Buried Treasure

[Srina Talon]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Mine and Seize Stygium Crystals
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium
Post: 1

The apprentice of the Vicelord of the Confederacy had never been to Maramere before. Arriving safely in the Karthakk system from hyperspace, with all of their ships, crew, droids, and equipment had been relatively simple. It wasn’t difficult to control a situation when the majority of personnel consisted of obedient machinery. From space, the planet appeared to be a teal colored marble with pale wisps of smoke-gray swirling through it. From beneath the atmosphere, it proved to be an aquatic world with few interesting features. As her Master’s assault frigate, the Ferocity, smoothly descended toward one of the more remote island chains the flaxen-haired Echani began to relax. There wasn’t a proper spaceport for this area, but there was a place to land, and refuel, which was good enough.

Arrangements had already been made with any local Mere to assist in an important mining operation. Their intentions didn’t come as any sort of surprise to the locals, but they warned, that their efforts may be fruitless. Maramere had a long history of being picked clean for its singular valuable resource but the CIS had obtained intelligence that there were still pockets of stygium crystal buried beneath the surface.

The only downside was that the Confederacy wasn’t entirely sure that they were the only group to receive the lead. The source was reputable, as far as having accurate data, but he was also known to sell information to more than one party. Srina just hoped that the Confederacy arrived first. At any rate, they had both labor droids and battle droids to assist in the endeavor, just in case they ran into trouble.

Unused to ordering anyone around, be it droid, or personnel, Srina merely remained silent as she walked down the ramp of the assault frigate. The scent of fresh water and clean air touched her nose and she nodded her head slowly. The droids were already unloading transport, mining lasers, and various other containers from other ships. Others should be arriving soon to help secure the site. Srina hadn’t been told exactly whom but they were expected nonetheless.

Srina followed the lines of droids that moved like ants trying to complete their tasks. Silver eyes flickered toward the sky, and she couldn’t help but think, with so many white lines dotting the blue above that not all of those arriving at her location would be friendly. The island itself was sparse. There were a few residential areas, even fewer businesses, and probably one cantina for the entire island. For the most part, it didn’t look like they’d be causing any major interruptions to day to day living.

But, that was always subject to change. She’d been instructed to be swift, efficient, and careful. Srina would adhere to that as much as she possibly could.

[member="Darth Metus"] | @Any CIS+Allies that want to Join In

 

[Aedan Miles]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Guard those mining
Location: Low orbit over Maramere
Participants: [member="Srina Talon"] and friends
Reward: Stygium
Post: 2

Aedan Miles sat in the command throne of his flagship for this occasion a Tulak Hord-class Star Destroyer named Apothesis it rested the largest ship in the armada the rest of them Dire-class patrol ships with a pair of Facade-class pocket carriers as well. The gunships on all the ships in his force had been replaced with dropships to cart the droids to the ground and shuttles to carry the cargo back up. Also on the ground was a single unit of the Red Fang acting as ground side security. He finally pressed a button sending a call down to the planets surface where the leader of the Red Fang a large heavily scarred Cragmaloid moved towards Srina stopping in front of her it saluted before speaking in heavily accented basic. "Ma'am Pirate King Miles is here to assist he is attempting to contact you from orbit." With that it tossed a small holo disk onto the ground that projected a smaller hologram of Aedan in his command throne half turned away giving a series of orders before turning back. "Order Hatchling 1-1 through 1-5 to move outward in patrol the rest are to change to call sign Wyvern 1-1 through 1-5 and take position nearby. Order Crow's Nest and Raven's Nest to launch all fighters in patroling vectors split up by wings. Ah forgive me Miss I was giving last minute orders. Pirate King Aedan Miles of the Corsair Brotherhood and leader of the Blood Fleet I heard we were getting some high value items here figured sense I was in the area I would supply space escort for you today."

 

[Gir Quee]

Liberté-class Light Corvette Backwash, nearing Maramere

The Backwash surged into realspace almost at the edge of the world's atmosphere, causing the craft to briefly vibrate as the ship's shields and repulsorlifts quickly attempted to compensate for the sudden appearance of the world's gravity well. Gir turned his head to briefly glance at the ship's Givin navigator, but the alien continued to mumble strings of numbers. Gir guessed that it meant that he was mentally calculating something else, even though it sounded almost gibberish to him. The blonde man turned his head to the ship's sensor operator.

"Any signs of other vessels?"

