behind asteroids. In fact, the Mustafar could swiftly retreat behind an asteroid after firing its three special heavy long-range turbolasers at any ship they could identify, even though it was even slower than a CR90, despite having a bow-on profile similar to one.
"Any First Order enemy ship better have those crew-less casvac ship schematics: provided the Excubitor survives, win or lose, at least we can glean something for future battles" Cathul muttered to herself, thinking about why the First Order waited for so long before commencing an attack.
Location: Bespin, The Underground Bar Allies: Chloe Blake | [member="Kaili Talith"] | [member="Makai Dashiell"] Enemies: First Order Gear:
She had to think about this what was new and what she could tell them.
“Lot of new business on the promenade since First Order took over" "The Imperial Ship works, Thysak Industries are new Cloud City, Hilikan Incineration Plant, the Grand Theater, and they refurbished Calrissian plaza. So Targets, the Ship works, the Incinerator, and Thysak Industries. As for military buildup I haven’t had a chance to scout that out completely with numbers, if I had known you were coming I would have ran over there last night. When I show up in Cloud City they tend to follow me around like they know I’m up to something.” Rekha shrugged. Smiling if they only knew.
Rekha sighed “But it is well fortified ground troops, and pilots. The Imperial Ship works is their baby. Thysak builds droids.” Rekha rubbed her face thinking about what to do what to do, “So the City is on Lock down, and we need to get inside to create a little trouble…make a hole….a gap…” Rekha bit her lip as she thought and then she knew.
“So is young Master Makai of a drinking age [member="Chloe Blake"]?” Rekha's mind wandered every once in a while it seemed to help her think. She looked a Chloe thinking what lovely blue eyes she had. The kind that men launched a thousand ships for. Kaili was no slouch either another beautiful blonde but what captured her the most her eyes stunning like the sun at sunset you couldn't help but fall into them. Makai was jailbate, but one day he would probably break a few hearts.
Rekha’s instinct had been right that they knew each other. He’s got the right build for it…Rekha arched a brow, “We could land outside the mining quarters work to the lifts and work out way to the Concourse or whatever target you have in mind. Cause since I have miners on the platform, I have a key to the mining quarters to help miners get home.” Rekha pulled a chain from around her neck, “Few of the foreman decided to make a deal with me one night, said they'd appreciate if I’d keep their guys from trouble. You know make sure they got tucked in at night rather than falling down a shaft” The card dangled before them. “Our way in I hope.”
“If we fly over they might not see our approach on the thranta, if we take a ship they will see us.” She said us because she was planning on going with them.
Being the bar keeper had its advantages at times, and yes you make lots of friends when you smile and keep them talking.
Rekha remembered when the First Order came they were all supposed to get out they were not successful. So they holed up in the Bar playing nice and Rekha snuck off when she could keeping touch with the Outback and doing missions when she could for the Alliance. It had gotten harder and harder to do so, as the First Order influence grew. Ava had been the most frightened concerned they’d put her in a cage.
Rekha made sure the staff was safe she paid what she had to and smiled when she needed. It was now a day where maybe she could give a little fire back.
The first moments of contact were the worst, the bloodiest, as the Alliance special operations teams were at their most vulnerable.
Packed into the shuttle as they were, Deacon was among the last out of the pod after their airseal had been established, and the light of blaster fire and sound of screams and thudding bodies warned him long before that he was charging into a killzone. The Hapan agent was about to brace himself for the distinct possibility that he would be riddled with bolts when the world around him erupted in an inferno, and he was yanked violently back as the bulkhead of the Orbalisk seemed to just disintegrate all around him. The oxygen timer on his visor's internal HUD had already begun to tick down from thirty five minutes by the time he realized he had just seconds to react or die. Reflexively punching the controls on his utility's belts spike grappler, Deacon could only watch helplessly as the attached cable hurtled silently through the void of space, praying to whatever gods or mystical Force was listening that it would hit its mark.
The spike embedding itself in one of the weaker, inner layers of station hull was inaudible, but an internal chime inside his helmet flooded the SIS operative with relief as seconds later he felt his torso yanked bodily towards the Kuragin when the cable began to reel itself in. With nothing else to do but wait for physics to take hold, the Hapan had a brief and awful moment to behold the station exterior around him. Not far from his position, frozen and still freezing bodies floated through the black, along with clouds of refuse and the occasional silently screaming TIE fighter with the accompanying laser barrage. One of those strafing runs also struck the Orbalisk that had attached next to his team's, explosively scattering the bodies of the occupants still waiting for the pod's systems to achieve a hard seal.
There goes Besh Team, he thought to himself dreamily as the vertigo, weightlessness, and sudden shift to suit oxygen wreaked havoc with his emotional state. He could only hope that enough of Aurek had made it past the waiting Imperial ambush to make a difference, to execute their mission if he couldn't...
Something was wrong.
Apparently damaged in the explosion of his shuttle's destruction, the grappling hook of his spike launcher was beginning to speed up, instead of maintaining a nice and slow pace to prevent him from picking up too much velocity. If he couldn't arrest his approach, chances were good that the speed at which he struck the station's hull would be terminal. Adrenaline suddenly pumping back through his veins once more, Deacon struggled hectically with the utility belt, running through blink commands on his visor as rapidly as he possibly could in a more and more futile seeming attempt at troubleshooting. He was already within twenty meters of the station when he realized he wasn't going to be able to fix it in time.
With nothing for it but to angle his body as best he could and brace himself as best as possible, Deacon struck the Kuragin like a blaster shot and everything went black.
Maintenance Access, Deck B FIS Kuragin Outer Rim
Deacon gasped out for breath violently as his eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright on the cold durasteel floor. He was not alone.
Reflexively, his multiweapon was at the nearest sentient's throat, before he came to himself enough to realize that he had just rudely interrupted the quiet celebrations of what was left of Aurek Team as several of them had been leaning down over his unconscious frame. Relieved not just to be surrounded by people who didn't want to kill him after all, but that he had not been the only member of his assigned unit to make it off the Orbalisk alive, he struggled to his feet as he surveyed his surroundings and asked for a status report. They appeared to be all crammed into a dimly lit, utility access chamber to the grittier underworkings of the Imperial station. Nonetheless, though the chamber appeared disused Deacon knew they could not stay there for long. Aurek Team's ghost suits came equipped with no-shows, rendering them invisible to most forms of active and passive sensors, but Deacon's own SIHD was designed to hide in plain sight, and this part of the station wasn't exactly plain. The Irregulars had risked their lives and the mission by staying with him.
