Faction A Spicy Situation

[Aperion]

Objective Two: Dust in the Wind
Tags: Garrion Der Rædwulf , R'ayne Asara

​

The battle had begun. The Bacta Brigade, the ones in the rear, would have to march forward to the frontline. And worst yet - Aperion could feel a dark presence nearing the mine. "Doc, Dace, with me", his calm voice seemed almost stoic.

"We're really gonna do this, huh? Bloody hell...", Dace, the pilot, would rather just enter a starship and start blasting and manoeuvering, Aperion was sure, but Doc's healing abilities were too special. Unless...

"Ignore that, Dace. You will leave Doc with Shield and present yourself to The General as a pilot. There is a Sith nearby. You will tell him to lock into my position, and when the Sith is seen, to bombard the area I'm in."

"The 'area you're in'? So... tell him to bomb you?", Dace looked exhasperated.

"Yes."

"Ape. You're fucking bonkers, mate", but Aperion couldn't hear his comrade. He threw his robes over Dace, and rapidly shapeshifted into a Silver, smooth-skinned Colicoid, almost a replica of his comrade Shield. The lightsaber seemed to enter his skin, stored inside his own body. As fast as he transformed, Aperion curls into a ball, rolling his way to the general location of the malign presence he suddenly felt. His metal-like skin would reflect the sunlight and assure General Garrion Der Rædwulf would know his exact position - there weren't many metal balls in Kessel, Aperion feared.

"Right. Now with getting you to Shield", Dace said, gently pressing his Kaduul partner's head and running to his Colicoid comrade.

-

When the silver ball rolled out of the mine, both Shield and Eater, still waiting for the enemy to advance, realised rather fast: well, it was Aperion. "Iz that how I look?", Shield asked Eater, his voice rather disappointed.

Minus the silver? Pretty much.

Eater, with me, Aperion thought. He was already accustommed to think rather than merely talk to Eater. It was faster, too. Such was the strength of communication through telepathy: it was almost instantaneous, and secure. Eater waited for the silver ball to reach her. Suddenly, moments before the ball runs her over, it suddenly unfurls and grabs her, curling up again and making his way to the dark presence. Shield is left with the high-pitched screech Eater made.

There is a dark presence nearby, Eater.

And what in the universe are you gonna do?

I am going to kill it. And you are going to help me.

Oh, dear...

The presence is near, Aperion can feel it. Suddenly, the ball stops, dead rebel corpses in front of it, the burning scent of lightsaber-deformed flesh. The ball stops, and Aperion shapeshifts into his humanoid self once again. In front of him, more than dozens of meters away, were R'ayne Asara and his soldiers. It was time, Aperion thought, his lightsaber suddenly getting out of his left palm. He holds it with strength, turning the blade on and adopting the classic position of Soresu. He only had to stall her before the bombing. This was going to be interesting.

-

After leaving Doc with Shield, Dace enters Garrion Der Rædwulf 's barrack. Forcefully saluting the General -a mock salute, sarcastic even, rather than a real one-, the Pilot says, with a serious face.

" 'General', there's a Sith or... something like that near the mines. Ape and Eater went to stall them. He wants you to locate him, the Sith around him and... and bomb the hell out of his position", Dace said, and before the General could even protest, he added firmly, as if it mattered: "Those are his orders. His body reflects as much light as any polished metal. Do it"​

 

[Garrion Der Rædwulf]

GENERAL GARRION
OBJECTIVE II

CURRENT MISSION: Stall the enemy advance, and make them bleed for every inch.

---

After a bout of AT-AT fire hit the exterior defenses of the mine, Garrion was surprised. He hadn't expected such a reckless advance.
"Well, if they keep moving forward, that walker's bound to ground itself. No need to waste resources on Retaliation." He murmured, mentally taking note that the walkers must be getting awfully close to the edges of the minefield, had they not already begun to detonate some. He was too busy to check, instead concerning himself with:

"Everyone alright?" When he was met with a collective "Yes", he carried on as if nothing had happened. "Well, at least they're wasting time on us and not our instillations. Turbolaser cannons are to maintain fire on the enemy AT-AT walkers. Keep their attention as long as we can, it'll buy us time for the next artillery salvo." He paused, drumming his fingers on the holotable. "In fact... should they begin crossing the minefield, commence active use of the RPS-6's. Target the walker's necks, that should help us bring down one or two. Maybe a few more, if we get lucky." He mused.

