Mission Operation Scimitar | An Age of Strife Story - Pt. 2

[FN-999]

R E B O R N
THE 908TH​

Objective: Survive
Location: Iridonia, suburbs of Malidris
In Proximity Of: 908th Legion | 501st Legion | Huang Shoushan | Nukth Kelga'an | Petra Dunstan | Ruaridh Aodh | Open to cooperation
Engaging: Chiss Elements | 908th Legion

Suddenly, the unpleasant sensation that had been nagging FN-999 vanished, much to his relief.
​

When he came to his senses, the colonel realized that meant the Knight's battle meditation had been stopped.

"Get into contact with the Knight." ordered FN-999 to his lieutenants. "He may be in danger. We need his meditation."

No reply.

An entirely new unpleasant feeling rose up in the colonel's gut, his body tensing.

"I'm sorry, Colonel." responded one lieutenant, his voice eerily calm. "But I can't do that."

The lieutenant promptly pulled out a pistol, aiming it directly at the colonel's chest.

FN-999 moved first. Lunging forwards, he ducked down, the lieutenant's first shot firing high. The colonel then leapt forwards, firmly gripping the lieutenant's torso and bringing them both to the ground.

At that moment, FN-999 sensed two more figures approaching. Assuming that they too were hostile, FN-999 flipped the pair around, pulling the lieutenant on top of him. Surely enough, the pair opened fire just as the colonel flipped, their blasts instead peppering the lieutenant. Realizing their folly, the pair of lieutenants ceased their fire, two more joining them as they all surrounded the colonel and pulled out combat knives.

"We have you four to one." called a lieutenant, his voice full of confidence.

"I like those odds." replied FN-999, equally confident.

In a single fluid motion, FN-999 kicked the corpse off him and stood up, standing along with his assailants. At once, they all lunged forwards, knives raised.

The first thrust came from the right, thrusting towards his right thigh. FN-999 firmly grasped the lieutenant's arm, pulling it to the right so that the blade passed harmlessly in front of him. The colonel then ducked from the waist up, two blades swiping at the air above him. The slowest trooper lunged directly in front of FN-999, only for him to sidestep the strike aimed at his torso. The colonel took the opening to roll away from his encirclement, putting the wall of the command module at his back.

The moment FN-999 withdrew and electrified his sword, it was all over.

The closest lieutenant turned around and attempted a second strike, only to himself be struck in the waist by FN-999's much longer blade, crumpling to the floor in an instant. Two of the three remaining lieutenants broke off to flank FN-999 from opposite directions. In response, FN-999 dashed to his right, sending Iustitia swinging directly at the man's knife arm. With a sickening squelch, the blade shattered armor and bone alike, the limb falling to the ground while the man himself screamed in pain. Seeing what appeared to be an opening, the third lieutenant thrust his knife towards FN-999's neck from behind. The colonel promptly slid to the right, the blade missing by centimeters. He deflected a second thrust with his sword, the electricity from the blade flowing through the knife and rapidly shocking the lieutenant, who crumpled to the ground after a few seconds of contact.

The fourth lieutenant had closed the distance, and FN-999 found himself too close to his assailant to safely swing his sword. Instead, he dropped his blade, his nondominant left hand pushing the lieutenant's knife thrust to the left of the colonel. With his dominant right hand, he wound his fist back and sent a haymaker towards the center of her face.

The sheer force of the impact broke the lieutenant's nose, shattered her jaw, and knocked her unconscious at the same time.

FN-999 looked around anxiously, but no other troopers were in the room. For now, he was safe.

The colonel ran to the main console in the command module, locking every single exterior door from the inside. He then inspected each and every lieutenant, making sure that they were unconscious. FN-999 would not repeat his mistakes from Tython.

Tython...

Suddenly, a distressing realization snapped into FN-999's brain. The mass mutiny had started immediately after the Knight's force meditation had been cut off. In Tython, the agents of the Maw had needed to cut off the Force energy of the Knights in the area before sending their deadly illusions into the ranks of the 908th.