After they had explained how any of them had survived, the agent understood that may have had more to do with superstition than anything else. Apparently the First Order had had them, dead to rights, having surrounded their hardseal and killing several of them before holding the rest at gunpoint. That was when the shuttle had taken its hit, leaving the hallway decompressed and the surviving members of both parties clinging to the bulkheads for their lives. Nevertheless, the Imperials who were farther from the breach held the advantageous position, and had been on the verge of picking them off one by one when Deacon had apparently hurtled back through the breach, slamming bodily into several troopers and making a hole in the First Order's defenses for them to escape through as the pressure equalized, utilizing their whisper jetpacks to push through the confused Imperials and grab his floating, unconscious body as they did so.
Slicing their way through a bulkhead airlock and onto more survivable parts of the station, the Irregulars had lost their pursuers and hauled him into this dingy chamber as they did so.
"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard," Deacon had said when they were finished with their animated, but hushed story, "The chances of a coincidence like that happening are..."
He was interrupted by a sudden thudding coming from the hallway on their other side. Raising their stealth blasters as one at the source of the noise, each one of them gaped in total surprise as a slender feminine fist punched through the bulkhead ([member="Allyson Locke"]).
ENEMIES(?) IN AREA: [member="Samka Derith"], [member="Alkor Centaris"], [member="Irajah Ven"]
Ghorua had just enough time to mentally pat himself on the back before feeling the pitter-patter of high-velocity slug rounds against his armor. While the thick duraplast plates were specifically designed to be impervious to the normal slug, these rounds left small dents where they hit. The Herglic rolled into the cover of the corner of a building, his wrist weapons rising from his forearms as he prepared to return fire.
The Shark's helmet pinged, alerting him to new lifeforms entering the area. Ghorua cursed himself. He could handle one, maybe two powerful Knights. But three Ren masters might give him a problem.
Then he heard a voice. Familiar, but not necessarily in a good way. It was young, with a hint of malice Ghorua had only heard once before.
Ghorua stepped from his cover, seemingly forgetting to protect himself. He almost sauntered out, each step shaking the earth. His words came easily, jolly in nature. "Ah, young Ms. Derith. A pleasure, as always." Ghorua felt his wrist weapons begin to shake with an unseen force, and quickly pulled them up to his sides, his massive strength wrenching away control from the Knight of Ren. He heard her next words, and the beast that was Ghorua visibly angered.
"Queen Kay Larr is no friend of mine," he growled, putting emphasis on the word that caused all his troubles. He was about to throw some more banter at the Knight of Ren, when he heard another voice.
"... Doc?"
He broke his confident act, and shifted in obvious surprise. That voice brought back memories of burning rubble, and death, and pain. Lots of pain.
Strangely, they were good memories.
Irajah and the Shark hadn't spoken since Coruscant. Ghorua had been busy trying to find a kidnapped Lady Kay, before she turned up again changed. He was sure Irajah had other things to do as well, and their paths simply hadn't crossed until they were on the field of battle.
Ghorua sized up the pair ahead of him, his HUD mapping out the cover of Alkor Centaris. He noted the body language between the two, and frowned under his helmet. Oh dear.
"Yeah, I am," he affirmed, retracting his wrist weapons with a snap. "I wouldn't believe it either, but here I am, fighting for the Alliance, of all people." He shook his head, removing his helmet, and sticking it into a satchel at his side.
His deep eyes held no remorse, but were soft with understanding. His features were hard-set, determined. He stared down Samka wearily, talking to both of them. "Fighting for a cause I believe in."
Ghorua moved his hands slowly to his side, selecting a thin collapsed bar of metal from his side, which he extended into a saberpike. He planted the end into the ground, resting his massive hand lightly on the grip.
"I don't suppose you'll look the other way this time, Ms. Derith." Ghorua stood tall and defiant, but with a strange serenity about him. He was in his element, and his mind was finally away from himself. "Believe it or not, I don't actually want to hurt you."
Ghorua activated the sky-blue blade of Trident, the tug of a smile at the edges of his face.
A compressed energy crystal, the sort used in light sculptures.
A sliver of blue the size of her pinky finger, bitter cold through her gloves.
A set of interlocking channels, tubes, and sockets, all durasteel.
An energy emitter and field projector, comparable to the business end of a plasma cutter.
Five set of wires designed to link the components.
A tough, rubberized sleeve made to fit around a cylinder.
A pommel cap with an integrated D-ring, meant to link with a clip or fasten with a quick-release knot.
Halfway through assembly, the first blue blade punched through the vault door. Venmock didn't use a lightsaber, Talith carried a red lightsaber whip, but the rank and file of the House of the Dying Sun used cerulean blades. Their crystals, presumably, were the same local kind Linna had found in the supply room. She'd seen them at the resort's gift shop; their unusual chill made them a curio with value. She'd felt a need to pick this kit off the supply shelf, this grab bag of components. Maybe this crystal was meant for her, in some touchy-feely sense.
She struggled for calm as a second blue blade sheared through the vault door. The blades began to inscribe a circle. By her best estimate, she had minutes to finish this, not nearly enough. She eyed her sonic servodriver, then got up and placed the emitter against the door a handspan from a protruding blade. A deep, complex sonic pulse ran through a frequency range, perturbing molten metal wildly. Both blades withdrew or deactivated, and she felt pain instead of glee radiating from the other side. They would overcome the agony of being spattered with molten metal, and they would start cutting again shortly. In the meantime, she could keep working.
The sonic servodriver offered a variety of precision options that the kit’s designers hadn't considered, and she was no youngling. Still, she knew in her gut that rushing this process could be lethal in any number of ways. She sought for calm and, somehow, found it. The Force resonated, echoed and amplified that calm. Though Jedi had never really lived here, the Force wasn't some aimless residue, and she felt it here now.
The blue sabers pierced the door again, not as far this time, and kept cutting. Linna spared them a glance, nothing more.
A complex series of clicks rattled her numb fingers. She fitted the grip to the rough cylinder and snicked that into place too. The diatium power cell twisted into its socket. She tucked her hands into her armpits and leaned against the back wall of the vault, staring at the thing she'd built. It lay there on the floor as if it didn't mean discarding so much of her hard-won life.
A voice came from nowhere. <<You see? You can do it.>>
She sighed out the spike of irritation. “Thank you.”
<<They're almost through. Thirty seconds. Their master is coming. You'll have five minutes, no more, to get past these two and away.>>
“Can it be done?”
