Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

In the jungle, the Mighty Jungle, the dev-thread sleeps tonight

Olivia's boots trod upon the rich dirt that had been stomped flat by thousands of similar boots. Behind her, the massive hole that extended thousands of meters into the depths of Wayland. Above her, the towering monstrosity of a mining platform. And beside her, strolled her brother, Rygel Larraq. "I see why you're numbers are low." Olivia said as the two siblings walked from the mouth of the mine and towards the shielded perimeter of Mandal Hypernautics site. Her brother had just gotten through showing her the Imperial ruins that his company had accidentally drilled into six years ago. It explained quite a few things, but it left more than enough up in the air. "So that's where you got the technology to make those Bio-Corvettes I see flying about the territories every now and then?" She asked her younger brother as they neared one of the mining platforms massive legs. Without a word, someone on the bridge of the walking factory deactivated the perimeter shields for the pair to continue their walk.
 
Larraq walked beside his sister, quiet for the most part, as they left his mine behind and approached the vehicle she had arrived in. "More or less." He said to the woman, her typically long, blonde hair hidden beneath her helmet. "We depleted the vast majority of Phrik from this location a few years ago. There is still plenty down there, but we're not able to get to it as quickly as if we just used the Harvester to open up a new hole. But..." He said, pausing a bit to consider how best to phrase it. "I don't want these men destroying any more of those ruins. I've had my men surveying them for 6 years now and have about 80% of the complex mapped out. It's a longshot, but there might be something in that last 20% that make a dent in my phrik supply worth while."
"The Mesen'Loras use a combination technology of three different genetic engineering experts. Maybe... two fifths of that total knowledge came from these ruins." He said as he glanced over his shoulder at the massive hole in the ground. "The rest came from the Bio-Engineers I hired to make use of it."

The mine behind him was extensive. Several thousand meters of hole had been lined with eight separate durasteel lifts that had been anchored into the walls of the massive vertical pit. At the bottom of the pit, at about 28 different levels, those lifts stopped to let out miners, droids, and massive machines into the thousands of kilometers of tunnels that branched out in all directions. It was a mine, as massive as any other. Topped by the frigate-sized walking machine that guarded it from the dangers of the world, its powerful shields protecting the men and machines from everything from Kremlin swarms to toxic flowers.
 
"So why do you think I shouldn't confiscate this entire mine and declare those ruins as Clan Dem'adas property?" Olivia asked, glancing at her brother as they passed the slightly scorched line the marked the edge of the shield when activated. The crunch of dirt beneath her boots was replaced by the soft plotting of beskar and leather boots upon grass. "You, yourself just said that the remaining 20% could easily hide an archive that dwarfs the one you've already found. And nothing in your report would indicate that there might not be an armory hidden down there either." she continued, her boots now treading across the dirt, rock, and duracrete road that happened to run past the Mandal Hypernautics mine on its way to deeper parts of the Wayland jungle. In the other direction, the road went to only one location. It was the primary hub for all Mandalorian assets on this planet, and the primary location of planetary defense for this side of the planet. A Cer'keldab-class Heavy Outpost known as 'Fort Monroe', in honor of the fallen Mand'alor. After all, not everyone knew that the woman had returned from the dead and turned from her brothers and sisters within the borders of the Mandalorian Territories. The name quietly irked Oliva, but she found it oddly appropriate for this deadly planet.
 
"Because you don't want to spend the same money I do to keep this mine up and running." Larraq said to his older sister, who he knew was mainly just teasing him. "And you already buy pretty much everything I make. At a discount." He said as he gestured towards the Myrkava-C that waited for her in the center of the road. His sister had only stopped by the Mandal Hypernautics mine to visit with him for a few minutes. Somehow, she had found out that he was here in person to inspect the mines and had insisted on coming with. It was just an excuse to spend some time with him without appearing to be sentimental. He knew as much. But when she realized that he was doing something entirely different beneath the surface of Wayland, she had demanded that he show her what he was up to.