Perhaps this too was a work of the sinister Force.

As much as FN-999 disliked it, the best way to ensure his survival would be to find the Imperial Knight.

:: NINES! This is still Banshee-Actual...! Our soldiers are turnin' their back against us and we lost the power given by the Knight with us! Do you copy?! ::

One by one, reports of confusion, shock, and fear began to come in through the transmitters. If he responded, he risked being discovered and besieged by his own troopers. However, if he didn't respond, the situational ignorance could be far deadlier.

[[All allied units, this is Nines. I think we're under attack by dark Force manipulation. If you're still sane, stop the attack immediately and hold a safe defensive perimeter until the Force user has been stopped. If you encounter any hostile "allies", shoot to stun. Do not kill them unless absolutely necessary. I've got to go now. I'm not safe here.]]

Cutting the comms, FN-999 unlocked the back door and bolted out, aiming for a nearby speeder bike rack. Finding it unguarded, he pulled out a speeder bike and hopped on, starting up its engines.

Then FN-999 was off, speeding towards the last known location of the Imperial Knight in the vanguard.​

 

[Castor E-196]

Master Sergeant Castor E-196
Imperial Navy Special Forces Command; Attached to SCAR​

Objective: clear the barracks and engineering bay. retrieve intel
Allies: A: Katja Javik Leto Karazyn || B: Castor E-196 Kriegan Tavlar || C: Lily Stevens Hal Vaiken || D: Kav Canthar Margo Liaeris

<"Besh team, start clearing procedures and mark any mission critical equipment for retrieval and render safe. These rebels armed themselves somehow, we'll find out how."> Kriegan remarked before he continued forward, cracking open the breach of his blaster carbine to a light puff of electric smoke before he loaded a new power cell into his weapon and continued forward.

Castor signaled to one of the Stormtroopers to check for any EMP or self-destruct sequences. He spotted one such along one of the exposed power cables, which he defused quickly before moving on.

<"Aurek team, ready for breaching procedures. Remember- we're here to seize intelligence, soon as we assault through keep your eyes open for any mission critical intel pieces, datapads, terminals, anything. Copy?"> He said to his unit, a couple of them nodding in reply to keep noise discipline relatively intact before they continued forward.

Castor stacked up behind them, his frame casting a shadow on the soldiers in front of him. He switched to single-shot on his DC/03; he did not want to break any critical equipment.

They stacked up again, set the breach and within a descending count of five they blew the blast door once more and funneled into the room with their clearing procedures. What they found however, was no hostiles in sight, no movement, no lifeforms. Quiet, suspiciously quiet.

They were in the engineering bay control room, overlooking a series of maintenance bays. Through the emergency lighting, Castor could see the dark shapes of several strike fighters poke out of the gloom. Assembled, in rows, as if it were a base inspection.

<"Search the room, everything."> Tavlar said with a wave of his hand before he lowered his weapon, narrowing his eyes behind the visor of his helmet.

<"I have a bad feeling about this..."> He remarked to Castor, gauging his thoughts. Worst case, another ambush. Best case- it was a job done.

Castor nodded.

<"Best we move fast, then.">

Castor swept to the far side of the room, counting the consoles and databanks lining the walls of the room.

<"I'm going to start cracking the data. You should set up overwatch.">

Castor shouldered his blaster and rolled the ICEbreaker module off his shoulder, setting up the data console on the hard floor while he searched for the correct wires to plug into the extremely old mainframe hardware. No doubt the Chiss would have updated countermeasures.