The lithe brunette shook her head, causing her ponytail to sway from side to side, "Only a couple. There appears to be a CIS assault frigate at the excavation site. No other Silver Jedi flagged ships yet."

Gir slowly nodded. He would have preferred to have another element of the Silver Jedi, but none of them arrived yet. He had fought with the CIS during their raid on Kamino, yet sitting on the bridge of a starship and working with a group was entirely different than working with them face to face. He straightened out a crease in his fatigue's colors. Well, I guess we see what happens...

"Take us down."

The arrowheaded ship promptly heeled before plunging down through the atmosphere. Gravity alternately tugged and pushed away his body as the ship's inertial compensators struggled against both the world's gravitational pull and the ship's maneuvers. Gir found himself tightly clenching the straps of the crash webbing. He managed to whip his head around to see the givin calmly reciting more numbers. I suppose this is a more efficient way to travel if you have a exoskeleton...Gir's thoughts were abruptly cut off as the Backwash abruptly broke its dive before floating down to the landing site. A slight shudder reverberated throughout the vessel as the landing gear made contact with the ground. Gir unbuckled his straps, attempted to rise, and promptly broke his fall by quickly grasping onto the chair in front of him. He shook his head as if that would take the dizziness away. Maybe I'll take a brief breather before heading down the ramp...

 

[Srina Talon]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Mine and Seize Stygium Crystals
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium
Post: 4

Srina pulled a small datapad from the gunbelt at her waist and began to open up the file that she needed to direct the garrisons of droids the Vicelord left at her disposal. The dig site was due south and just on the edge of the water. If they left soon they should arrive before the sun reached its zenith. “Direct all squadrons to begin the trek south. We’ll need to travel fifty kilometers and stop at these coordinates. Avoid any major settlements. We don’t want any trouble with the locals.”

Communications were still a little bit dicey since the landing but her comm device should have been functioning. When a weathered Cragmaloid approached her, she remained still, instead of reaching for her weapons. She sensed no ill intent and the salute solidified some sort of allegiance. Srina nodded when the trunked creature relayed a missive from the Pirate King. “Thank you.”, she murmured, silvered eyes following the holo-disk as it hit the ground. The man on the throne apologized to her for his distraction and the Echani graciously waved it off. “Not at all. We all have things to take care of. Your information is correct. We’ve received intelligence that there is a sizeable amount of stygium capable of being harvested here.”

“We aren’t sure who all heard the same thing. Either way, it must be secured, so your support is most welcomed. I’ll get you the codes to my comm so you can reach me directly if needed.”

Another ship, a corvette by the looks of it, landed nearby and Srina glanced at it. Another ally? She hoped so, but only time would tell. Maramere was part of neutral space. Anyone could land for any reason…But most people only had one reason to visit. Stygium.

No one emerged and for the time being, she left it alone.

“We’ll be heading toward the dig-site itself in five minutes. From there we will commence drilling and extraction.”

[member="Gir Quee"] | [member="Aedan Miles"]

 

[BX-25233]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Transport mining supplies and protect the convoy
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium
Post: 4

BX-25233 being a droid was made to do the boring job of carrying a crate full of mining supplies however even the most tedious and boring jobs needed to be done to help strengthen the Confederacy but BX-25233 did hope some form of excitement would happen mainly a bandit or pirate attack on his section of the convoy but for the time being it seemed no one was planning to do that yet. One thing BX-25233 did enjoy during this march was the fact he could yell at any B1 who walked a little too slow or in a rare case another BX commando not moving fast enough. After a bit of walking BX-25233 got a comms message informing him that the dig site was around five minutes away.

"This is BX Commando Captain Unit BX-25233 incharge of Section BA-3 of the supply convoy requesting information of where you would like the supplies be placed at objective Dig Site. The supplies we have at Section BA-3 is mainly spare parts and fuel for the mining equipment. BX-25233 out"

 

[Katria Vekarr]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Protect the mining operation
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium
Post: 6

Stygium. A material the young mercenary couldn't claim to have even the smallest amount of knowledge of outside of what it was used for. Whether it was a cloaking device for a ship or a camouflage system for one's person, at the end of the day it all translated to the same thing in her mind. It was a material used to create such things and that knowledge had usually been well outside of her pay grade.

It hadn't taken long for her ship to tough down near the location in question; her ship clearing the atmosphere with little trouble despite it's aged frame. There was a simplicity of it all that stuck with her even as she rummaged through her weapons locker for the best possible weapons for the job at hand.