<<All these fools know is control; the Force can't guide them like it can guide you, if you let go.>>
Location: Bespin – en route to Hilikan Facility – underground Vessel: Cargo Hold of the U60x, landing on the ground. Objective: Bespin infiltration: Hilikan Facility Allies: Galactic Alliance, [member="Loske Matson"] [member="Gabriel Sionoma"] [member="Taeli Raaf"] [member="Kaida Taldir"] Enemies: First Order (No direct competition that I’ve seen, yet.) Equipment: (First mentioned here)
Looking back over her shoulder, Shamira saw the door now opening. It moved slowly, as if it was rusted and hadn’t moved in years. So much so, that it stopped halfway through. Through the comm unit all the suits shared, their leaders’ slightly annoyed sigh could be heard. Gabriel started to move to the door to move it himself, which prompted the Torguta to sling the carbine over her shoulder, against her back, to help him. She rose from her knelt position, only to see the door move the rest of the way, and from her angle behind him, Shamira could see the little droid’s red eye looking out from the darkness inside the facility. It was enough to give her a small shiver of nervousness. Letting everyone else move inside before her, the padawan broke the threshold of the door and was immediately hit with the horrible heat inside. The skin tight suit would absolutely cook her. She could already begin to feel herself begin to sweat lightly as she made her way inside. Walking back to her original position in the group, behind Kaida, she knelt down with a small huff. The Togruta could barely stand the heat of the facility. Each breath she took felt ragged, struggled. So much so, Shamira pulled down the bottom half of her mask so that breathing wouldn’t be such a struggle. She pulled the carbine back off her back and began to scan the room looking through the scope. Golden red hues lit up seemingly every corner of the room they were in, casting a eerie glow off of every object. Steam blasted every so often, making billowing clouds of white smoke appear in different areas of the room. And it was hot. So. Very. Hot.
Allies: [member="Samka Derith"], [member="Irajah Ven"]
Enemies: [member="Ghorua the Shark"]
"Give me a read on the area," he muttered the command low, and the display blossomed with an array of colors. Multiple instances of cover became apparent from an overlay, which determined his position via a quick scan. The woman spoke up and blinked on his radar in that same instant. An unexpected spot for a reunion, she stated. Alkor felt the familiarity before he recognized her. The darkness was not hidden now, instead, it burned with a quiet confidence that bordered on unreasonable. Alkor reached up and ripped the buy'ce from his head, his eyes locked on her deceptively delicate looking person. I have business with this one. Her hand was out, a stiff gesture of dismissal that he would not simply accept. He was being paid to-
Snap-hiss.
The virulent light of her blade bled into view and quelled his thoughts. "Well, Princess," he spoke up as he tossed the helmet to one side and stood. His own white colored blade erupted to life. "You certainly aren't what I pictured when we were dancing." She had the same suppression he did. Her feelings teemed beneath the surface, but she had focus on her task. He could practically taste the power she held back.
He fixed Ghorua with a frosty blue gaze. This enemy was reminiscent of the beast he once faced on Ruusan.
Emotions swirled in this plaza, filled so greatly with angst and terror by the fleeing populace. It was awash with the darkness. He listened as the Shark spoke, and he paced behind the two women while they exchanged words with the behemoth. His fingers curled reflexively, and the hydraulics of the crushgaunt responded to his movements. Several pinpricks came first, then sensation slowly washed through his right arm. The nerves, ravaged by the effects of neurotoxin, could only briefly experience the phenomenon of touch now. Such was the price of war.
When the creature pulled something from his side, Alkor pressed forward, and when the weapon ignited, he put himself between the good Doctor and the Shark. "Pardon, ma'am," he told Irajah respectfully, "but you might want to stand back for now." His duty was to insure those not combat ready were safe, and the Doctor did not seem to be kitted out. Whoever the blue haired woman was, she knew what she was doing with the weapon, and Alkor had no intention of stopping her.
"I hope you don't mind," the Dark Jedi spoke softly to Samka, "but I want to see how you dance-" he smiled as he spoke, "for real."
The other three ships of Task Force 191 took up their positions as per Aran's orders. Looking from the bridge Aran could see the mass of fighters being launched from the Accuser. Comms traffic from the U-wings, fighter squadrons, and the assault landers were like a bunch of garbled gibberish to Aran, luckily he had Commander Ferguson to take care of that as the ATC Officer, her job was to direct everything from Aran to the squadrons.
"Captain, first set of landers are going to on the deck in five."
"Good inform Colonel Eversman to assist anything the Wing Guard need."
"Aye sir. Dauntless Actual link up with the ranking officers of the Wing Guard, and assist with the evacuations."
"Accuser 1-1, Dauntless actual reads you five by five."
"Captain we also have reports from the orbital stations and group of First Order ships have started to engage the Alliance, though we cannot raise the Command ship for some reason."
"Understood, keep trying commander I want to make sure we coordinate with them, or can assist if needed."
"Aye aye Captain. Devastator Actual, this is Accuser 1-1, please respond. We are here to assist if needed. Repeat please respond."
Commander Halsey looked back at Aran and shrugged. There was still no answer, there must have been something jamming them.
"Commander get Captain Jones and Sabre squadron to be on call for anything, priority is the U-wings and Landing craft, but we may need to pull them for CAP."
The fire of rage burned in Maree's heart she still had something out for Sara and couldn't understand why Aran liked her so much, but Aran was her commanding officer and she would continue to hide her rage from him
"Aye.....sir I'll inform her. Sabre Squadron you are now on call, priority is the evacuation craft, but we will keep you updated."
Rusty always loved that line. In several centuries of warfare, it never failed to elicit a perfectly timed explosion. You'd think just once the timing would be at least a little off, but nope. Of course, it helped that Rusty had a big-ass recoilless rifle. If the battle wasn't going to come through, he'd always be willing to give it a hand.
Today, that wasn't necessary. Stuff was blowing up all over the place, and things worked out just fine. Well, relatively speaking. He was still up to his metallic balls in snow on a planet full of people that would be happy to kill him. That wasn't so fine. Honestly, if he had decided to wear the HRD today, he was pretty sure the testicles would have retreated so far into his abdomen, they'd have to be extracted with a tractor beam by the end of the day. His droid body, the bastardized armored exoskeleton that had served him well over the years, was less affected by the cold. It was, however, heavy as hell, and there was simply no way it was going to walk right over top of the snow. That made progress, pardon the pun, glacial, but eventually, the Shard found himself on the backside of a hill some 40 meters away from the team he was supposed to be hooking up with.
::Smash, this is Mr. Roboto,:: he called over their secure channel. For about the millionth time, he vowed to strangle the son of a wampa who came up with that handle. ::I'm coming up on your six, so keep your booger hooks off the bang switch. I don't feel like getting fragged because someone got twitchy.::
Because that had happened before. Blue on blue was never fun, and Rusty didn't feel like explaining to his employers why he felt the need to field strip someone's weapon all the way up to the elbow. Again.
