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Objective: Pew Pew Pew! Location: Upper Cloud City, near plazaa Allies: [member="Asmus Janes"] Enemies: First Order Karkers
Yeah, yeah, she thought, business hours. Uh-huh. I know.
And it was back to hugging bulkheads, snooping, and silence - activities that dotted her life over the past many months - for a few minutes. She jogged along with Janes, keeping an eye out behind as he looked ahead, glad to be in the company of a familiar face, no matter the circumstances. The sight of his fighter though, made her smile in some fashion not unlike happiness, and a pang of mild jealousy struck at her heart. She was a sweet ride.
'Aw, now. They're just keeping her safe', again, words on the tip of her tongue, but died as the salute was returned instead, while Janes opened fire on the troopers obstructing their view of Thunder. Her hand dropped; he wasted no time. There was more to her old squadmate than what met the eye, now. "Gotcha," she confirmed, understanding, as she climbed in, "this is cool."
She took a quick moment to look at the controls, remembering the layout as he said, and placed her hands in time to knock some bolts at the few troopers not caught by the blast. A little like home, this felt. Safe, it felt.
"Wooo!" came the rush, pealing out of her when the craft inverted and the g's pressed into her chest, "you tryin' to impress me? 'Cause it's workin'!"
The clone stopped sorting out their equipment when he heard the door opening and a stranger saying Elliot's name. He dropped whatever that he was holding and aimed his pistol directly at the woman with precision and steadiness. He didn't shoot her, but she was a possible compromise to the trio. The Captaim then did what Jorg told him to do and it was something he would've done with or without his saying. The soldier then moved towards the door and began to have caution within his footsteps as he was close to Irajah. He slammed the door behind him and then began to move chairs and a table in front of the door with one hand as he was multitasking with keeping his vigilance on the doctor, gun still drawn at her.
But then something bewildered him.
"Wait, she's with the Order!?"
Canal couldn't believe that the Locke was familiar with someone that was with the enemy. Doctor or not, they couldn't just safely assume that they'd get their gear on and get out with the doctor not informing any Imperials near their location. This was war and there were protocols to follow; therefore, he couldn't see Elliot's reasoning.
"That's not how things work, Elliot; and keep watching on those ladies. Jorg, get something to bind her," the Fett clone said to the SIS agent and then placed his attention on the Imperial doctor. "You're under arrest, doc. I'll be confiscating whatever belongings that you have and you best not fight back for your own good."
Canal then moved forward behind Irajah and would begin to pat her down, and confiscate everything that she had on her person.
Location: Bespin, Hotel Suite Objective: Arrest the First Order Spy Who is Clearly Not a Doctor Allies: [member="Elliot Locke"] | [member="Canal"] Enemies: [member="Irajah Ven"]
"Locke." Jorg said plainly as he looked at the other man. "I want you to listen, and I mean this. If you ever touch my gun again while I'm aiming it at a potential threat, I'm going to shoot you. I don't care if we're on the same side, I will put you down."
His voice was stern, even. To Jorg the words weren't a threat, it was a statement of fact. This wasn't the happy friend time hour, this was war. He didn't care who this woman was, he didn't care what she did, and he most certainly didn't care that she was trying to help people. This was a war zone, and people in a war zone didn't get any leeway. For all he knew this 'doctor' was a spy, a cleverly hidden combatant moving behind the lines to check on Alliance positions or even kill already downed soldiers.
War meant no one got off easy.
Yet there was a reason he hadn't just shot her as she walked through the door. He had given her a chance to make herself not a threat, something that she had complied with.
Had she not, Jorg would have shot her regardless of occupation. Though as soon as he shrugged of Elliot and pushed the man away, he made note of the fact that the man had already stated she was a part of the First Order. That in it of itself meant she was a threat. Regardless of whether or not she meant to do well, she was on the other side, and that would have to be addressed. Especially since she just talked about her friends. Those friends could be enemy soldiers, or worse, officers.
Without another word Jorg slowly sidestepped Elliot, walking over to his duffel and fishing out some force cuffs. He tossed them over towards Canal after the man closed the doors.
"Canal." He addressed the man after he tossed him the cuffs, gaining his attention and weapon still trained on Irajah.
He then half turned to Elliot. "She's First Order, that makes her the enemy, that makes her a prisoner of war."
For Jorg it was as simple as that, and apparently for Canal too. He had no idea who this woman was, what she did, or even if she knew anything, but he wasn't about to leave someone who identified themselves as being a part of the First Order behind. Nor was he about to execute an unarmed combatant, mostly because he knew the Alliance would frown about it and he himself would end up in jail. So the only real solution that was currently presented to them was taking her with and hoping for the best.
The entire group of exfiltration agents stayed stock still for nearly a full minute after the ground stopped shaking. As unpleasant as it was to lie in the biting snow the strength of the vibrations had convinced them to a man that they were being targeted with artillery.
For the last few minutes they have been working their way around to the south of the base. After crawling back to the peak of the snow drift Raziel appraised the situation ahead of them. There was an almost clear route to the base now.