Was it even a job? How long had it been since she actually took a job?

Shaking off that thought as she lowered the ramp, she threw a quizzical look to Skiss who remained uncharacteristically silent and made her way towards where the woman she'd only seen from a distance. Two things stood as blatantly obvious when the young mercenary took once overs of the woman in question: She was an attractive woman and she was just as unsettling of a presence despite that. Not that that deterred the her from thinking the thoughts she found herself thinking.

But there were other times for such things, she focused her mind to that thought, and now was not one of them.

"Katria, reporting," she breathed as she set her disruptor rifle down beside her. Her verpine was carefully strapped over her left shoulder in a stark contrast to the casual and unorthodox clothing she was wearing for the occasion. "If I knew I was going to be guarding you, I'd have worn something more professional."

Taking a breath and exhaling it, she composed herself. Great way to start, Katria.

[member="Srina Talon"] [member="BX-25233"]

 

[Aedan Miles]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Guard those mining
Location: Low orbit over Maramere
Participants: [member="Srina Talon"] [member="Katria Vekarr"] @BX-25233 @Gir Quee and friends
Reward: Stygium
Post: 7

Aedan nodded as the woman spoke turning his attention back towards space before looking back calmly speaking out loudly. "Commander." At the rank the weather cragmaloid stepped into view saluting the hologram as again it spoke in its heavily accented basic. "Your orders Sire?" Aedan smiled almost kindly as he nodded to the large being before becoming serious once more his eyes steeling themselves. "Commander your unit is to act as ground side security I want eyes on that ship at all times till we can identify who they are and their reasoning for being here. I feel while I don't need to say this next part I will anyway your priority is the safety of your men and the ground side crew if anything happens and it looks bad I expect you to contact me for support and I will do my best to divert said support to you and your men. I leave the ground under your command and expect you to listen to any orders of the leading CIS officer on the ground." The Cragmaloid nodded offering the Pirate King another salute before it turned and stomped away shouting orders in its native tongue as the other members of its unit moved away taking up their weapons and gear before half of them started to fall out moving towards the appointed dig site while the rest moved into a primary defensive position near the Assualt ship a trio of squads moving so they could keep an eye on the as of yet identified ship that had landed near by. Aedan nodded to Srina accepting the codes for her personal comlink and providing his own before cutting the transmission turning his attention once more back to the space side of the operation his ships spreading out in very non standard patrol pattern.

On the ground the commander of the unit returned to Srina's side shortly after giving his orders crouching the large being picked up the holodisk sliding it into a pouch on its belt as it moved to stand at attention nearby the helmet of its armor strapped at its waist. From there it would follow her around as subtly as a being of its size could clearly taking the role of her liason and personal guard within the unit of Red Fang that had been detached to the planet as support. Around them the rest of the 250 being large unit moved about half of them marching off steadily in the direction of the dig site to set up a primary defensive perimeter as the rest took up positions around the perimeter of the ship their eyes open as they moved.

 

[Srina Talon]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Mine and Seize Stygium Crystals
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium
Post: 8

Srina quickly became aware of the multiple moving parts to this operation and felt almost as if the most difficult parts were already handled. The Pirate King seemed to have accepted her words readily and assigned his Commander to ground security. There were plenty of garrisons of droids on the ground to help, but it was a relief to have sentient, competent individuals that could make necessary decisions outside of their programming. It also seemed that the royal in orbit had the same reservations she did about the corvette that arrived.

“Thank you, Admiral.”, Srina spoke to Aedan Miles when he gave his Cragmaloid orders and passed along his commlinks codes. The transmission cut out and the snowy-haired woman turned to the new voice that demanded her attention. Silvered eyes swept over a decidedly petite young mercenary and little could be gleaned from her inspection. “It’s good to have you, Katria.”

Srina did not know the woman’s last name or she would have likely invoked it before the first. She didn’t take much stock in her state of dress, well aware that beyond symmetrical features and pixie-cropped hair, that looks could be deceiving. Many an enemy had underestimated her for the same reasons and such a mistake had proven fatal. A gentle, serene smile lingered at the kiss of her mouth when the woman expressed concern over her attire. “I value skill over your state of dress. Your concerns will need to remain mostly with our cargo. It must be secured at all costs. You needn’t worry for me.”