Honestly, the things they'd yank a paycheck over these days.
Objective:Eradicate Galactic Alliance Presence from Hilikan Facility.
En-route to the Hilikan Plant, he and [member="Ara Ren"] hadn't seemed to run into too much interference between the Bespin Wing Guard and any Galactic Alliance Personnel within the area. Their route had taken them just over a quarter hour to reach their destination, more of a sprint than a job, ducking and weaving in and out of the main streets, avoiding all possible avenues of combat as their priority had been designated to the Incineration Facility that the First Order had established within the months since their liberation of the world. "Four-five-two mark nine calling High Command" Brennan spoke into his commlink as the pair came within visual range of the facility, slowing to the cover of one of the far off structures as Brennan sought the aid of First Order Intelligence, "Request redirect to priority personnel on station at grid three zeta nine". His gaze jumped between the device strapped against his left wrist, the SB-U01 sporting a number of programs of which had been made battle-ready for those fortunate or important enough to be requisitioned one.
"Acknowledged" the intercom announced, a firm and authoritative voice coming through from the other side, establishing a direct feed between his communications equipment to [member="Val Kordova"]'s, the current figure within the smelting facility with the highest level clearance to give them the intel they might need; "Encryption is live" they concluded before terminating their part in the call, leaving Brennan to mediate with Val, though he knew her not by name.
"This is Brennan Cabrol, security clearance Four-Five-Two Mark Nine" He stated his identity first to ensure there would be no mistaking his allegiance to the First Order, the agent on the other-side able to confirm his place within the Knights of Ren had they the ability and time to look up his digits across the Intelligence database; "Two priority personnel are on point, in approach to your location. Troops are en-route to provide additional assistance. We require access to the facility, please advise. Alliance personnel confirmed, Hilikan is compromised, request a clear route to intercept enemy forces..." turning back to look to Ara Ren, he nodded in confidence. Though her ability in the force might have been limited, her training must surely have remained and her experience would hopefully come into full play in the coming battle. Now that they were away from the Plaza, the excitement about him was once again rising for the splendor of conflict, the glory of bloodying his blade and sinking the Sith Dirk into someones flesh. The Blood Boiling poison had yet to land its mark on a live target, there hadn't yet been a mission that warranted the short swords use where his lightsaber was capable of fending off most opponents, the dirk however was the favorite of the assassin and woe be to any who would befall it's venomous sting.
Some distance behind them, the request for reinforcements would see two squads of Stormtroopers making their way up from the Calrisian Plaza. They had yet to arrive though their eight man teams would be better than nothing for the sake of securing the perimeter of the facility while the two Knights of Ren would infiltrate and remove the threat of the Alliance. Upon him, Brennan still had a number of tools worthy of his trade, the Talisman of Calling being the most interesting one in nature, curious and unnatural in some ways, the summoning of the Sith Dirk had it's disadvantages though he could utilize the ability upon his share will and it was a weapon that could not be disarmed permanently from him, making him an ever consistent threat to any whom might be silly enough to try to imprison him. Those who considered themselves even half as intelligent as the First Order would go out of their way to exterminate his life rather than show him mercy and such was a fate that he knew he would one day see for the glory of Seiger's will, yet today would not be that day.
Various Mobile Weapon Platform droids, multiple Light Models with RC-1 and MD-1, some Medium Models with RC-1 in anti-air configuration, and few Heavy Models with MD-1 anti-armor configuration
HK's mount suddenly jerked aside as he pulled on its flight controls, the mechanical dragon he was riding folding its wings slightly and tumbling through the skies in a roll as a TIE fighter screamed by next to it, nearly avoiding the collision in heat of combat. It was the fighter escort moving ahead of Asharad's transport convoy, coming into conflict with HK's own droid starfighters and buzz drones, along with any other fighters GA would have up in the air.
The mount shook once more as HK had to bunk into the other side, this time avoiding a rapid fire burst from one of the anti-air turrets, presumably FO wouldn't just have a base on Hoth without any defenses against starfighters. The droid pulled on the dragon's steering, the beast spread its stabilizator wings almost coiling around itself in mid air as it pulled back, turning about tightly, leaving a glowing trail behind its serpentine tail ending in luminescent power crystal. HK found himself and his beast circling one of the TIE fighters, leaning in as another set of engines screamed by next to him, one of the Wyvern drones he brought along zoomed by, chasing after the TIE in a dogfighting maneuver as it opened fire from its shoulder mounted laser cannons, sending out crimson streaks of plasma after the enemy as its serpentine body rolled and twined itself in constant maneuvers to avoid being shot down both by enemy escorts and the defensive guns from any vehicles and buildings that could be in range to them, almost slithering through the very skies of Hoth.
HK spotted the target these TIEs were protecting as the convoy of shuttles and transports itself broke through the clouds nearby, heading towards the rear of GA positions and the droid leaned in again, pushing in on the flight controls of his draconic mount and the mechanical beast jerked forward, pushing its thrusters to the limit as it sped towards them.
[member="Pharazon Draken"] (For some reason I didn't get a notification from you although I saw that it linked correctly in your post, so sorry if I'll end up missing your posts in the future)
Heading towards the convoy of shuttles and transports HK had to yanks and violently tug the flight controls of his mount aside a few more times, trying to dodge enemy craft and his own mechanized starfighters as well as the plasma bolts, hypervelocity pellets, and other munitions actively exchanged between the two sides in the battle scarred skies above the icy planet, filled with the rage and chaos of aerial combat and the explosions that resulted from it. HK came very close to collision with a particular mechanized dragon that folded its wings and projected itself through the sky, corkscrewing just above the droid and his own mount, almost taking off HK's head in the process. As HK stayed on his course towards the transports one of his faces followed the daring automaton, the mechanical dragon was on path towards the Veers outpost, its wings exploding outwards, spreading to stabilize it as it slowed down facing the trench lines in the distance.
Whipping itself in an angle towards the distant target the dragon sent out a barrage of laser bolts, its wing mounted barrels screaming to life in blasts of plasma. Soon enough its shoulder-mounted rotary cannons jerked to life, spinning quickly and picking up on speed before spewing out streams of armor-piercing hypervelocity pellets and an energy streak from the dragon's tail cut across the trench lines, burning as hot as standard starfighter laser cannon but also left colorful unnatural flames in their path, setting whatever they touched ablaze in alien fire, whether it was flesh, metal, or even immaterial surface of deflector shields, although flames against those burned out almost immediately, giving the trench lines a quick longer distance strafing run.