“Alright, break covert mode. Call in our position to the base and we’ll move in as soon as we’ve got the clear,” Raziel said. He didn’t enjoy the notion of being riddled with blaster holes for being careless. He tapped his commlink and activated it once more, sending an initial packet around the local network with an FO identifier.
Raziel kept the stock of his smart grenade launcher unfolded, but strapped it back over his shoulder. There was a small landing platform between them and the nearest entrance and his team weren’t the only ones with eyes on it.
There was no real massive build-up to Cameron's intended action. He did not offer Micah a verbal response. The Sith Lord had made a suggestion and then issued a directive. In both instances, the little boy decided to fall back on his own judgment, desire. Apparently, the Talith children rather hadn't learned to respect their elders. That was certainly not a trait that Cameron had taught them.
This time when Micah attempted to throw Cameron back, he merely allowed the energy to carry him. In doing so, the Sith Lord had ample opportunity to focus his own actions while the boy charged him. A brief twist of Cameron's free wrist and the power of the Force was clamped down on the soldiers near them. It did not matter if they were attempting to retreat. The intensity of the Force on their necks was not merely a blunt force attack...a broken neck, after all, was survivable. Cameron focused on the spinal cord near where it connected to the brain.
The loud crashing of Cameron's own back against the bulkhead radiated just as the sound of breaking bones in the retreating soldiers would have touched Micah's ears. There was no time for the Sith Lord to admire or acknowledge his work. Vaulting back to his feet, the Sith Lord stood casually, sword pointed at the ground.
A thin smile adorned his lips as he waited for the young Talith to arrive within striking distance. The Sith Lord would not make the first strike. Instead, he elected to place himself on the defensive. As with anything, however, his actions had purpose.
Location: Bespin, Nightclub Objective: Get our shet together Allies: [member="Jorg"], [member="Canal"] Oh Dear: [member="Irajah Ven"] Enemies: Time.
Locke frowned, but didn't move to interrupted them and instead glanced back at the strippers. Who quickly found a different angle and corner of the room to pay attention to.
That was just as well.
This entire situation was frustrating him, because it very much reminded him of the stark contrast between SIS and GADF. They didn't see the bigger picture - one doctor wasn't gonna do anything for them. They were here for more important matters...... not that Locke could actually recall what those matters were. But for some reason he doubted it had anything to do with capturing a minor noble slash doctor within First Order space.
"We didn't come here to take a doctor prisoner." Locke reminded both of them. "Incapacitate her, gear up and let's move on, we got what we came for."
This wasn't just because he liked Irajah. In fact, if she had been standing between them and their mission, then he would have shot her himself.
But they were so occupied about taking a prisoner of war that they forgot there was a gorram invasion going on here.
Even if they didn't have their mission parameters, they could take out an outpost, bring down the defenses from within, anything else than taking non-essential personnel prisoner for no reason.
Allies: FO Getting held at Gunpoint by: GA | [member="Elliot Locke"] [member="Jorg"] [member="Canal"] Objective: Track down the Evacuation Holdouts/Not Get Shot
Two of them aiming guns at her. Awesome. After the way the last couple of days had gone, she was just about out of patience for this kind of nonsense. She'd been shoved in a sack and taken from her home in the middle of the night. Brought to Bespin in order to.... what exactly? To convince her to join the Ren. Then the GA had showed up and all hell had broken loose. She'd been tracking down errant civilians, some of whom were simply afraid, and some of whom had been downright rude. Three days since she'd been taken from her home, and she *still* hadn't spoken to [member="Samson"] or Terin to make sure they knew she was okay.
So to say that Irajah was angry about other people pushing her around would be an understatement.
That being said, there were two men- soldiers- with their guns trained on her. It took a huge amount of self control to keep her voice level and not simply start yelling at them, but she managed because there was no doubt in her mind that if she pissed Jorg off in particular he'd shoot her in the head without a second thought. Elliot was the only one she was sure wouldn't hurt her.
Funny how wrong she was.
The sheer exasperation with just the barest undertone of that scathing anger bubbling beneath the surface tinged her voice.
"Oh for goodness sakes. Arrest me for what? I'm a civilian Doctor, not that they haven't been trying to change that but I'm not military material. I'm looking for other civilians that didn't check in once the evacuation order went out."
Her eyes cast meaningfully at the group of women in the corner. Other than her eyes, the dark haired woman stayed very still. Her head didn't move, she didn't take a step. There was a tremor starting in her arms though- Irajah wasn't a strong woman, only made weaker by her continued battle with Gideon, and holding them above her head for the length of time added to the stress of being in the cross hairs of two separate guns wasn't doing her any favors.
"Evacuations that wouldn't be necessary if it wasn't for folks waving their guns around in people's faces," she added, a certain dry tone in her voice.
Her body was tense as the clone stated his pat down and she gritted her teeth but continued to stay put. Two blasters, both set on stun. A standard communicator. A small, standard issue first aid kit that she'd been loaned as her own was still back at Blackwater. ID tags, which included her credentials and gave her access to practice in facilities on Dosuun and across First Order space, as well as Maena. A small pad of flimsy with random notes in a short hand most people couldn't read but she understood just fine. And that was all.