The time-wizened Cragmaloid returned to her then and the little Echani nodded her head toward the cargo-speeders that were ready to go. Some of the crew would be on foot, but mostly, they’d be traveling as one large caravan. With their numbers came a layer of protection that Srina was most comfortable with. “It’s time to move out.”, she called into her comm, and the group would either be forced to move, or risk being left behind.

*Skip to Dig-Site*​

The dig-site was set up and secured relatively quickly. She noticed the Red Fang began to set up a perimeter almost immediately. All crew and personnel were instructed to clear the area as the mining laser activated. The ground shook and Srina found that she couldn’t look at the brightness directly without squinting. She probably should have been using some sort of protective eyewear. The apprentice glanced down at her datapad and noted that the laser should have punched through to the caverns below and raised her hand to signal that the droids halt.

They did so and retracted the laser. A portable tractor beam was set up over the opening to draw the crystals up. When the beam had taken as much as it could, the droids rolled a large cargo container over it and the Stygium was deposited inside. From there it was all about rinse and repeat. It was time-consuming to only operate one mining laser at a time but it was less damaging to the planet. The last thing they wanted to do was cause a cave in and sink one of the islands.

[member="Aedan Miles"] | [member="Katria Vekarr"] | [member="BX-25233"] | [member="Gir Quee"]

Spoiler

OOC: Doing my best to keep this rolling.

 

[Luna Terrik]

[SIZE=12pt]Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Mine and Seize Stygium Crystals
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium
Post: 9[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]The Traitors Lament[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt], a Sovereign-class Heavy Destroyer belonging to one of the youngest and newest commanders in the CIS fleet, Luna Terrik, kept it’s baring around the planet of Maramere. From her time schedule that was given to her at the start of the mission, the redhead commander was able to suppose that the group had moved onto the drilling site by this point. Someone would be setting up defenses while the droids dug. Luna would provide the aircover, as well as a possible escape route in case things started going sideways for the mission.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Looking to her tactical droid across the holotable they both stood at, she nodded her affirmation. “Launch our squad of Jackles. Make sure they have their orders before they launch. They are only to provide air cover for the mining team. I highly doubt they would like it very much if we accidently brought an entire cave down upon their head.” Her face curled into a small smirk at the thought of this.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]A lithe finger found it’s way to the communication device attached to the holotable, pressing the flashing button to open a comm pathway. “Ms. Talon, if you can hear this, this is Commander Terrik. I’ve got a squadron of Jackle on their way to provide air cover for you and your team. Give the word and a squadron of fighters, bombers, or cargo ships can be launched. I will keep this line open for any support you wish. Happy drilling.” Her finger lifted from the button to close her side of the channel, still allowing the forcer to comm back if necessary.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Luna stroked her chin in thought, watching the interceptors launch from one of the hangers and begin their dives towards the planet. It would be a few minutes, but the crew would soon have their air cover taken care of. If all went well, they wouldn’t need it.[/SIZE]

| [member="Srina Talon"] | [member="Aedan Miles"] | [member="Katria Vekarr"] | [member="BX-25233"] | [member="Gir Quee"] |​

 

[Daxton Bane]

Task: Mining for fun and profit
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium

Daxton grumbled softly to himself as he adjusted the straw hat in attempt to get away from the sun’s rays. He had advocated using giant strip mining droids to get the ore faster but was outvoted by the bleeding hearts who ever unncessarily worried about the possible fallout to the ecology and natives such widespread mining would entail. There was way was too small scale, and was definitely eating into the profit margin but he needed his share of the haul. He hoped there would be enough ore for a new suit of armor and perhaps a fourth lightsaber.

Taking a sip from the ice cold fizzy drink he waited patiently as the Red Raven mining droids deployed to support the ore harvesting. Now if he could only find some decent shade.

 

[Srina Talon]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Mine and Seize Stygium Crystals
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium
Post: 11

Srina determined very, very quickly, why the Sith Lord nearest and dearest to her hadn’t wanted anything to do with this sort of mission. So far, it was downright boring. If there was something to hit, something to fight, something to face off against long enough to distract her she might not have found it so tedious. Instead, she tried to clear her mind, and focused on the task at hand. The less time she spent being exasperated with it the sooner they could pack up and leave.