Due to the distance between them the weapons would be far from accurate, if any soldiers were struck it was more or less by luck and just the amount of pellets and cannon bolts thrown towards them, the attack left a trail of snow and ice particles hanging in the air, kicked up from the ground by impact and various explosions, at least it would be atmospheric if anything else.
The dragon then jerked to the side, its wings adjusting to force its body to turn as best as it could, perhaps it was getting ready for another pass, perhaps it was just rejoining the rest of its squadrons and swarms, not straying too far from the area in the skies the droids were currently in. HK wouldn't know for sure as one of his faces had to turn away, losing track of the dragon as HK kept pushing towards the shuttles and dropships atop his mount. Still the dragon would be close enough for any counterattacks from the troops within trenches should they manage to retaliate after the long-range strafing shots.
[member="Rexus Wenck"],
By the time Rexus and his lads would actually decide to do something for once, for once, HK would already be busy stirring trouble in the skies, chasing after the transports heading towards rear of GA armored columns while his drones and droids were fighting some TIE fighters, trying to intercept patrols, providing support to other nearby GA forces, the usual. From time to time a large winged shadow would be cast over the base and the position Rexus was in as one of the dragon droids or wyvern drones blocked out the sun during its maneuvers, although the attention of the droids and drones in the air seemed to have lingered elsewhere for now, their swarms hanging in the skies outside of the Outpost, so they were not specifically attacking his position.
From his position in the skies one of HK's faces did however seemed to notice what looked like medics moving towards one of the hangars, perhaps a field hospital being set up inside, it was interesting enough for him to note and it may be something he would visit later if time permitted, although the droid would not know for sure at the distance unless one of his other drones or droids would be able to confirm. For now, he had to focus on not being shot down by the anti-air emplacements hot on his and his mount's tail as he moved to intercept the transports heading towards the rear of GA armored positions.
Also since Rexus faced the droid's forces, HK upgraded some of those Spider Droids he sent against him before, they were crossed with the ancient droideka designs to make them even more annoying. So Rexus may have had that to look forward to.
[member="Null"],
As HK moved closer towards the transport convoy on his mount, one hand staying onto the combat and flight controls to keep himself from spinning out due to his drone's lack of advanced intelligence when it came to dogfighting, he saw one of the shuttles passing by him towards the ground, on its pathway to deploy or touch down or whatever it was doing, the machine didn't knew intricacies of FO's plan and he did not really care for them, the shuttle looked important enough to target, perhaps it was carrying fresh troops or a vehicle.
Either way, one of the droid's faces spotted and focused on it, since the machine had three now, his free hand, clutching the large black Phrik staff with a central glowing crystal, spun around, HK aimed his Staff of Power towards it,
This is your target
He sent out a silent and quick message to his nearby forces using the wireless communications as droid could, summoning some of them to specifically target the nondescript random shuttle that just happened to cross his path.
His minions would heed the transmission and the command it carried, of course, and so another Mechanical Dragon found himself obeying the order given to him by his Space Wizord commander, swooping down with its heavy body to clash against the shuttle's cockpit, claws and stout limbs digging in as it latched itself on and gave out a mechanical roar before smashing its duranium fangs against the cockpit's visors, trying to crush it with its automaton jaw as flames bellowed out from its gullet to cover the transparisteel in napalm and seep it in through any cracks it could cause.
A couple of the Squid Buzz Drones joined the dragon, hovering and zooming around through the air before wrapping their tentacles around the ship's parts, anchoring themselves to it with electromagnets as plasma sparked from their hidden maws. Plasma cutters hot as lightsaber's blade sparked to life and clashed against the shuttle's shields and armor, trying to burn their way inside and tear it apart.
It wasn't the transport Null was on with others, but they would probably be able to witness or at least hear the incident go on on their way down to the surface.
Other transports and fighters would go through similar experience, should they be careless enough to be caught by the machines dancing around in the skies and grinding up against the convoy of transports like sweaty hormone ridden teenagers on prom night while trying to evade the any air defenses that would still pick up on them or escort starfighters ready to intercept and challenge them between the clouds.
However, HK could not attack the transport personally, pulling the staff back and yanking on the controls again to disengage from any dogfighting before it begun as something else caught the attention of one of his faces.
Seeing the AT-SM vehicles commanded by Sol come under attack the machine whipped his dragon starfighter mount once again, whipping himself around to swoop in into the path of the shots, tumbling around to expose the dragon's underbelly, focusing his Combat Shields there as some of the plasma bolts splashed against them, causing the shields to light up in brilliant colors. The explosion from the shots pushed them back, yanking and jerking them closer to the SM walkers as the engines of the mechanical dragon roared and groaned to life, coming much too close to comfort towards one of the walkers, only few meters away from any shields or its bare hull, but keeping them from smashing together. Spinning back upright and stabilizing the droid raised his staff, over the beeping and alarms going from his flight controls as the result of the Juggernaut's plasma bolts hitting him, HK aimed up the weapon towards one of the missiles,
"I have the power!"
He called out, summoning the crystal's energy as energy beams shot out from the staff's crown, connecting above the crystal to focus its energy stream before larger beam from the crystal itself shot out as well, forming a composite beam which was then hurled towards the missile. The beam streaked out with a resonating hum, a colorful line of weird and eldritch energy that pulsed with an aura of constantly shifting colors, splaying out in unnatural flames as it clashed either against the missile or any deflector shields that would find themselves in its path. The droid didn't really had "the power", that was just a catchphrase he was working on, the beam itself, although strange and alien, was more or less just a particle beam with incendiary effects, although rather weak at first, the longer the contact between it and the ship would be kept the hotter it burned, and the more it would melt, until eventually reaching the cutting power of a lightsaber.
HK attempted to shoot the missile down mid flight and trigger its explosion in the air. However at best he would only be able to stop one of missiles and some of the energy bolts launched towards Sol, dampening the attack but not negating it fully, even HK wasn't fast enough for that in the middle of a battle.
Raising his staff towards the Juggernaut Fiver and Selene were in right now he emitted another burst of energy from his staff as his dragon would circle up towards the sky to gain some altitude once more, elevating above the walkers they fired on previously but still staying in the immediate area, circling them as the droid tried to maintain the energy beam on their Juggernaut, attacking them but also leaving him in range for a counter-attack. The beam itself would be quite weak at first, burning as hot as a standard blaster rifle shot would, however since it was continuous stream of energy the droid hoped it would quickly begin draining their shields, if they had any, or leave scorching marks against their armor before the stream begun to heat up hotter and hotter, eventually perhaps with enough heat to be able to melt through the Juggernaut's armor, especially at its weaker points as the droid kept the beam moving across their metal body, or over it if it was still being counteracted by deflectors, leaving in its wake incendiary trails of the strange multicolored flames.
