A Walk to Remember (Dominion of Maravin)

[Cody Weadge]

The Imperial spy was far from allies as he carefully crossed from rooftop to rooftop. The city seemed deserted, the streets below silent and air traffic non existent. It was understandable though, for outside the city approached the Imperial war machine. The unmistakable form of AT-ATs strode heavily across the ground, with AT-STs and stormtroopers filling in the caps. Leading the charge were the best of hte best, the Emperor's Own Legion.

Against them was the cities defenses. Trenches had been hastily dug when news of the Galactic Empire having taken control of Iol to the south had reached the city, and every gun had found its way into someone's hands. The people of Iol had been quick to submit to the shock forces under Emperor Kahoshi's forces, Maravin was proving less wise.

Over his shoulder Special Agent Weadge carried a long carrying case of local design, and his clothes had been provided by Iol. It had allowed him to pass through the defenses, but it was only this city's lack of air power that kept him truly safe. Maravin was an industrial center, but the wealth seemed to be held entirely by the factory owners.

This would change soon.

 

[Darth Libertas]

Conquest, slaughter, subjugation, oh so very beautiful. Every great power had come to Valen, as if this place were a magnet that inexorably pulled them all here. Cortosis was the great prize that none could ignore, though some would see the need to camouflage the intentions, perhaps to appease the masses and lull the natives into obedience, perhaps to make them feel better. So they spoke of extending their protection and carrying the torch of civilisation or of introducing democracy and freedom.

Others were more honest and upfront, dispensing with such hypocritical nonsense. Conquest was the law of any empire, for one either expanded or died. A silver tongue had its place, the better to make others obey.

The Empire had come to Maravin and in the distance the mechanical behemoths that formed its war machine could be made out. The ground trembled beneath their massive feet as AT-ATs advanced, along with smaller walker units and hordes of white-armour clad stormtroopers.

The behemoths were ancient but they got the job the done. They were not about subtlety, but about hitting the enemy with the force of a battering ram and leaving naught but devastation in their wake. The streets of the city were all but deserted, a ghost city, any vehicle at hand had been confiscated by the defenders if it had not already been used by a civilian to flee.

"Maravin expects every citizen to do their duty. Dig trenches, man the barricades, turn every house into a fortress. Any man who deserts is a traitor and will be punished with death. Deliverance is near and the Republic will aid us," thus it came out of the loudspeakers that had been set up. As a reminder of the consequences of disobedience a worker who had tried to shirk his patriotic duty hung from a lamppost, a placard around his neck proclaiming him to be a traitor.

"C'mon, men, faster your heard the proclamation. There will be no surrender. Fight well and your lives will be better after! Better wages, better living for anyone who fights with valour. Punishment for anyone who fails," one of the officers, a captain by his insignia, bellowed out to a contingent of workers, whose armour looked primitive and poorly made, as they manned the trenches, blaster rifles and some grenade launchers aimed at the no man's land. Emplacements of e-webs had been set up to hopefully spray the area ahead of them with salvoes of heavy laser fire, along with troopers armed with missile launchers. More threatening were the mortars and artillery cannons, which could punch a hole even into a walker. These tended to be guarded by what passed for the elite troops of the regime, and also meant to keep the workers that formed the bulk of the troops in line.

"You heard him, do your duty, your great moment is coming or suffer the consequences," a female voice spoke, the person it was coming from was a redhead dressed in the fatigues of the militia with the rank of lieutenant, holding a blaster rifle as she oversaw a unit of workers, some of them so young one would think they belonged in school and not on a battlefield, but then all had been called out to serve the People's Guard.

"Don't slack," she spoke authoritatively as she observed them, then took a pair of binoculars to observe the advancing shapes of the Imperial tanks and walkers in the distance. "Is everything ready," she spoke almost in a whisper when a sergeant approached, one of the workers drafted into combat.

He looked around surreptitiously, for the political officer was never far, before responding. "Aye, give the signal and the men'll rise but you better keep your end. We ain't gonna be played," he said gruffly. "We want the bastards' hands."

A smile crossed her soft features, almost beatific. "Their heads and riches, free plundering for the night. There's this thing about the Empire, we don't make promises, incite workers to rise and then chicken out."

