Dominion Gotta Be Sumpthing | First Order Dominion of Sump

[Vakim Duval]

Objective 1:

Location: Sump, Northern interior of bioweapons lab
Troops: 48 Stormtroopers of the 12th Unattached 'Storm' Platoon
Equipment: F11D-Blaster Rifle, SE-44C blaster pistol, stun grenades, Swamptrooper Armor
With: First Order Allies, 105th Legion, Calran Bard Rolf Amsel
​

Duval had never actually seen an Acklay in person. He didn't think he had ever met a person who had. They were rare beasts. Monsters and Apex predators on whatever planet they occupied. The fact that beings traded in them troubled Duval as he stared up at the beast that was attacking his men. He had heard the advice from his fellow Lieutenant commanding the 1-of-5. It seemed the wise thing to do, but Sokolov was still at large, and the mission came first.

"First and Second Squads stay low, head towards the 1-oh-5, sweep the room for Sokolov. Squads 3-6 get your flamers into cover and lay down fire on that Acklay. The rest of you fall back into the hallway.

Once they've fallen back the rest of you start an ordered withdrawal. Squads 3-6 numerically backward. First and Second, rendevous with the 1-oh-5 and follow the orders of their Lieutenant."

Duval watched now as his men went about their grim task. The wounded were largely left to fend for themselves. The mission came first. As the first and second advanced through the room. The squads assigned to fire duty began to light up the first Acklay. This finally seemed to affect, driving it back towards its cage. The rest of his men were now withdrawing into the hallway and Duval continued to direct covering fire for the first and second as they made their way--

The squads now turned and began running back towards Duval. One of them was now sent flying straight into the positions of the flamers. A second Acklay had emerged from a cage that had been closed. Duval glanced to where it came from and saw a scientist near the release lever.

Sokolov.

Duval punched into his open mission com and gave the information to all stormtroopers assigned to the Lab.

"I have eyes on Sokolov on the South Eastern side of the lab, he is just behind the second Acklay pushing up from that direction. My men will draw the Acklay away. Secure the VIP at all costs."

Duval punched out and then gave an order to the 12th over his helmet com.

"All men of the 12th still assigned to the Main Lab assault. Reenter and push both these Acklay's back. Hit em with everything we got. Show them that the stormtroopers of the First Order show no mercy to mutated beasts. We cannot allow them to escape into the greater world. Our mission here is of the most vital importance."

With that he watched as his troopers once again swarmed into the lab room, weapons live. Fire from the flamers and blaster rifles targeted at both the Acklays. His men naturally broke into two groups attempting to form two half-circles fighting back to back against the mutated giants. The flamers used their weapons to try and keep the beasts out of attack range while the riflemen attempted to get into a flanking position. While this strategy was sound, Duval knew and watched in horror as the strength of the Acklay's repeatedly overcame the power of the flames and despite being doused in molten flamer gel, the Acklay's pushed forward and cut large swaths in the attacking troopers. The sooner the 1-oh-5 grabbed the Sokolov the better. Then they could retreat and airpower could deal with this entire complex.

​

 

[Rolf Amsel]

- - -​

FIV Lady Silence | Desolator-Class Star Destroyer
Commanding Officer | Lt. Col. Rolf Amsel
T H E M E A T I C F L A I R
_______________________

From the ground below, an awesome phenomena made itself known against the backdrop of the sky. Streaks of light appeared over the treetops even as the combat on the ground escalated. Help was on the way. The first audible cue was a strange whistle, an almost hum in the air as drop pod after drop pod cut towards the surface. The second clue as to the 9th's arrival was the unmistakable "Thwump. Thwump, thwump." of the pods slamming into the ground. The Ninth had arrived.​

-

Freefall. All was quiet inside the small, man sized compartment. Not even the whistle of air reached Rolf's ears as the pod floated freely through the atmosphere towards the ground below. It was almost serene. Wispy clouds high in the atmosphere, a subtle blanket above the mottled green surface - and then any sense of peace was lost. A violent jolt shuddered through the pod jarring the soldier to the bone. Thrusters are active. Rolf mused. He clenched down on his mouth guard, waiting for what seemed like an eternity before a proximity alert sounded. "Impact in twenty seconds" an automated voice announced. There was nothing he could do now, the pod automatically handled the inertial dampener systems, the landing procedure, even the release of the magnetic locks on the boarding pod door. All he could do was close his eyes and pray. Heh. That gave him a chuckle. Pray to what? Pray to whom? "Impact in ten seconds". He didn't have time to ponder.