[member="Siobhan Kerrigan"],
As HK circled the juggernaut, seeing what damage he could cause to it, and one of his other faces checking the status of its combat shields from the shots they absorbed, he received a transmission from Kerrigan,
"AA seems tight, but you should get through, Iron. Head to the north ridge ASAP, yeah. Remember Golgotha?"
By "Golgotha" the droid assumed she was referring either to Gehenna or its moon, locations they have assaulted long time ago in their wars against Bando Gora. The droid seemed to have recalled that the hill where FO crucified those Eldorai back on Kaeshana was called "Golgotha" as well funnily enough, perhaps he was wrong, perhaps he was right.
Either way, he would send out a quick transmission back to her with his build-in communicator,
"I am a little busy here!"
HK's check of his shields concluded they were partially drained but thanks to focusing them on the dragon's belly he managed to keep them active, for now at least, although the hit did seem rather potent, they would be able to probably absorb only one more barrage of such shots,
"The FO managed to drop some armored reinforcements to flank us, give me couple minutes and I will head towards there, I might push in for a bombing run first."
The droid explained, although if he knew what Sio was planning, as he calculated he did, then denying further air support to Sol and other armored units for now may have been worth the outcome in the end.
[member="Draco Vereen"],
Why was Draco wearing a horse skull now? Sometimes he was even weirder than the senile machine.
Either way, seeing how the droid was now assigned to the same ridge as Draco and he would probably be heading there soon enough to meet with the Mandalorian and follow through with their plan. Although there was not that much he could contribute to it, outside of sacrificing some droids or buzz drones or laying down a barrage of proton torpedoes, HK did not exactly bring in demolition experts or engineers with him aboard their starfighter mounts.
Allies: [member="Adder"] [member="Loske Matson"] [member="Laira Vereen"]
Enemies: [member="Aran Piett"] [member="Sara Lee Jones"]
Objective: Clear space around Cloud City. Escort U-Wings
Aran Piett said:
"Good, Sabre Squadron will protect the transports to and from the Accuser, Obsidian Squadron, I want you and the T-70s taking out their fighters and transports. Captain Faust I know I can count on you to lead the rest of the Starfighters in that."
Asmus put on a burst of speed and gave his repulsors a nudge. Giving up a little forward velocity the Wraith Commander took some altitude instead, soaring above the clouds. His prototype fighter was one of the most maneuverable in the galaxy. Instead of rotating s-foils Thunderstruck had fixed nacelles and engines that could fire in both directions. In zero gravity she was unmatched, but the advantage was smaller in an atmosphere. Typically he fulfilled more of a close support gunship role.
However, none of that matches skill and experience. Asmus had now fought in conflicts across the galaxy and he knew his trade well. He rolled, putting the clouds and his target below him. A nudge of thrust took away his forward momentum faster than any of his opponents would expect and he tugged hard on the flight stick.
His target detected the impending lock and dropped into the clouds. Asmus turned his attitude back into momentum as he dived after the target, a plume of cloud shooting upwards as he broke them. He was left with no visibility beyond his scopes. That was enough. The silhouette of the enemy fighter stayed in his target as the cadence of the locking beep became faster and faster.
“Missile away!” Asmus pulled back up as the homing missile streaked to its target. As his fighter burst back out of the clouds to rejoin the melee they flashed behind him as the target was obliterated. Wraith and Spectre squadrons were in good shape, but apparently Adder had followed the landing teams in.
“Command we are engaged with enemy fighters. No need for reinforcements. Keeping clear of evacuation channels. That battlecruiser is still holding.”
Location: Hilikan Incineration Plant Vessel: No longer in U-Wing Objective: Infiltrate Allies: Galactic Alliance, [member="Asmus Janes"], [member="Shamira Karuto"], [member="Taeli Raaf"], [member="Loske Matson"], [member="Gabriel Sionoma"] Enemies: First Order, [member="Val Kordova"], [member="Ara Ren"], [member="Brennan Cabrol"]. No one engaged so far. Gear: Light Paddle, stealth blaster, another blaster, armour (in sig), melee shield (in sig), vibroknife, lightsabre, no-show.
The group dispersed as they made their stealthy entrance into the facility. Moving almost silently, Kaida stepped into the plant after the door was opened through the efforts of Sionoma. The mission was clear: Take over the facility...and some fun stuff to undermine the First Order.
She needed no further invitation. The control room was the goal, so she moved forward, still cloaked through the Force and the no-show device. She would be advancing in the opposite direction from Sionoma. A light beeped in her HUD, indicating that the map had been transmitted to her.
Damn. It was hot inside here. Luckily, she'd fought on the desolate, hellish hothouse that was Gehenna. The plant was not quite as bad, but it made her grateful for her abilities as a cryomancer. However, it did not escape her attention that one of her teammates was having more difficulty. It was the nervous Padawan. Kaida felt admittedly inclined to just push on, but Angelii valued teamwork. Moreover, the girl's issues would heighten the risk of detection and potentially make her a liablity in combat.
So she stretched out her had and gently touched the girl's shoulder, as she drew upon the Force. To do so required weakening her Force cloak for a brief interval, though the no-show, being a technical device, would obviously remain active. The Seraph harnessed her kindred element, ice. The Togruta would experience a cooldown and a bit of a chill as her body temperature lowered.
Nothing invasive or dangerous, but something that would make it easier for her to cope with the blazing heat. The effect would not last forever, but it would make the heat less terrible and oppressive. Kaida tapped her on the shoulder, indicating that they needed to move on.
Allies: None Nearby - [member="Aela Talith"] Enemies: The First Order, [member="Castor Ren"], [member="Kaalia Voldaren"] Location: Bogan Academy - Corridors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hsVICl7d8k
Yesterday we were just children, playing soldiers just pretending
Dreaming dreams with happy endings. In backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords
But now we've stepped into a cruel world, where everybody stands and keeps score
Through the seemingly endless corridors the young noblewoman traversed at a speed that seemed hardly likely for someone with her injuries. Force give me strength. As she ran, azure eyes fell to her wrist, the bracelet that still adorned her felt warm against her skin, and she couldn't help but feel like perhaps Aela knew her Padawan's plight and was offering her own strength. There was no doubt in her mind that the elder girl was looking for her, that she was coming, just as she had all those times before. On Lothal she'd rescued her from beneath rock and rubble. On Bastion she saved her from death itself, a poison tipped dagger that had been plunged into her chest on her very first assignment. She'd come to Jamie's aide on Naboo when she had been abducted by Vrak Nashar, and bailed her out of countless other binds she hadn't the focus to recount. Now was the time for escape. Around a corner she sprinted when she felt the alien touch of another person's mind force its' presence into hers.