"Happy?" She asked drily.
"Incapacitate- No. Look you have my weapons, such as they are. Go on your way and let me get these women out of here. With how fast things in the city are going to chit, if you're going to leave them here it's as good as a death sentence. I'd love it if you'd leave me my blasters, but that'd probably be too much to ask."
She debated, for a moment, if she was going to keep the last bit to herself or not. But if she didn't tell them, and the stormtroopers did what she was expecting them to do, then this room would end up being a blood bath. And while she didn't really give a damn for the soldiers, Elliot was her friend and there were a gaggle of uninvolved parties.
"For the record, the military does know I'm here. And if I don't check in soon, someone's going to come looking for me. And I have no interest in anyone, but especially them," she glanced over at the corner again, "getting caught in the crossfire. I'd rather if no one shot at anyone honestly, but if it's going to happen, well, it'd be nice if it was just the folks doing the shooting who had to deal with the consequences for once."
Location: Ison Corridor
Objective: Control the Corridor
Allies: [member="Zark"] [member="Alexandra Morrow"] [member="Silara Varis"] [member="Rick Kaloo"] [member="Maira Varan"]
Enemies: First Order [member="Ashin Varanin"] [member="T'yr Dellos"]
Engaging: [member="Aedan Miles"] [member="Carlyle Rausgeber"] [member="Achim Veers"]
Music: Raging Flame of Madness (Luminous Arc 2)
"Turn the ship to starboard, and try to keep our own aft section aligned with theirs: we have to deny them the firing arcs to blow us to smithereens. Also tilt the nose upward a little bit, but seven degrees would be enough"
"It's clear by now that there are no schematics to be found" the slicing heads reported.
"Gravitational Anomaly, Mustafar, pull back behind the asteroid field!"
What saved several bombers from flak fire were the debris sent flying from the Nolantia's port side getting hit by several Javelins, creating an opening that would be targeted by several ships. By pulling back behind the asteroid field, however, the Gravitational Anomaly caused some of the enemy fire to blast asteroids open, and the same scene was being played out with the nearby Mustafar, just with a different source of fire. Even then both ships involved took some hits from the turbolaser fire and torpedo hits, but that was a different ball game compared to what would befall the Excubitor. Meanwhile, the Mustafar changed targets when [member="Maira Varan"] microjumped in the distance and attacked the Kaga from behind, with the monitor now firing at that exposed hole at the enemy destroyer's port. But the monitor was lucky to even be able to fire at the port hole in the Nolantia: had the Law actually hit the turret, there may not even be a monitor left. Tanith realized the time was ripe for the enemy Devastators to get busy and get hit.
"The enemy fighters do not realize that, by chasing bombers around, they are making themselves vulnerable: send in four squadrons after the Devastators, while the remaining bombers drop bombs at that port side opening and the Inimicas screen Lexi against further starfighter attacks. However, make your approach from different directions"
Because of the enemy anti-starfighter corvettes around the Malice having rammed the battlecruiser and exploded upon contact, the resulting explosions tore two holes in the underside, centered on one of the 380mm HVCs apiece, taking out two of the five 380mm HVCs as well as one of the four Lusankya turrets positioned between them. That, right there, resulted in the Excubitor being short one-third of its big guns. Also that portion of the ship looks like a disturbance in the Force by now, with so many killed in these explosions, both friendly and hostile. And also the half-eaten sandwich the crew called a battlecruiser looks as if it was eaten by a sabertooth jakobeast that found it poisonous on the first bite. Even though the enemy already suspected Cathul of even being a mostly-medvac admiral, she promptly asked for casualty reports of those two explosions, and not just because of the need to replace the crew after repairs are made, provided there is still going to be an Excubitor in the end of this engagement. It was also because one of the main thrusts of Therapy Command lied in medvac and casvac, to tend to the other services' wounded and dead. That which Carmen took charge of on Hoth, especially after hearing reports of Veers Outpost being destroyed. Damage control teams wasted no time to rush forth and repair what damage they can.
"Casualty counts are in the thousands, estimated 3,500-4,000 dead in these explosions" the chief medical officer reported.
"Open a channel to the Firebird, the Remember Eriadu and the Resolute"
"Channel open" the communications officer acknowledged, while the ANS Firebird, Remember Eriadu and Resolute are now on the line.
"Try to position underneath the Excubitor"
- BATTLE MEDITATION ACTIVATED -
Of course, due to the Malice's ventral cannon depressions not being the best, the enemy mostly fired at the aft corners, at port and starboard. Even when the First Order bogged down the Alliance here in the Ivax Nebula, Cathul had one final horror to unleash upon the enemy battlefleet: battle meditation was the ingredient being fired first. At this point, however, she had to let the bridge crew take over the direction of their end of the battle, so she can meditate and, in the process, enhance their own gunners, and other allies' effectiveness, and also lay the groundwork for the horrors to come: another 15-second burst of from the eight 88mm hypervelocity cannons that can be trained at the Malice's aft, firing Atrisia APFSDS penetrator rounds this time around, in hopes of penetrating not only the engines, but also to cause system damage that could render the target ship unstable. And also the 58 light MIRVs being prepared to fire at the Malice's aft are loaded with five discord missiles each, each containing seven buzz droids. But because of the ship's pitch, raised in an attempt to hide the exposed underside hole from the enemy battlecruiser, and also turning to starboard in the process, the Excubitor's ventral cannons couldn't fire at the Malice anymore: their own depressions were not sufficient to hit it.
