Galactic Alliance: There goes my hero

[Coren Starchaser]

The briefing had been simple.

Stay alive.

The armory of the Galactic Alliance had been opened to the team. Weapons choices fulfilled nearly anything that was public on the galactic market, and a few things that weren’t. Armor options were provided, and of course, the choice was always everyone’s. This was a mixed unit operations, some Jedi preferred to run around wearing threadbare clothes, some computer slicers loved running into battle wearing converse, the important thing was that there was a variety. And once that happened, they proceeded into the battlefield.

It was a scene that Coren Starchaser instantly recognized, and he chose it for a reason. It was important. To him, to the cause, to everyone that was going to be picking up arms and wearing the Galactic Alliance emblem into combat.

The briefing covered it. A small town, outside of a larger city, a place where refugees had run following the Sith moving into their capital. The trick of the matter was that the Sith were entering the fray from the north, and no one knew for certain what the exact scale of the Sith retrieval force was going to be.

This was a pretty standard operation for the likes of the Underground, but, for others in the Alliance? Who knew what they were into, but the thing was, the group was going to be moving in teams, small times, mixed units. This was on purpose. Commander Starchaser was operating on his carte blanche to create and train teams he thought would be useful in the coming months.

And throwing unexpected units at the Sith was definitely the way he was going to do that. He had put out calls to Jedi, Non-Denomination Light Siders and, the most important part of his concept, was the non-Force using heroes of this galaxy. Everyone knew this was a training mission, but the wind, the dust, the heat, all the details of the simulated battlefield were very important and keeping people immersed.

“Alright teams, we’re going to be looking for our refugees. We’ve got five minutes before the Sith start barreling down on us.” He looked over at who was in his team and nodded.

 

[Placeholder 0133]

Rook was the type to take whatever operation he found himself a part of seriously, training mission or not. He was here in his usual kit; the extra twenty pounds of ordnance he carried with him had been a last minute addition. Usually the soldier would be a bit sparse with his selection for something like this, but Sith involvement changed the usual status. They could be killed by conventional means, but it often took time, and you could end up walking off missing a limb. He found the easiest way to take down any force sensitive was overwhelming firepower.

You always killed the big bads in the hologames with an even bigger, and badder weapon after all.

The Ravager was that weapon. It was a relic from his days in the Republic. The portable laser weighed somewhere near twenty pounds, and its power cells were bigger than his open palm. The Ravager paid for its use of space with devastating firepower. One all on its own could turn most armored vehicles into vapor and broken dreams.

The weapon was perfect for roasting a bathrobe.

"How many points do we get for every Sith we pop, Starchaser?" The man grinned, though his helmet hid the expression. "Not that I'm counting."

A quick inspection of his HUD ensured everything was working properly. The armor was old by today's standards. It was still more effective than almost anything you could buy on the market, but the software needed some fine tuning. It was something Stanley had taken care of before his greater cause had called him away.

Maybe he could trick [member="Spark Finn"] into fixing the issue after this little test.

[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Chevu Visz]

When [member="Coren Starchaser"] inherited Chevu Visz as a student (whether he liked it or not,) the Commander of the Galactic Alliance found that her skin wasn't the only thing that was green. Although the Mirialian had been pronounced a Jedi Knight by her likely senile Sullustan Master, still clinging to life back in the temple on Pirin, she probably had the least amount of combat experience out of all the Knights of the New Jedi Order. With military operations on deck, everything was about to change, The naturally talented Jedi would likely be fighting on the front lines so her training was rigorous. Until the Sith were purged from the galaxy, rest was a luxury.

Chevu was on Starchaser's team along with their team-mate [member="Rook"], who was holding a weapon about the size of a baby Bantha. She gave the men a confident smile and a nod through her transparent helm, but said nothing. She was shy and serious, but slowly coming out of her shell.

She wore a set of desh-terenium plated Vanguard armor, and a BTI-CC13 Blaster Rifle, all thanks to the Silver Sanctum Coalition. The armor made her feel like a insect getting used to its exoskeleton, and she hadn't fired a blaster since, well, ever. There was no doubt, that today was going to hurt, but no pain, no gain, right?

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Rook"] [member="[member="Chevu Visz"]"]

Even though this was a sim, it still felt oober real. The slicer just had to make sure she didn't cheat and put on her technopath-nerd lense. #playfair Looked like she was with Rook and Coren again, along with a new face. The gangly-limbed girl heard about Coren taking on an apprentice. Padawan? Whatever peeps were calling it these days. She didn't really believe it until now, though.

Glasses were pushed up the bridge of her nose. "Whatevs, Rook. We totally know you keep your scorecard for the brewskies." Blue-eyes beneath glass-lenses turned to the green girl. "Chevu? I'm Spark Finn. I think Coren told me about you, at one point."

#notalwaysawkwardsee?!?!?!

She half lugged a blaster-rifle out, determined to learn something new. Muscles strained to lift it. "So, uh, how do I use this thing," she managed to heft the butt-end on her hip.

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[SIZE=12pt]Rekha was along for the very farkle of it. She liked the idea of helping some refugees, seemed they did that a lot.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She sat in the jump seat dressed back in black where she felt the best at, and then she pulled the blaster rifle closer, hugging it like it was her newest bestest friend.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]While it felt a bit cumbersome she had no qualms about using it. Sith. Ok. The last one she dropped a limb on, maybe this time she’d go for the whole tree.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She kept quiet and listened to the banter and laughed.[/SIZE]

[member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Rook"] [member="Chevu Visz"] [member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

He was hoping more people would be coming into the simulation. But that was the great thing about simulations. People could hop in at any time. Sure, they’d have a lower score, and their achievements wouldn’t be unlocked while someone like [member="Rook"] was calling in air strikes and they’d get a three-kill chain and get an extra medpack or something but this was a clear digression in the first paragraph. At most though, when someone came into the sim, they’d be getting hit with stun blasts that stung, a lot. First team was in, and that was good.

It felt like home for Coren, what with [member="Spark Finn"] and [member="Rekha Kaarde"]? He looked to the two ladies, and gave them a smile, tossing a wink at Spark. “Sure you can handle that gun?” There was a joke embedded in there, but it was the easy and obvious one to go to. He knew that it would be any second now and they’d be getting locations.

And ding, anyone who had a HUD or a datapad was getting data. Scientists, and a diplomat, hiding across town. That was a 10 minute walk with 5 minutes until the Sith were moving in. “Let’s get moving.” He pointed for Rook, typically the Krogan former DG was going to take point for Coren’s squad. Biggest gun can always run in first.

“You got that, Chev?” He looked to his student, [member="Chevu Visz"] before turning to keep up with Rook.

 

[Placeholder 0133]

Rook returned the woman's smile. He knew nothing of her, but something about her was off-putting. Not in the negative sense - Chevu reminded him of someone. Another Mirilian woman.

Thoughts for another time.

Rook turned his attentions to the rest of his team - Starchaser, Spark, and a lass he hadn't met yet, though judging by the way Coren regarded her, there was some kind of history. That was good enough for the soldier.

For a moment, all was well, until he realized...

Spark was going to blow her own damned head off with that rifle. "Man has to keep in track of the brewskies, lest he be left with none," he grumbled as he approached the slip of a woman. They'd at least gotten the basic layout of the more common firearms down for this simulation. Most blaster rifles worked in generally the same fashion as the next, with a bit of variation between manufacturers.

"There should be a button on the side of the rifle. It might be marked, might not. That's the safety. If it's on, the gun won't shoot. Make sure to keep it on when we're not engaged, or expecting to be." He paused, tilting his head toward the other two women. Strangers to him. Probably not for much longer. "The more common blaster packs carry around sixty charges. When the gun will click, and it will either remove the magazine on its own via a pressure system, or you'll have to pull the thing out yourself," another pause. "Depending on what kind of rifle you're shooting, there may be a bolt you need to pull back to chamber the first round. That let's the rifle know there's something to shoot, sort of. Replacing a blaster pack is easy; just don't push it in the wrong way."