The real reason for her visit to Wayland was currently parked in front of Larraq. Olivia had brought a company of the new Myrkava tanks to Wayland so that members of her clan could test out the new vehicles in jungle warfare conditions. In that regard, they did about as well as any tank did among densely packed trees, thick underbrush, and the few species of giant tree that covered Wayland's surface. Secretly, Larraq suspected that Olivia had brought them here just so she could shoot a Dinosaur with her Myrkava-C's main cannon.

"How's she holding up, by the way?" Larraq asked as his sister stopped at the rear of the vehicle, its aft hatch open and waiting for her.
 
Olivia laughed at her little brother. He had two very good points and probably knew that she was just busting his chops. "As expected." She said as she rested a hand on the tank's wide back end. "Come along." She said as she nodded at the tank and then ducked her head as she herself crawled inside the vehicle. She said it friendly enough... but her brother would know it was an order. "We've got a few broken toys back at base." She said as she made her way to the commander's chair and took her seat, video monitors and control panels surrounding her view and blocking what would otherwise be a clear view of the four women crewing the stations at the front of the tank. "I want you to get them working again, and I want you to poke your head around the base's defenses. Make sure we didn't miss anything with the recent upgrades to the complex."

Olivia strapped herself into the the oddly comfortable but not too comfortable chair and flicked on her displays as the back hatch closed and her little brother was locked in the vehicle with her. "That, and I want you inside this thing when we drive through the minefield." She said with a smirk hidden beneath her helmet.
 
Larraq sighed as he ducked his head and crunched up to follow his older, but smaller, sister. The vehicle was designed to be quite comfortable when seated. Standing was another matter entirely. Larraq had to bend his knees and arch his back just to stand with his head cocked to the side. He took one of the two spare passenger seats and strapped himself into the armored vehicle as it began to move. He only nodded in agreement with what his sister was asking of him.

"What!?" He said as she proclaimed her intended course of travel. Larraq knew that she was dead serious. He had advertised that the vehicles could stand up to an impressive beating, including designing the bottom of the vehicle specifically to reduce the effectiveness of mines and other ground explosives. Larraq stared at the metal plating beneath his feet and tried to recall exactly how thick the plating was, the angle of the sloped armor, and the rating his engineers had given it during testing. From within the air-conditioned interior of the vehicle, anti-personnel mines should just be a loud noise and a slight vibration in the hull. Anti-tank mines and bombs? If nothing else, those would hurt. A lot. And could easily flip the tank if they were strong enough.

Larraq tightened the straps that held him firmly to the chair as the 85 ton tank rolled down several kilometers of roads. The tank didn't bounce or bump like a normal vehicle. The wide, long tracks either crushed all obstructions underfoot... or the vehicle's massive shocks absorbed the jar. It was almost as smooth a ride as a repuslor tank.
 
Olivia's smirk grew into a smile as Rygel secured himself to the seat and stared at the floor. She could almost see the gears turning in his head as he tried to figure out if she'd get him killed or not. Olivia tapped her foot twice and the driver kicked the Myrkava-c into full speed. Her displays showed the thick trees on either side of the road rushing past at 65km/h. In front of of the tank, she could see the odd animal scurry into the underbrush as the tank raced forward. Five large Kremlins rolled across the road and Olivia's hand went to the safety release on the automated anti-personnel weapons, but they were gone from sight before she could flip the switch. <Filthy balls of fur and teeth.> Olivia thought to herself as the tank rolled ever closer to Fort Monroe.

Several of the displays showed the internal and external cameras for other vehicles. Others showed status indicators for the other vehicles in her company. She had brought 15 with her, but her people had already managed to break three of them in less than a week. They had recovered the wrecks of course, and were well into the process of repairing them back at Fort Monroe's expansive vehicle bays. But that they had broken at all was a point of annoyance for her. Granted... one of the vehicles had been driven face-first off of a cliff and been dragged back to base with nothing more than a torn clutch and a cannon full of mud. So there was something to be said for that.
 