Fortunately, the enemy was going to find itself walking into a roadblock, one that could buy Garrion the time they needed to unleash proper retaliation if the stars aligned. Of course, Jonyna was responsible for managing allied armor... and Garrion hoped she'd use the window he'd give her wisely.

"I want a message relayed to our scouts, Unit 12." With that, one of the Lieutenants took to the heliograph.

"Pass along message to Unit 13..." Which, Unit 13 promptly relayed to Unit 12: "Make probing strike on the enemy forwarding camp, coordinates...Retreat after strike, draw away enemy attention."
Unit 12 took to their speederbikes soon after relaying an affirmation of receiving the order, making their way away from the battlefield and towards one of the initial landing sites. Which, if collected intelligence thus far was correct about, appeared to be the operating base. If the Scouts could draw away even a small chunk, reinforcements for the walker assault could be delayed.

Not long after coordinating the probe strike, Garrion was approached by Dace. It took him a second to process the words, before nodding. "Thank you. Your commander is certainly brave, if nothing else, is he not?" He jested, though... was worried that even for a shapeshifter like Aperion that a direct missile strike might be his undoing. Then again, his ally likely had a plan to avoid certain death.

"Relay to the artillery that they are to attack... One moment..." Garrion had to squint, as he looked over a the ridge above for the reflection of silver skin. Annoyingly, the misty rain of the gathering storm continued intensifying, albeit slowly. To make things worse, it had begun to pick up the scattered dust from bombardments and walker blasts. This combination made it difficult to fully discern his ally's location before eventually managing to identify him via a combination of thermal and isolating where he couldn't be from where he could, according to projections.
"There, coordinates-... Oh my, that's... one of ours." Garrion acknowledged... knowing they had likely already been slain by this supposed Sith, lamenting that there was nothing he could do. Yet... they needed to press on.

"Their sacrifice will not be in vain. Target the following coordinates, yet do not fire until I give you the order:" He finished, returning to the task at hand. There would be time to honor the fallen after the battle.

The missile launchers received the command, with one launcher slowly rotating towards the cliffs, preparing to fire a salvo once confirmation for a strike had been given.

Garrion focused his attention back towards his comrade's position, awaiting affirmation for a strike as he continued to fight against his lack visibility.

ACTION SUMMARY:

• Garrion orders the ground forces to continue drawing on the attention of the walkers
• The ground forces prepare to use rocket launchers in the event the walkers get close enough to be targeted directly
• A small scouting unit moves away from the battle via speederbike, preparing a small distracting strike on the Imperial forwarding base to draw attention away and (possibly) delay reinforcements
• The weather continues to be an annoyance
• One of the missile launchers is readied to fire on Aperion 's position once the order is given.

TAGS: [Open], Aperion Jonyna Si Ronhar Tane Kalit D'wari Octavia Renn Lothar Braeyek R'ayne Asara

 

[Aldus Kragg]

Location: Bridge, MIN Halberd
Objective: I — Kessel Run
Allies: [IMG alt="John Mahporeem"]https://www.starwarsrp.net/data/avatars/s/56/56883.jpg?1778359157[/IMG] John Mahporeem | [IMG alt="Captain Charles"]https://www.starwarsrp.net/data/avatars/s/56/56830.jpg?1785389823[/IMG] Captain Charles | [IMG alt="Felix Yorwell"]https://www.starwarsrp.net/data/avatars/s/55/55909.jpg?1769811407[/IMG] Felix Yorwell Jyote Veyr​

The void above Kessel was thick with the distant glare of the system's yellow sun and the heavy, industrial shadows of the fleet. Integrated directly into the outer defensive screen of Captain Charles's First Scouting Squadron, the newly commissioned VT-50 Obliterator-class assault ship held a stationary, predatory position on the perimeter of the task force. While the larger Vengeance-class cruisers maintained the primary defensive line, the Obliterator sat as an aggressive, forward-deployed scout, its systems dialed into the squadron's defensive ring.