"The commissar gets a bullet, we take the mortars and the big guns. The palace could use a bang," she said quietly, an almost feral grin crossing her features before she turned back in character. "Don't just stand there, get that gun in position," she yelled at workers pulling a howitzer into position, shooting her blaster pistol in the air for emphasis.

 

[Rexus Drath]

First to fight, the difference in leadership. The emperors own had a different motto, instead of "charge" it was "Follow me gents." and that was shown right now, the emperors legion led the fight in light armored assault vehicles speeding to the hastily dug trenches of the city. "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Rex yelled and stood up in the transport firing the rotating turret on top firing at the cities defenses, he missed planetary invasions and conquest. As much as a goody two shoes as Rex could be he honestly loved the smell of ruin and war, he had just got off the hellish assignment of deadman wonderland and he could use some stress relief.

The transport continued to move under fire until it reached the first trench on the outskirts of the city, jumping and unloading from the speeder he grabbed his rifle and dove head first into the trenches with the rest of his squad. "For the empire!" Rex and his comrades let out a battle cry as they begun the fight with the small opposition of the enemy, awaiting any orders from higher officers.

 

[Junko Ike]

Junko stood at the ready as she looked upon the place, there wasn't much to go with her outfit aside from the jacket and pants but she could easily hide those with the white current. If anything right now all that was needed would be working to see what the locals were like. So she walked and rolled her eyes under the mass of hair observing under the cloaking of the white current. The rest of the empire would be doing what they did best, infiltrating or fighing so maybe there was a chance she could get some good stuff.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

A new world had been discovered. Rich with cortosis, such a precious metal. Like angry locusts all the great powers had descended upon it, for to the victor went the spoils and the cortosis must flow. Perhaps across time and space there was another Moira Skaldi who had read about a world called Dune that was coveted by the great powers of its time for the precious spice.

Of course, the natives had to yet comprehend their place in things. Their rights were forfeit, the imperialist powers would make them bend to their will, such was the lot of small people when their greaters clashed.

They were impressive sights, one had to admit. Thus they had been designed. Over twenty metres tall, almost thirty metres long, main cabins almost ten metres thick, boasting centimetres of very powerful armour, designed to take a strong hit so that the behemoth could dish out something even more devastating, leaving only ashes in its wake. Virtually invulnerable to small arms fire, able to fire at the enemy from a doen and half kilometres away provided clear line of sight.

Not to mention the sheer psychological terror of seeing a behemoth of this size advancing upon you, inexorably, mercilessly. Yes, the All-Terrain Armoured Transport was an impressive tool of death and desolation. Equipped with devastating firepower, carrying several stormtroopers, cogs in a machine, eager to give their lives, for they were minions, it suited its current commander quite nicely. The commander being Moira Skaldi, who from the cockpit of the AT-AT had a good view of what lay before her; the ghost city of Marvin, the long line of trenches, the guns that would soon come into view. Commanding one brought back memories, those of Cato Neimoidia, such an interesting episode that had sent such ripples. Back then...she had been human...so she recalled at least, but already set on the path that would lead to ascension.

As ever her loyalties were to herself and now she was a free agent, here on contract. A dispassionate actor and observer to what perhaps would be a clash. She cared not who won.

Soon the cannons of the heavy walker would spit out death upon the defenders, those foolish enough to get close would be crushed and the massive feet of the walker would be slick with the blood of innocents. Moira's face was impassive as she gazed upon the field, scanning, her mind linked with the computer interface, the guns being powered up, the heavy walker being flanked by AT-STs and light armoured personnel carriers, securing it against ambushes, the ground shaking beneath their advance.

As ever, change was underway in the Galaxy. Right now it was just skirmishes with the natives, but perhaps the great powers would clash on this planet, ravaging its surface with war. Should this transpire Moira would be well pleased. The Galaxy had been far too peaceful for her liking. It was almost disgusting. If need be it would have to be helped to get back on the right path.

