Commonwealth Mission: Search, Retrieve, Establish

[Renthcol]

As the fire from the capitol ship suddenly stopped, Colton turned to his co-pilot “well fur-ball that was a little too convenient.” As the freighter slipped into one the ship hanger bay and softly touched down, the ramp lowered and Colton quickly ran down it Ducking the fire from the marines before diving to cover behind some creates of spare parts, and return fire with his DL-44.





[member="Tydus Wryeens"] [member="Horus"]

 

[Allison Martha Iversson]

"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."

"Yes Lord Admiral." Iversson responded to his command. "Dorsal batteries cease fire on the single ship and attack those droid fighters if the opportunity arises. Starboard and Port batteries create a field of crossfire coordinated with Ventral to limit maneuverability for the fighters. Switch to burst fire fragmentation shells on the kinetic guns and prepare for point defense auto-turrets on available Guardian Railguns to intercept missile launches. Launchers 2-3-4 fire precision guided on the fighters and bombers. 1-5-6 hot swap high yield torpedoes and target the indicated coordinates provided by the Lord Admiral. We'll wipe this facility off this iceball if those pirates will not surrender it!"

The guns on the top of the ship went silent and allowed Renfroe's ship to enter the hangar unharmed. At the same time the left and right side shifted to Wyreen's fighters creating a thick field of fire that intersects with the other batteries to drive the formation apart with a sort of wedge of incoming fire. The missile launchers could then pick targets and fire at seperate clusters of targets. The launchers turned and started locking on to the fighters. The other three were focused on the planet itself and not moving. They mechanically were shifting their ammo to bombard the facility. After a few minutes the launchers displayed green that the heavy torpedoes were armed and ready.

I will seriously need a drink after this. She thought to herself. The stress of the battle was starting to make her angry. Honestly she wasn't sure if that meant her command was getting better or worse. The fiery redhead quickly shook the thought away and finalized her orders. "Give all squad leaders the countdown and minimum safe distance measure. Fifteen minutes to fall back to a safe distance before we blow this place to the great beyond."

 

[Mr. OOC]

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

He took a round right in his right thigh for his efforts of changing cover. When he stopped it was in a near heap upon stony surface, but he still had his faculties about him enough to send some shots scattering in his foes directions, just to keep them at bay. This was quickly becoming a situation he didn't want to be in. How he longed for extra support. From then on out he was going to make sure his squad was split into pairs so that no one ever went alone into battle as he had. Foolish of him to have done so. He knew better. Well, at least it was only him that was going to have to suffer consequences for his actions and not someone else. He deserved it.

One of them was threatening to bring it all down around them. Stupid. Maris knew people like this. They didn't want to die. They were cowards and thrill seekers, treasure hunters. Death was something they challenged, but ran from at first sight. He didn't believe they had enough firepower to bring it all down around them. A bomber blitz above ground threatened to prove him wrong, however.

"Lord Admiral, we're being bombed. Suggest clearing air space. Signs of retreat are evident. Prepare to intercept departing vessels."

He had pulled his commlink out just long enough to send [member="Horus"] a quick burst before putting it away. One of his foes had moved over and was assisting his fellow. Maris didn't like it. Clearly a retreat was in effect at this point, but if there really were explosives involved in this situation, he was in serious danger. Pushing to a squat, which caused him to utter a series of expletives, he prepared to make a run for it if that became necessary.

"Surrender willingly and you might get off easy!"

 

[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"]



The question for most was how would one handle all the blasterbolts coming at them? There was no physical way that even a jedi could deflect them all, the body could only do so much and move so fast. Even for a species above a human in term of reflexes it would be impossible to block all the blasterbolts while holding the saber. Especially when faced with another jedi. This one however seemed frail, weak in comparison to Xis. Still new to the arts most likely but he had shown an inkling of skill.