Rygel Larraq eventually contented himself by running a cable between his datapad and Olivia's command station. From his datapad, he checked up on the status of the tank he was in and the tanks connected to it. 12 were fully operational, six were currently on maneuvers on various parts of Wayland, four more were being fueled, armed, and checked over in the base's vehicle bays, and the other was currently utilizing an anti-mine roller and dozer blade to clear a section of minefield. "What's going on with the minefields?" Larraq asked as he scrolled through the maintenance reports on the three broken Myrkava. One had been driven over a cliff after the transmission blew and the driver couldn't slip the vehicle into reverse. Another had been attacked by some local creature and had twisted the turret ring somehow. And a third had opened fire on the same creature, only to get flipped over by the local, which then proceeded to tare out the vehicle's drive wheels until a Myrkava-U put a discarding sabot rod through its heart at 6,000 meters a second. From about 50 meters away. Apparently, the Urban Assault variant of the Myrkava was doing quite well in a jungle environment. Larraq made a note of that.
 
"I'll tell you in a minute." Olivia said as the trees to their left and right suddenly disappeared and they found themselves in a wide, open clearing. Two hundred meters of open space stood between them and a line of concrete pyramids that extended nearly a mile in either direction, eventually curving in on itself as it wrapped around to the other side of the base. The wide open space to either side of them felt oddly exposed after spending so much time in the dense jungles of Wayland. Even within the confines of her tank, Olivia subconsciously checked the treeline for snipers. They passed the first and second rings of the base's defenses. Rings of anti-tank "Dragon's Teeth" marked the beginning and end of each set of defenses, each one spaced 100 meters from the last.

The path they were on was not a strait one. It wound its way through the defensive rings, sometimes turning outward for fifty meters before twisting back and closing with the base. Each of the five roads connecting the base to the rest of the planet moved like this, forming a twisting, near-spiral pattern as they each closed on the base. "Here." She said, and her driver too a sharp and sudden turn to the right.
 
Larraq felt a sudden jar as the vehicle slammed to the right, then a bump as the 85 ton vehicle left the road and gouged deep, twin paths through the dirt and mud and scattering of grass that made up the outer perimeter of the base. The vehicle rocked to the right suddenly as a loud explosion echoed through the hull. Another series of smaller explosions vibrated on either side of the vehicle and a hailstorm of shrapnel peppered her sides. Larraq took a deep breath and closed his eyes as the explosions continued. A loud one on the right rocked the vehicle to the left and Larraq's head pressed hard against the headrest of his seat. Had he not been holding his head against it before the detonation, he'd likely have ended up waking up in a medical suite with his sister gluing a helmet to his head.

Another string of explosions rocked the vehicle, each one he could feel in his seat and through the souls of his feet. Something crunched loudly and his body jerked violently to his left, the straps running over his shoulders and abdomen, and the padding next to his head, were the only thing that stopped him from being thrown violently from his chair. The angle of the floor felt off, and it took Larraq a moment to recognize the signs that gravity had shifted. It took Larraq a second longer to remember that he was on a planet, and that it was the vehicle that had shifted. The front end was much higher than the back for a moment, until the front came crashing down, the back raced up to meet it, and then the vehicle slid violently to the left and finally, thankfully, stopped.

The Myrkava shuttered this was and that for a few more moments as the driver tried to un-stick the vehicle, but it was useless. And to Larraq, who was inside the vehicle without a means of seeing out, it felt like the last spasms of a dieing animal.

Olivia had broke her tank.
 
Olivia smiled as the tank came to a rest on top of the ring of Dragon's Teeth. The vehicle tilted sharply to its left. <I'll be frelled.> She thought to herself. <They do work.>

Olivia slid her display of screens to the side so she could look at her driver. She didn't need the woman's helmet to be off to know that she was grinning from ear to ear. "Nicely done." She said as she pressed a button that opened the rear hatch. "Now everyone out."

Olivia stepped from the beached vehicle and onto the extended ramp that hung limply in the air. After surveying the ground for moment, she hopped down onto the cool earth and surveyed the rest of the path of destruction she had caused. Craters pot-marked the land where the Myrkava had driven, three of which still glowed slightly from the smoldering anti-tank mines that they had just safely driven oven. "I guess it works." Olivia said to her younger brother as she surveyed the carnage. "This way." She added, pointing toward the dragon's teeth that she had beached the tank upon. "These rings aren't mined, and neither are the roads."
 