Inside the command bridge, Aldus stood at the central plinth with his hands clasped behind his back, his midnight-charcoal dress uniform clean against the low glow of the terminals. He slowly turned his family's signet ring, his analytical gaze tracking the empty space ahead. Behind him, the bridge was a hive of quiet discipline.

The calm of the sector shattered in an instant. The Caragachi fleet under Commodore Yorwell burst into the system, their massive, purple hulls tearing out of hyperspace and immediately firing up a forty-kilometer radius gravity-well suppression field. The sudden, violent shifting of space-time metrics registered instantly across the Halberd's terminals, forcing the entire sector into a closed, cage-match arena where micro-jumps were completely off the board.

Moments later, the tactical network on the Halberd's bridge updated with the latest command data routed directly from the Collateral Star. The transmission packet carried the strict, methodically organized search protocols issued by the flagship's flight controller, Jyote Veyr . Her directives were explicit: Imperial squadrons were to maintain a loose, seemingly aimless reconnaissance sweep, moving into position around the suspected stealth contacts without converging or triggering an early engagement.

Aldus tracked the incoming markers as the Collateral Star's TIE Striders and Vultures shifted their positions across his display. He recognized the calculated restraint in Veyr's positioning; she was subtly tightening a noose around the hidden Rebel Star Liberator while projecting the illusion of an ordinary patrol sweep to keep the enemy from blinking.

"Control's vectors are precise," Aldus noted, his analytical gaze resting on the screen as he turned his family's signet ring. "She is masking the trap behind standard naval caution. Ensure our propulsion grids remain completely synchronized with the flagship's tracking movement."

Zoro Igala's Rebel stealth cruisers were running dark, hiding beneath heavy cloaking screens to lock down their ambush. However, the Halberd was built precisely to outmatch this level of tactical interference. Utilizing the ship's advanced processor core and sensing software, Aldus's bridge was perfectly insulated against the electronic noise. The system actively filtered out the ghost signatures, coordinating its data-feed with the flagship's magnetic pings to track the faint distortion trails left by the hidden Star Liberators and add this real-time scan data to the overall Imperial grid.

Aldus stared at the faint digital vector painting onto his console, his expression entirely cool and unbothered. He didn't know how confident these rebels were, but he knew how to handle their deception. He stepped up to the command console and issued a precise, measured directive to his crew.

"Coordinate our flight vectors directly with Captain Charles's screening units," Aldus ordered smoothly, his tone carrying the calm drawl of an aristocrat. "Ensign Sarn, suppress our active target-acquisition arrays to match the screen plane. Hold all weapons tight as per Control's directives. We will not converge or compromise the flagship's hunting geometry. Calibrate the variable-payload launchers for high-intensity proton torpedoes, and toggle the plasma turrets to rapid-fire convergence vectors. We'll continue to ride the blind spots in their search patterns until the Admiral commands the strike."

 

[Orinn Darge]

Unit: Rampart Platoon, MSOC "Valkyrie"
Location: Operational Cordon, External Trenches of the Kessel Spice Mines
Commmander: Captain Orrin Darge (Rampart 1)
Tag: Ronhar Tane R'ayne Asara Octavia Renn Lothar Braeyek KV-027 Dayna Rhyss​

The interior of the Lambda B-TIE Dropships were unbroken chambers of high-velocity vibration. Red operations lighting bathed the twenty-four Special Missions Troopers of Rampart Platoon as the gunships bucked against the violent anti-air flak bursts tearing through Kessel's yellow, toxic sky.

Captain Orrin Darge stood locked to the forward cockpit bulkhead. His scuffed battleship-gray duraplast and field-green armor plates were sealed tight, his helmet's polarized visor translating an intense, chaotic web of data streamed down from the company's permanent base ship, the MIN Tempest.

This was no isolated, asymmetric skirmish. It was a massive, synchronized combined-arms offensive to break the Wild Space Rebellion's premier logistics node.

"Rampart 1, we are clear of the naval blockade," the pilot called out over the intercom, banking the ship hard over a jagged ridge. "Touchdown at the forward LZ in thirty seconds!"