Xis didn’t move still using the droid as a barrier the lightsaber hilt flew from his hip in an invisible grip. With a snap-hiss it activated a white glow cast by the pure lightsaber blade. Nearly blinding it was so bright. No Xis couldn’t block them physically nor did he plan to. Spinning in the air the white blade began to blur, not flying at his enemies but just spinning so fast that it appeared to become a solid shield. Blasterbolts pinged off the blade and off into the ceiling or floor marking the freshly polished halls. Those bolts that had gotten through struck the droid that Xis held before himself. Slowly more chunks of metal broke free till the only thing Xis held was the torso of the droid. Dropping the useless husk Xis drew in the force, one bolt caught the Falleen in his shoulder causing him to stumble back half a pace. Thankfully the armor was made of sterner stuff than the common stuff most criminals wore.

The words that came next however was Flannigan signaling a retreat… Xis couldn’t hold it against the cyborg, what he spoke was truth. They would possibly glass the entire facility in hopes of ridding themselves of the entire Black Sun or whoever occupied it. Wouldn’t change the fact of the soldiers that were still down on the planet however. “Do what you must Flannigan and I will do as I will.”

“Sadly our fun must come to an end.” Xis shouted over the blasterfire. Both hands raising to either side of him Xis brought them together with a heavy smack. The entire hall they stood in would reverberate from what came next. The clap had given way to a massive force wave that hurled not only shards of metal at the mercenaries but would have enough force to blast them into the far end of the wall. Not staying to see the effects of his work Xis turned walking away.

Tapping a button built into the gauntlet Xis signaled the Black Sun vessels on the far edge of the system to come and retrieve the entire group. It was always best to have a backup plan in case they tried to keep them from retreating. “I’m on my way Flannigan. Everyone else converge on the barge, we’re leaving.”

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

 

[Horus]

It wasn't long until the freighter slipped into the hanger, though he certainly wasn't alone. The moment he made touch-down the blast doors slammed shut. This wasn't some passenger cruiser, this was a warship of the Commonwealth. They were on high alert, the hanger was filled to the brim with technicians operating on vessels, marines waiting for departure, MARV's ready to be loaded onto MPD's and CTH-A1 tank hunters being armed. The tanks aligned their cannons to the freighter. As the pilot stepped out of the ship and dove for cover, the tank cannons opened fire on the vessel with high-explosive anti-tank rounds. The man had asked for trouble, and he had gotten it.

"Don't kill the man, injure and maim if you must, but I want him alive," Horus said over his communicator as he took an express elevator to the hanger to meet with the marines that had the pilot surrounded. The pilot had just walked into the sharks mouth, alone. Then came Flannigan on the line, "Flannigan," he spoke calmly, "You have to the count of ten to order your men to stand down and surrender before I turn that laboratory of yours to dust, and any ship that tries to leave this system will be engaged with extreme prejudice."

Horus checked his rifle, the marines looked on edge, their leader was at a venerable age and was about to walk into possible combat. "I want you to hand yourself over, Flannigan, the rest of your people may leave unharmed, but if a single blaster bolt is fired, I'm calling off your surrender." He cut the transmission. He wasn't interested in being civil, he wanted justice. Good working men and women had died, innocent wifes, husbands and children would wait for a partner or parent to come home but instead they would get a coffin. It was a mercy he was willing to excuse them from the same fate.

The doors opened, Horus' voice could be heard through every hallway, corridor, armory and barracks in the warship, repeated over the intercoms, "This is Lord Admiral Horus, we have a breach on Hanger 2B, I want all local personnel to arrest this individual." Horus stepped out into the hanger, rifle lowered. A fireteam of marines flanked around him, rifles raised. Then Horus' voice boomed like coarse gravel, "Son, you have to the count of ten to drop your weapons and surrender. You are one dumb boy."