Larraq's attention wasn't on the craters that they had left in their wake, but in the vehicle itself. As he slid out through the vehicle's rear access hatch and stood among the concrete pyramids, Larraq's eyes were drawn to the tank's exposed tracks. Small nicks here and there market the wheels, a nice little gouge was cut out of one of the beskar alloy tracks, and all sorts of damage was done to the paint job... But on the whole... she looked fine. There wasn't even all that much mud stuck to the tracks, thanks to the explosions blowing it clear. It was then to the pyramids themselves that Larraq's eyes were drawn. "How good are these at stopping walkers?" Larraq asked as he held out a hand and dragged his fingertips across the closest one. They had stopped his Myrkava dead in its tracks. The spaces between each 'tooth' were wide enough to easily walk between, which appeared to be surprisingly simple but effective. "And how are you countering repulsor tanks?" Larraq asked, thinking of the Tenloss made Skocha tank in particular.
 
Olivia glanced back at Rygel as her women continued walking towards the closest roadway. "Fairly effective." She said as she looked at the closest pyramid of duracrete. "Any walker that came through here would have to have a two and a half meter ground clearance, a fairly wide stance, and feet narrower than about half a meter. Anything else and the thing's twisting and ankle and taking a dive."

She pointed towards the distant pyramid structure that was the base itself. "And that thing back there takes care of repulsor tanks. It's got repulsor jammers that can reach about halfway to the treeline. But that's also why we're clearing out the mines." She said as she turned and pointed towards the distant Myrkava that was causing a slow but near constant chain of explosions. "We're going to re-lay the minefield. We're using a mix of anti-personnel and anti-armor FBT-N mines from Tenless, Proton Mines, Proximity Mines, Anti-Repulsor Mines, and some bouncing Timer Mines. We're also putting in a few Gas Mines, Sonic Mines, and Thermal Mines. You know... to spice things up."
 
"So were you proving the inadequacy of the old minefield just now, or testing the limits of the Myrkava?" He asked as he followed the women along the curvature of the tank-trap. They should probably include something within the dragon's teeth themselves to prevent opposing forces from walking to casually between the rows. <Maybe razor wire?> He thought to himself. As they walked, his eyes scanned the distant features of the base perimeter and minefield that caught his attention. It was mostly empty, except for the odd ring of dragon's teeth or a bisecting road. The only exception to this was a series of evenly spaced bunkers arranged in a ring around the inner perimeter fence. Each one looked sturdy enough. From here, he could vaguely see the outline of a few shadowy figures within a few of the bunkers. "What's in those?" Larraq asked his sister as he gestured towards the squat structures.
 
"A little of both." Olivia stated as she and her group walked between the dragon's teeth. In the distance, she could already see the tank recovery vehicle making its way from the base, through the twisting and winding roads, and towards the vehicle she had just beached upon the tank-trap. It's be back at base and fully repaired in a few hours. No real damage done. But she had gained the knowledge that the traps worked, even against one of the most advanced and durable tanks in the galaxy.

"Bunkers." Olivia said as she tracked the direction of her brother's gaze. "42 in total, spaced about every 70 to 75 meters. Each one is stocked with five heavy weapons, plenty of ammo, and around ten to fifteen vod." She explained as her helmet highlighted the structure. "Each window you see has a static weapon mount. The five weapons can be hauled from window to window as needed. Each window is protected by a ray shield and has a solid alusteel shutter for extra protection if the men are expecting heavy return fire."
 
Larraq's eye also caught the sight of the approaching recovery vehicle. He had expected one to be coming for the poor, abused Myrkava-C, but hadn't quite expected the recovery vehicle to be a Myrkavu. Same durability as the Myrkava, minus the turret or weapons. Just a big, durable shell on tracks connected to a powerful crane and wench. "Sounds tough." Larraq said as his eyes returned to the bunkers. He knew that the base and substructures were made of a special, reinforced durasteel that was heralded for its durability... But he hadn't known much about the specifics. "And the weapons on those guard towers?" Larraq said as he looked beyond the bunkers to the row of structures that protruded well above the energy fence. At a glance, he figured the structures to be made of the same material as the main building and the bunkers, but couldn't make out much else.
 