<"Teams A, C, D, sitrep. B has made it to objectives and are clearing hostiles.">

 

[Siyndacha Aerin]

ERRANT HEIR
THE ORDER OF IMPERIAL KNIGHTS → 501st STORMTROOPER LEGION
OUTER CITY - WORTAN - IRIDONIA
Jorus Fel

MEPHISTO'S LULLABY​

Almost as soon as she ceased speaking she felt a frisson of regret, when they started to decompose into a hardly restrained juvenile fallout from her choice of words. The hand that had been tapping at the opposite elbow went to her eyes, her forehead dropping into the splay of her fingers. She shook her head, incredulously.

[ I should have known. ]

He cleared his throat, with an undeniable undertone of amusement, catching her attention. Her head lifted, her hand lowered only as far as her mouth, and she watched Jorus. Waiting for him to speak.

"We'll take your--"

A pause, as if there was a snag. As if he struggled, like they all were. Like nothing had changed at all... because it hadn't.

[ Go ahead. Prove me right. I dare you... ]

Her gaze narrowed. Hardened.

"--six. We'll be on your six.

[ ...well, look who finally found some sense! ]

The eyeroll was solely mental. Her hand dropped back to rest against the opposite elbow, her gaze breaking away to the side, as she sighed in mild irritation. As he continued on, explaining his reasoning, her gaze tracked back to him after taking a moment to regain her composure.

"We've not really fought one before."

Aerin looked at him flatly. As if that were obvious.

"But shouldn't be a problem given your expertise, right?"

Her own head canted to one side, just a touch, as she peered at him.

[ Maybe I should just let them hurt you. ]

But she wouldn't. She couldn't. She was better than that... and she didn't want to hurt him. It... wasn't that simple. What they were about to do? That was simple.

"You and your men do your job," she said, a small sigh escaping her, "Jorus, and I'll do mine." Then she turned heel and stalked out of the command area, "Let's get moving and get this over with," she called back, hopping off of the transport. When her boots hit the dusty, broken duracrete, she took a long, deep breath, held it, and slowly let it out.

She had a job to do, and she would bloody well do it.

​

 

[Jorus Fel]

T H E _ E M P I R E
501st STORMTROOPER LEGION
OPERATION SCIMITAR
IT'S TREASON THEN
Siyndacha Aerin

Sympathy for the Devil
​

The tunnels were damp, muddied water from the river trickling through gaps and cracks fractured by the shockwaves of warfare and the heavy pounding of AT-AT legs above. The stench, though -- the stench was something else. The reek of death was so intense that it even challenged the stormtrooper helmets' filtration systems. The lights above were fuzzy, dim and sporadic at best. Following the Knight's lead, the squad of stormtroopers' steps became warier and warier the deeper they went and their jokes subsided to the muteness of radio silence.

Relying on sensors and scanners was never an easy task and always an unwelcome change to the clarity of the naked eye. Jorus felt his fist clench tighter around the grip of the blaster rifle and the butt of the weapon pressing harder against his shoulder.

"You saw that?" came Smokes' breath through the vocoder.

"Saw what?" Mantell replied.

"Heat spectrum."

"All cold around--"

A twin snap-hiss in perfect unison shrilled to life. One red blade materialized from above, coming down to clash against the Knight and slice her in half. The other came from behind and mercilessly sliced Eisley's arm right from his shoulder. The wail of anguish chilled bone and blood, and only through bare instincts did Fel leveled the rifle at the cultists at their rear and opened fire. The rest of the squad coiled back, spreading out as they released an onslaught of blaster fire at the enemy. Eisley collapsed on the cultist's feet, but his life tracker still showed green that was began to quickly fade into yellow.

"Aerin!" Jorus roared at the ashen-haired Knight, stripping all etiquette in the midst of battle.​

 

[Hal Vaiken]

IMPERIAL SPECIAL FORCES
SCAR SQUADRON
Lily Stevens Margo Liaeris Castor E-196 Kriegan Tavlar Katja Javik Kav Canthar Leto Karazyn

​

"But if you insist..."

He softly placed his hand on her shoulder plate, visors locked into a gaze as dear as their faceless helmets could muster. Lily was right. He was definitely no hundred now. Not even fifty, but...