[member="Captain Colton Renfroe"] | [member="Flannigan Mcnash"]

 

[Flannigan Mcnash]

Just a quick reply, keeping real time so we can keep things moving​

​

"You have my word," he spoke into the com, hovering a fraction from the base of his face. "But warning is fair, not all are my men some are my business partners who may act rashly, and anyone fleeing or disobeying my command is a rogue. Deal with them how it pleases you. I'll be awaiting you at the second breach. I await your illustrious presence."

[member="Horus"]​

 

[Jaster Awaud]

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

Tydus was busy with the incoming fire from the odd looking ship to notice the smuggler ship bored it. He realized the capital ship was using a very common tactic to attack Sharfighters and bombers. Separate and eliminate. If Tydus was a novic pilot he would have never noticed and told his fighters to scatter, allowing the bombers to be open for attach. Yet he was not, he was trained in naval combat since he was 9 years old, this was a chess game for him. Separate and Eliminate was easily countered with Divide and Evade.

Tydus opened his wrist Pad and entered "A-21" then pressed enter. The fighters and bombers divided into 5 separate groups, 4 Starfighters and 1 Bomber to each group. They flew in a wedge formation and when they broke off weaving between one another so that if missiles were locked into the ships, they well fly into one another or loose contact.

As this happened la, three torpedoes were launched from the craft, the starfighters intercepted one, but two other Droid Starfighters from different wings were distroyed, with another bomber taking flak from the ship. Leaving 18 starships of 1 was wounded, and 5 bombers of one was wounded as well. Tydus took a run at the ship trying to disable the sheilds, but it only shimmered as the weapons and bombs were absorbed by it. He would need to take a second pass, and ordered for the bombers and fighters to take out the shield.

 

[Renthcol]

Just then the Wookie actives the Black Falcon’s ground defenses and Laser assault canons popped out of the middle of booth pincers and began 90 degree arc of fire, and ventral and dorsal quad cannons opened fire on the tanks and blast door respectively. “I didn’t plan to live forever, you want me come and get me!” Colton yelled over the laser fire.





[member="Horus"]

 

[Horus]

From the corner of his eye he saw the turrets begin to move, he knew what was next. "The Force might give you mercy son, but I won't be," Horus said in a last call. Someone screamed something and all hell broke loose. A marine grabbed Horus by the collar and yanked him to the ground with the force of a speeding automobile. A second later the freighter had opened fire where he had been standing, but it didn't last long. Freighters were mean't for carrying cargo, they weren't death on tracks. Unfortunately for this smuggler, he just landed in a hanger full of 50.cal turrets that could shoot through five inches of reinforced titanium, and Tank Hunters whose soul purpose of design was to destroy tanks, a freighter was a small task for the machines of war.

In a heart beat the hanger turned into a crescendo of thunder as the tanks opened fire on the turrets, quick on their mark, but their rounds were high-explosive anti-tank, HEAT, and when they hit their mark they exploded. No doubt it would shred apart the freighter. The blast door to the hanger remained resolute, it's design and purpose was to prevent incursions, it would take more than laser fire to melt through the reinforced durasteel plating. As the cannon fired faded away, Horus blinked away the tears that had swelled. He felt like his ears had been viciously clapped, and looking at the other marines, the close proximity to the noise had done the same to them.

He craned his neck and saw a marine against the far end hanger, he could see the wall through the gaping hole in his belly. Another life taken. The venerable admiral gritted his teeth, took the MM110 off safety and stood. He pumped the trigger, the other marines were moving in, a handful lobbed SD-11 grenades at Renfoe. They may not kill Renfoe but they would immobilize him. Horus wanted him alive, even if he had began killing good, innocent marines. "Aim for his knees," Horus sent the order down the line as he pulled the clip from the MM110 and held out his hand for the marine beside him to hand over another loaded clip. These weren't stormtroopers or Alliance soldiers, they didn't have blasters that had a stun functionality, these were slugthrowers, and if Renfoe didn't surrender he was going to be swiss cheese, or a crater if one of those tanks had their way.