Hundreds of pods breached the surface of Sump simultaneously, raining down like asteroids upon a barren moon. Some landed on hard earth, burrowing nearly a foot into the hard surface before coming to final rest. Others punched through the soft ground into the earth below, some into swampland which was abundant. For a split second an emotion of concern cracked the Lt. Colonel's features into a terse grimace but almost instantly it was replaced with an expression of determination. This is what they were trained for. This is who they were. They would drive and drive harder - all the way to the hilt.

With a loud hiss and a louder explosive concussion the pod's door broke free and clattered to the ground, clamps releasing the soldier inside before he threw himself into the chaos. Rolf's weapon found itself raised and at the ready, eyes darting to and fro. It took him a moment to gain his bearings. Almost one moment too long. With a grunt and a shove off, Rolf threw himself to the side as an enormous clawed leg came swiping in his direction. Acklays. I hate acklays. He'd landed not ten feet from an enraged beast, by all appearances surrounded by other First Order soldiers frantically trying to keep from being made into strip steak. Rising to his feet and darting behind the nearest cover he keyed in over local comms. :: Ninth Legion has arrived. Who's in charge here? We gotta take care of these things, fast! ::

Calran Bard | Vakim Duval | Caio​

 

[Virginia Schnapp]

Virginia pulled open the maintenance panel and stood back to let the droid take a look. It made a noise that, to Ginger's untrained ears, sounded somewhat dubious. If that were the case, she couldn't help but agree. The circuit board was dark, as if it had been burned or, at the very least singed. The droid's dialogue appeared on her datapad as she knelt down in front of the panel.

"Power surge?" Virginia echoed the droid's suggestion. "I don't know, I'm not an electrician, but -- maybe, I guess. Something bad happened, for sure."

The droid suggested that the First Order should deploy someone who knew what they were doing. Virginia didn't disagree, but she wasn't about to get sassed by a droid -- particularly a droid not even equipped with a functioning vocal functions. "That would have been a good idea," she concurred. "Unfortunately you're stuck with me, and I'm not an expert on the tools I've got, but I'm fairly certain if I swing it hard enough I could put a pretty sizeable dent in you."

The droid made a conciliatory noise and retreated a few inches. Virginia smirked and turned her attention back to the panel. At the droid's suggestion, she removed a sonic scraper from toolkit and aimed it at the panel, trying to blast away as much of the scoring as she could. "Looking better already," said Virginia, setting the tool down. "I'll try to replace the master breaker. Show me how."

Adrian Cassidy​

 

[Calran Bard]

Sokolov was across the lab space. After his location had been called, Bard immediately saw him. Turned out the sneaky Warlord hadn't quite managed to escape, as the 105th commander had feared. That was good. The man had a lot to answer for, especially the experiments and hindrance on First Order operations in the region. But Sokolov wasn't Bard's focus, as he instead returned to the task at hand and continued to support the other troopers against the bigger pair of threats--

What?

--the facility ceiling sun windows suddenly had portions smashed and bored out, as a large number of drop pods impacted through the duracrete and landed solidly on the surface. There was a moment of silence, as though everything seemed to pause, before the pod doors opened with pops and troopers began flooding out into the combat area. Bard nodded to himself as he watched the shock troopers start to work, at the same time a number of the 12th reached his position.

The shock trooper - the 9th Legion - commander contacted the other Stormtroopers in the area, to which Bard activated his comm, as his soldiers kept firing on the Acklay threat. <"Welcome to the main lab, Colonel, this is Lieutenant Bard of the one-oh-five,"> And with a pull of his trigger, he sent several more shots into the tall alien creatures with razor-sharp claws and legs. <"The Twelfth are pushing the Acklays back into the cages, and we're about to start clearing out the facility workers. Then we're bringing the building down.">

As if on cue, some members of the 12th arrived at Bard's position in the hallway.