"Ventral guns, fire on the Kaga; trench guns, fire on the enemy picket corvettes, all other weapons, fire on the Malice's topside aft"
With that said, nine Lusankya shots and three 3-shot 380mm HVC bursts were fired at the enemy carrier called the Kaga, while the dorsal batteries fired at the Malice's topside aft, with the 88mm HVCs firing Atrisia penetrators at point-blank range at locations that were directly above the engines, in 15-second bursts at the rate of 2 rounds per second, at obscene muzzle velocities exceeding even the standard muzzle velocities of that caliber of hypervelocity cannons, and 180 turbolaser shots were fired at the engines, in addition to the heavy guns on the dorsal batteries, firing heavy ion cannons and turbolasers, aiming for the mobility kill. In turn 700 turbolaser shots were fired in the direction of the picket corvettes, knowing that some of the shots will evade them and others will blast asteroids behind them, with asteroid fragments flying every which way, some of them were on a course to hit the Malice, others on a course to hit the picket corvettes and others still for the Excubitor proper. As for the missiles, 58 Asmeru MIRVs were fired at the Malice's dorsal batteries, each containing 35 buzz droids, for a total of over 2,000 buzz droids deployed to rip apart weapons hardpoints, potentially scoring some firepower kills, and also to provide a distraction for the point-defense to shoot down remaining enemy fighters in the area. And, of course, the heavy, cloaked MIRVs were also launched, targeting the exposed reactor bulge and releasing 21 regular assault concussion missiles at point-blank range, making for that location.
Had the fighter screen engage the enemy fighters while staying close to Alexandra's fleet
Launched a bombing run at the Nolantia's exposed portside hole
Had the remaining escorts pull back and form up with [member="Alexandra Morrow"]
Raised the ship's pitch somewhat and turned the ship to starboard
Activated battle meditation (and then left the bridge crew to manage the battle)
Had short-range MIRVs fire buzz droids at the Malice's dorsal batteries
Had the heavy, cloaked MIRVs fired at the ventral reactor dome
INDELLIAN SPACE
ISON CORRIDOR
ALLIES: First Order, [member="Achim Veers"], [member="Carlyle Rausgeber"], [member="Aedan Miles"], [member="T'yr Dellos"]
ENEMIES: Galactic Alliance, [member="Cathul Thuku"], [member="Silara Varis"], [member="Alexandra Morrow"], [member=Zark], [member="Rick Kaloo"], [member="Maira Varan"]
FORCES: Civilian science frigate S.S. Shambhala (shields 95/100, hull 95/100)
DIRECTLY ENGAGING: ANS Mustafar, ANS Gravitational Anomaly ([member="Cathul Thuku"])
Ashin sat forward in her chair, examining the tactical display. "Comscan, get me a better view of those two ships in the asteroids."
"One pocket carrier, one corvette. The corvette's limping hard. Looks like they got left behind when the battlecruiser they were escorting pulled a microjump. Now they're just plinking away at the First Order."
"Can we get shield readings?"
"Too much interference."
"Mm." Ashin squinted. "That pocket carrier's an old Levantine design, Peregrine-class. The Underground used to use them against the Fringe a lot. Light guns, unimpressive shields, great at running away. The corvette...no idea what that is, but it looks to be hurt." Thus far, the Shambhala hadn't fired a shot. All the nonessential personnel were off the ship and safe. An extra ship could go a long way toward clinching this battle for the First Order and getting the Shambhala home safely. A skimming course wouldn't take them too close to the heart of the battle, but would give them ion cannon range on the two lost escorts. "Helm, take us to full impulse."
The Shambhala was a very quick vessel, and its powerful engines slipped it into the fringes of the asteroids like a knife between ribs. Its heavy tractor beams warded off dangerous asteroids as necessary. When it came into range of the sluggish corvette and the lone pocket carrier, capital-scale ion cannons began to fire. Their primary target was ANS Mustafar, whose visible damage suggested its shields might not be doing all that well. Ashin felt a grim joy take hold somewhere behind her sternum as the Shambhala added its cannons to the conflagration.