[member="Captain Colton Renfroe"]

 

[Renthcol]

Realizing this wasn’t going as planned Colton decided to try a bluff, “Tell your boys to stop shooting and I’ll come out.” He yelled over the chaos that unfolding around, and waited for the firefight to stop, hoping the Falcon was still at least salvageable. As he dove away from the grandees and the fire died down, he dazed and badly bruised likely had a broken leg as well from the force of the grenades."I’ll cut you a deal I walk away, and my associate in what is left of my ship won’t arm the half dozen crates of thermal detonators on board and blow all into to bits.” He said in very matter fact tone, and with his pest poker face on, hoping the bluff would work.




[member="Horus"]

 

[Cait Falcor]

Cait Falcor
Iskeria Surface Action
Broken Arrow Inbound
[member="Horus"], [member="Allison Martha Iversson"], [member="Stokely McFadden"], [member="Zee"], [member="Matthias Hull"], [member="Isaac Knight"]
________________

Cait sat up, groaning as she did so. That was probably a mistake. Everything hurt, and there was a ringing in her ear. A day in Kolto for that alone, dearie. Unless you'd rather never hear Eliza's sweet laughter again?

Cait allowed herself maybe half a second to think on her adoptive daughter. She would be damned if she wasn't going to see that girl, in her cap and gown becoming a young adult.

What about Yun? Why doesn't he get to graduate?

The young Alexandrian had been no more than two years Eliza's senior. And there likely wasn't anything left of him to bury.

Cait died a little inside. He's not coming back because of me. I did this.

*sssssPANG!*

An incoming round shook Cait out of her reverie...all at once the ringing sound faded and the sound of a raging battle continued. The Munoz's were stabilizing MacArthur, and Kirov was perched on the edge of the crater, Munoz's weapon braced on the edge. He looked in pain, but he was putting rounds down range. He's fighting. You're wallowing in grief. Falcor. MOVE. YOUR ASS! she yelled at herself.

A quick survey of her HUD told her more or less exactly how supremely fraked she was. Paskey and Londor were fine, falling back towards what Cait just then decided to call Fort Crater...she chuckled to herself momentarily at the absurdity that THAT was what she'd spent mental cycles on. Humans are weird. But Knight and Deacon - new arrivals - needed rescue and - Cait's world threatened to come to a stop once more.

Zee was wounded...her HUD didn't have a lot, but it looked bad. Feth feth feth...NOT TODAY MOTHER FRAKERS! And she finally snapped out of the funk.

"Paskey, Londor, fall back to the Crater - Kirov cover their asses. Munoz, make sure Mac is stable and then get your ass on a fething weapon - I need rounds down-range STAT, missy. Other Munoz - yea, I know, shut up - collect ammo and make sure the others are flush in rounds like its a Range."

"What about you?" asked Munoz over the SquadCom

"Allison, Some of our people are still out there. We're not fething leaving anyone behind. And we ARE getting off this force forsaken fething rock...YOU GET ME?"

"Feth yea. We'll be ready, when you get back, Cait." Munoz closed the link, but Cait could hear her coordinating an ammo pool for the shooters in the background. She couldn't focus on the channel though - she had Marines to bring home and a friend to rescue.

Cait leapt out of the Crater, and made a bee line for Percosevic's location on the HUD. He'd taken a round fairly early on in the engagement. Cait was horrified with herself that the very last thing she'd said to him was some pithy, immature remark about "working for a living", gods what tripe she chastised herself yet again. He had the hi-capacity transciever-pack still on his back, and was slumped over his weapon. Her heart didn't have time to sink...she knew she'd be inconsolable later, but right now in the moment - her people needed her and she had plenty of time for tears back on the Beyond.

She unceremoniously slung him over her shoulders, grunting with the effort and letting her weapon fall onto its D-Sling off of her shoulder, and began humping it toward Lt. Knight, Zee and poor Deacon.

