Commonwealth Mission: Search, Retrieve, Establish

[Xis]

Location: Underground Compound/Command Center
Objective: Fortify and Hold position
Allies: [member="Cadan Tazi"] [member="Thraxis"] [member="Flannigan Mcnash"] [member="Ghorua the Shark"]

Enemies: Commonwealth, [member="Horus"] [member="Phislo Bress"] [member="Corrax Talrus"] [member="Lorraei"]

By the time Xis rounded the corner his droids were already under attack by the mysterious forces from above. The Falleen didn’t appreciate it… Not one bit. Within the first few seconds two droids had been cut down by enemy fire. In those instants Xis took in what types of weapons were being used. A slugthrower that easily shredded through the first droid and the second a type of blaster rifle. Easily stronger than most sold legally. They were too well equipped and thorough to be another criminal sect. No, Xis didn’t know where they had come from but their advance stopped here.

In his helmet com he signaled for the droids to fall back around the corner out of sight where they’d be waiting with their sonic shotguns at the ready. Xis on the otherhand remained in the hallway the remains of the two felled droids at his feet. “You are here by my grace, and yet you show such violence, disregard for my property and those under my employ… I think someone should be teaching you all some lessons.” Without even motioning the remains from the droid ripped apart by slugthrower rounds lifted into the air as though caught in a hover lift.

Head tilting slightly to the side four large hunks of sharp metal flew at speeds rivaling the slugthrower that had been shot at him. One aimed for the first to fire, another for the second and the last two randomly into the number of others gathered. The second droid was lifted up in the invisible grip. Stretched out it became a shield for Xis blocking the Falleen from view. Reports flooded in from other Black Sun members. Most of all from Cadan. “Get whatever spice you have out and detonate the caves. The shockwave from a large explosive will cause it to collapse. It is of no more use to us anyways.”



[member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Zee"]

 

[Corrax Talrus]

Location: ​Third Breach Site
​Allies: [member="Lorraei"] | [member="Phislo Bress"]
Enemies:​ [member="Xis"]

Corrax quickly scanned to the side to target another droid, but eased on the trigger as the wardroids turned and moved back out of sight. The armored figure still stood facing them, however, so Corrax trained his rifle on the head of what he assumed was probably Big-Bad and held his position. Consciously, he slowed his breathing. He knew that adrenaline was coursing through him; the thrill of battle heightening all of his senses. He could hear the rhythmic thump-thump​ of his heart beating, as if it were trying to escape through his ear drums. The acrid scent of burning metals and fried circuitry weighed down on him oppressively. He could feel the worn, now beveled-edge of the trigger under his ungloved hand; could feel sweat bead up on his forehead as uncertainty assailed him. His heightened attention drew his eyes to the armored figure's waist, where a lightsaber dangled against his leg. ​Force, I hate Jedi,​ he thought to himself, careful not to allow his growing discomfort to distract him.

The figure spoke ominously about his grace and their violence - ​Worst temple service, ever, ​Corrax thought, suppressing a grin - before mentioning their need for a lesson. Corrax' hackles rose as he watched one of the two destroyed battle droids lift into the air. He had a bad feeling about this.

Without warning, four pieces of the droid - sharp edges from the shear destruction of the slugthrower - lanced through the air. Corrax was uncertain where the others went, but one of them made a line straight for him. Pushing off the wall, he made his best effort to dive out of the way of the incoming droid-shard. Had he been expecting this type of assault, perhaps he would have had a chance of evading the projectile. Pain lanced through his right side as the makeshift weapon caught him six inches below his armpit. The sensation of flesh going from taut to rubbery as the jagged metal tore through his side brought with it an intense bout of nausea. As his momentum carried him to the ground, it was all that he could do to stop from sicking up. His side felt cold; the insulate that kept his body warm was now missing, leaving in its place a gaping wound that was totally exposed to the cool air of the compound. The pain that came along with breathing diagnosed at least one broken rib, but a quick-yet-uneducated assessment of his injuries left him confident he would probably live.

He rolled onto his back and pulled himself up to a sitting position, both legs out in front of him as he whipped the blaster pistol out of the holster on his left thigh. He felt as though he existed in a cacophony of chaos, after the Jedi's initial attack. The whole exchange, initial-throw-to-injury-to-sitting-up, had taken only about a dozen heartbeats, but it felt like eternity. Looking down the iron sights of his blaster, he had a clear view of the armored figure. With a somewhat unsteady left arm, he opened fire down the corridor. He wasn't horribly skilled with his left hand, and his body was at least in some semblance of shock at the moment, but he hoped his suppressing fire would afford them some time by distracting the Force-user.