Location: Hilikan Facility Objective: Make it to the control room fothe Hilikan Facility Allies: Galactic Alliance, [member="Loske Matson"] [member="Gabriel Sionoma"] [member="Taeli Raaf"] [member="Kaida Taldir"] Enemies: First Order [member="Ara Ren"] [member="Brennan Cabrol"] [member="Val Kordova"] Engaging directly: [member="Brennan Cabrol"] Equipment: (First mentioned here)
Everything was in their odds. Numbers, health, and experience all swayed in their favor. With the equivalent of a master, a knight, and a padawan, there was very real chance to beat the singular Ren. And as long as nobody did something stupid, namely her, they would win. All these thoughts rippled through her when the Ren was climbing up, awaiting them on the opposite platform. Something was different about him, Shamira noticed than when she had first seen him on the bridge. There was some sort of dark energy emitting from the lightsaber, and the area around the Ren felt cold with dark side energy. And by the way he stood, ready and willing to engage the three force users, it was obvious there would be no alive captures. This was a fight to the death. And that, as much as she wouldn’t want to admit it, scared the Togruta. Taking a deep breath, attempting to keep her mind calm and clear for the awaiting fight, Shamira pulled her lightsaber from her belt, igniting it, and the blue hue lit the area around her. She gave it a little spin, careful to avoid Master Raaf or Kaida, and shifted her feet so she was standing in a ready, form Ataru stance. Letting the enraged Ren come after them might be a death wish, so taking an attacking stance would increase her chances. From her right, Kaida released a powerful wave of the force towards him, then jetted to the other platform. Bending her knees, Shamira leaped after her, landing softly beside the cryomancer, ready to attack off of the other’s movements. She didn’t have the confidence to take the lead, so she would allow the other two force users to attack before her and hope she could get the Ren off balance.
His ship was fast, but he couldn't outrun a torpedo. The other thing about his interceptor, however, was the unique rudder design having an enhancing effect on maneuverability. He cut the throttle depressed the left rudder and flipped the fighter around in a near zero turn, which put him facing the oncoming torpedo. He allowed the Force to guide his hand as he ever did when flying, fired a single burst from his cannons, and blew the torpedo apart. Then he punched the engines to full, fired another shot through the debris directly at Jianna's oncoming fighter, before swerving his fighter off to the side, away from the approaching angle of Nils, but giving Jianna a closer shot at him then he would normally have liked to do, though it wouldn't last long.
The Alliance's Interceptor pilot had flipped on a dime to a dead stop in his unique fighter, then fired on the proton torpedo that she had just sent speeding towards his rear a few moments earlier. Jianna quickly adjusted her shields forward so to give maximum protection, not from the debris per se that would come from the exploding missile as her TIE Raptor was out of initial range, but more so from a followup attack...
And sure enough it came too a couple of ticks later. It was exactly what Curls would had done if she was in his place. A volley of red laser bolts shot through the debris cloud as the rebel pilot flew through it towards Jianna. The young TIE pilot used the Raptor's high maneuverability and began to roll hard to port to evade the onslaught, but not before she engaged the ship's four solar ionization cannons, which were best up close like this and very powerful, along with the two NK-3 ion cannons sending a barrage of green laser bolts at the advancing rebel hoping to get lucky and hit his fighter before he swerved away.
If the dark-skinned Imperial would have been in one of the old "eyeballs", she would be particle dust by now. But with the added shields, today's TIE pilots had a better chance of survival. One of the Raptor's four solar panels though took a glancing hit as she went evasive. The shields held and limited the damage though they were weakened slightly.
As Striker Two recovered and came back up around, the Alliance ship was gone or rather vectored away to get lost in the busy space theater. Curls evened out her shields and made to hook back up with her wingman.
:: Striker One, negative on the bogey. He pulled a fast one. Coming up on your six now. ::
Both Jorg and Canal saw eye to eye. They both knew how to play the harsh and unforgiving game of war. Elliot, on the other hand, was acting a bit radical to the clone's eyes. Under these circumstances, Irajah was a liability to the whole squad. He didn't know who she really was and didn't know if all that she said was true, but Canal wasn't going to risk it and hope she didn't jeopardize them. Besides, with all her talk and equipment she carried, he dubbed her as an Imperial hostile.
"See?! She's part of their ranks! Someone will come looking for her if she doesn't report back to them. What kind of civilian doctor would report back to a military officer if they'd gone missing. Plus, they know that she's here. She can compromise us any time," he said, trying to legitimize his and Jorg's argument that she was a hostile. All Irajah's belongings were then set on a nearby table as he took them away from the doctor.
The Captain caught the cuffs that Jorg threw at him, and then would start to bind her hands behind her back.
"Jorg, get dress. Elliot, keep watching those girls until Jorg has changed into his armor and then switch, and then I'll change," the soldier said to his companions, knowing they would do as he said.
That was all he knew and could say. There was so much to think about. He had an independent mind unlike his infantry brethren of the Dreadguard, but there was so much to think about. Should they leave the doctor incapacitated or take her as prisoner? And if they did the latter, would she be a burden to them if they maneuvered throughout the streets of Cloud City as they tried to do their mission?
Location: Bespin, Hotel Suite Objective: Arrest the First Order Spy Who is Clearly Not a Doctor Allies: [member="Elliot Locke"] | [member="Canal"] Enemies: [member="Irajah Ven"]
Jorg indeed did exactly what Canal suggested.