The incoming fire is much lighter than it was she remarked internally, completely unaware of the Retreat Order. She was keeping herself low, but it was hard to really pull any evasive with a marine on her back. She finally arrived at the low wall.

"Leftenant Knight, I presume?" She didn't have it in her to bother with a Salute - which wasn't necessary in a firezone anyway - " I heard you ordered a three carriage hover sleigh. I'm all the Corps could provide...typical. Can you walk? Can you handle one or both of them?...we really need to get back to a safe spot, this whole place is being flattened for a new Parking Lot in" - she glanced at her HUD "like 87 Fething Seconds."

She shifted poor Percosevic on her back, and grunted again while pivoting to take everything in, especially her friend.

"Zee? Are you Stable?" the HUD was frustratingly limited in its information. "Also...Sir - see the Quartermaster after we get back, your helm appears to be too small."

Classic NCO...citing uniform violations even in a firefight.

Cait's eye's drifted to the "Everything is going to DIE" count down, as it rapidly approached 0:00 when the Rock Concert to end all Rock Concerts would come swooping into Iskeria like a swarm of Geonosian Tourists during combined Feasting/Mating season. Ya, that whole month is kind of a mess.

Cait was glad she had on a helmet, she was pretty sure she looked like a dope, laughing at her own joke. "Frak it, no time" she uncermoniously grabbed Zee's Dragon-Harness, and began dragging her toward the Crater. I'm probably making her injuries worse, but nothing that a nice Kolto Bubble Bath can't fix...even that stuff can't bring you back from "Everything AND the Kitchen-Sink" levels of Orbital Bombardment. She thought to herself.

Cait kept dragging her people to Fort Crater. We are all going home.
"Coming, Sir?"

**********
Back on the Beyond,

A Signalman becomes aware of a new ping from TF Falcor. He opens the channel to hear an alive, and exhausted, but completely reborn Cait Falcor on the channel. She is grunting from some kind of physical exertion.

Gone is the broken woman from before. Her voice burns with fire.

"Beyond, Falcor Actual. Appreciate the Light Show. Bet the locals are gonna get a kick out of it! *hrnnn* But after gunnery has had its fun...*groan* we'd sure appreciate it if you could send a ride. I've got a bunch of Marines here who are ready to ride this queen out, but then they promise to drink the Galley dry."

She seems to pause for breath, before grunting again.

"TF Falcor is officially requesting Exfil, I've got some wounded, and I've got some dead...but we're all coming back, damnit. Falcor, Out."

 

[Ghorua the Shark]

LOCATION: UNDERGROUND BASE, BREACH #2
EQUIPMENT: IN BIO
ALLIES IN AREA: Flannigan Mcnashhttp://starwarsrp.net/user/7556-flannigan-mcnash/http://starwarsrp.net/user/7556-flannigan-mcnash/
ENEMIES IN AREA: Zeehttp://starwarsrp.net/user/12314-zee/http://starwarsrp.net/user/12314-zee/, Cait Falcor, Isaac Knight

CURRENT FORCES: 7 Wardroids, 15 Black Sun Personnel

Ghorua the Shark looked to Flannigan with something that resembled deep respect. Sacrificing one's freedom to save the base, and the Black Sun? Very unlike a common criminal. The act was enough to invoke a nod of understanding from the Herglic, as he pulled his Photoreceptive Spidersilk Elaxtex cloak from a pocket in his bandolier. The Shark fashioned the robe around himself, making the ten-foot-tall hunter almost invisible to the naked eye, the fibers of the cloak blending into the wall behind him. The fabric also blocked infrared and thermal scanners, which would make it much easier to slip by the ships above unseen. Ghorua saluted to the cyborg as he stood up from his crouched position. "May the Force be in you, or however that expression goes." The Huntmaster cocked a grin as he began to run forward, and outside of the base. Close behind him, the Herglic's probe droids led a small group of Black Sun employees. The little spheres had done a good job of gathering them, but they hadn't expected to run out into the battle.