<< You can run little bird - but you cannot hide from us. >>
Far from being an expert telepath, Jamie could do little to prevent the man's intrusion, though his mockery would be met with silence from the Jedi as she continued her course towards freedom, or at least someplace more advantageous than a prison cell. She needed to get a message out to Naboo, or to Aela, somehow, if she were to find a way off of this frozen wasteland. A set of durasteel blast doors separated her from the room just beyond. A small control panel on the right side housed a keypad and both a green and red button, presumably to open, arm, and lock the doors from outside intruders. Luckily for her she was leaving, and thus as her finger pressed against the green button the massive doors shuddered, creaked, and moaned as they parted from the center. Hardly inconspicuous. Subtlety here was not exactly an option however. Castor was on her trail, that much she knew, meaning her time was short.
As the doors separated, almost instantly the harsh bite of the planet's air rushed forward, nipping at her uncovered skin. Small whirlwinds of snowflakes caught up in a drift circulated the open hangar, leaving a small dusting of snow scattered about. A cold shiver ran through her, but there was no time to waste. Just up ahead a series of speeders sat, awaiting pilots. Right. Piloting. Kark! Perhaps she hadn't quite thought this through entirely. Jamie had never been a pilot. She couldn't handle a starship, a transport, a landspeeder, or a speederbike. Nearly everything she laid hands on wound up crashed or somehow less operable than before. It was a curse, she swore. With each step she made towards the bikes, a delicate footprint in the small covering of snow was left behind, a byproduct of her trespassing yet unavoidable all the same.
While there was the predicament of being ill-prepared clothing-wise for the punishment of Hoth's surface, she was fortunate enough to spot a small arms rack, likely used for patrol guards of the academy just on the opposite wall. Nothing special, a series of blaster pistols and rifles, neither of which she was trained with either, but having a weapon was certainly better than not having a weapon. Opting to take the pistol the blonde tucked the weapon into her waistband behind her back, covering it with her shirt as she climbed aboard one of the bikes and fired the engines. Again, hardly subtle, as the bike roared to life, echoing within the vacant hangar.
With a single turn of her head back towards where she came, she could swear she spotted Castor and the red headed woman, but in that same breath her hands thrust forward, sending the bike into a wicked lunge, launching her out into the wilds of Hoth.
In regards to the man in the maintenance hallway, the Command Deck didn't actually have to worry about him. The squad that was sent to the maintenance hallway had received orders to hold back before entering the corridor. By the time that the slicer had cut the console off from the main network, doors were already shutting that would take him out of that hallway - Though, it wasn't obvious as first, but air was drawing thin in that area of the Space Station.
Up to the point then when he had left the console the chances of not hearing doors shutting and going through locking cycles was unlikely.
Regardless, the tugging sensation that occurred through the corridors was undeniable.
The First Order was venting the maintenance hallways and all their occupants.
And in regards to the apparent schematics of the entire Station that they pulled, maintenance workers wouldn't require full schematics of an entire station. Sure, there would be a console here and there in the restricted corridors, but they were rare - This invader was lucky to actually find one. Regardless, the schematics that he would've drawn forth were solely for the floor that he was on. Where a console on the promenade deck would've potentially yielded the plan to the entirety of the Kuragin. Within the hallways themselves, the consoles had one purpose: To diagnose and provide information on the floor he was on.
Otherwise, janitors, and other forms of maintenance workers would constantly have to go back and forth between the rarely seen computers. It was why they used their DataPads with a plan of the entire Station to scroll through, consoles remained present to automatically analyze the specific floor they were on. To slice through the entire network, and cut it off, would've been exceptionally difficult. Especially since the only connection the console actually held was for maintenance workers. With the Station on lockdown anyway, escaping the vacuum that was the Station attempting to throw the intruder right back into Space was unlikely.
--
Reaching to the helmet hooked to the small of his back, he lifted it and placed it over his head, twisting and locking it into place as the door began to hiss...
The man that was working on the door was likely surprised to find that it had suddenly opened. Magnus, didn't bother sparing a glance for the man as he strode forwards, violet beam from his lightsabre igniting as he raised the blade. Slashing backwards, the back swing of his lightsabre cleaved head from shoulders and the mans body lingered upright for a moment before collapsing in the space that Magnus had just been occupying.
"Don't worry," he said in a low voice. "I offer you quick passage to the afterlife."
Location: Space > Hoth Objective: Provide reinforcements, Company Development thread, engage [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] when I find her IC. Allies: First Order & Friends ([member="Null"] [member="Fiver"] [member="Asharad Graush"] [member="Torian Pierce"] [member="Kyrel Ren"]) Enemies: Galactic Alliance & Friends ([member="Sol Stazi"] [member="Aver Brand"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="HK-36"])
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxfYCKRLICA
((OOC Note: The NPC forces I engage in my transition post are part of the background rabble not tied to any PC commander.))
Through reports via the First Order's secure quantum network, Wing Commander Lera K. Porkins (Angel Leader) already had an idea about the fierce space battle being waged overhead Hoth. However, hearing about it through second-hand sources wasn't the same as actually being in the mix for some white-knuckle flying that left many a pilot quite puckered downstairs.
Her chance to join the chaos would come soon enough, as Moff Teigra's personal Destroyer group entered hyperspace for Hoth, with the Blazing Angels and several other escort squadrons of interceptors and snub-fighters oriented all around their cap ships in several layers of defensive screens.
The target was the Galactic Alliance, and whoever else the intergalactic neocons had dragged with them out to the Anoat sector. Did the grizzled Republic pilot feel bad about engaging the GA, which had many former GR veterans now playing for team gold?
Not really, those soldiers and Jedi were all dead to her the moment they decided to take an extended vacation to Sullust. It brought her no small joy to take part in smashing apart the empire the traitors had carved out for themselves in the Outer Rim. Petty? Probably. Worth it? Definitely.
At the end of the day, though, it wasn't so much about revenge, but protecting the new life she had made for herself within the borders of the First Order. After a decade of incessant fighting within the Core, she had a home again, and a nice slab of Seoulian hunk to go with it. She wasn't too crazy about the more fanatical elements of the First Order, but thankfully Moff Teigra held the wingnuts at bay within her domain.