Putting on the armor in the duffel bag wasn't actually all that complicated. It seemed that the strippers, or prostitutes or whatever the hell they were hadn't actually touched anything withini the bags themselves. He had no doubt that if they had more time the girls would have tried to sell the armor and equipment, but without the opportunity to do so it seemed that everything was still there. Jorg lowered the rifle he had trained on Irajah, knowing Canal would hold her until he was done.
He then quickly stripped himself down and slipped on the body-suit of the armor.
A few seconds was spent attaching the shark-skin plates as well as the other components of the armor, but within just a few minutes he managed to compose the entire thing, pulling on the heavy jetpack and hearing it loudly click into place. The Soldier adjusted it for a moment, heaving his shoulders before he scooped up the armor from the duffel and then glanced at Eliot. He looked at the man for a few seconds and then gently pulled him off to the side, motioning for Canal to give them just one second.
"Locke." He addressed the man firmly. "This mission is utterly and royally karked."
Jorg was being candid. "We have no idea what's going on, we have no idea what our mission is, and we have no idea where the First Order is located. The only and one thing that can get us from being thrown into the brig for gross incompetence is that woman. She might not be a General, but she's a part of the First Order. She's been to Bespin and likely other worlds. She knows the layouts of cities, outpost, and maybe even a few military installations. That's something."
He realized that they were in a high stress situation, but at this point they had to take what they could get.
"We take her, find a ship, get the kark back to the Alliance." He let out a sigh. "Save our skins."
The Alliance wasn't the One Sith, they wouldn't be executed for their conduct here, but they most certainly be thrown in prison. At least with Irajah in tow they could make some excuse and hopefully even be commended for their quick thinking. The Soldier shifted slightly, pulling the helmet over his head and letting the Visor remain clear for a second. "Good?"
In the middle of her Force Drain onslaught on Anora Shaw, Vader Ren attacked Siobhan once again, attempting to stab her in the neck with his lightsabre. Unfortunately for Vader Ren, things did not go the way he'd planned. He was wearing very heavy armour, yet jumping about on snowy terrain and monologuing. This made his approach less than subtle and killed any element of surprise. This was all rather ill-advised against a telekinesis master.
Siobhan was indeed no god, though she sure liked it when people worshipped her. Trying to pull off a surprise attack against her would have been a good move...if the Knight of Ren had not done everything imaginable to announce his entrance and give his opponent ample time to respond. Speechifying was not a free action. Moreover, her loyal space marine shouted a warning.
Siobhan's response was simple. When Vader Ren came at her, she willed her body to haste and side-stepped. Thus his sabre would hit naught but thin air. While the Ren was in mid-air, she pulled at the web of power that was the Force and unleashed a powerful telekinetic onslaught intended to ram him and slam him into the ground, making him easier picking for Yarrow, who was already coming at him with bolter fire, hammer and so on.
In the midst of everything, an EMP grenade exploded close by. Having been distracted by all that was going on, Siobhan was unable to push it away. She would be equally unaware that 'Captain Vrygg' had tossed it. Having been caught at the edge of the electrical blast, she was not unaffected.
Electrical sparks struck her, she winced slightly, but felt no pain. She was not that dependent on electronics, but her armour's jets and revolver shorted out. Her HUD went haywire, temporarily robbing her of vision, before rebooting. What affect the explosion might have on Vader Ren was another question, but if he was even slightly as dependent on his armour as the real Vader had been, it would probably be unpleasant, to put it lightly.
Location: Bespin, Nightclub Objective: Get our shet together Allies: [member="Jorg"], [member="Canal"] Oh Dear: [member="Irajah Ven"] Enemies: Time.
Elly looked over to Raj once she started talking again and basically sealed her own fate.
A frown marred the brows, but Jorg's words were filling in and making him frustrated about this entire affair. His head was hurting, throat dry and raspy, every single muscle in his body felt like screaming out and they had karked up the mission. It was an understanding that he had been desperately trying to ignore, to suppress, instead following one little sub-objective after the other and hope that at the end of it all... they would figure out what to do here. But they were coming to the end of the line and there was nothing here, besides a gorram doctor, a gaggle of strippers, two bags and their failure staring them in the eye.
He grimaced, before nodding.
"You are right." Locke responded and almost at one relief flooded back into his systems. He switched over with Jorg, once he was done donning his suit and started gathering up his own equipment.
The moment his mission had become clear again everything else faded to the background. Only a single glance was spend on Raj, a grimace at the edge of the corner of his mouth, before his facial expressions were muffled by a helmet and opaque visor. Raj was his friend and Elly would make sure that the Alliance treated her fairly, but he had a responsibility.
Not to him, not to her, but to his nation.
She had picked her side and the consequences were coming.
"It's not a death sentence for them." His voice sounded distorted now, automated, more clinical and focused. "You say your stormtroopers will come once you don't check in? They will find them here and have 'em evacuated."
If they were as 'good' and 'friendly' as Raj was making them out to be.
In truth Elliot doubted they would do that. They'd probably let them die, while they went out to hunt for their missing VIP - trying desperately to save their own hides, just as the three of them were doing right now.