Ghorua's heavy boots crunched into snow as the charged, thankful that most Commonwealth forces had cleared out. The wardroid's numbers had depleted severely, but a few still hobbled around, sustaining different amounts of damage. Ghorua bellowed out commands as he passed them. "Fan out! Run for the hills, all directions!" As they heard his voice, the killing machines confusedly began to sprint in all directions. Hopefully, the action might confuse any scanners above.

Ghorua shouted behind him, his form obscured greatly by his cloak, which had turned a blinding white. "C'mon, move it, unless you want to lose it!" The men, already terrified, tried to run even faster. Ghorua pulled his slugthrowers from their holsters, expecting to come under attack by any straggling Commonwealth marines. He was quite literally running north for his life.

 

[Phislo Bress]

Location: Underground Compound/Command Center
Objective: Secure Compound
Allies: Commonwealth, [member="Horus"] [member="Lorraei"] [member="Corrax Talrus][/FONT][/URL]
[FONT=arkhip]Enemies: [member="Xis"] Black Sun

Phislo heard him say something over the blaster fire and then saw him raise up his hands. Before she knew what he was doing a massive pressure wave popped up in front of her and blasted her, the mercenaries, the marines, and anything that wasn't bolted down in the room right in the face and sent it careening into the far wall. Phislo felt her helmet bang against the bulkhead and a heavy crate of something fall on top of her. Slightly winded with her armor taking the impact. She pushed the box off of her and stumbled to her feet.

In the distance she heard several series of rumbling and shaking in the ground. Looking around she saw that the enemy she was firing at had ran off and it seemed the breach point was successfully taken. At this point she wasn't sure how to proceed. Should she wait for orders? Should she follow the Falleen? Definitely should wait for the other soldiers to stand up at least.

 

[Corrax Talrus]

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

Corrax continued to rain blaster fire toward the far end of the hallway, where the tall, armored figure had taken up residence. The figure was using pieces of the other broken wardroid to shield himself, but had also activated a lightsaber which was now slicing through the air and harmlessly deflecting bolts into the ceiling and walls. Under the best of circumstances, Corrax had no clue how he would go about fighting with a Jedi; these were certainly not the best of circumstances. In lieu of an actual plan, Corrax decided to simply continue firing until either he ran out of power or something went right. He was happy to see that the Mando Merc with them was adding her own fire to his. One of the blaster bolts struck home on the figure's shoulder - Corrax wasn't sure whether it was his or hers - prompting a wide grin to split his face.

Victory would apparently have to wait, however, as the figure raised a hand and he felt himself hurled back the direction of the blast doors they'd used as an entry point. Everything went dark. He wasn't sure how long, but when he opened his eyes things looked like some sort of disaster holo. The lights in the corridor flickered, sparks jetting out from some of them at intervals. The walls held gaping holes in them and the acrid smell of smoke was heavy in the air.

Corrax coughed some of the smoke out of his lungs, then winced in pain as the gash on his side and the broken ribs came afire with new levels of pain.

His commlink chirped at his side as he received a retreat order from command. He looked around and saw the Mando staring down the corridor as if planning her next move. Pushing himself up with a grimace, he got to his feet and staggered toward her.

"​Hey, tin-can,​" he said reaching and grabbing her elbow. His voice didn't sound anything at all like it usually did. "​We need to get out of here. In a few minutes, that cruiser above us is going to turn this funhouse into an extinction-level crater.​"

 

[Horus]

As the armed grenades landed on the far end of the hanger, Horus was given a pair of earbuds by a marine who had lobbed them, the venerable admiral placed them in his ears. Thankfully, the SD's came with adjustable timers for this reason alone. Then came the boom. He felt something akin to a shockwave wash over him, the noise was the loudest thing he had heard in his life. He blinked, disorientated. He looked to the marine who had given him the earbuds, blood leaking out from his ears. He was lying against the crate with his eyes open. Kark.