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

LOCATION: UNDERGROUND BASE, BREACH #2
EQUIPMENT: IN BIO
ALLIES IN AREA: [member="Flannigan Mcnash"]
ENEMIES IN AREA: [member="Zee"], [member="Cait Falcor"], [member="Isaac Knight"]

CURRENT FORCES: 13 WARDROIDS (ENGAGED), 1 WARDROID (WITH THE SHARK) 2 WARDROIDS (STRAPPED WITH DETONATORS)

Ghorua looked back as the Cyborg known as Flannigan Mcnash marched up. He didn't look like much backup, but the Herglic knew more than most that looks could be deceiving. Perhaps the pile of parts himself had a few tricks up his sleeve. Like, for example, an explosive idea. Ghorua smiled, teeth glinting. "I like the way you think, Flanny."

The Black Sun Huntmaster went over his comms to the Wardroids as he set explosive charges on one of their own. "Alright, all soldiers pull back. I said pull back until the explosion. Then resume your attack."

Outside, the startling image of blood mixing with snow grew slightly less startling as the matte-black droids began to pull back. It would seem quite odd, as their original attack was so vicious. Then the Commonwealth marines would notice a single droid charging, covered in explosives. Whether they shot it down before it reached them would be up to their level of skill. A second would follow much more discreetly, hopefully unnoticed by the marines coming.

The [member="Stokely McFadden"]'s MPD made it's first fly-by at this time, scanning the droids disengaging. By the time the ship flew through again, however, the thermal detonators on both droids would've been activated, and the others would engage again. Whether the dropship decided to fire on the droids with the Marines in such close proximity was up to them.

 

[Mr. OOC]

Location: Iskeria
Objective: Secure Research Facility
Allies: Commonwealth and Mercenaries
Enemies: [member="Thraxis"] [member="Cadan Tazi"]

Leave it to him to find opponents with mouths on them. Well, one of them at least. Of course, given how that ones armor was soaking up fire at a high rate without showing any signs of leaving him in pain, he supposed it wasn't unwarranted that he have a mouth on him. People with gear of that magnitude tended to be mouthy by nature. Their cockiness, however, was also usually their downfall, and that became plainly evident when this glop grenade exploded and locked up his arm. Not perfect, but it seemed to be enough to get him to back off a bit. It left Maris with more space to work with than he'd had when that particular opponent had been advancing on him. He was grateful for the reprieve if only for a moment.

One of them, he wasn't sure which, managed a shot with punched a hole through his chest plate at his left shoulder. A grunt passed between his lips and he quickly moved back behind cover again. Surely this couldn't keep up forever. At some point rock was going to crack under strain, and he'd be left in an exposed position. Now he wished he'd not sent all of his fellows to chase after fleeing miners. Stupid of him. He'd been overconfident in his capability to handle this situation.

"You know you won't escape here. We didn't arrive with only ground forces."

Keeping them off guard would be essential now as he faced off against them. His shoulder hurt so he held his gun one handed in his right hand.

"Our fighters will knock you down if you try to fly off. Commonwealth pilots are very good."

Taking a chance, he darted across to another rock, trying to get around their left flank and catch them aside. As he moved he fired one handed to try and keep them pinned down.

 

[Cait Falcor]

Cait Falcor - Task Force Falcor (2nd Wave, NE Breach)
Iskeria (Surface Action)
Allies: Commonwealth
Enemies:
[member="Stokely McFadden"], [member="Horus"], [member="Matthias Hull"], [member="Flannigan Mcnash"], [member="Zee"]
__________

Cait ducked behind a rock, as Sonic Shotgun rounds slammed into turf and rocks around her. The sound of combat, dampened by her helm, was still overpowering.

It was clear to Cait that her group was out-matched. Out numbered, out gunned, probably enveloped.

It was bad.

McFadden's update pinged in her HUD and Cait breathed a momentary sigh of relief.

"Keep your heads down boys, CAS inbound!" she yelled into the SquadCom as the MPD did its first pass. She heard Paskey cheering into the SquadCom when the bird came over. Cait couldn't help but sympathize with him. She made her body as small as possible, while also using her eyes and rapid blinking with the HUD to help prioritize targets for the MPD.

It would be charitable to describe her targeting as "Danger Close"

Over the AllCom the MPD's pilot sent our her warning "Banshee, comin' in FAST AND LOW!"

*WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP*

Cait's world was engulfed in apocalypse. The MPD sprayed a truly frightening amount of slug rounds in a half dozen different directions, while also sending anti-personnel munitions along a several meter wide corridor that the Droids were attacking along. Not that she could actually hear it, but she was screaming as loud as she could as the explosions rocked the perimeter of her task force's position. She didn't know the AllCom channel was open.

***

Seconds passed, and silence reigned. Cait discovered that she was still alive. Her eyes flicked to the edge of her HUD. Zee was fine, Paskey, Ramirez, Fondor and Munoz and other Munoz were also fine.

But her heart sank, as Percasevic's icon turned grey, and MacArthur, Kirov and Yun all glared at her, an angry orange. 1 KIA, 3 WIA.

***

Training, experience and instinct took over, Cait was moving far faster than her conscious mind could properly track, and to her the whole world seemed to move in slow motion. Cait had never closed the AllCom Channel.