"Good soldiers follow orders." Sarge said before he tapped her plate and jerked his head in direction of the sealed door. "C'mon." Maybe after all this was said and done, they-- but it never is, is it? He still recalled their conversation about what either of them would do after the war. Both had their own answers, but neither seemed fully convinced and perhaps it was in that uncertainty where they found a bond beyond that of comrades on the field. Maybe the war wasn't what forged them into who they were now, maybe it was the war that defined them, fully. Their existence.

They rushed through the hallways, fire in their hands and scorched bodies in their wake. Reaper took point again without asking. Charric bolts flew over their heads and below their feet. They carried on with the wind of the Emperor at their back as they laid rightful vengeance upon the treasonous Chiss.

Suddenly, the doors between sections, hallways, and walkways began to seal in a base-wide emergency seeking to entrap the Imperial interlopers within the facility and snuff them out one by one. Team by team.

A charric round struck Sarge's limping leg and he collapsed on the ground, firing a few true potshots at his assailant in return.

"GO, LILY!! GET TO THE OPS!!" he barked through the pain. The door behind her was beginning to seal shut as more Chiss soldiers were flooding their position in pursuit.

"GO, DAMN IT!!"​

 

[Kriegan Tavlar]

PRODIGAL SON
501st STORMTROOPER LEGION
8th AIRBORNE BATTALION 'ALL-IMPERIAL' | B 1-8 COMPANY | ENIGMA PLATOON
SUPPORTING | SPECIAL OPERATIONS
NIO | Castor E-196 | Lily Stevens | Leto Karazyn | Katja Javik | Margo Liaeris | Kav Canthar | Hal Vaiken

​

<"Barracks have been cleared, all hostiles eliminated, no intelligence of note discovered."> Master Sergeant Cole, Kriegan's principle advisor within the platoon sounded off through the unit commo to which Kriegan nodded once before responding in kind.

<"Tracking, standfast for now and confirm our exfil route. We're cracking the intel now."> He replied to his senior NCO advisor who replied with a brief affirmative before closing the line of communication. Kriegan walked in the shadow of Castor as he approached the control console and began to slice into the mainframe to extract the intel.

<"Fighters. Chiss Ascendant make."> Kriegan stated, their shape and design ever characteristic with its vague Sienar resemblance in cold light grey with fragile looking solar panel wings.

<"Master Sergeant, ping Battalion that we're going to need a larger extraction element. If we're able to trace these fighters back to their point of origin, we can determine where these insurgents are sourcing their supplies and cut off their lifeline."> He relayed back to his platoon sergeant again before peering over Castor's shoulder as he conducted his work. They'd relayed back to SCAR that they were at their objective and yet there had been no direct response to this point. That was hardly reassuring. Kriegan double checked if he was 'green' on ammo and equipment again before opening his commo and tapping the line to communicate with Hal Vaiken .

<"Enigma Actual to SCAR-One, we have secured our objective what's your sitrep?"> He asked directly and concisely.

<"As effective as SCAR is, Castor. Their communication could improve."> He remarked to the Commando at his flank as they awaited a response.

<"Aurek team standfast and be ready to move. Quickly."> He said to the rest of the element he was directly commanding. He had a bad feeling of the status of the rest of the operation and had the ingrained assumption the 501st may very well need to pull SCAR out of a bad situation. He hoped however, that he was wrong and all had gone to plan.

 

[Ashkur Kilslee]

315th Flight Wing
3rd Squadron
2-Flight
4x TIE/INx Interceptor

As Cyclone 8 formed behind and to his left, Ashkur rolled his interceptor into a dive, Seeing a TIE Vanguard leading a clawcraft, he strafed the claw craft's portside, sending it spiraling off in a short spin before it erupted in a nova. His relief was cut short when a volley of green bolts lit up his front window, the Vanguard having easily shaken his wingman and gone directly after him - for revenge most likely. Making sure 8 was still in the clear, Ashkur pulled them into a steep dive after the Vanguard, the fighters spiraling around each other as they flew off in a deadly ballet, each pilot daring the other to pull out first.