He checked his pulse, still alive. SD's weren't like normal grenades, they were blind bombs. You didn't see the explosion, you felt it, heard it if you were lucky. It was condensed air in a can, so condensed when it exploded the air pressure could rupture organs and cause instantaneous death for those nearby, for those further away it could rupture eardrums, cause shellshock and disorientate. The marine was one of the lucky one. Horus craned his neck and saw that other marines were still opening fire. The crack of their rifles was a whisper compared to the noise of the SD. He almost welcomed it.

Shaking his head, Horus stood and snapped the trigger of his own rifle. The tanks would pause momentarily before firing on the freighter again, taking brief seconds to reload their cannons. They couldn't hear Renfoe shouting for surrender over the noise of cannon and slugthrower fire, let alone the explosive noise of the SD that was leaving after-effects on their hearing.

[member="Captain Colton Renfroe"]

 

[Darth Caecus]

Location: Iskeria
Objective: 2nd Wave, Entering Base from the NE ​ Don't die ​ Awaiting Evac
Allies: Commonwealth- [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Isaac Knight"] [member="Stokely McFadden"]
Enemies: Currently none

Zee had whited out from pain for a little bit. She honestly didn't know how long. Long enough that she found herself getting dragged somewhere by someone- every bump and jab sending shockwaves of fire through her torso. The pain wasn't limited to just the two wounds, but seemed to radiate in waves out from them every time she was jostled.

"Nnnngh," she grunted, craning her neck to see who was dragging her.

Cait. So. A Falcor was dragging her rear out of the fire again.

That was enough that Zee's subconscious was content to let her consciousness slip again. Lost moments. And then-

The world disintegrated around them.

*THAT* woke her the kark up.

Confusion reigned for a couple of moments- between the change in scenery from the last time she'd had her eyes open (just a second ago, wasn't it?), to the deafening cacophony, it was easy to lose the thread of what had happened and where she was- but she calmed down when she saw the familiar faces in the crater.

Listening to Falcor's message to the birds up top, Zee stayed silent until she was done.

"They're coming for us?" She asked then, her voice strained but steady.

 

[Zark San Tekka]

As Lieutenant Knight attempted to perform quick triage on two fallen comrades between bursts of suppressing fire, he wished he hadn't had to be the commanding officer first when he ordered their remaining visible MARV to bug out as the orbital strike's time to impact grew ever closer. On the verge of attempting to carry them both, Isaac checked his fire when suddenly Cait Falcor appeared carrying a wounded soldier of her own over her shoulder, her quick wit and calm under pressure somewhat bewildering even to a professional such as himself. Before he could stop her, the task force leader grabbed Zee's harness and starting dragging her, making fun of his helmet as she did so.

Somewhat stunned, Knight hoisted Deacon once more over his shoulders and started after them. As soon as he did so, a hail of scattered, unaimed fire followed them. Glancing back over his shoulder, Isaac saw a hulking monstrosity emerge from what remained of their breach point after the close air support strikes, followed by a contingency of war droids and a dozen or so Black Sun mercenaries providing covering fire as they ran. Well, the war droids were providing cover, the mercenaries less so. Their exit path took them on a flanking route from the Commonwealth forces, and while their leaders had obviously given the order to bug out, their proximity to enemy forces had overriden a few of the war droids programming. Steadying Deacon, Isaac brought his MM100 up to waist height as he ran and sent off some inaccurate bursts in the direction of the Black Sun forces.

"Coming, sir?"

"On it, Falcor," he grunted, providing rearguard until they were within range of the task force's covering fire, and the crater Falcor had designated right on the edge of the blast radius.

Bogged down as she was by two wounded comrades, Knight caught up to her even firing his weapon with a burden of his own. A few of Falcor's men met him at the lip of the crater, and he passed off Deacon before running back to grab hold of Zee's harness and help Cait tug her the rest of the way into the crater. Their timing couldn't have been closer, as not long at all after Isaac did not see but felt down to his bones the most awesome and terrifying display of man-made firepower he had ever experienced up close. The shockwave kicked small debris down into the crater, which got into his helmet's filtration system, temporarily clogging it. Sputtering, he tugged off the ill fitting mask, and he could hear the muted sounds of Falcor already radioing for exfil.

They had survived.

"They're coming for us?"

The wounded woman nearby's question was probably meant for Falcor, but Isaac answered, "Count on it. Won't be long now till you're back on the No Land Beyond in some shiny med bay."

 

[Thraxis]

Location: Underground Compound
Objective, Make sure no one gets in
Allies: [member="Cadan Tazi"]
Enemies: [member="Maris Jolner"]

Thraxis paused, not some tranquility rushing over him, as he almost fooled himself into thinking he was dancing with death, but the metallic grind of Flannigan's voice chirping through the Commlink, with a toss the duffel bag flew into the air, his body twisting as it quickly rushed down his arm, snapping into a halt as it stopped suddenly as it rushed onto his neck, his body straightening the duffel bag hanged along as he turned around, his hand waving goodbye, "Cadan, grab your stuff and head for the barge. We have gotten all that is too be had from this day." he yelled back, his posture calming down, the adrenaline quickly receding as he started to pace away, his hand waving goodbye to his opposition.

"It seems we need not surrender. Some fool has already done it in our place." he said in a cold and mocking tone, another brush with dance, another dance with fate. And another paycheck to cash in at whatever cantina will take it, "Take care now. Because next time we fight.... well. I have already had a pretty good look up your sleeve." he said with a laugh, he had no care what would happen, he had no reason to fear death no more, he had no reason to worry about some prison. The only thing that plagued his mind was feeding the Gammoreans, filling his gullet, and going back home to the Pitt.

 

[Cadan Tazi]

Flannigan was surrendering, that was odd it seemed to never happen like this. Maybe there were more enemies that he thought. Just like Thraxis did, Cadan turned in tail and began to sprint ahead of him. He fired a few last shots towards Maris's position as he ran for the exit. His breaths were coming in quick and rugged gasp, he truly was unfit and the smoking probably wasn't helping at all. Out of the side of eyes, Cadan caught sight of some glittersilk that was left behind and quickly scooped it up and protected it with his life.

"Thaxis, which was is we 'eading!" Cadan shouted over his comms, to be honest his main goal right now was to out run Thraxis and beat him to the door. There was no way Cadan would be getting locked in the caverns surrounded by them damned spiders and all of the enemies down there.

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

 

[Mr. OOC]

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

They were leaving? Hmm. That was certainly unexpected. On top of that, they didn't even try and flood him with explosives as they bolted. One of them did fire several shots in his direction, which was enough to keep him pinned behind cover. He couldn't even return fire in hopes of catching one of them in flight, and bagging himself a prisoner that they could interrogate. Nope, he let them both go because he didn't know what was down where they were headed, and he wasn't in any condition to go running after them anyway. All things considered, he was lucky that he could even stand up when he tried to do so after they were gone.

With a moment of free time, he glanced around him, taking stock of what had transpired. Arachnid corpses now littered stone throughout, and soldiers were pouring through and entering a variety of tunnels which moved further inside. A rumble of disapproval past through him, directed at his own performance. It had been weak by comparison to his normal self. An exploration of his loadout was due to be made as a result, and some adjustments were likely to become necessary. That said, they had managed to push everyone out, leaving an empty cavern and free passage inward. So, even though he had personally underperformed, they had still succeeded in their mission.

"Captain Jolner to command. Cavern is secure. Entering facility now."

With that, he started hobbling his way onward, following after his own men and any soldiers making their way inside.