"Fairly simple." Olivia said as her eyes tracked from the closest bunker to the closest guard tower. "Every two bunkers are connected via a trench that runs directly from the bunker towards the closest guard tower. Each trench dumps into a massive tank-trench that runs beside the perimeter fence, and comes in at an angle that gives the men on the guard tower a clear shot into the trench. Each guard tower is stocked with a heavy machine gun and places the weapon's mounting so that it can be used to hose down any hostile forces that make their way into the trench." She said as she rattled off the list of details from memory. "Each tower is fairly simple... search light, communications gear, sensors... the usual stuff." In truth, the guard towers were fairly basic. At one point, they had been the outer-most layer of security for the outpost. And on any other planet, that would have been enough. But the constant assaults by the planet's deadly native population had demanded that more extreme measures be put into place. And while they were building up to stop the native wildlife from wrecking their little fort, the Mando'ade had decided to ensure that their extra layers of defenses were also rated to protect against sentient and technologically inclined opposition.

Ret'lini.
 
"Sounds like you went all out." Larraq said as he stared at the line of bunkers, energy shields, and guard towers. He could see two sets of dragon's teeth barricades line the several dozen meters that stood between the two primary defensive lines. From here, it looked like the entire mess of roads, barricades, and minefields was designed to keep a target in clear line of sight to the bunkers and guard towers for as long as possible. Likely to give the armored vehicles and gunships of the fortress time to muster to its defense if they were available, or time to fall back to defend the base, should they be deployed elsewhere. "What's on the other side of that shield wall?" Larraq asked. He recognized the massive emission towers of a set of HAS Military Shielding placed around the perimeter fence. His company made those. He also recognized a second set of emission towers placed around the primary structure itself. "I see HAS Military Shielding towers. Does it have a double set of shields, or just two sets of emission towers?" He asked as he stared up at the towering structures.
 
"Wayland is extremely close to the republic border and extremely close to Mandal'yaim." Olivia said as she walked between the dragon's teeth with her brother and her tank crew. "There's no reason not to heavily fortify every available inch of this planet. The planet's mines are valuable, and I'm sure the local wildlife will continue to be of value to the clans." She explained. The Mandalorian Protectors had already gone to great lengths training and breeding a number of creatures native to wayland, and the Mandalorian military was all the stronger for it. The planet had value to the Clans, and must thus be defended.

"One system of shields, two emission points." Olivia said as she craned her head to take in the sight of the six massive towers. Three around the base itself and another three around the perimeter fence. "The base is equipped with three Tempest-class Orbital Defense Turbolasers. Each cannon covers a third of the visible night sky on this side of the planet. Twelve anti-air missile turrets and six anti-air flak turrets line the outside of the base and protect it from airborne attacks from all sides. The flak turrets can be used against most ground threats on either side of the fence, and the missile turrets can be loaded with ground-to-air missiles, rocket artillery, and laser-guided munitions."
 
"It sounds impressive." Larraq said as the group stepped from the Dragon's Teeth and onto the nearest road. The tank recovery vehicle had arrived at the point where Olivia had taken her tank off-road and was turning to follow the trail of craters to the stuck vehicle's position. In front of the cluster of mando'ade, a Myrkave APC idled as it waited for them to board. "Outside of some razor wire to line the dragon's teeth," Larraq said as he crawled through the rear hatch of the vehicle and made his way to one of the oddly comfortable seats. "I really can't see any way to improve the fortifications more than you've already done. I would have suggested a few Turbolaser cannons, but with vehicles like the Myrkava garrisoning the outpost, I can't really see a need for additional static emplacements." He said as he looked out the back of the vehicle and stared at the road that twisted its way towards the treeline. "Though... Maybe there is an easy way to utilize the base's supply of vehicles to increase the number of defensive turrets." Added as he stared at the road. "Dig some reinforced tank-pits along the sides of each road. Big enough for a Myrkava or Canderous to sit in and deep enough that only the vehicle's turret would be visible. Make the back end of each pit into a ramp so that the tank can get in and out easily."

Larraq couldn't see past the helmet she wore, but he had the unshakable impression that his sister was smiling at him.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom