Dutch
Character
20 BBY
Republic Venator: Stalwart in route to Toydaria
"So much for a new and secret route!" The voice cut over the sound of warning alarms, blaster fire and marching droids. Dutch glanced in the direction of Ace as he yelled to him. "They said it was new, not secret. So we don't know who all knows about it." His Z-6 rotary cannon spun up as he leaned around the corner. Blue blaster bolts rained down on the droids marching up the hallway. They fell one by one until Dutch had to take cover from incoming fire. The Stalwart was supposed to take a newly discovered route to Toydaria, well...a newly learned smugglers route was to be more precise. The fact that their vessel dropped out of hyperspace almost directly on top of a Separatist fleet was a bit unfortunate. "They don't know when to quit, do they?" "No, no they don't." Both troopers knew that the droids weren't programmed for such a thing. But man, were they pilling up in the hallway.
They were running out of space as the droids came closer. No matter how many they gunned down, they just kept coming. His rotary cannon spun up again as he started to lean around the corner. Then he heard hit, a resounding boom followed by a buckling sound, a split sound later a shockwave hit him that was like being struck by a rancor. Dutch was thrown off his feet, alarms blared, lights went out, and silence filled the world. Dutch's eyes flickered open to a world lit by red emergency lights and very little sound. His head rang and everything sounded distant. A shaky hand braced the wall as he pushed himself to his knees. All around him was semi darkness, the only light was from red emergency lights, even the flashlights in his helmet ceased working. His gaze landed on the battle droids, every last one was frozen in place as if someone hit the off switch on all of them. "What..was that?" Ace's voice was soft, but sounded loud against the absolute silence of the hallway. "I..do not know, but I'm going to find out."
One week later
A week. That's how long it took them to get back on course. Four days of repairs to fix ...whatever the nebula they drifted into had done to the vessel. Then three days of getting the Stalwart back on course against the strange energy storms the nebula kept putting out. During it all, the Separatist battle cruiser drifted silently beside them, with little signs of recovery. Whatever the nebula did to the Stalwart, it did to them as well. The Admiral had made a split decision to cut across a short section of the large blue dust cloud to escape the Separatist fleet. The second they entered the nebula was when they were hit by a large surge of energy that knocked out all power to the vessel, and temporarily disabled the droids in the process. A maneuver that cost them quite a bit of time, but likely saved their lives. Now, as they left the blue nebula behind, Dutch stood on the bridge of the Stalwart waiting for the jump to Toydaria. Hopefully they would be their in time reinforce the Republic garrison on the planet and not flying straight in a Separatist fleet...again.
The swirling blue of hyperspace was much calmer then the different shades of blue dust from the nebula. This was at least something familiar, and not the reminder of what could have happened. A moment to relax and take a breath....those thoughts were interrupted by warning alarms from the bridge. Dutch tensed as he began to wonder if they were about to run into more Separatist as the flight officer stated that there was a large object in front of them. His fears of enemy battle ships were replaced by the surprise of what he saw when the vessel dropped out of hyperspace. There, taking up most of the view port, was Toydaria. Which didn't make sense, they shouldn't have reached it by now or be this close. The Stalwart shuddered under the gravitational pull of the planet. Her engines went into overdrive as they fought to keep her under control. Reverse thrusters slowed the vessel to a safe speed right before they hit atmosphere. Fire rolled up the hull of the ship and covered the view port as they broke atmo. Dutch held onto a chair as the Stalwart rattled under the strain. Finally, she slowed and leveled, alarms ceased and the large destroyer began a safer decent. Breathing a sigh of relief, Dutch tried to relax for the rest of the ride down.
Within the hour, the Stalwart was dirt side and beginning to unload her cargo of several thousand troopers, several dozen walkers and other armored vehicles. They had landed well off course and couldn't reach anyone at the garrison. Dutch didn't like this, they were effectively blind at the moment with a star destroyer that was in no shape for flight and no radio contact with any allies on the planet. Marching straight to the garrison wasn't a good idea without knowing what they were marching towards, and leaving the Stalwart behind in its current shape also wasn't a good idea. Just as he began to wonder if things could get any worse, they did. In the distance, making a slow decent towards the planet, was the same Separatist battle cruiser they fought before ending up in the nebula. From the looks of things, it was in the same shape as the Stalwart. Regardless it was a dangerous threat, well what it was carrying was anyway. "Just not our week, is it" "No, no it's not." The clones around him went from unloading equipment to readying defenses. They were going to have company soon, and what type of host would they be if they weren't prepared for them.