The soldier drew in a deep breath. Long-winded explanations seemed to be his thing these days. He parted his lips to speak further, but the tactical information flooding his sight stole his voice.

Extract glorified spooks and a political man? He'd danced to this tune before.

"Copy."

Rook shouldered his deece. The weapon was long since lost in the galaxy's harsh reality, but he could enjoy its capabilities once more within simulation. Perhaps he'd pick up a new one now that the alliance had credits to spend.

He leveled the small rifle as he approached the town. Sprinting into town was a very bad idea. It was likely some form of trap had been set, and his helmet's sensors were constantly searching for explosive residue. He'd seen a buddy step on an IED once. It certainly wasn't going to happen to him - even in ethereal form.

"Our people are half a klick east on the other side of town," he mumbled. The others had quite likely seen the intel as well, but it helped to speak things aloud. It kept your team on task. The town was relatively empty, though they'd only come a minor distance.

"All zones are clear...your fake people know the fake bathrobes are coming, Starchaser?" He snickered. "Maybe we've got some simulated spies in our not-so-corporeal command structure. A leak in the ethereal pipeline. A crossing of the streams."

I should stop.

"Continuing forward."

[member="Coren Starchaser"], [member="Rekha Kaarde"], [member="Spark Finn"], [member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Chevu Visz]

"Nice to meet you, Spark," Chevu told the skinny blonde with the glasses bigger than her face. She was just about to ask Spark if she had also been a student of Commander Starchaser's as well as introduce herself to the other woman who had arrived, when her HUD started dumping data like crazy. The Mirialan was accustomed to using precognition in battle, not multicolored blips and cross hairs. This was going to take some getting used to.

Wait, was Coren talking to her? Feth, she hadn't been paying attention. Still, Chevu gave her teacher a nod of her head, an affirmative gesture. Glancing at Spark, she noticed that at least someone else was all thumbs with a rifle. Luckily, Rook stepped up and gave them some pointers for which she was grateful. There was a click as she undid the safety just as instructed, and a surge of adrenaline as she realized her rifled could actually kill something.

Suddenly, they were off. Chevu gave her blaster a dramatic gun cock, and moved along with the rest of the team, falling into the formation that Starchaser assigned them. Her hands itched to hold her lightsaber and not this clunky rifle, but Coren insisted on training with alternative methods, so here she was. In theory she could see the advantage. Not every battle situation was ideal for a lightsaber.

[member="Rook"] [member="Rekha Kaarde"] [member="Spark Finn"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Spark Finn]

[member="Rook"] [member="Chevu Visz"] [member="Rekha Kaarde"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

Face scrunched-up like a sour lemon as Coren's quip. Pink-tongue flicked out at him. "I can handle this gun just like you can handle me."

#awkwardcommentsyay!

Thin-lips pursed back into business-mode as Rook showed her and Chevu the ins and outs of blaster carrying. The slicer found herself a teeny-weeny bit jealous of Rekha. That girl probably didn't need any gun help. #Shewasapro #sostrong

"Thanks," she grunted to Rook and after a few yanks, cocked back the rifle. The force was definitely pumping through her small-muscles. Ain't no way she could carry this thing on her own.....for as long as they needed to. Datapad beeped in her pocket. She had a trace on the refugee location.

"You saying you're a spy in this sim, Rook?" She managed to pant up next to him, blue-eyes beneath glass lenses alert for those bogies.

 

[Judah Lesan]

It was dark. Lights were off to give the illusion no one was home. Jol Bisa could only hope this was enough to hide the handful of people he had been trapped with. His force signaturenwas raw and untrained. He'd been in hiding, running, shamed because he had not accomplished what his father had expected of him. Six markings, six skills, his father had twelve at his age. The pressure had been too much to bear, so he ran. A runaway, that's who he was now, a runaway who had nothing to offer anyone but service. That's how he felt anyway. For now, his service was helping others hide.

"Stay quiet," he whispered someone was coming.

His hand motioned for the family to get down. They had a baby, a little one Jol felt responsible for. He'd never forgive himself if anything happened to the baby. Jol knew he could be a protector, if only he had the right training. If only he had six other tattoos on his face like his father did. Certainly his father could have done better.