Kiran looked down at the droid as he spoke, then back up at the screen, then back at the droid. For a few moments Kiran wasn't entirely sure if he should be insulted or glad about this. The Arkuhn was property of Vanir Technologies, and not under the purview of Saeva Incorporated.
In theory he could have used any one of a dozen other ships that Saeva had available, but it just so happened that when he'd gotten the contact from Admiral Tevv he had been on Vanir, the homeworld of the Corporation and the only ship in orbit had been...well The Arkuhn. By the time he could fetch another ship of equal size he likely would have spent another day or so waiting around and the battle would have been over. Thus it was better to just 'borrow' and ask for forgiveness.
Of course Rigor helped immensely in this, but the droid didn't really know what it was doing.
Original programming and all.
"Well." The Mercenary scratched his beard. "Open all batteries."
The droid looked up at the Mercenary for a moment, then slowly swiveled its head back towards the viewscreens ahead of it. The Arkuhn didn't move an inch, especially since no one seemed to be moving even a hair towards it, and simply continued to fire it's long range weapons. Turbo-lasers, long range ion cannons, and a few hundred missiles were sent hurtling towards the Coinchenn.
Objective: Not die of asphyxiation Allies: Galactic Alliance, [member="Leo Vandermolen"], [member="John Shepherd"], [member=Nawago], [member="Sanya Val Swift"], [member="Bryce Bantam"] Enemies: Impromptu Wampa fur coat
By the time Sanya and her gunners landed, Joza had finished rooting through what she could of the dilapidated ship. Admittedly she would miss the old thing, despite it being ugly. When all was said and done, she’d managed to salvage a few grenades, a half working datapad and another Duraglove for Sanya. While she wasn’t aware of her species vulnerability to cold, the comment about her being cold struck a maternal chord in the Zeltron.
“Here S, got ya some warms.” She tossed the Croa the bodyglove. “Doesn’t look like much, but it’s made to regulate body temperature so it’ll keep you from freezing to death. Thanks again, we really owe you one.” Giving the other woman a quick smile, she hurried to squeeze into the cabin next to Nawago, ending up sandwiching herself right next to the big guy so that she was partially laying on him. “Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll help them out one way or another.” Her voice steadied out to something hopefully more reassuring. Once what remained of the ORC crew piled in, the group would take off towards the ice caves.
The sounds of fighting echoed all around, and now with their vantage point they could actually see some of what was going down. Parts of Veers had been blown to bits, making Joza saw at her lower lip with her teeth in worry for Bryce. The good doctor meant well, but he’d been heading that way and she hoped that he was alright. In the midst of all that, she caught herself muttering a little prayer of the Force in his sake. That big heart is going to get you killed someday, Bantam.
Turning her neck at the most uncomfortable angle ever, she glanced down at what she could of the icy terrain below. It all blended together thanks to the uniform snow and random outcrops of rock to the point where she had no idea where the cave would be. Luckily they had a big fuzzy native with them to guide them. Drawing in a slow breath, Joza blinked twice rapidly and activated the infrared function on her contacts while scanning the territory beneath them. A cluster of red dots alerted her to a number of presences, all fairly close to another and concentrated in one area. “There,” She pointed out the window, gesturing towards Nawago for him to look. “Is that it?” Her voice was hopeful, if just for the fact that she could get her aching body out of this uncomfortable position.
He leaned forward and squinted his good eye in the direction of the enemy. Tiny little things were jettisoning from the destroyer that was lumbering towards them. Tiny little things. Escape pods! Oh bloody brilliant. The only reason to abandon a ship that wasn't even remotely near destruction was because you planned on doing something incredibly stupid. As he'd already predicted that they were going to try and ram him, they hadn't actually given anything away that he didn't already know, but given that they were abandoning the ship at such distance, there was definitely more to this than could be seen, and he didn't like it one bit. Nope. But at least he had the fighters to work with at range.
"Have the fighters destroy as many of those escape pods as they can. If the cowards want to run then they'll die as cowards."
"But sir, that's..."
"Do it, or I'll space you."
His eye stared right at the communications officer, who gulped and nodded before relaying the order to their fighters. While many of the pods would likely survive, not all of them would. They were going to ram his ship, and slaughter numerous of his people, all while running away themselves. No, he wasn't going to have any of that. If they were going to try something so pitiful on him then he was going to reward them with what they deserved: death.
And then, just like that, the destroyer disappeared. He blinked, and when his eye opened again, it was looming right before him.
"Sithspit that was a heck of a jump! All weapons fire! Helm full reverse and quarter turn!"
"Copy!"
The entire prow of the ship unleashed hell on the incoming destroyer. Even if it managed to get its shields online they wouldn't last long with the guns of the Trimiran bearing down on them. Especially guns designed to rip shields apart. And if they damage the ship enough, they could knock it off its course, and send it plunging towards the planet and away from them. But he needed to buy more time than that. The ship rocked as it was hit with fire.
"We've got new enemy vessels between us and the Commodore, sir! Our missiles are flying blind!"