The moment the ventral doors slammed open, the oppressive stench of sulfur, dust, and raw unrefined spice rolled into the troop bay. Out on the plains, the ground literally shook. To the left, the titanic, armored form of Sergeant Lothar Braeyek 's AT-AT was grinding methodically through the broken landscape, its chin-mounted heavy laser cannons delivering thunderous salvos that battered the rebel trenches into clouds of flying stone and fire.

Directly ahead, Captain Ronhar Tane 's formidable armored column, a rolling vanguard of heavy walkers and modular artillery, was pressing deep into the "Red Zone," utilizing their shield generators to absorb the heavy rebel counter-barrage.

"Rampart, double-time down the ramps! Hit the defilades!" Orrin ordered, his voice carrying absolute, pragmatic command authority as his boots hit the salt-bleached gravel.

The Special Missions Troopers fanned out in an automated, rapid wedge file. They weren't here to act as a front-line anvil; they were here to be a surgical scalpel assisting the heavy armor vanguard.

Orrin dropped behind the armored track of an idling personnel carrier, immediately switching his tactical console to integrate with the division's localized networks. Thanks to the real-time data packets forwarded directly from Captain Octavia Renn 's Special Intelligence division, the blind spots of the rebel layout were laid bare on his HUD. SPECINT had already cross-referenced the enemy's transmission patterns with the local topography. Even better, a targeted reconnaissance ping from SpecInt Agents KV-027 and Dayna Rhyss flashed a hard orange bracket on his display, confirming they had just utilized an Otherplasma sniper rifle to locate and neutralize a pair of concealed rebel missile launchers anchoring the northern ridge.

"The eyes in the sky gave us a seam," Orrin barked over the secure platoon channel. "Rampart 2, get the heavy weapons up!"

Sergeant Major Hamish Horvath signaled the crews of Hammer Squad. Working in close coordination with Braeyek's advancing AT-AT, the machine gun teams mounted their M-120F "Harrower" Heavy Repeaters behind portable energy shields. The gunners unleashed controlled, alternating bursts over the low parapets, maintaining a steady discipline to chip away at the rebel fortification lines and suppress the anti-tank crews attempting to line up a shot on the advancing armor flanks.

Beside the heavy repeaters, the squad's ordnance teams aggressively went to work. The grenadiers adjusted the cylinders of their M-19 "Hammerstrike" Micro-Grenade Launchers. Slaving their targeting optics directly to the telemetry Renn's intelligence officers were actively broadcasting, they lobbed a precise arc of high-explosive ordnance over the outer mine ramparts. The explosive canisters detonated in rapid succession, shattering the sandbagged nests of a rebel squad that had been trying to guide remote, improvised explosives toward the armor's lower leg joints.

Simultaneously, a two-man anti-armor team hoisted the heavy M-31A "Firestorm" Multi-Purpose Missile Launcher. Locking onto the magnetic signature of a fortified rebel bunker anchoring the center of the defensive wall, the loader slammed the backing home before the gunner pulled the trigger. With a deafening roar, the heavy missile spiraled out of the tube, slamming directly into the bunker's observation slit to cave in the concrete and silence its crossfire.

The seasoned special operators of Rampart Platoon integrated flawlessly into the combined assault, carving vital pockets of air for the mainline forces to exploit and keeping the pressure of of the larger friendly targets beside them.

Orrin raised his carbine, his visor tracking the dark silhouette of the canyon where Lady R'ayne Asara and her midnight-armored Drakonis Order were currently tearing through the remaining rebel infantry with cold, lethal efficiency. The Sith Lady was carving a literal blood-trail straight toward the claustrophobic depths of the central spice shafts. He was more than familiar with her particular brand of lethality, and as always found himself glad she was on his side.

He keyed his transmitter, opening a multi-channel link to the advancing commanders.

"Captain Tane, Sergeant Braeyek—this is Rampart 1. We have established a support-by-fire baseline on your right flank. The rebel missile batteries on the ridge are dark, and our ordnance teams are actively suppressing the trench pockets threatening your lower chassis. The road to the primary gate is opening up. We move when you move.

Lady Asara, we are checking our fire on the western defile to clear your ingress path. Rampart Platoon is set to pivot in behind you. The moment your line infantry breaches the inner blast doors, my Special Missions Troopers are ready to dive in. Let's break this hive!."​