The timer ticked down for reversion. 30 more seconds...20 seconds...10...1...
At zero, the blue streaked vista of hyperspace disappeared, replaced with starry blacks of realspace and the milky blue expanse of Hoth.
No time to enjoy the natural wonders of the galaxy, as the visor of her helmet mounted display became quickly populated with data gathered from her own bird's passive sensors, and from across the GR's own interconnected network of sensors and comms.
Both GA and FO Starfighters corps had certainly come out to play, as she was picking up on several furballs within Hoth's orbit. Before Republic assault forces could be safely deployed without incurring crippling casualties, the Angels and the other squadrons under her direct command were going to have to punch a hole through the GA fighter screens and establish an electronic corridor.
Not a problem. The FO may struggle against the GA's starfighter centric tactics, but the GR had been the one to write the book on them. It was time to run a clinic.
"All, squadrons." Porkins began over heavily encrypted tightbeam. "Drones and LSR are going in first, then we're going to follow up when tags have been acquired. Remember, keep it tight, do not let yourself get split off from your elements or you can probably kiss your sorry behinds goodbye."
There was a chorus of rogers from the leaders of each X-wing squadron, while Fencers and LSRs accelerated forward at optimal cornering speed.
The swarms of nimble droid fighters activated their DERPs to reduce their signatures as they lined up to engage incoming Alliance fighters in a head-on encounter. The droid fighters would then initiate corkscrew maneuvers as the space before them became filled with a hail of red particle bolts. While tumbling through space trying to avoid enemy laser fire, the Fencers took off-bore shots at the Alliance fighters with their rapid fire blaster turrets. In that initial trade, there would be some Republic and Alliance fighters lost, but drones were easily replaced. Pilots not so much, which was why Porkins was using the Fencers to soften up the opposition.
The LSRs hung back far from the main action, performing their duties as dedicated ISR platforms with their powerful suite of passive sensors, designating targets, and intercepting enemy comms traffic.
Said comms traffic would be relayed to Porkins and her fleet of X-wings to decrypt with their ECHO modules as they held their position with their cap ships. With bog standard encryption in place on the Alliance side, the modules would quickly discern Alliance IFF codes in use. When acquired, the Seraph X-Wings would modify their IFF transponders accordingly to fool Alliance pilots when they finally joined the action.
"All squadrons, get to work."
Porkins hit the throttle for a boost, with her flight in tow in a pinwheel formation, a neat little stack of four that would allow the fighters to concentrate fire while still being free to maneuver with little danger of collision or cross-fire.
With Republic X-wings coming into attack range, the Fencers instantly shifted tactics, switching from using their DERPs to distortion projecters to leave Alliance fighters within their furball blinded.
"Tally at mark 8, range 30 klicks," Porkins announced as she picked out a pair of Alliance X-wings in the midst of a dive against Fencers. Her flight would rotate accordingly as they accelerated to engage the enemy element, their astromech droids helping a great deal in maintaining their tight formation.
Even under heavy jamming, there was a chance the Alliance pilots would detect them as Porkins came up behind them at close range. But, with all Republic X-wings squawking proper Alliance IFF codes and not actively targeting them (instead using data relayed by the LSR and Fencers), there was a few moments of hesitation borne from confusion.
It would be in these precious few moments that Porkins would act, predicting the movements of the enemy X-wings with her threat indicator before firing ahead of their projected course with the rest of her flight. Seconds later, she would be rewarded with the sight of twin explosions as the Alliance X-wings crossed through the deadly stream of laser fire.
"Splash," Porkins muttered almost distractedly while she was already on the lookout for another target of opportunity, heart pounding something fierce from an adrenaline rush. There would be many.
This would be the story of the Republic's latest engagement against the Alliance, gradually whittling down the opposition with the expert application of EWAR and modern networking principals.
While the space battle was still far from over, Porkin's wing had achieved its initial goal of creating a window for assault forces. Flights of Fencers, Basalisk wardroids, and transports like the A-10 LAAT and Eidolons (in full stealth mode carrying Ysalamir) would proceed to make a run for the surface while Alliance forces along their course were tied up for the moment.
"Nice work," Moff Teigra would say over comms with her crisp Oxford/Imperial accent. "The Blazing Angels certainly do live up to their reputation."
"Thank you, ma'am!" Porkin's chest now swelled with pride from a the glowing appraisal. For junior and mid-grade officers low on the totem pole, it did mean a lot when their seniors recognized their accomplishments.
"You're quite welcome. I'd be honored if you'd follow me planetside."
Planetside? Porkins raised an eyebrow. She had assumed the Moff had been addressing her from White Base, but upon closer inspection, she saw Teigra had contacted her while riding with Tekkadan mercenaries on a Basalisk of her own. Porkins had heard stories of Teigra directing units in the field before, but it was unreal seeing the woman involve herself withing fighting in such an intimate manner.
"Ah, yes ma'am," Porkins replied. "All Angels on me! We're taking this party to the surface with the good Moff."
Never in million years had the seasoned Republic pilot ever expected those words to come out of her lips. As she tucked her nose down for Hoth's surface, she began to wonder what other crazy things would she see herself doing under (and with!) Moff Teigra in this great and terrible war between the super powers of Dosuun and Sullust.
In Scene: [member="Samka Derith"] [member="Alkor Centaris"] [member="Ghorua the Shark"]
Irajah visibly and physically recoiled.
"Something you..... believe..... in?"
The incredulity in her voice was almost a palpable presence. The shock on her face was impossible to miss.
"Bespin..... this plaza..... is a civilian city," she watched him, Samka and Alkor disappearing for a moment. "This war has been horrendous, costly for both sides- but I never would have expected to see you, of all people, bringing war here. What do you think the troopers in the plaza have been doing? Not preparing for battle- but escorting non-combatants away from this place!"
She shook her head, disbelieving, or at least, not wanting to believe.
"Tell me I'm wrong, Ghorua. But right now..... you're looking a lot more like that Sith on Coruscant than like the Herglic who protected me..... protected them. And who I in turn protected."
Irajah had killed for Ghorua. Something she had never done before that day. To protect her friend from a madman. And it had cost her dearly. It had been the end of the beginning. She just hadn't realized it at the time.
"You..... believe..... in *this*?
She didn't need Alkor's admonishment to step back. She did it on her own.
So many times in the last months, the people she had thought were one thing had turned out to be something else entirely. Again and again and again, the smiling faces and 'believe in me's had turned out to be nothing more than masks that hid the truth.
Irajah wanted, desperately, to have been right about him.