This "tunnel vision" feeling was not new to her, regardless, she would later remember every moment in painstaking detail as she screamed into her pillow, rocking silently in some dark corner of the No Land Beyond II chastising herself for everything she should have known to do better.

"Paskey, Londor - keep up your fire! Munoz, Munoz, aid station, yesterday. Yun...talk to me man, how you doin?"

Cait leapt up over the rocks she'd been using for cover, mindlessly snapping off a torrent of fire toward the droids, some of which were still on coming. She supposed she must be dodging the fire, but no part of her conscious mind spent any energy on it. She sprinted to Kirov's foxhole, sliding into it. She quickly checked his vitals, his eye's fluttering but responsive...he couldn't focus his vision though. "I've got you" she said slowly looking directly into his faceplate. He slowly nodded. Cait grunted as she got under him, and lifted him into a Fireman's Carry, keeping Kirov over her shoulders.

Yun croaked over the All-Com "I'm...here" a massive metaphorical weight slid off Cait's shoulders. Thank the Force for Small Favors.

She kept running, next to MacArthur's position. She was non-responsive, but Cait's HUD insisted that the small woman was still alive. Cait grunted again, using her right hand to keep up her fire - with nearly no accuracy - and her left to grab a small hoop at the nape of all the Marine's body-armor, a Dragon-Harness. Cait kept grunting, leaning into it as she attempted to shufflle MacArthur and Kirov toward the Munoz's and the make-shift Aid Station.

She did not see the Explosive-Strapped Droid, limping toward her.

She closed, sweat dripping into her eyes, grunting unintentionally into the AllCom, with the strain of effort, on the Aid Station. She was at the lip of a small depression, which had become the last of a rapidly dwindling number of safe points.

"Get down" Cait didn't wait for an explanation from Yun, she flung Kirov over her shoulders, unceremoniously into the small depression, slumping her body forward, and rolling herself in as well, dragging MacArthur after her, and rolling on top of the marine. Cait was barely aware of Yun, throwing himself bodily at a limping war-droid covered in thermal detonators. Oh feth me. Was all she had time to think before the entire area was nearly blasted clear off the planet.

The enormity of what had just happened immediately impressed itself upon Cait's mind and she was completely crushed. But she was going to get her people out of this, come hell or high water. She remembered the code phrase for "Position Overrun is Imminent" She checked her comm channels, and was surprised to learn that the channel was already open.

***
On the Bridge of the No Land Beyond II


A completely broken voice crackled over the radio, static broke it up, and intermittent blaster fire still rang out. The Munoz's could be heard performing rudimentary first aid in the background, but the exact words were mostly indistinguishable.

"Beyond. Falcor Actual. Broken Arrow."

 

[Lorraei]

Location: Iskeria
Objective: Secure Research Facility, Third Wave
Allies: Commonwealth and Mercenaries
Enemies: Black Sun Forces

Lorraei stood by the door as the Commonwealth Marines surged by and began to spread out in a tactical advance. He remained there, watching silently, as the Mandalorian woman moved by as well, joining the advance seamlessly. The Desert Fox turned back to watch the straggling Spacer make his way into the facility. Ray shock his head, a smile spread across his lips part amusement, part disappointment. After all that time aboard the Commonwealth capital ship and the time traveling to the planet itself, Corrax only now decided to ready himself for the mission at hand. Nothing for it now.

Lorraei moved inside, shedding his heavy winter coat and tied his bizarre red and purple head wrap about his face, leaving only his coal black eyes visible. He draw his saber hilt but left it inactive for the time being. They were moving in relative silence, the hum and crackle of his blade would only give away their movements. The group moved into a corridor and started into the facility.

They hadn't gone far before chit hit the fan. A group of droids came around a corner ahead of them, accompanied by the ominous presence Lorraei had felt when they first arrived. Fireteam Black's leader barked an order and shots rang out in an instant, two droids fell in the opening volley. Much to Lorraei's surprise the remaining droids didn't return fire, falling back to leave their mortal leader alone in the hallway. The man ahead did respond to their hostilities however, drawing the Force to himself even as he spoke to the invaders. That was all the incentive Ray needed to rush into action.

No longer did he keep his presence suppressed, he simply couldn't afford to waste the effort and concentration needed to maintain the deception. The Rogue pushed forward, his steps lent speed courtesy of the Force itself. The crackling roar of his lightsaber cut the silence that followed the enemy's words, washing the hallway in a faint purple glow. His blade flicked through the air, imposing itself between the Mandalorian woman and one of the flying pieces of shrapnel. In the same moment Ray's left hand racked the air, his will directing the Force itself against another piece of shrapnel. He managed to stop the second piece about half a meter before it would have hit Marguerite Podolsky, the Commonwealth Intelligence Agent.

"Get to cover!" He shouted. Knowing he wouldn't have the "muscle" to send the shrapnel back at his enemy, not through a droid and the man's armor at least, he simply let gravity take hold of the floating piece of metal and it dropped harmless to the floor. More blaster fire erupted, aimed more or less at the enemy. Lorraei brought his purple blade up into a middle guard, and he waited. It would be unwise to advance on the enemy while people where still shooting at him.