 

[Bellalika]

Bellalika looked up as Rex as he was cheering and she just stared, her first instinct was to run and hide but only because she was a infiltration specialist this wasn't a fight she could prosper in. Still though his enjoyment was infectious and she found herself smiling before moving through the trenches and towards the city with a saber in her hand emitting a pale blue glow. Her purge unit ready to fire and be reloaded as she spoke. "Yes for the Empire."

 

[Rexus Drath]

Rex and his companions seemed to secure the first trench pretty easily, they didn't even lose a man in his squad. Even the kid riding shogun with them was in one piece, though that didn't really surprise him. She was tough for a girl her age and Rex admired that, she reminded him a bit of Jen, but that was something he didn't like to think about. "Good job everyone! Set up a CASVAC zone here and get long range communications online so we can hail bombers for fire missions!" Rex was back in his element, back on the front lines where he belonged, all this force user stuff was fun and all but he was a grunt at heart.

The team of troopers hoisted up an antenna and programmed the comm units quickly, Rex walked up to the tower and picked up the war piece to hail the command unit. "COC COC this is Jade Dragon's Claw one four, picket fence has been secured and we are ready to move into the palace. If any additional orders arise contact at this frequency, How copy over." Rex put down the ear piece and put his helmet back on looking over to his troops and Bellalika "You guys ready?"

 

[Junko Ike]

Junko continued to move through the city and remained in cover for herself, there was much going on but none right now more important then opening those doors for Atrisia which could let the soldiers in and the weapons the emperor had secreted away. She moved quickly moving into a room and watching as some of the soldiers went to defend the walls from what she could sense was a knight causing a scene.

 

[Bellalika]

Bellalika looked up from her position as Rex spoke and she gave a nod that she was ready and dove back into cover letting herself be immersed in the force to hide from the sight of others. A wonderful mind trick as it stood out and she dodged coming up and reflecting a shot back into one. Then she let out a breath and took aim squeezing the trigger as the spray came out of the purge unit and ignited reaching out to incinerate the valen before her. He screamed and she pushed him back.

 

[Cyrus Tregessar]

It had been, by Cyrus' last count, (which wasn't exactly recent) some 14 years since he had last seen some form of combat that didn't involve sitting in a chair commanding a ship or a fleet. He wasn't out of shape, and his eye was as good as it had been when he'd first joined the military 20 years ago, but he was out of practice in any theater that didn't involve kilometer long warships.

Learn by doing, he'd always said. He'd first led a boarding action as a brand new Ensign with no real training outside of some basic simulators and whatever tactical manuals he could get his hands on. He'd never forgotten the rush of charging down a narrow plasteel passageway, where the only direction to run was forward into the jaws of death. There were lessons learned in the tight corners and packed galleries on a starship that you couldn't find anywhere else, and they'd served him well in his career as a commander of ships. Hopefully they'd serve equally well in an airborne assault on a city as well.

The aircraft he was in, one of the new UA-101's, dubbed 'Hell Hawks' by his men, shifted suddenly to the left as it cut through a cloud, jolting Cyrus out of his reverie. Around him was a squadron of soldiers clad in equally new Assault Recon body armor. They were the elite of the Imperial military, Stormtroopers, SpecForce, Rangers, and veterans, in whatever numbers Emperor Kahoshi had been willing to sacrifice from his other forces. For now they numbered less than 3000, and most of those were still off-planet. And here they were in their first battle, a hot drop into the middle of an embattled city, and Cyrus in the thick of it with them.

A hundred Hell Hawks, almost the entire fleet that had been manufactured so far were airborne. Most had only the nose gun and rocket pods, the larger blaster cannons being slow to manufacture. The plan was simple, the 20 or so equipped as gunships would take the lead, strafing the landing areas and suppressing enemy defenses. The transports, in groups of three and four, would land their squads, which divided into platoons had specific objectives to take.

Or, sort of specific objectives. On a normal planet orbital reconnaissance would have made mapping the city a trivial job. On Valen they had to depend on older techniques; aerial flybys and old-fashioned intelligence work. The information they had so far was rough, but workable. Still, even if the objectives were captured, the idea was to cause enough chaos and disrupt the defenders communications and logistics enough that the main assault could advance easily and relieve the embattled Force Recon troops.