"We've got orders to follow you, sir!" One of the 12th said through his comm.

<"Support fire on those Acklays if any of them begin pushing back,"> The 105th Lieutenant said in response, as he pointed with his free hand to the stunned scientists and workers. <"We need the downed sentients gathered and taken out of this facility, now!">

The 12th troopers snapped to it, as they began collecting the groups of individuals and pulling them away. Meanwhile, the invading horde of mutated locals - crazed, frenzied beasts by this point - had been mowed down through superior firepower and firing formation use. One of the Stormtroopers from Beta squad called back - "Corridors are clear, sir!" - before they started to push forward through the masses of twisted, ill-looking and mad creatures.

<"That's our exit, go, go,"> Bard said to the rest of the 105th. He held a hand toward the demo team. <"You two, with me. We're planting explosives to bring this place down, once and for all.">

Across the way, the 12th and 9th proved very effective. There didn't seem to be a pressing concern over the two mutated and tall creatures being handled, as Bard and his pair of demo troopers began to move around the main lab. They slapped det-charges throughout the perimeter, the Lieutenant listening whenever he was told by his men to place a charge on a certain spot - probably to do with support beams and whatnot. After several minutes, the det-charges were in place, and Bard with his men had circled back toward the exit hallway.

There was comm chatter from outside, where some of the 12th and 105th were.

<"We've got swarms of Nuknogs incoming, outside the facility,"> Bard reported to the other pair of commanders. He motioned for them to join him once he saw they were done with the other threat. <"All the scientists are evacuated outside the facility. But those swarms are too many. We need to pick up the injured or stunned and hoof it!">

Bard raised a hand and twirled his finger in a circle, as he called for the 105th to begin falling back and to exit the building.

<"Move, move, grab anyone unable to run,"> He ran down the hallway at a quick pace, as he helped a limping trooper along. <"Someone call for the evac transports on standby - and when we're clear, we blow this place!">

______________________________

Vakim Duval | Rolf Amsel​

 

[Caio]

The pilot was damnably good.

A blind man could have followed the trail of destruction solely by the screams and laser fire. A deaf man would have just gone after the strewn corpses left in its wake. The tank wouldn't have lasted five minutes in a pitched battle but a light infantry platoon was easy meat. The shields sparked from repeated blaster fire, fending off the majority. A few shots made it through while it recharged only to hit the armour.

A soldier fired a grenade from an underslung launcher. A second later he was torn apart by the coaxial laser. The main gun fired for good measure a second or two later, sending the rest of his fireteam to oblivion. Discordant music began to blare from the tank's external speakers, intermixed with the demented cackling of the spice junkie pilot.

Caio stayed on his haunches, behind the wreck of a grav-loader. The marauding vehicle smashed through what was left of a warehouse, trying to goad its prey into fighting rather than going to ground. The smart ones had hit the deck, the smarter had faded back into the undergrowth.

Somhairle slowly passed the launcher. Caio checked the sighting before risking another peek. He dropped back down as the tank started firing. The pilot was getting frustrated with no prey to hurt and was resorting to firing into the rubble to scare them out. "Now or never" Somhairle breathed. Caio rose, took a second to steady himself, and fired.

The GRU-6 warhead was meant to give infantry units some teeth and a way to fight back against armour. The flanking shot was just what it was designed for. The first shot wiped out the light tank's energy shielding and still had enough force to spin it off course a fraction. The second tore right through the hull, the crew dying as the ammunition cooked off.

Caio stayed behind cover, still too cautious to step out. Others, braver or curious, were venturing out from the rubble, eyeing the burning wreck. For the first time in a half hour, the processing site was quiet. It took only a moment for it to be shattered by the sound of cheering.