A new voice came across her comm and the apprentice paused from inspecting her datapad. Soon, they would need to begin drilling again. If they worked slowly, versus destroying the local communities, the people of Maramere would welcome the harvesting teams back versus fear them. It made their work easier when the Confederacy was basically digging up their backyard. “I hear you loud and clear Commander Terrik. Thank you for the support.”

“It’s been uneventful so far. Admiral Miles is also in orbit and has provided ground support. Depending on how many containers we’ll be able to fill we might need your cargo ships—“, Srina paused, a glint of something catching her eye. She raised her hand to see a little better and felt the hair on the back of her neck raise. “—We actually have incoming. They appear hostile. Hold fire unless we can’t deal with them…The ground in this area is mostly hollow.”

“Admiral, we may have a spot of trouble. Nothing we can’t handle but please remain on the lookout for any additional ships moving in. They look…”, Srina squinted, and couldn’t quite tell what they were, with the gear and goggles they were wearing. The speeders left them an inbound blur. “They look like mercenaries. They might have gotten planetside before us.”

Noghri? It was unusual and she could have been mistaken. Nevertheless—they were a small group. No more than fifteen or so men. Srina used the Force to augment her movements and jumped once to clear the mining equipment, and the droids, as the Red Fang automatically gathered to try and hold the perimeter. She didn’t get two words before the mercenaries began to fire. Srina raised her arm and her personal shield flickered to life.

“Any CIS members on the ground…We have a small group of combatants. Less than twenty, more than ten. They open fired first, we fire back. Protect the equipment and the stygium. Avoid the use of any major explosives.”, Srina called through her comm, hastily opening a channel to all of the parties she’d come across, and anyone else that might be within broadcast limits. “Katria, if you can pick them off from afar, please do.”

“Red Fang…Hold the line. Don’t let them pass.”

She just had to open her big mouth. Wish for something to fight and enemies will appear.

[member="Daxton Bane"] | [member="Luna Terrik"] | [member="Aedan Miles"] | [member="Katria Vekarr"] | [member="BX-25233"] | [member="Gir Quee"]

 

[BX-25233]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Kill the bloody mercenaries
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium
Post: 12

While BX-25233 was watching the mining operation taking place and making sure all supplies from his section of the convoy were put in the correct locations or the locations he thought were correct as no one responded to his comms message which did annoy the droid but his wishes of excitement came true as a group of mercenaries decided to challenge the might of the CIS and attempt to what BX-25233 steal CIS property. Most of the droids with BX-25233 already stopped what they were doing and started marching to the location of the mercenaries but BX-25233 and a few of the BX commandos under his command decided to run as by the time they marched to the location of the mercenaries chances are there would be no mercenaries to kill.

"New primary objective assigned: Kill the bloody mercenaries. Captain BX-25233 running to enemy location, ETA 4 minutes. If any hostiles are required alive please inform. Until being informed on if hostiles are to be kept alive hostiles shall be killed"

As BX-25233 closed in on his enemies location he noticed on of the mercenaries point a blaster at him which was going to be hard to stop as BX-25233 had only swords but then BX-25233 realised he had a tomohawk that was gifted to him that until now served no purpose to him as he never bothered to learn. BX-25233 decided to throw the tomohawk and hope it would kill or atleast knock out the mercenary who was about to shoot him. The tomohawk flew towards the mercenary and then flew past him as BX-25233 mis calculated the throw but by the will of the force or just pure luck the tomohawk hit a mercenary behind his intended target knocking that mercenary off his speeder and causing the first mercenary to look back trying to comprehend what just happened which gave BX-25233 enough time to close in on the mercenary and when the mercenary looked back to see a vibroblade coming in his direction. The fact the mercenary was riding a speeder made it pretty easy for BX-25233's vibroblade tl cutt him in half.

"Captain BX-25233 here, Taken out two hostiles heading to engage more"

As BX-25233 ran to engage other mercenaries he heard two explosions behind him and realised that he only took out the riders and not the speeder bikes which wouldn't have stopped moving foward and possibly hit fellow droid forces or mining equipment.

[member="Srina Talon"]
[member="Daxton Bane"]
[member="Luna Terrik"]
[member="Aedan Miles"]
[member="Katria Vekarr"]
[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Daxton Bane]

Task: Defend the platform
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium

All thoughts of shade, cool drinks, and catching a tan flew out the window at the first mention of raiders. The glass falling to the ground as the Sith leaped over the railing and landing effortlessly on ground, the strange sight on Daxton, robes fluttering in the wind, as he held on to his straw hat with his left hand was something anyone would forget quite easily.

Triggering his Force speed and battle mind, the Sith could see many potentials as he closed the gap with the hostiles. Without drawing his blades, Daxton raised both hands in direction of closest speeders to his position. Ignoring the incoming, inaccurate blaster fire, he Force wove chains of solid air less than ten feet from the attackers position.

The chains were made of pure air and were invisible to sight, but they were solid enough that when the speeders hit it was like hitting a wall at a 100 miles per hour. The chains shredded both the riders and the speeders before they knew what hit them. Quivering pieces of meat, scrapped metal and blood splatter were all the evidence of the violence he just unleashed,

Three light sabers hummed to life, red, blue and green as they floated around Daxton, held in a defensive postion my his Force tentacles as he sought the next nearest enemy.

 

[Daxton Bane]

(Sorry double post)

 

[Daxton Bane]

(Sorry double post)

 

[Aedan Miles]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Guard those mining
Location: Low orbit over Maramere
Participants: [member="Srina Talon"] [member="Katria Vekarr"] @BX-25233 @Daxton Bane [member="Gir Quee"]
Reward: Stygium
Post: 14

Aedan looked up as word about the ground attack came in his eyes narrowing before an alarm went off a pair of his patrolships having contacted a group of five combat capable vessels that immediately opened fire upon them. Both ships were destroyed luckily the crew of one ship managed to get to escape pods in time. Looking over the ships in system he grit his teeth before contacting the newest CIS vessel and gesturing his ship forward. "This is Pirate King Aedan Miles of the Blood Fleet first fleet of the Corsair Brotherhood an ally of the CIS I am moving to engage a total of 5 repeat 5 enemy ships in system move to take up low orbit position over target island and call all fighters back to support you. I am moving my forces to engage." At his command his force surged forward the dire-class patrol ships returning to the Tulak Hord-class Star Destroyer the Apothesis as they moved forward in a formation that placed his flagship at the center. The fighter craft surged back a portion of them encountering enemy fighters and immediately engaging in a fierce dog fight. Aedan grit his teeth as calls came in about his forces taking losses raising a hand he pointed it at the five ships growling out darkly. "Disable those ships and prepare boarding parties."

On the ground the commander of this unit of Red Fang a Cragmoloid named Tuusk surged forward placing himself before Srina raising his Monroe Horak multipurpose rifle and letting out a loud noise from his trunk calling his squad to himself. Taking aim with his weapon he started to fire his squad moving into position around him a pair of them lifting the massive Hellgun chain blasters releasing a steady stream of fire at the fast moving speeder bikes as the one using the Dar'yaim cannon took aim at one of them releasing one shot that almost tore the vehicle apart. Around the convoy the rest of the Red fang units surged forward a few of them falling from concentrated fire as their heavy duty armor did its work and took the brunt of the assault. As they fought Tuusk crouched down in front of Srina sparing a glance back his helmet now hiding his scarred face as his already heavily accented voice came out filtered through the helmet. "Are you alright ma'am?"

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Mine and Seize Stygium Crystals
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium
Post: 15

Er'in was entirely unsure why precisely her master had sent her with Srina - it couldn't be to protect her fellow apprentice, as Srina was far, far more deadly than Er'in felt she would ever be.

She didn't know much about mining, either. But she was a quick study and the journey to this backwater little mining station had given her enough time to read up on the topic. It was strangely like being a child again, everything was so new and so fresh.

The noise of blaster fire was shocking - firefights were not something she was used to, but she had sufficient composure not to duck as she strode into the relative safety of the mining command centre, tabbing a comm channel open to [member="Srina Talon"] as she surveyed the scene.

"Srina? Er'in, I'm taking charge of mining droids and will handle comms coordination." The words came fluidly, as if out of a dream. Hapans were trained to be leaders from birth and she knew the theory of battlefield tactics second to none.

"Mining Units Eight through Twelve, pull back to the inner perimeter, engage hostile weather protocols." She instructed, voice calm but heart in her mouth as she gave orders that could save them or ruin them, but there was no time to think about that - use the fear to drive her, like she'd been taught. All of a month ago.

As she studied the overall situation, she frowned at the formation of assailants shown on the monitors. That wasn't right, that wasn't right at all. They'd get cut to ribbons from the cross fire of the supporting wings of the mining camps defence if they approached... oh... a Davonian Gambit, right out of the books.

Fortunately, she'd read those books. And that was a novices move. It didn't occur to her technically she was a novice.

Er'in tabbed open a general comm frequency.

"CIS forces, be advised the hostile forces are moving in force to the south east in addition to visible forces. They're going for a Davonian Punch-Counter Punch. I'm shifting a division of mining droids to hold them up to give you time to reorient."

Turning to one of the droid operators, she gave him a commanding, aristocratic nod.

"Those heavy mining droids have laser drills?"

"Well, yes ma'am but they're not acc..."

"I didn't ask for a lecture, I asked a question. Would you kindly redirect them to... Gamma Eight on the permitter and instruct them everything from G-10 through G-15 is a testing range, then override the safeties."

The problem with the Davonian Gambit in any game of strategy was that once seen, it was easily countered. A hidden force lost all of it's multiplier abilities if pinned in place.

Maybe her liege had sent her here for the right reasons after all...

Srina Talon | Daxton Bane | Luna Terrik | Aedan Miles | Katria Vekarr | Gir Quee

 

[Eugen Aker]

Location: Maramere's Orbit
Objective: Don't get shot

While fashionably late to the extraction event, Jyoti wasn't too late to find herself amid a small scale space battle as she emerged on the scene from hyperspace.

The Shadow didn't immediately throw herself into the fight, but rather flipped on her EECM suite to avoid it all together, distorting the already small signature of her X-wing to evade notice.

That seemed to work; she detected no tracking as she widened the gap between her X-wing and the fighting veseels. No doubt she would get into the fight as detected vessels sqwaukihg CIS codes on their IFF transponders, but she needed to figure out what was happening first.

"BB-8, I'm little busy trying to save our bacon so get a line to Srina for me."

The chatty astromech made a long series of chirps and whistles making all sorts of inquiries and tangents while it carried out her request. She didn't answer, her attention focused on sensor readouts.

Between the attempts at small talk, BB-8 informed her that she was ready to make a hail, though Srina seemed to be busy at the moment on the surface.

Jyoti recorded a small message for her hail. "Srina, this is Jyoti. Looks like the air space is pretty busy. I only have my X-wing, but I'm willing to help if you just let me know what's happening."

[member="Er'in Tenel"] [member="Aedan Miles"] [member="Daxton Bane"] [member="BX-25233"] [member="Srina Talon"] [member="Luna Terrik"] [member="Katria Vekarr"] [member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Katria Vekarr]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Protect the mining operation
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium
Post: 17

No sooner had the mining operation started, a rather inglorious culmination of a machinery chorus and the crumbling of rocks, than potential enemies had made themselves known. Typical was one word for the circumstance, though she'd hardly consider it a valuable term, and as things began to escalate the word from Srina was all she needed to jump head first into the action. Giving Srina a slight smirk, and adding a nod for good measure, the young mercenary made for the highest vantage point she could assume without drawing attention to herself.

Once there, crouching low and settling against the ground with her rifle set up appropriately, she drifted her scope over the zone in which the mercenaries were supposed to have appeared. Five seconds: she couldn't see anything. Ten seconds: Three targets. Twelve seconds: All targets entered her line of sight. Fifteen seconds: She began to take measurements of the distances and began to grip the trigger with a careful pressure on the trigger.

A squeeze of the trigger and one of the targets dropped, indicating to her that her calibrations had been correct. Again she pulled the trigger, putting another target down and one behind him into a curled position clinging to his leg which appeared to have been torn off.

"This is Katria, I've engaged the enemy," she breathed into her headset as she lined up her scope with another target as they began to approach more carefully. "Two down, one injured and remaining targets still moving. Targets responding in kind, moving to a new position."

The shooting was the easy part, the moving was not.

 

[Srina Talon]

Mission: Buried Treasure
Task: Mine and Seize Stygium Crystals
Location: Maramere
Participants: CIS + Allies
Reward: Stygium
Post: 18

It was clear that there would be no negotiations made with the Noghri mercenaries that were stampeding the dig-site. Srina thought it foolish on two fronts. The blaster fire was inaccurate and they ran the risk of damaging the mining equipment. Secondly, rushing in head first, weapons blazing, was the best way to get killed.

“Spare none. Wipe them out. If they can’t use words—Neither will we.”, Srina spoke through her comm-link, dual tones cold and chilly, to the point of being unforgiving. She had an innocent face, pure, as her Master often noted, but that didn’t mean a thing. She was Echani raised, proud and hardened, well versed in warfare. Death was just a side effect of the inevitable. One of the droids, BX-25233, seemed to share her sentiment and chilled gray eyes watched as one of their would-be attackers was sliced in two. She didn’t know what he’d thrown but it was a surprisingly good shot. Two explosions later told her that it was either a -very- good or very lucky shot.

Daxton Bane, someone that she recognized from both the Mandragora and Kamino, fell into the action as easily as one breathed. He almost looked like some sort of monk, clad in a straw hat, and she could sense something move through the Force. Seconds later, her eyes were greeted by several Noghri that looked like they’d been run through a cheese grater. They were little more than meaty chunks.

Srina’s lips pressed into a thin line when she heard Aedan’s announcement about engaging five rival starships. They were too far away from the planet for the apprentice to see the lights from fighting, but she ground her teeth together, and prepared for the rest of the mercenaries to hit the line of Red Fang. The white-haired woman was surprised when the weathered Cragmaloid placed himself between her person and the fighting. The Echani blinked, unused to being so well protected, and felt as if she were at a loss for words. The Red Guard released burning hell on the Noghri and the apprentice could only raise her arm to block the backflow of heat. “I’m fine—Thank you.”, Srina responded, the scent of burning metal and flesh causing her to stop breathing through her nose.

The dulcet tones of her Masters newest apprentice met her ears as she was informed of the change in protocol. Srina frowned at the abruptness, but with her ears still ringing from explosions, she wouldn’t refuse the assistance. She’d been tasked with overseeing the operation to success and she intended to do so. Dealing with the mercenaries took first priority. “As you wish, Er’in. Try and keep you head down until the fighting is through.”

Darth Metus wouldn’t be pleased if she let the Hapan woman take a blaster bolt to the chest.

Not long later Er’in chimed in with the addition of a new wave of enemies to the south. Srina didn’t like the idea of using the mining droids to hold them off, mostly because they only had a finite amount planetside, but it was better than getting swamped before they were prepared. The white-haired woman had literally watched, between the Red Guard, Daxton, Katria, and BX-25233, the entire first wave of Noghri go down without much trouble. They’d been absolutely decimated.

“You hear her…Let’s move. Rotate two thirds of the Red Guard to the south east. We don’t want to leave this area undefended. “, Srina called into her comm, reinforcing Er’in, and moving herself. This wasn’t the first fight as of late where she’d barely had to lift a finger. To be honest, it felt a little disconcerting, and a little too easy.

It was good that Katria had gone to higher ground during the first skirmish and had the presence of mind to re-acclimate when the second wave of mercenaries was reported. “Nice shooting, Katria.”, Srina complimented through the commlinks, glad, that the woman had arrived to provide long-range cover that wouldn’t cause a cave in. If she were anyone else she might have warned her not to hit the mining droids but it seemed unnecessary. “Keep an eye out for any further incoming if you can.”

Her comm went off again and Srina listened to another new element, a Silver Jedi addition by the name of Jyoti Nooran. The apprentice arrived at the south east end of the dig-site and ducked down behind a container, once again, forced to duck from blaster fire. “We’re taking some fire on the ground but we seem to be managing.”, she responded swiftly, before patching in the Pirate King, as well as Commander Terrik. “Master Nooran from the SJO has arrived. I’m advising that she utilize her X-Wing to assist in orbit.”

Srina broke the communication then, peeking around the containers to see that the mining droids were providing an adequate cover, though some of them appeared damaged. Reaching to her side, she pulled free her Verpine Shatter Hand Cannon, the Vora, and took aim. It took a few seconds for the gun to track but once it did, she fired, and released a set of incendiary rounds at the nearest incoming Noghri rider.

The mercenary that the gun tracked was hit in the shoulder and was tossed from his speeder before he promptly caught fire. Bleeding and burning, rolling in the sand, the Echani fired again, and again. Until he was little more than a burning pyre. Holding the weapon with two hands she took aim again and repeated the process.

“There are more to my left.”, she spoke to the Commander of the Red Guard, and continued to focus on the right.

[member="Katria Vekarr"] | [member="Jyoti Nooran"] | [member="Er'in Tenel"] | [member="Aedan Miles"] | [member="Daxton Bane"] | [member="BX-25233"] | [member="Luna Terrik"]

Spoiler

OOC: Sorry this is SO long...I got carried away...T_T