So Cyrus had a round 600 men versus a city. His initial projections had put the likelihood of success at 44% with estimated 68% casualties. For most other commanders, those numbers would have read like a suicide mission.

Cyrus just grinned.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

Resistance was futile. Those who resisted were already dead. Dead due to stupidity. They were insignificant and would be crushed like the cockroackes they were. After all, what measure was the life of an organic? They bred like rabbits after all.

The AT-AT was a weapon of terror and destruction, designed to withstand heavy enemy fire and unleash desolation upon them. Its heavy durasteel was virtually impervious to all but the heaviest artillery weapons and no Rebel snowspeeders, should these pop up through space and time, would get the drop on her and bring down its legs by tripping them with cables, something so utterly comical. Likewise no farmboy Jedi prancing around with their lightsabres. After all, by now Moira had some experience in fighting forcers. If such a puerile term was permitted, one might say that she hunted them for the lulz.

The earth was shaken by tremors as the titanic behemoth relentessly advanced out of the fog, bristling with firepower and flanked by AT-STs and fast strike vehicles that were ready to spit out hordes of stormtroopers in a moment, the heavy walkers themselves were able to transport the legionaires of the Empire into battle. Before them lay the enemy trenches, packed to the brim with militiamen and soldiers, many of them no doubt pressed into service, some perhaps even as young as children, obviously from workers' families, for the welloff had fled the city or barricaded themselves, they would not be asked to shed their own blood.

As if on cue the volley of enemy started. An explosive shell detonated twenty metres in front of the walker, and a little to the right. Then the volley began in earnest as Moira watched impassively. Mortars thoomped out explosive shells that were shot in a wide arc against the Imperial forces, throwing up the earth. One armoured personnel carrier was caught in a blast and after its shields shortcircuited was set alight, stormtroopers trying to crawl out being ignited.

High-energy bursts slammed into the AT-AT's right-forward leg, sending a shudder throughout the frame, but the death machine remained upright and advanced as it was peppered with energy bursts, its fire linked heavy laser cannon taking aim as Moira steered it, effortlessly estimating the correct range and velocity, then death spewed out in form of a powerful laser beam as the cannon fired, a building behind the trenches from which militiamen were firing RPGs being blasted and set alight, wrecked, then agonised cries were heard as a laser beam reduced artillery emplacements to scrap, the crew being fried.

The floor hatch of the walker was opened and stormtroopers rappeled down, soon advancing, their plastoid armour deflecting the poorly aimed laser shots as they charged, covered the heavy laser fire spewing out of the walkers. Shadows could be made out on the ground as Imperial Gunships roared across the plain. Flak fire from the defenders was shot up into the sky, but in doing so the defenders were forced to reveal their positions and missiles streaked through the air towards them. Moira was impassive throughout this, a precise flick of her control stick bringing the cannon around to blast an advancing repulsortank to scrap. At the sight of the behemoths some of the militiamen turned tail and fled in terror, their fear of the Imperials dwarfing the one they felt for their masters, but they did not get far for blocking squads had been hidden in the rear or in buildings and they immediately opened fire with repeaters, red laser blasts mowing the retreating soldiers down.

 

[Antera]

Somarae had run the simulations, but even so actually having the controls of a UA-101 at her fingertips was an altogether different and thrilling proposition. Her heart rate rose steadily as her wing approached the outskirts of the city of Maravin. The rest of Dao Squadron remained on station with the fleet, but she'd stepped forward to volunteer for this assignment.

Under her helmet her eyes closed, feeling the points of danger, the violence below. It was strange, she'd been so, so afraid of her powers... but now she was growing to not only rely on them, but enjoy them. There was nothing like the feeling of sensing the back and forth of the battle around herself, the individual points of every soldier coalescing into entire armies, fighting as massed entities. She could almost lose herself in it.

Her eyes snapped open as they entered the city limits, tilting the craft forward to begin an opening barrage of rockets across the hardened defenses below. Her gunner was quick to follow her lead, turning the craft's turrets this way and that, lancing bolts of energy downwards with devastating results.