Using his interceptor's superior speed to maintain energy in the spiral even as the centrifugal force required more and more to keep their little dance tight and under control, Suddenly the Vanguard pilot snapped out of the spiral and shot off into the distance, Ashkur loosed a pair of disruptor torpedoes at the vanguard to disable it's shields before unleashing a flurry of his 4 laser cannons into the fighter, the shots freeing two of the wings from the fighter's body, with the last piercing through the rear compartment and causing the engines to explode in a nova of light. With 8 gingerly forming back up on his wing, Cylcone 5 knew that his wingman had tried it absolute best to keep up with the two fighters, and was far enough behind to have failed.
​

 

[Kelinna Tryn]

R E A P E R
THE EMPIRE
FACILITY INFILTRATION | VEROLEEM
TAG: Hal Vaiken | Margo Liaeris | Katja Javik | Kav Canthar | Leto Karazyn | Kriegan Tavlar | Castor E-196
GEAR: Armour | Sniper rifle | Pistol | Battle rifle | Vibroblade | Vibroknife | Grenade loadout

HALLOWEEN​

"Good soldiers follow orders."

That they did. To the letter, despite themselves. She knew that better than most. She had been there. To the Empire. Nothing else mattered.

Or did it?

What was left after war was stripped away? She couldn't answer it back then and she couldn't answer it now. What else was she good at other than killing and living the moment?
What happened to the Imperial Dream?

It never existed, Father.

There was only the march of millions of boots going to their death.

The duo, in sync as ever, no matter who took point, breached into the next hallway, the Reaper's battle rifle throwing golden bolts right back at the blue SOBs and their charrics with deadly precision. It was no Verpine, but it didn't falter under the skill of her eye either. Blue heads were blown apart by the particle bolts.

For the Empire.

But the blue monkeys had other traps as well. Section blast doors were sealing shut in sequence as the blue bastards converged.

A cold, hard determination set in on Lily. To push forward. To have them both make the cut off. But a well placed charric bolt had other plans. Her CO went down - Hal went down. In sync as how they were, the sharpshooter slammed the breaks immediately, cold visor turning back to him while throwing a thermal through the closing door behind them to buy time.

"GO, LILY!! GET TO THE OPS!!"

Don't ever leave a man behind.

For the first time since joining the Corps, the Reaper hesitated, her father's last bit of advice before she had left for the Academy, running through her mind.

"GO, DAMN IT!!"

"Fuck that."
Hurling another thermal through the door ahead of them, she grabbed hold of his arm to prop him up, despite her injured shoulder, as she dove for the closing door, her athletic form bearing the weight with relative ease. Their armour would tank the brunt of that thermal. The Chiss would not.

They barely made it through the closing door, her boot barely passing through before the door slammed shut.

The duo lay entangled for a moment, before Lily leapt to her feet, rifle to the one good shoulder once again. But it was relatively clear between the doors. Bending down then, she pulled a Verpine bullet from the gunbelt and, after some fiddling with the cap, emptied its gunpowder onto the wound on his leg. She pulled his helmet from his head just to shove a piece of whetstone leather between his teeth, whether he liked it or not.
"Bite down hard," she said before igniting the powder without warning with her vambrace.

It was crude and would hurt like all hell, but would keep him going for the moment, albeit limping
<Reaper to Spectre> she radioed to Katja Javik . <You got some patching up to do after this. Better stay alive. Reaper out.>
Katja was way on the other side of the mine to do anything about it currently.

She would swear at Lily afterwards, but as per usual, the Reaper wouldn't care.

"C'mon, we got a job to do."

 

[Nukth Kelga'an]

Operation: Scimitar
It's Treason Then​

---

THE EMPIRE
THIRD SECTOR DEFENCE FORCES
First Anaxsi Free Brigade -- Second TodHusars Regiment
'Banshee' Company​

---

- IV -
BERZINGUE FROM ANAXES
The Anaxsi, the Chiss and the Zabrak -- Part. IV​

---

Interacting with: FN-999 Huang Shoushan Petra Dunstan Ruaridh Aodh
— 877, Landing Zone A, Malidris, Iridonia

:: All allied units, this is Nines. I think we're under attack by dark Force manipulation. If you're still sane, stop the attack immediately and hold a safe defensive perimeter until the Force user has been stopped. If you encounter any hostile "allies", shoot to stun. Do not kill them unless absolutely necessary. I've got to go now. I'm not safe here. ::

Nukth cursed against himself. He had been fortunate that Commander Nines hadn't been caught by the madness that had infected a large part of his men; he could have doomed himself. With the Knight's power now inactive and the volte-face operated by their allies, it was clear all that stuff was due to the Sith Cult he had heard of before coming to Iridonia. Whether it was linked to the Chiss population or not, it was clear that the Sith Order -- and maybe the Maw too, who knows? -- was in on it. Nukth couldn't help but tried to get out of this mess, with the Banshees who were still on his side.

The more alive Banshees, the better.

But the mission was harder than anyone could believe. Banshees were elite soldiers and, even with a mind that was corrupted by a dark influence, they remained commandos after all, in their nature. Considering that the Sieur was overwhelmed by more than three of the four platoons he had under his command, leaving the chances of leaving this place alive were very slim. Fortunately, Kelga'an could still count on the entirety or so of the sappers under Major Twenty's command, on all the members of Guardian Squad and on three other of his Sons.

Fi gave a look over the barricade they were standing behind, only to see that their enemies were trying to surround them. He shook his head as he was getting down to be protected by the piece of Duracrete wall and turned his gaze to his Captain. « We're gonna die there sir, nah? It's just a matter o' time before they'll get our back. »

Kelga'an didn't immediately answer his subordinate but looked at his rifle to make it ready for the battle they would have to fight soon. Being a Hussar, his weapon was like a friend to him, and he respected it as he would respect his Sons. He inhaled for the last time and answered:

« Don't be this pessimistic, '55. They hadn't surrounded us yet. We've still got t'get of this mess, believe me, » he said before beholding the assembly of troopers around him waiting for his orders to be given, « Banshees -- my Sons! This day is a red-letter one; as on Nirauan, when we defended the place against the forces of the Maw. (He got a look at Fi and Twenty who were there at these times.) Remember that each step that we'll do will be a won one. We've to demonstrate that we're the Azure Shield of the Empire. We've got orders from Commander Nines, from the Reborn: this is a shoot-to-stun operation, not a shoot-to-kill one, understood. No more time t'lose... TENEZ VOS POSITIONS!!! »

With this last order, the Captain pointed his rifle at the Cursed-Banshees that were standing in the surroundings, waiting for them to expose themselves as Nukth was doing right now. He opened fire against his enemies, trying to scare them, and was quickly followed by his fellows. The plan was to prevent the Cursed-Banshees to surround them by firing both the extremities of their frontline. Nukth didn't know how it was going on Site B, but he hoped that Elward felt better than him.

He hoped so.​

 

[Leto Venau]

Katja Javik

The Imperial followed behind his fellow with a faint smirk that formed beneath the helmet. He chuckled, briefly and childishly. "Gladly," his vocoded voice muttered across the silence as Spectre made an effort to open the vault. Leto watched closely, maybe a little too closely. His rationale fell in the realm of that there was a sea of dirt and rocks to stare at otherwise, at least one pertained to the mission. Somewhat.

He followed in behind Spectre, a less than serious spark to his movements came with a sudden inhale. His HUD made note of a failure in the filter, even if only mildly. Leto chose to brush it aside as the two outlined figures of Chiss soldiers appeared ahead of them, the black visors turned to Katja and offered a silent nod in return. He brandished a blade rather than aim a blaster, however.

On the continued approach to relentlessly embed it into the foe in tandem with Spectre, an undoubtedly violent affair that lacked the usual decorum.

 

[Katja Javik]

The Empire
SCAR Squadron
Hal Vaiken | Lily Stevens | Margo Liaeris | Leto Karazyn | Kav Canthar | Kriegan Tavlar | Castor E-196

​

<Yeah, hello?> She replied to Lily Stevens in an inappropriately casual manner as she became more familiar with the squad at the cost of formal procedures. <You people are a pain in my arse. You know that?> She replied. There was no doubt she was being put to good use since joining the squad.

Katja drew the rifle into her hand and fell into step alongside Leto but he was able to get ahead with ease and begin his violent assault on the Chiss soldiers. She hesitated for a moment, her footsteps slowing to a halt as she watched in awe or possibly horror at the vicious attack. She was by no means a stranger to war but she had never seen a stormtrooper attack like Leto had - even knowing he specialised in melee didn't prevent her from getting caught off guard.

A blaster bolt soaring past her head quickly reminded her that she was still among the fray and she returned her own suppressive fire to draw more attention onto herself and away from her squadmade who was among the enemies.

 

[HICOM]

Commander Chaf'thira'kombi
Chiss Reclamationist Defense Fleet
"Lord Zodt's will be done."




The ground shuddered beneath Leto Karazyn and Katja Javik 's feet, followed by a loud, consistent hum. A hum very familiar to anyone who had been on the hangars of star destroyers prior to fighters taking off. To the trained, experienced ear, the assumption would be clear - starships of some kind were preparing for launch from underground, most likely through the large shaft close to the two SCAR troopers' position.

A dozen small, human-sized hatches hidden from sight, suddenly slid open with a hiss and released a dozen or so probe and infiltrator droids to deal with the two interlopers and clear the perimeter for vessel launch. Some probes were viable to suicidally explode at melee range.

The Chiss were activating all assets to prevent the Imperials from halting the sole goal the base existed for. ​

 

[Sylus (Γ059)]

█████ - Rama-Actual
IMPERIAL SECURITY BUREAU
TASK FORCE ████
Chiss Base, Veroleem
TAGS: Katja Javik Leto Karazyn Castor E-196 Kriegan Tavlar Lily Stevens Hal Vaiken Kav Canthar Margo Liaeris

AN INTERLUDE​

Margo would rush through moments behind Kav, leveling her pulse rifle and unleashing with two three-round bursts aimed at a pair of troopers scrambling to aim downward from a series of catwalks within the hoist house. As she opened fire and pushed forward to find cover behind a series of crates, her voice shouted over the comms: <“ARE YOU KRIFFING CRAZY YOU DAMNED MOOSE?”>

--and took aim with his heavy repeater, as he moved forward at combat pace, firing as he dropped the Chiss in succession. There were more along the wall, several teams intermittently spread out at the consequent tripods, which meant a straight line of targets to mow down... to which Rancor did, as the heavy weapon he wielded began to spit deadly blaster bolts en masse.

<<"I got this side, Stalker, let's do this!">>

While Kav's repeater cut down the Chiss on one side, sending the rest into cover, the other catwalk rained fire down on them.

Another group moved to flank them from behind, moving along the catwalks to a section that stood above and behind the pair as they advanced forward. The Chiss here made ready to shoot- and were killed by an unseen force.

Before Margo could exit cover to return fire, the shooting abruptly dwindled on the other side of the hoist room. One by one the repeaters fell silent. Kav and Margo would have detected movement along the catwalk, disappearing back towards where the pair had entered.

Someone dropped down from above, landing on the the pathway Margo and Kav had cleared. He was an emaciated, wiry human, his bruised face and wounded body barely standing. The tattered remains of an ISB uniform hung off his frame as he dropped his pistol.