[member="Xis"] [member="Phislo Bress"] [member="Horus"] [member="Corrax Talrus"]

 

[Phislo Bress]

Location: Iskeria Facility, Third Breach
Objective: Secure Research Facility, Third Wave
Allies: Commonwealth and Mercenaries
Enemies: [member="Xis"]

Phislo filed in around the room with the Marines as they took cover and trained their weapons on the hallway ahead. The rhythmic clanking of droids filled the halway around the corner but Phislo had something much worse in her mind. She felt something not quite right. Something or someone approached whose feet were not made of metal and some sort of darkness fell over the room. She had a bad feeling that this mission was about to turn complicated rather fast.

A tall armored figure rounded the corner flanked by war droids and several more following behind him making the marines open fire. The marines had dropped two of the droids almost instantly shredding them with slugs. Normally the sound of weapon fire would make people scramble for cover while the droids advanced but the man in the center of the formation stood resolute, angry even, and he recalled the droids back into the hallway. After that the Falleen had turned to address them himself. You are here by my grace, and yet you show such violence, disregard for my property and those under my employ… I think someone should be teaching you all some lessons.”

Suddenly the two fallen droids lifted up as if gravity itself had suddenly refused to work on them and metal shards flew at the team at breakneck speed. Phislo was a crack shot with her rifle but with such a thin object rapidly closing the distance there was no way she could stop it in time. Like trying to catch a blaster bolt with another blaster bolt. She only needed to hit the deck and hope that her armor could take the impact. She dived downwards...

And nothing happened.

In the moments before, she heard the hiss of a lightsaber being activated and the crackling of it slice through the metal shrapnel hurtling towards her making it clunk uselessly to the ground. A second clunk sound followed suite as he stopped a second shard headed for one of the Commonweath agents. After this she quickly pulled herself off of the ground and trained her rifle on the Falleen. It was clear that surrender was not an option for him.

[member="Lorraei][I], she thought to herself, I know I'm going to break our agreement already but this karking fool just made a huge mistake.[/I]

Phislo opened up with her rifle on [member="Xis"] firing a long burst on full auto to compliment Corrax and the Marines opening fire.

[member="Lorraei] [member="Xis"] [member="Corrax Talrus"]

 

[Renthcol]

Location: Orbit above Iskeria
Objective: Search, Retrieve, Establish
Allies: Black Sun Forces
Enemies: Commonwealth Forces , Other Mercenaries
Equipment: DL-44, Sonic Shotgun, YT-1300 freighter

Colton Had been an independent contactor working various crime syndicates, I had noticed the Black sun’s rise and decided on the trip to Iskeria for his usual spice pick up he would make official and become a full fledged member of the Black sun. As his freighter dropped out of hyper space near the planets the scanner immediately started going crazy, “oh frack.” Colton replied as looked the readout, “Fur ball angel the deflector shield and charge of the guns, so much a routine pick up.” Colton push his throttle up to 75% of maximum what he called attacked speed and prepped himself for battle that surely about to commence.



[member="Xis"], [member="Lorraei"]

 

[Darth Caecus]

Location: Iskeria
Objective: 2nd Wave, Entering Base from the NE ​ Don't die
Allies: Commonwealth- [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Isaac Knight"] [member="Stokely McFadden"]
Enemies: Black Sun- Slightly less Wardroids than before, but still gonna big bada boom [member="Ghorua the Shark"] [member="Flannigan Mcnash"]

​Zee had taken cover behind her half wall, blinking on the sound dampener in her helmet a heartbeat before the bird in the air came roaring through. Heavy ship based fire and the .50cals coming up opposite their location were speaking the good word when it came to dealing with the Wardroids (at least, the ones they knew about at that moment and from one direction), and Zee was happy to sit tight until there was a reason to do something else.

Most of their squad was working on a particular comm channel, but every now and then, Zee would cycle through all of the open channels- normally, it was a quick spin through static and silence. But this time, something came through-

"Now, before I break every single one of you, do you know who we are?"

"Cause that's not ominous at all," she muttered to herself before flicking back to the squad's open channel- "Falcor!​ We've got something brewing and-"

The time away from that open channel though meant that she'd missed a few details. And hearing Cait's unintentional additions made Zee turn around, eyes sweeping the field.

Everything slowed. She caught sight of her friend, covering the body of another squad member with her own body. Out of the corner of her eye, the first of the explosive clad droids came barreling toward them, the other droids falling back- it was that behavior that actually sent every neuron screaming and called her attention to the anomalies on the incoming droid. Maybe, if she'd tried, she could have stopped Yun. It was that squad mate's sacrifice that made the blast survivalable for them all- but only just in some cases.

Zee hit the snow hard, covering her head out of reflex. She pushed up tight against the half-wall as the scene around her disintegrated. Shrapnel cut through the air, a parting 'F-you' from the droid that had come out at them. Zee grunted, feeling several pieces slam in to her, stopped by her armor- but the last one hit at just the right velocity and angle to puncture through at her calf, and she curled herself up tighter and bit her lip to keep from crying out.