The returning fire was scattered and disorganized, a few shots from a mounted repeater pinging uselessly off of her gunship's armored plating, but with a quick burst of the maneuvering thrusters she brought her craft in line to strike back. The repeater nest went up in a ball of fire as a rocket impacted inside. The defenders were far from broken, but they were falling back to more defensible positions in the wake of the air strike. She moved to pursue, widening the drop zone for the transports following behind her.

@[member="Cyrus Tregessar"]

 

[Rexus Drath]

"ugh." That guy was dead, like beyond the normal version of dead but really really dead. The young girl had torched poor guy with extreme prejudice, Rex looked at the rest of his men and loaded a new clip into his blaster rifle. "Let's go guys, we need to move into the city and set up a COP in one of the taller forward buildings, get distance and eyes to laze targets for the hawks in the sky. ErrRah?!" Rex let out a little chant at the end of what needed to be done, his men all responded with the same chant "Rah!" they said in unison Rex grinned under his helmet then looked poking his head out the trench and onto the outskirts of the city for the tallest building he could find until his eyes met a rather tall skyscraper that was perfect to set up a COP.

Getting down from the trench he looked at the young force user and his men once more. "COC this is Dragon's claw one four moving in! Follow me and keep up." Rex jumped up out of the trench in a dead sprint to the tower, it was a solid half mile to the target and it didn't make it easier that they were taking fire from almost every direction. But they had to get out of the kill zone and into the tower.

 

[Darth Libertas]

"Hold the line men, fight for your town. Anyone who breaks ranks dies a coward. Artillery, bombard the walkers. Mortars, incendiary on the stormtroopers. Your people are...," the Captain did not get any further in his grand speech because suddenly a stream of fire shot out Naamah's Purge Unit and sprayed him, igniting him. The officer screamed in pain and anger and lunged at her, blaster pistol in hand, but she dodged and rammed a vibroblade into his chest, making him crumple to the ground as the flames spread.
As if they had been waiting for a signal militiamen, all workers pressed into service, suddenly spun and levelled their blasters and slugthrowers at their officers, firing. Caught by surprise the officers were swiftly mowed down in blasts of laser fire and slug rounds, their screams echoing across the trenches.
"Mutiny! Kill the traitors!" one of the leaders of the blocking squads cried out and a hailstorm of laser fire was opened up by the repeaters, cutting down some of the rebels, but suddenly a loud boom was heard as a mortar crew turned on them and shells smashed onto the ground, the soldiers of the blocking squad being sent flying before they caught fire as the the billowing white smoke of a phosphorus shell rose up into the sky. Pure chaos reigned in the trenches as militiaman fought against militiaman, something only amplified by the boom of the walker's heavy cannons as the energy shells hit home, throwing up the earth, blasting soldiers to pieces, fires spreading. Naamah advanced grimly, rallying a group of rebels as they charged an artillery crew, hewing down soldiers and grabbing a discarded grenade launcher, taking aim at an RPG crew that was bombarding rebels, then squeezed the trigger to send a grenade flying in a wide arc, blasting them in a beautiful explosion.

 

[Cody Weadge]

Off in the distance, Cody could hear the ongoing battle. Now it was up to him to carry out his part of the battle plan. Running full speed, he leaped into the air and landed on the next building over. The landing was hard, but he had more than enough practice. Crouching low, the agent moved to the far end of the building and peered over the edge.

Of in the distance was an opulent building. Inside was the rulers of the city, safely as far from the battle as they could. The lack of war experience on Valen was obvious though, on most worlds these leaders would be deep in a bunker. It seemed it was Cody's lucky day after all.

Setting down his carrying case, he opened it to reveal the sniper rifle hidden inside. Carefully removing the pieces, he assembled them with precision. Once the rifle was complete, he set it on the edge of the building and looked down the sights. The first shot was the most important, because if done right it was the only one guaranteed to be a kill. Taking a deep breath, he exhaled it slowly. Cody was patient.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

Pure hell had been unleashed against the defenders of Marvin. Bravely they might resist the Imperial war machine, but their cause was doomed, soon they would bend, for the Imperial techniques would tear them apart. At the sight of the behemoth militiamen fled, some discarding their weapons as they turned tail in terror.