Republic Venator: Stalwart in route to Toydaria
"So much for a new and secret route!" The voice cut over the sound of warning alarms, blaster fire and marching droids. Dutch glanced in the direction of Ace as he yelled to him. "They said it was new, not secret. So we don't know who all knows about it." His Z-6 rotary cannon spun up as he leaned around the corner. Blue blaster bolts rained down on the droids marching up the hallway. They fell one by one until Dutch had to take cover from incoming fire. The Stalwart was supposed to take a newly discovered route to Toydaria, well...a newly learned smugglers route was to be more precise. The fact that their vessel dropped out of hyperspace almost directly on top of a Separatist fleet was a bit unfortunate. "They don't know when to quit, do they?" "No, no they don't." Both troopers knew that the droids weren't programmed for such a thing. But man, were they pilling up in the hallway.
They were running out of space as the droids came closer. No matter how many they gunned down, they just kept coming. His rotary cannon spun up again as he started to lean around the corner. Then he heard hit, a resounding boom followed by a buckling sound, a split sound later a shockwave hit him that was like being struck by a rancor. Dutch was thrown off his feet, alarms blared, lights went out, and silence filled the world. Dutch's eyes flickered open to a world lit by red emergency lights and very little sound. His head rang and everything sounded distant. A shaky hand braced the wall as he pushed himself to his knees. All around him was semi darkness, the only light was from red emergency lights, even the flashlights in his helmet ceased working. His gaze landed on the battle droids, every last one was frozen in place as if someone hit the off switch on all of them. "What..was that?" Ace's voice was soft, but sounded loud against the absolute silence of the hallway. "I..do not know, but I'm going to find out."
One week later
A week. That's how long it took them to get back on course. Four days of repairs to fix ...whatever the nebula they drifted into had done to the vessel. Then three days of getting the Stalwart back on course against the strange energy storms the nebula kept putting out. During it all, the Separatist battle cruiser drifted silently beside them, with little signs of recovery. Whatever the nebula did to the Stalwart, it did to them as well. The Admiral had made a split decision to cut across a short section of the large blue dust cloud to escape the Separatist fleet. The second they entered the nebula was when they were hit by a large surge of energy that knocked out all power to the vessel, and temporarily disabled the droids in the process. A maneuver that cost them quite a bit of time, but likely saved their lives. Now, as they left the blue nebula behind, Dutch stood on the bridge of the Stalwart waiting for the jump to Toydaria. Hopefully they would be their in time reinforce the Republic garrison on the planet and not flying straight in a Separatist fleet...again.
The swirling blue of hyperspace was much calmer then the different shades of blue dust from the nebula. This was at least something familiar, and not the reminder of what could have happened. A moment to relax and take a breath....those thoughts were interrupted by warning alarms from the bridge. Dutch tensed as he began to wonder if they were about to run into more Separatist as the flight officer stated that there was a large object in front of them. His fears of enemy battle ships were replaced by the surprise of what he saw when the vessel dropped out of hyperspace. There, taking up most of the view port, was Toydaria. Which didn't make sense, they shouldn't have reached it by now or be this close. The Stalwart shuddered under the gravitational pull of the planet. Her engines went into overdrive as they fought to keep her under control. Reverse thrusters slowed the vessel to a safe speed right before they hit atmosphere. Fire rolled up the hull of the ship and covered the view port as they broke atmo. Dutch held onto a chair as the Stalwart rattled under the strain. Finally, she slowed and leveled, alarms ceased and the large destroyer began a safer decent. Breathing a sigh of relief, Dutch tried to relax for the rest of the ride down.
Within the hour, the Stalwart was dirt side and beginning to unload her cargo of several thousand troopers, several dozen walkers and other armored vehicles. They had landed well off course and couldn't reach anyone at the garrison. Dutch didn't like this, they were effectively blind at the moment with a star destroyer that was in no shape for flight and no radio contact with any allies on the planet. Marching straight to the garrison wasn't a good idea without knowing what they were marching towards, and leaving the Stalwart behind in its current shape also wasn't a good idea. Just as he began to wonder if things could get any worse, they did. In the distance, making a slow decent towards the planet, was the same Separatist battle cruiser they fought before ending up in the nebula. From the looks of things, it was in the same shape as the Stalwart. Regardless it was a dangerous threat, well what it was carrying was anyway. "Just not our week, is it" "No, no it's not." The clones around him went from unloading equipment to readying defenses. They were going to have company soon, and what type of host would they be if they weren't prepared for them.