Bisa looks like them now. Tan pants, a white collared shirt, and a navy blue vest. He even had a blaster in his hand, a DL-44. There were two knives in each boot, and couple other throwing knives in his belt. He was good with knives, but the blaster... that was shakey. If he had to use it, he was afraid he'd shoot a good guy. Nervous much? Yeah, he had no confidence, why, pressure to perform.

[member="Chevu Visz"] [member="Rook"] [member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Rekha Kaarde"] [member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

Rekha smiled and shook her head, lord was this she was going to have to endure this from now on? She'd have to remember to bring the traditional brown paper bag. Rekha was ready, blaster was charged and loaded.

Rekha kept looking around just in case. She had this feeling in the back of her mind that kept saying something was off, something was getting ready to jump up and bite them in the...........butt.

She wished for a moment she had some force thingy power that would tell her. Quickly she dismissed it telling herself, its nerves.



@Chevy Visz
[member="Rook"]
[member="Coren Starchaser"]
[member="Spark Finn"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

This was a training simulation. People had walked into a shuttle sim, like you’d see at Space Camp, and got shook around for a minute, then they got dropped into the room on the other side, a large-enough indoor facility that was equal parts holographic as it was one of those ‘4D theater experiences’ you’d see at a major theme park. With droids that were able to take some damage and keep kicking. Plus a bit of holographic magic, and presto, you had the situation that was ahead of everyone.

It was immersion training. Nothing that wasn’t done with countless other factions, and technology mostly stolen from the Omega Pyre.

Having [member="Rook"] along was great, he was going to be a great asset for training soldiers, and wannabe soldiers in Spark’s case. Coren could only teach her so much, but the level of connection the pair shared? It made it tricky. When was it teaching and when was it something more protective? He wasn’t sure. That was also the issue he was having with Chevu, but since he wasn’t trying to sleep with the green Jedi, that helped the situation.

“We’ve got a few surprises, Rook. And you’ve got point, congratulations.” He looked at the rest of the team. Watching Chevu and Spark with guns was almost painful, but hopefully the pair would come out of more engagements alive.

Tossing a wink to Spark before pulling his helmet down, he grinned. “Keep an eye on him, will ya?”

“Back into the fray, Rek, you ready?” Big leagues this time. Soon they’d be ready to take on the Sith for serious.

[member="Spark Finn"]
[member="Jol Bisa"] because I still have no idea where he is
[member="Rekha Kaarde"]
[member="Chevu Visz"]

 

[Placeholder 0133]

He had point. Good, he preferred it that way. It had been some time since his days as a pilot for the Naboo monarchy; ferrying soldiers to and fro across the battlefield. When his shuttle crashed during the Confederacy's invasion, that all changed. He'd been killed, for all intents and purposes, and brought back from the brink by the mysterious Architects. Ever since, Rook had taken to his position as the big guy with the big gun. This wasn't a team of commandos trained alongside him, they were comrades who needed their skills sharpened.

Truth was, he did too.

"I'm actually a Sith Lord," he quipped, "Darth Lightning Hands. Second High Lord to the Dark Council. Mistress to the Dark Lord's wife. He wasn't very pleased when he found out. This is my punishment job." He snickered. "Turns out I like you folks, Starchaser gives me the best toys, so I've gone traitor. Funny how that works."

Then it was back to business. His instinct was to use hand sigals -- not that they were needed. The TAC-COM was a secure line that no one was going to be hearing other than his teammates, but it was hard to shake training. Odds were Spark and Chevu had no idea what he would mean with those odd hand gestures anyway.

Rifle raised, he began to move toward the target, scanning their surroundings as he did so. "Stay tight, cover your angles. You hear anything, see anything, you let us know. We've only got a few minutes to extract our friends. Let's kick up some dust."

[member="Coren Starchaser"]
[member="Rekha Kaarde"]
[member="Spark Finn"]
[member="Chevu Visz"]
[member="Jol Bisa"]

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

"Lets go Coren, I'm getting an itchy finger and it's saying time to PLAY!!!" She was ready, and she was hoping she didn't make a fool of herself on the training mission. Why was she here, did she need training, yeah in some things yes.