It was Cait's voice over the comm however that hurt the most. Though the air had been knocked out of her lungs by the explosion, this was what actually stopped Zee from breathing.

"Beyond. Falcor Actual. Broken Arrow."​

Broken Arrow. The call to bomb this place to GLASS. The call that said 'We can't win this, kill them all.' Which meant she and the others had less than thirty seconds to get clear before they became permanent fixtures of a very broken landscape. The call that meant this third breach was only going to happen by orbital bombardment. The gods' way of saying 'f*ck this place IN PARTICULAR.'

Zee pushed her faceplate out of the snow- and regretted it immediately. A piece of metal fused with something far more organic sat perhaps three inches in front of her face. For one, two, three heartbeats, she just stared at it, her blood thundering in her ears.

Are you going to be sick? Because that's just SAD. You've seen worse. You've DONE worse. Get your candy-ass up and under you and get moving NOW.

Somehow, Zee found herself on her feet, crouching with the half-wall as cover. Scanning- looking for Cait when movement caught her eye.

A second droid. Coming in to finish where the first had left off.

A number of things went through Zee's head in the fraction of a second it took to catalogue it. Despite the immediate threat to all of their lives, she had to appreciate the f*ck out of whomever had set that up. Elegant. Send in one droid and boom- enough to throw everyone off. And then the second droid to come in and finish the job while everyone was down.

They just hadn't counted on Zee's inner voice being a bigger nerf herder than they were.

Seriously though, kudos, nicely played- NOW DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Zee didn't even think. She just acted. The second (and last) EMP grenade was snapped off of her belt even as she stood up to her full height. While the blonde woman was petite, she was tall enough that the action put her out in the open. To get a good throw, she had to.

This is not what I had in mind, you know.

A heartbeat after she lobbed the EMP grenade at the second BOOM droid, enemy fire opened up from two different directions.

It didn't hurt- not right away. One bolt took her to the right of her spine, forcing her to make a single step forward. The second slammed in to her left shoulder a fraction of a millisecond later. One, two, the second one actually threw her backward. Hips hit the half-wall behind her, the force of the second shot enough to somersault her backward over it.

She heard, but didn't see, the BZZT-WONG of the EMP grenade- she could only hope it had disabled the droid and the electronics in the thermal detonators.

Zee landed heavily on the opposite side of the half wall- the right side to be on if the boom happened- the wrong side to be on if the air support and those .50 cals hadn't taken care of all the original group of droids.





​
​

 

[Allison Martha Iversson]

Location: Fire Control Center of the No Land Beyond II, Iskeria Orbit
Objective: Support ground forces, standby weapons to engage enemy craft, unleash hell on Squad 2's position
Allies: Commonwealth and Mercenaries
Enemies: Black Sun

"Beyond. Falcor Actual. Broken Arrow."

That was all that Allison needed to hear. Squad two was broken, the leader called down the fury, and friendly casualties be damned. She looked around for an instant with a steely look in her eyes at the fire control center and tapped her commlink. "Understood Falcor Actual. Raining fire, danger close, three minutes to impact."

She rapidly tapped up the transponder beacon on [member="Cait Falcor"]'s last known location on the tactical overlay holomap of the surface and ordered the launchers. "Latitude: 16.76251, Longitude: -26.47704, Displacement: 1.09, 5 second fuse", she shouted out to the gunner and he repeated back, "Aye ma'am, Latitude: 16.76251, Longitude: -26.47704, Displacement: 1.09, 5 second fuse."

The turret launchers outside smoothly moved into firing position on the No Land Beyond II's hull and locked into the coordinates. "Ready!", the gunner sounded off.

"Fire!", Allison said without hesitation. Outside the missile launcher ignited missiles in perfect sequence and they roared out of the launcher in formation one after the other, 14 in all, and spread their trajectories out in a staggered perimeter around Cait's position. Anything within the perimeter of 70-80 feet of Cait's immediate position would be turned into ground Bantha meat and scrap metal within 3 minutes.

After this something leapt to Allison's attention on the overlay, a small contact on the long range sensors of the No Land Beyond II she hadn't noticed in all the drama of the situation. A civilian? Another pirate?

"Lock dorsal weapons but hold fire." Allison ordered the gunners. Outside the small kinetic turrets and anti-fighter lasers turned to [member="Captain Colton Renfroe"]'s ship and she opened a comm channel to him in her earpiece. "Unidentified vessel, this is Chief Warrant Officer Iversson of the Commonwealth Navy. Divert your course and leave the system immediately or we will fire on your vessel."