The air strike performed by the Gunships, not to mention the disarray into which the ranks had been thrown into by the mutiny had weakened them. They did not get far for Moira took control over the walker's blaster cannons and unleashed a hailstorm of laser fire upon them; other retreating soldiers were trode on and brutally crushed like insects beneath the massive feet of the walker, which were thus soon slick with the blood of the innocent. Perhaps not the innocent, but they died nonetheless.

The distinctive whoosh of an RPG being fired was heard as the rocket-propelled grenade shot through the air and impacted upon the massive vehicle, making it shake and shudder, but it remained standing though a dent was blown into its armour. In the same moment suddenly a group of speeders burst out into no man's land from the flanks, their pilots seemingly intent on death charging the walkers, their charge being accompanied by the thump of mortars located further in the rear, which rained down heavy shells upon the Imperial troops, crippling an AT-ST as its left leg was smashed and taking down several stormtroopers, but doing little damage to the heavier walkers.

Then the mortar crew was silenced as red laser beams shot out from the heavy cannons, frying them. The speeders charged at her with reckless abandon, towing cables. There was no exhilaration written upon Moira's features, nothing really as she beheld the new targets and rotated the anti-personnel cannons, a hailstorm of laser fire shooting out, mercilessly blasting at them. Contrary to popular belief one could not simply death charge a heavy battle walker and expect to attach cables to its legs and topple it. A speeder swerved wildly as it sought to dodge the incoming hailstorm, evading skillfully before suddenly it was forced to turn as an light walker came its way. Raising one of the powerful feet of the walker Moira's walker brought it crashing down upon the speeder, smashing it to pieces with a sickening crunch. The morale of the story: No death charging big tanks or walkers with small guerilla forces in the open. It only works in holomovies.

 

[Antera]

Somarae didn't waste any time pressing the advantage, moving in pursuit of retreating militia speeders. Her gunner made short work of those that weren't quick enough at dispersing down alleys or other narrow passages where her craft couldn't follow. She didn't waste time on them, trusting that the main push of ground forces would overwhelm the scattered militiamen. Instead she continued on her course to the trench network the army was hurriedly occupying. She could see a group of troopers attempting to push forward out of a prepared killbox, but they were surrounded and in extreme danger.

That wasn't going to do at all. She checked her scope to see just which soldiers were below before activating her comm.

"Rancor 427 to Dragon Claw 1-4. We are inbound on your position. Designate priority targets as able, we'll keep them off you. Over."

Her Hell Hawk swooped overhead, unleashing another barrage of dumbfire rockets across the enemy defensive lines.

@[member="Rexus Drath"]

 

[Cyrus Tregessar]

Early intelligence reports had noted that the people of Valen were mostly peaceful, and that war between the many city states was uncommon at best. That had led many to believe that the people would have few weapons and would be easily conquered. It had proven true at Iol.

It was clearly false at Maravin.

The AA fire now streaming up from the city was as intense and brilliant as any lightshow for an Imperial Triumph. It was rather inaccurate though, so at least they could count on relative inexperience of the defenders. Of course Cyrus already had, or else he wouldn't be attempting this mission. A bright flash momentarily blinded him as a luckless Hellhawk was struck by a salvo of missiles and exploded, the burning hulk crashing to the earth moments later. A gunship swooped in from behind and lit the missile site up with blaster fire and a volley of rockets. Cyrus took a moment to watch the surviving defenders scatter from the burning wreckage, then turned his attention to more important things.

Cyrus' personal suit of armor was outwardly unremarkable, except for his right forearm, which appeared much larger than normal. This was to accommodate a large processor which powered a tactical computer far more advanced than the one normally built into the ARA. With the press of a button, the tactical display was sent to his helmet's HUD, allowing him to track the progress of every soldier and aircraft under his command. Attesting to the inexperience of the Maravin defenders, casualties thus far had been light. Here and there, the first platoons were touching down, and most were encountering only scattered resistance. At the moment, the computer calculated the operation as 3 minutes and 27 seconds ahead of schedule.

The aircraft he was in slowed suddenly, and began to descend. Above them a gunship flew in wide circles, it's blasters spitting red death on anything they could find. Cyrus glanced out the open sides of the Hellhawk, and found himself mesmerized by the swiftly rising ground. The pull of gravity felt heavy, like a force utterly impossible to escape. Impact with the surface seemed inevitable, and Cyrus reached up and grabbed a handhold to brace for shock. Then, maybe 6 feet from the ground, the craft pulled up sharply, jerking Cyrus to his feet. For the briefest second, everything was still.

The moment passed, and Cyrus ran and jumped from the aircraft, following the squad embarked with him. There was no task assigned to them, they were the 'command' unit, and their job was to protect his life at all costs. His job was to get as many of them through the next couple hours as possible while still completing the objectives. That was the theory of command in a nutshell, a hypocritical notion if there ever was one.

A stream of blaster fire hit one soldier and sent him to the floor. Cyrus instinctively fell into a crouch and raised his rifle, but the other members of the squad had already riddled the area in response. After a few seconds to ensure there were no other targets, they all stood up, including the man who had been hit. The armor was badly scorched but seemed otherwise unharmed and Cyrus made a mental note to congratulate the engineers at Junbei Hao on a job well done. A moment later the Hellhawk that had dropped them lifted off and headed away from the city to pick up the second wave.

Here they were, alone and unafraid. Cyrus quickly scanned the area around them, pointed at a building that seemed to be suitable for a temporary command post, and nodded once to the squad leader. He turned, made a few hand signals, and the group fell out, picking their way from cover to cover across the city.

 

[Rexus Drath]

"SET!!" "MOVING!!" "MOVE!!" Rex's team was pinned and slowly advancing under fire of the killbox he thought the situation was hopeless for his men, he was almost tempted to break out his saber and charge the fortifications to save them. Even if it meant revealing what he really was. Thankfully a bomber above strafed the area unleashing death and destruction. "Thanks Rancor427 we owe you one!" Rex yelled into his comm unit and they pressed into the tower securing it floor by floor until they reached the top floor.

"Set up shop and start calling targets." Taking off his helmet Rex set it on a table letting his dreads hang. Grabbing a pair of binoculars from a comrades pack he spotted a prime target from afar it was an enemy convoy headed to the front lines no more than two clicks away "Rancor 427 this is dragon claw one four fire mission on urgent target three clicks south of the cop. Light them up" Rex set up a beacon on the roof designating the building as friendly to protect it from friendly fire. "COP is set, call some targets and get ready to keep pushing"

 

[Darth Libertas]

@[member="Rexus Drath"], @[member="Bellalika"]

Mayhem, chaos, death all around her. The early intelligence reports about there the natives of Valen being amicable and peaceful and warfare between them being limited were incorrect it seemed. Not that Naamah was in a mood to complain about it. Beyond the satisfaction of the IIB being proven wrong, it gave her something to do, much as she liked cloak and dagger work, sometimes it was liberating to let loose.

As much as she could let loose in an environment like this...for she still had to hide her true nature, something she chafed at sometimes. These lesser beings did not know the true power a hound of the Empire could wield. Nonetheless she felt a surge of excitement as she fought her way through the trenches, her blade tasting blade as she hewed her way through the ranks. She might be under orders to hide her true nature, but that did not mean she could not use the Force here and there to increase her speed, moving faster than the eye could follow, or at the right moment rip a blaster out of the hands of an opponent, for in the chaos, as blaster rounds burnt off limbs, grenades ripped friend and foe alike into chunks of flesh, all amidst the deafening sound of rockets and shells, much could be overlooked.

A soldier suddenly came bursting in from the flanks and lunged at her and she reeled as the butt of his gun slammed into her face but she brought up the Purge Unit and watched in morbid satisfaction as the stream of fire torched him, incinerating and purifying him, for now he would no longer commit the sin of opposing the Empire, swiftly spinning to rake her blade across the chest of another hostile so that his innards spilt out. Holstering the Purge Unit she grabbed a light repeater and swiftly moved onward, militiamen who had turned on their masters following her, their blasters spewing out rounds to cut down those opposing them. "Come on, boys, purge them. Burn them all," she felt a surge of exitement rush through her as she felt familiar Force presences close by. Even though hidden the Inquisition was out in force and she bolted towards them.