Other things..no.

But here she was moving along being..well being Rekha Kaarde.

Spark Finn
Jol Bisa
Chevu Visz
[member="Rook"]
[member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Roth Tillian]

Roth blanched as he found himself in a dust-covered simulator. That was one awful ride in here, to be sure. Some hardened starfighter pilot, wasn't he? It was all that gravity. It messed with his innards. Made food strangely heavy. But now, down to business. He ducked behind a nearby shrub and looked through his HUD for information. No heavy armor for this one. Just his usual armored clothes. They'd stop blaster bolts to an extent and not weigh him down if he had to suddenly run very quickly in the opposite direction or swing his lightsaber, which he had actually not used since he joined up with the GA.

He stretched out with the Force. There was Coren, by the feel of it, and his apprentice, perhaps? It was fuzzy. Sensing was not quite his best strength. They were off quite a ways in the distance to his South, roughly speaking. He shouldered the bolter and start slipping from shrub to shrub in their direction. He frowned. Was that dust rising up behind him. He turned and squinted towards the horizon. Looked like there was a city up there, with smoke rising up and thing glinted in the sunlight. He shaded his eyes with his hand. Yeah, that as a One SIth troop column headed his way. He squinted down at his bolter. No, not enough. Time to head quickly for the small town and reconnect with allies in the area.

He picked up the speed of his crouch. No need to be reckless. Not here planetside. Up in space, sure, he could pull himself out of most situations. Not without a starfighter though. He froze as he heard the of repulors. Advance scouts, by the look of it. He dropped lower and rolled into the bush, wincing as branches pulled at him. For a hologram, it was awfully convincing.

 

[Sarge Potteiger]

[member="Roth Tillian"] [member="Rook"] [member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Chevu Visz"] [member="Rekha Kaarde"]

​

Sarge considered himself a connoisseur of fine armor. He knew for a fact he had the single largest collection of experimental powered armor in the galaxy, in so far as an individual was concerned. For the simulator, he'd pulled out an old olive drab number from his first few forays out with the Omega Pyre, back in its infancy. Back when Cira wanted to throw him from a skyscraper.

She never did get back to him about that date...

Rolling his shoulders as the technician finished attaching the last piece of armor, he slotted his helmet into position, sealing himself securely within the armors confines. Not much went on in the world of wet work operations that Sarge was unaware of, so when the new kids on the block set about their operation, he knew. And he was here to help. Somewhat. He was already in the simulation, though, well ahead of the rest.

Why?

Easy. He'd wanted to be OpFor for a long, long time. He even had a scattergun rigged to 'stun' to prove it! Making his way down dusty roads, weapon in hand, he kept his eyes out for any sign of the interlopers. Big Daddy had some simulated hostages to protect.

 

[Chevu Visz]

A smile cracked the Mirialan's lips. Chevu was trying really hard, but she couldn't keep a straight face around Rook. She shook her head and then studied the readings on her HUD, traces of information relentlessly flashing inside her bubble helm. Fight the simulated Sith and rescue the simulated hostages. Right. She could do that. Military formations and hand signals? These were all new to her. Add try not to look too confused to the list of objectives.

What were these simulated Sith going to be like anyway? Were they going to fight the black-robed sorcerer types with cloaks dramatically billowing around them, or were they going up against Vong-bioted nightmarish monsters in living crab armor and wielding amphistaves? She hoped it was the latter. Chevu had no experience with Yuuzhan Vong technology and was eager to find the chinks in its collective armor.

[member="Sarge Potteiger"] [member="Roth Tillian"] [member="Rekha Kaarde"] [member="Coren Starchaser"] [member="Spark Finn"] [member="Jol Bisa"] [member="Rekha Kaarde"]

 

[Coren Starchaser]

That was what he needed to hear. He hadn’t seen [member="Rekha Kaarde"] much since after the conflict at Korriban. Where he had to pummel Sage Bane to rescue [member="Spark Finn"]. He wanted to make sure she still had his back, but he wasn’t one to push others into action, until push came to shove. They had lost that other twin of Sage that day, and that did bother Coren, but not nearly as much as he expected.

And the training mission was for everyone. They were fighting with new players, against a familiar enemy, well for the people he had worked with in the Underground, those he could vouch had fought Sith, especially ones like this. But getting trained to work with new faces, and some familiar ones? It was better than trial by fire. Less lives lost. “Lets show the kids how it works, then.” He tossed her a wink.

Enemies are approaching from the south. Came a sound over his HUD, an announcement sent by what would be simulating a ship’s virtual intelligence. These units would be working with a larger vessel, large enough to get them behind the lines, but not large enough to cause a huge trouble.

“Tighten up, Darth Thunderific Hands the Fourth…” Or whatever [member="Rook"] was calling himself today. As he designed this first training mission, he was going to let others take point. That meant to go nuts with what NPCs showed up, but realize it was based on Coren’s experiences, so something like a simulated Sage Bane, Vrag and other Sith with their skillsets would be showing up.

As well as droid armies and Sith soldiers. Not full on armies, but definitely units.

And apparently [member="Sarge Potteiger"] was out there, doing OpFor, not that Coren knew that bit, always surprises. Especially after Kreelan brought the contract for the Pyre to bear.

He knew that there were others entering the sim, it was one of those ‘come as you are and catch up deals.’ He’d run some locked ones sooner or later, but the surprise was the semi-familiar being of [member="Roth Tillian"]. He was a pilot, but he was coming on down here? That was a good concept. “Watch your flanks, everyone, time to get meet the foe. When Rook gives the signal, I need two of you to get out there and find our VIPs. The rest of us will cover you.” He had no idea who would step up, but that’d be up to them.

See how well this hodgepodge of soldiers worked together.

[member="Chevu Visz"]
[member="Jol Bisa"]

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

So it was playtime, and there were some pretend VIPs and Rekha could pretend she was the Queen of the Universe and dance her funny little butt right into battle.

She smiled at [member="Coren Starchaser"] ,”Oh honey loaded question, I’m always ready” Now play with that in your head for a bit and see where it takes you. Her thoughts then turned she needed to focus just in case the sim had been programmed to jump on them the moment they entered.

That’s happened more than once, calm followed by the storm.

Deep breath, and take a step. There was no sense of foreboding as she entered in her mind shadows roamed the lands ahead shadows that could be anyone anything. There wasn't that familiar smoosch either when your foot steps on the ground. Why was that?

[member="Rook"] | [member="Sarge Potteiger"] | [member="Spark Finn"] | [member="Roth Tillian"] | [member="Chevu Visz"] | [member="Jol Bisa"] |

 

[Placeholder 0133]

In your usual situation, Rook would have insisted on going first to meet the VIPs. His armor could take some heavy punishment, and if the road happened to be filled with hidden baddies, he could live through it. Here though? Not a chance. He'd been taught via trial by fire, and so would these folks. "Lightning hands, you di'kut," he shot back before cutting the line short. Now was the time to get serious.

What did he have for a team now? A technonerd, green jesus, Starboy, pilot man, and Coren's mistress. Not a terrible setup. No one was particularly built to be kicking down doors, but he would make due. He wasn't entirely sure if Coren had turned over leadership to him, or if he just had him on point for now. Rook didn't much care; he had a plan, and it needed to be executed properly.

"Pilot man, you and Miss Lady," he motioned toward Rehka, "-...move on ahead. You'll make sure our VIPs aren't dead. Spark, Chevu, you've got the right and the left on either side of them. Cover their blindspots. Your job it to kill anything that is not a civilian, or is not displaying an FoF tag. Coren, I figure you know the drill." That was it. He readied his rifle, made sure the Ravager was firmly in place on his back, and motioned forward. They'd have enemy units approaching soon, according to the pseudo AI, and it was time to get this show on the road.

[member="Rekha Kaarde"], [member="Coren Starchaser"], [member="Chevu Visz"], [member="Spark Finn"], [member="Sarge Potteiger"], [member="Jol Bisa"]. [member="Roth Tillian"]