[member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Isaac Knight"] [member="Stokely McFadden"] [member="Zee"] [member="Matthias Hull"] [member="Horus"] [member="Captain Colton Renfroe"]

 

[Jaster Awaud]

The wind was tough, blowing the snow one side to another, the hills of white covered most of the planets surface, only interrupted by rocky grey surface. A small glimmer of light on the horizon appeared, growing in size as it approached the landing position of the Commonwealth Troopers. Closing in the figures of fighters could be seen, flying under the sight of the small blizzard, they were able to approch wuthout being seen in radar. The count was 25 fighters, 20 Starfighters, and 5 Bombers, all flying in wedge formation and bombers in the center.

The fighters moved in first to attack the ground forces and anti-air batteries, securing the ground for a bombing run. All forces on the ground and Batteries, that didn't take cover were attacked by the more maneuverable Droid controlled Fighters. Tydus was in the cockpit of the lead bomber, pushing down on the stick he lowered his ship onto the landing grounds, he pressed the Torpedo pods release button. A total of 5 bombs were dropped on the ground shaking the surface and the facility below.

Once Tydus felt he had done enough damage to the ground force, he took his Squadron to orbit. He wanted to take a closer look at the ship in orbit. He passed as Bolts of light rushed to the surface.


[member="Stokely McFadden"] [member="Horus"] [member="Matthias Hull"] [member="Allison Martha Iversson"] [member="Zee"] [member="Phislo Bress"] [member="Lorraei"] [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Maris Jolner"] [member="Ghorua the Shark"] [member="Corrax Talrus"] [member="Xis"]

 

[Zark San Tekka]

Location: Iskeria, Second Wave Breach
Objective: Survive
Allies: Commonwealth + Mercenaries, [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Zee"]
Enemies: Black Sun, [member="Flannigan Mcnash"] [member="Ghorua the Shark"] Large Explosions


At first he thought he was dreaming, the flickering light of his heads up display blinked in and out, the readouts dancing across his face in a kaleidoscopic pattern as it circumnavigated the deep cracks in his visor. Then, all he saw was red, and Lieutenant Knight was forced to tear off the entire helmet just to be able to see clearly again.

Dimly, he could see the flipped MARV in front of him. Amazingly, he had not been crushed by the vehicle when he had been thrown clear. On its side, the back raised tire was still spinning furiously, but the front tire had been melted into slag along with a good portion of the MARVs entire front left side. It was where the vehicle had caught the brunt of the blast from the thermal detonator droid. Had it not been for the brave soul from Task Force Falcor, the full blast likely would have vaporized them completely.

Isaac stumbled to his feet, bearing down and grunting as he popped a dislocated shoulder back into place. He found a rifle nearby, he couldn’t be sure if it was his or one of his men’s, and began bounding towards the downed vehicle. He saw the gunner first, still harnessed in and slumped over the fifty cal.

“Private!” he called out, grabbing the young man, barely more than a boy’s shoulder, “Pri-”

He stopped when he realized there was nothing left to talk to. The left side of the marine’s face was a mess of meat, no signs of breathing or a pulse. Cursing, he clambered awkwardly onto the vehicle’s side. Heedless to the potential target he was providing, he nonetheless made it to the passenger side, more or less.

“Deacon! Corporal Deacon!”

A moan answered him, and Isaac could see movement inside the marines armor. With the kind of brute strength only extreme adrenaline can provide, Knight ignored his own injuries to pull the wounded RTO from the MARV. He was mumbling something, but it was incoherent at first. The Lieutenant had dragged the corporal several meters before it registered.

“Broken arrow...”

Cursing, Isaac ripped off Deacon’s helmet as gingerly as possible under the circumstances, ignoring the blood that dripped down as he squeezed the too tight helm onto his own head. Suddenly, his ears were a flurry of comm chatter, unable to make sense of anything before he isolated the frequency of his team.

“All units, broken arrow! I repeat, danger close fire mission our vicinity! Get to Falcor’s coordinates, all hands, move move move!”

No longer able to just support the still moaning Deacon, Knight hauled the wounded marine over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry, and made a beeline for where his head’s up display showed the mercenaries coordinates. In his head, he was counting down from how long his mental math told him it would take the ordnance package to hit earth from the No Land Beyond’s current position in orbit.

Not enough time.

The marine managed to haul Deacon as far as a ruined half-wall before slumping down next to the other man next to him. In the distance, he could see another MARV, this one still upright, that had managed to converge on or very near Cait Falcor’s position. There was no sign of the other MARV, but he didn’t see a wreck.

It took him a moment to realize that the two of them were not alone. A few meters nearby, also braced near the wall, was a wounded mercenary. A woman, by the look of her silhouette. Knight was fairly certain it was the one Falcor had brought along, though he had not caught her name. No longer dealing with just one medical emergency but two, Isaac knew he needed help.

“Corpsman!” he screamed into his comm, shortly before the world exploded all around him.

 

[Renthcol]

“Well Chief Warrant Officer Iversson, you and your Commonwealth buddies, are interfering with a business arrangement of mine, I kinda take it personal when people shoot at friends and business partners so, I’m not gonin’ to comply with your orders.” Colton coldly responded over the channel as Tvrrist send a coded transmission to the black sun base warning them of the impeding bombardment.







[member="Tydus Wryeens"] [member="Allison Martha Iversson"] [member="Allison Martha Iversson"] [member="Xis"]

 

[Allison Martha Iversson]

Allison sighed at the response of the unknown pilot. He didn't seem to want to back down and he was attacking a naval vessel of the Commowealth. The admiral's flagship no less. As were the other contacts that had just popped on her display. It seems the Black Sun's counter attack had truly begun. But a hand full of fighters and bombers have no chance against the No Land Beyond. Allison almost pitied them for their suicidal bravery.

"Then you have chosen to dive head first into your graves!", Allison declared overseeing the contacts incoming on her overlay. "All Dorsal and Ventral batteries open fire!"

The anti-fighter lasers and kinetic batteries of the ship roared to life and streaked across the blackness of space toward Renfroe's ship and Wyreen's formation.

Since the major group was coming from underneath the ship Allison prepared a devious thought in her mind. "Starboard and Port batteries, prepare to lay down a snap field of fire if the group from the planet tries to breakthrough. If they run along side our port and starboard to attack we will gave them a curtain of fire to run right into!"

 

[Renthcol]

“Oh frack!” Colton exclaimed as saw the batteries come to life he punched the throttle of the Black falcon to full land brilliantly executed a series of rolls, dives, and snap turns to avoid most of the incoming fire as drew close to ship. The deflector had taken minimum damage but he knew his gun were no match for naval, but if could make to hanger bay he could take it down from the inside. As guns fired in 180 degree volleys as dipped dodged and rolled to avoid the incoming fire, closing the distance between his ship and the NO Land Beyond. He hopped that the Black sun ship coming from the planet would draw enough of the naval vessel’s fire for this scheme of his to work.


[member="Allison Martha Iversson"]

 

[Horus]

[Theme]

The transmission resonated throughout the command deck, a swift silence befell the crew. "Beyond. Falcor Actual. Broken Arrow." Eyes shifted through the room, and though operations continued the crashing tide of noise had turned to that of a quiet stream, a light murmur that was hardly audible. Some looked to Matthias Hull, but it wasn't for guidance, they were trying to find out how to react, how would their Captain react to such news in the presence of the Lord of Admirals? Then eyes shifted to Horus, and quickly his demeanor grew grave.

Then sensors began to pick up multiple fighter craft, coming from the surface after a quick and surprising bombing run. Where had they come from? They hadn't picked them up, it was impossible. Space magic, he concluded, and a terrible anger grew in the pit of his stomach. Blast the Force, curse it, the galaxy was better off without it. He rose from the chair, and while he kept his tone cool and collected there was no denying the Lord Admiral had enough of these games. These criminals would pay.

"I'm seizing control, Captain Hull," Horus ordered, it was not a matter of question. "Iversson!" the old Admiral roared across the deck, "Ignore the ship, it's a single craft, attack those fighters!" he commanded, indicating to the scans that revealed the 45 fighter craft that had appeared seemingly from thin air, attacked their LZ and was now making for the No Land Beyond. "I want guided missiles on them, ASAP." He turned to the entirety of the crew, "If a single ship of theirs tries to leave this planet, fire upon them with extreme prejudice."

Horus stepped forward and began to plant pins into the map, "Orbital bombardment here, here and here. The facility is lost. This is not worth the lives of good Alexandrians. Pull our troops out, I want a crater where that lab is, and I want someone to answer why no one picked up those fighters on the scans. Men and women have died today because of one technicians incompetence."

Horus looked to Hull, "You have it from here, Matthias." The Lord Admiral moved for the door where marines sat on guard duty, "Give me that rifle, son," Horus ordered as the trooper watched in shock and fumbled with the slugthrower, "I'm going to give this rogue pilot a welcoming party." With the MM110 in hand he called the other marines around the deck to fall in behind him.

 

[Jaster Awaud]

[member="Horus"] [member="Captain Colton Renfroe"] [member="Allison Martha Iversson"]

The plan worked flawlessly, launching from the hidden base while the cloud cover was at its peak was the best timing, he'd have to thank NN another day, even though he was a droid. The cloud cover protected them from satellite visual scans, and the droid fighters from biological, and since the blizzard made most scanners useless, he figured the rest to just good luck. From his look behind him, the bombing run did little damage, more just disabled there Anit-Air capabilities then anything else. His real target was to gain the attention of the orbital ship, maybe even stop it from bombarding the planet again.

He only had 25 ships against a capital ship, his bombers only carring a total of 40 plasma torpedos. He just wanted to scare them enough to make them pause, getting his fleet of transports off the planet. He radioed the NN droid back at base, "NN-22, this if Shadow Wing, we are now commencing attack of capital ship, 100% fighting capability, over."

"Roger that Shadow Wing, we will await instructions."

This wouldn't be easy, the wall of blaster fire from the ship was frightening enough, but the Droid Starfighter are more maneuverable so targeting fire would need to adjust for that, or at least he hopped they would. The first volley was easily doable to avoid by him and the other Cybernetic Pilots, even the droids avoided it, though one was his but not destroyed. It sent a request to fall back, Tydus allowed it to switch with a read guard, but that was it. He need all ships where they were, protecting him and the bombers. They needed to take down the sheilds as well, and only a combined attack could drain them quick enough.

He ordered the fighter through the second volley and towards what Tydus figured where the weapons bombarding the planet from orbit. He needed to take that out more then anything. He was sure it already cause problems for the syndicate on the ground.

 

[Thraxis]

Location: Underground Compound
Objective, Make sure no one gets in
Allies: Jackals, by extension Black Sun
Enemies: Whoever wasn't listed as an Ally

Thraxis cocked his gun for a second, realizing what one could call the gravity of the situation. He flicked his boots flying quickly towards the Duffel bag. If he was to die here he wasn't going to die without taking this guy with him. As he flew over he had little care for his body, he was about to both make a bluff and call a bluff. As he darted over he jumped into a barrel, colliding with his duffel bag as he held it high above himself, "Well we both die then!" he yelled, the fact that an abundance of glop had held one of his arms hostage alleviating from what he was hoping would be climactic.

All he could do was hope his bluff wasn't called. Slowly he started to walk towards him, " In this bag. I have enough Thermal power to blow up this entire facility myself." he continued his prance, his eyes narrowed, "Now, if ya want to survive. Ya gonna need to listen to my demands. Or else I take you with me." he said as he paused a few feet away from his rocks, provided he hadn't called the bluff. "Now, you can choose, either surrender, we take you hostage and get off this planet unharmed." a few seconds paused, letting him soak in the dire situation, "Or I blow everyone up, and no one gets to live. Including your allies." he continued, his body slowly lowering down as he held the bag in his hand, an iron tight grip, he wasn't exactly letting him disarm him of his only chance of escape.
[member="Cadan Tazi"] [member="Maris Jolner"]

 

[Flannigan Mcnash]

The White Flag

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRjLv1L0WF8[/video]

LOCATION: UNDERGROUND BASE, 2nd BREACH
EQUIPMENT: IN BIO
ALLIES NEARBY: [member="Ghorua the Shark"]
ENEMIES NEARBY: Cait Falcor, Zee
FORCES NEARBY: 7 WARDROIDS

His large frame turned to [member="Ghorua the Shark"], nodded his head with solemn determination's weight. "It's over." he opened his comlink with an audible 'BEEP' "[member="Xis"], I'm surrendering." he let the weight of the word's carry through the wires and through the airwaves, he paused. "They'll glass this mountain and anything that will take off, they can't take it, so they have no use for it. Its only simple deduction, I would destroy its resources our resources if I couldn't have them. And we're not vsing Jedi, so we can't count on their respect for life."

"I have a Battle Barge, its waiting outside due north of the second breach. Get as many men to it and resources to it. It'll be harder to pick up, but launch a series of fighters to cover us, get creative. Distract. Once aboard go far away, call in some ships and get off this rock. That is all." he ended the link with a thunderous silence, he moved towards [member="Ghorua the Shark"], raised a single digit and pointed towards the empty corridor. "You heard the talk, get out of here."

"The things I do for life." he let out a mechanical sigh, a grating release of air as he flipped open the device and sent out a signal for fleet, and [member="Horus"] titled 'White Flag'. "I am Flannigan Mcnash, leader of the facility. I'm here to discuss our term's of surrender. And before you say it, you killed my friends, my men, my tools. I have information, how many more facilities are there? Do we have men in your ranks, do we have friend's in high places. These questions and more can be answered, lets keep this civil."

---​

[member="Horus"], [member="Corrax Talrus"], [member="Maris Jolner"], [member="Phislo Bress"], [member="Zee"], [member="Cait Falcor"], [member="Matthias Hull"], [member="Xis"]​

 

[Cadan Tazi]

Location: Spider Caverns.
Objective: Gather the Silk.
Allies: Black Sun & Co
Enemies: Maris & Co

Cadan rolled his eyes as he heard Thraxis speak and begin to walk towards Maris. "Bloody idiot." Cadan muttered under his breath, but if Thraxis was going try and bluff Cadan better throw in his cards and add to the bluff. "Thraxis, you bloody fleck! Just chuck the bag at 'im and run!" The Duros began to stand, his hand covering his gut, blood still streaming from the wound.

Suddenly over the comms came Flannigans voice, he was sounding a retreat. "Fleck." Cadan needed to get both he and Thraxis out of this place before it went down. Now the spiced out mind of Cadan's made up a plan, not a very good plan but still a plan. "To 'ell with it." In a swift action, Cadan ran towards Thraxis and in the pulled him backwards, at the same time he fire his wrist mounted rocket launcher at the ceiling, causing rocks and debris to fall from the roof of the cavern. "You got one chance to come with me Thraxis and get outta 'ere."

Spoiler

If you wanted to sort of have Maris react before Cadan blasts the roof just hit me up.

[member="Thraxis"] [member="Maris Jolner"]