"Doesn't matter! Even if they don't blow up and fly in a straight line they can do as much damage as a projectile cannon can. Have the Vitality and Nest move forward. Vitality should use her tractors to pull and Nest to push. We just need to knock her off her course and towards the planet instead."
The two ships, much faster than the Trimiran was, moved forward towards the enemy destroyer with the intention of engaging their tractor beams to push and pull on the enemy destroyer, and cause it to veer off course. The Temperance continued to fire in full as it moved in full reverse, her prow guns lancing up and down the enemy ship as it loomed before them, coming full force upon them, at least, until the 50 heavy ion cannons worked their magic. Bold maneuver, but with the guns on the Trimiran fully manned and waiting, it was suicidal.
"Have the Stormhawk target the enemy frigate that's firing on us at range with her hypervelocity guns!"
In moments, two three round bursts with as much power as 20 capital guns each flew past them aimed at the Know Death. Soon, she would certainly know death.
"Shields are dropping, sir! We're being focused heavily!"
"They'll hold long enough! Keep firing! We're going to take this bastard and his friends down!"
Actions:
-Temperance begins full reversal while firing 50 heavy ion cannons, 100 Raptor Ace's, and 50 Concussion missile launchers plus turbolaser fire at the Devastator, shields have now dropped below 50%
-Nest and Vitality move forward to engage tractor beams to push and pull the Devastator towards the planet and off its ramming trajectory
-Stormhawk fires her heavy hypervelocity guns (total equivalency of 40 capital guns of projectile) at the Know Death
-Fighters begin targeting escape pods as well as enemy fighters, prioritizing escape pods
Allies: FO Enemies (Godsdamnit): GA | [member="Elliot Locke"] [member="Jorg"] [member="Canal"] Objective: If Looks Could Kill
"I am not part of their ranks!"
Not that they weren't trying, but here in this moment, she knew better at least than to say *that*.
The exasperation and annoyance in her voice was clear. "You can see my damned clearance on the IDs. And how in the world would I compromise you? You took my comm, so I can't call them, and it's not like I know where you're going- what are you doing with those."
It wasn't really a question, since there were only so many things someone could do with stun cuffs, and this wasn't that kind of party.
She did take a step back. Slowly, carefully, hands still over her head as Canal approached with the cuffs and Jorg was getting into his armor. The look she shot Elliot when he spoke was mostly hard, eyes narrowing slightly, a nauseated flip in the pit of her stomach.
This was not happening to her again. Not now. Maybe not ever. There was no power in this galaxy that would take her without a fight *again*. Chances of success seemed small indeed, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to *try*. With [member="Cerbera"] almost done and Gideon gaining ground every day, being a guest of the Alliance for who knew how long simply didn't suit.
It was time that she couldn't afford to lose, in the deepest and truest of ways.
The briefest flick of hazel eyes at Canal was the only warning he had- but for a soldier it might be enough. Irajah could only hope that he (and the others) were as hungover as their eyes said they were.
Just as he reached out to take her wrists, while Jorg was pulling on his helmet, she moved, ducking and taking her head out of the line of fire. Dodging toward the dining room proper (there had to be another exit), she lashed out with the Force at the same moment. Her intention was to push Canal away, maybe far enough to knock into Elliot though she didn't wait to find out.
If she could reach the dining room, she'd have cover. But there were three crucial heartbeats where she was exposed, and she could only hope she'd timed it correctly and there were enough distractions to slow them down just. that. long.
Ghorua watched the two Dark-Siders with interest, a plan formulating in his mind. The Shark's dark pupils darted between them intensely, watching for subtle shifts in their posture that would give away an attack. His shoulder stung, and would be a nuisance to him in the future, but he had fought through far worse.
Samka began to walk forward, daring to step up to the Shark, and a plot suddenly crystallized, bringing with it a sharp involuntary smile. He would've responded with something witty, if he had the time. He saw the movement of a hand behind her, and heard the crisp snap of wood breaking. The Herglic's smile hardened in preparation for what he was about to do.
He had never been able to do this in combat before.
Let's see if those hours of training really payed off, eh?
As the splinters of wood rocketed at Ghorua, he crouched down, as if preparing to move. His momentum pushed him forward as if he were planning to run straight through the hail of thorns. Then, with too much grace for a being his size, he flipped.
Ghorua's hands struck the ground with palpable energy, the phrik in his gauntlets helping to disperse the harmful weight on his bones. Then, he heaved against the ground, using his arms to springboard into the air, cartwheeling towards the Ren that had so helpfully made the distance between them easier. Because of this, the meticulously aimed splinters picked at his protective belly armor.
The suddenly acrobatic Shark landed on two feet, albeit slightly shakily, right in front of a hopefully-surprised Master of Ren. With no time to waste, Ghorua touched a box on his waistline, putting out his other arm protectively in front of him.
The Shark's VT-Portable Shield Generator activated, creating a shimmering blue bubble around the Shark, and hopefully encasing Samka as well, trapping her in a five-meter diameter arena with the heavyweight, away from the help of Alkor.
Of course, she could possibly jump out of the way in time, in which case Ghorua would be protected while he devised another strategy.