 

[Vakim Duval]

Objective 1:

Location: Sump, Chaotic Interior of the Main Lab
Troops: 48 Stormtroopers of the 12th Unattached 'Storm' Platoon
Equipment: F11D-Blaster Rifle, SE-44C blaster pistol, stun grenades, Swamptrooper Armor
With: First Order Allies, 105th Legion, 9th Legion Calran Bard Rolf Amsel
​

Chaos. Chaos had taken over the interior of the weapons lab. The loud crashing as drop troopers and their pods shattered the ceiling and everything in their path. The emergence of the vaunted 9th Legion adding even more firepower to the troopers taking the lab. Duval and his men however continued to operate through the chaos with precision and order. The very tip of the spear. The two semi-circles of Duval's men had been pushing hard against the two Acklay that had come out of their cages to engage the First Order Stormtroopers. This had some effect and the first Acklay now suffering from heavy burns was beginning to run out of steam. The second one however was much fresher and kept picking off his men one or two at a time. The casualty rate was unsustainable by Duval's calculation and eventually, this Acklay would turn the tide on the semi-circle facing it.

He couldn't allow that. He grabbed the nearest trooper to him by the shoulder and pointed forward signaling a general advance. The semi-circle now just around a dozen men and Duval quickly began to close distance on the Acklay. For a moment it paused perhaps confused by this new development. The Acklay's pause was helpful but short. It now struck out with both of its jagged front legs. Mouth roaring as it aimed to devour a trooper.

Duval now executed his move and he rolled forward, coming to a knee directly under the beast he planted two sticky high explosive grenades to its underside and then rolled out the reverse way. The explosion rocked the laboratory as the beast reared up and let out a horrible and terrifying shriek before collapsing. Acidic fluid oozing from its carcass.

This semi-circle now broke containment and moved to support the Squads already securing Sokolov. He had been knocked unconscious by the butt of one of the trooper's rifles. They now were struggling to drag the rather large man from the laboratory. Duval quickly arrived and instructed two men to help them while the rest of the squad began evacuating the building. Grabbing the wounded that they could. Securing the ID tags of the dead. Duval was very happy as they broke into the sunlight outside of the lab. The sticky and hot air somehow felt wonderful after being in that most unnatural of environments. He breathed a sigh of relief and punched his comm reporting to both the 1-oh-5 and the 9th Legion.

"The 12th 'Storm' has exited the Lab with the VIP. We are ready for pickup. Get out of there and blow that puppy to smithereens."

 

[Calran Bard]

Sokolov was secured. That was definitely a bonus for the mission. Maybe now, after all the time spent chasing the sentient down, it could finally end. The warlord's persistent attempts at ruining the First Order's efforts in remote areas had become more than troublesome, but finally they had managed to get hands on the elusive humanoid.

I wouldn't want to be him, when he's delivered to the higher ups.

Overhead, the troop transports came into view. Standing in a secure positioning, the 105th - and others with them - maintained the landing zone as the vessels approached. Then, when the 12th and 9th confirmed all bodies had exited the facility, Bard nodded to his demo team. They activated the det-charges, explosions heard, and Bard turned to watch as the building began to shake, before it crumbled inward. It collapsed, the inside vaporized, leaving little but rubble. There would likely be a burst from the turbolasers of the Star Destroyer overhead, to finish the job and ensure nothing escaped. With a sigh of relief, the 105th commander turned to regard the other commanders...

<"Thanks for the support, commanders,"> Bard said with a nod of his helmet, as he looked between the two sentients in charge of the other soldier complements. <"Things got pretty tense back there. Those Acklays were very unexpected, but were dealt with effectively and quickly. And I'll never get over the impact you shock troopers bring to the battle, definitely living up to your trooper designations - shock, for sure.">

He didn't comment on the loss in lives. A number of Stormtroopers had fallen, including some 105th who had been caught by the horde of mutated Nuknogs in the second assault. It was an unfortunate part of the job, but it happened, and there would be time for dealing with it later. But for now, they had a job to finish, and to exfil from the mission area. At which point, the troop transports began to land, as the rampways opened and access was granted to board...

<"Let's load in. Well done, troopers!"> Bard said to those around him, as he watched the 105th start to rush into the transport vessels along with others. <"Secure the scientists, check them for weapons or threats. Strap in, we're headed back."> Bard activated his comm to STC command. <"Reporting experimental facility destroyed. Mission complete.">

The Lieutenant reached out and held onto the standing rail, as he felt the transport begin to ascend and start the travel back to the command vessel in orbit...

______________________________

Vakim Duval | Rolf Amsel​