“I am Special Agent Sylus of the ISB, serial number 155/875/2144-Nern. You must exfiltrate me. Bastion is in grave and immediate danger of a bioweapon attack, and I have the codes to disable it."

 

[Castor E-196]

Master Sergeant Castor E-196
Imperial Navy Special Forces Command; Attached to SCAR​

Objective: clear the barracks and engineering bay. retrieve intel
Allies: A: Katja Javik Leto Karazyn || B: Castor E-196 Kriegan Tavlar || C: Lily Stevens Hal Vaiken || D: Kav Canthar Margo Liaeris

Castor pushed the cable into the socket, the cables as thick as his arm. Sparks flew as the power generator surged. The portable data console's screen began displaying the progress of the ICEbreaker, cutting through the countermeasures and firewall of the Chiss systems. They were breaking in.

"Looks like it's by the numbers, Enigma. Automated code breaker not encountering any serious resistance."

<"As effective as SCAR is, Castor. Their communication could improve."> He remarked to the Commando at his flank as they awaited a response.

"Mmh, I agree. It would be sub optimal and highly unusual for special forces to break comms protocols. Well, it's unfortunate not uncommon, actually."

In under a minute, the codebreaker module attached to the databank dinged, indicating that the Chiss control room mainframe's security protocols were sliced clean through. Castor watched as his databank began to download fountains of data from the mainframe. He frowned. There was far more data here than he expected.

"Going to need a bit more time, but so far the preliminary data is promising," he commented, as the databank screen began to fill out with files.

The lights dimmed at the same time he heard a sharp clanging sound in the walls and his armour's life form sensors bleeped. The databank download froze. Someone cut the hard-line.

"Someone's in the walls."

The Stormtroopers were immediately on high alert, while Castor unslung his weapon and brought up the base schematics on his HUD No known maintenance shafts here, but who knew how old the map ISB had provided was.

"Sensor sweep."

The Stormtroopers nearest to Castor aimed their helmet-mounted sensors across the walls and ceiling. The thick walls of the room would block out IR and X-ray scans, but something had to-

"There," one pointed to a wall of electronic panels along the far wall. Castor advanced toward it, his own sensors beginning to see what the soldier meant: there was an old wiring duct hidden behind this console.

Without waiting any longer, Castor shot his leg forward, his armour multiplying the force of his enhanced bone and muscle; his boot smashed through the panel, concaving into the hole in the wall.

"Gas out!" He called over the comms, flinging two down the tunnel. He heard them rattle about and hiss, the sound echoing back down the tunnel opening into the room. He pushed a large container of steel and tools over the duct opening and pointed his gun. Two stormtroopers stepped up beside Castor, their guns pointed down the duct while the others maintained vigilance in other directions.

His sensors saw nothing, then a single dot accelerating so quickly it was a single line across his HUD map. It seemed to zig and zag around him, and he was unable to calculate the contact's escape vector. Another opening?

"CONT-" from Castor's left side, on the other side of the door that led out of the control room burst a Chiss, garbed in black robes and armour, the gas from the grenades billowing around him, trailing back into a ventilation shaft visible behind him.

Castor swung his blaster around and got off a single shot that impacted the Chiss Force Corpsman before the alien was on him, his blade slashing outward and stabbing through the armour of one of the Stormtroopers. In the blink of an eye he raised his hand and flung the other Stormtrooper beside Castor, the soldier's body slamming into a wall and cracking the ferrocrete behind.

Castor reacted, shoulder charging the warrior and knocking him off his feet. He tried to shoot again, but he was much too close to get off a good shot. The warrior rolled across the ground, using the momentum of the hit to spin himself upright.

Show-off. Castor drew his pistol and fired, taking careful aim not to damage the equipment nearby. The Corpsman had no such qualms, and he easily dodged the shots, spinning his blade around, the metal flashing as it descended on Castor's portable databank-

The rapid fire blaster bolts of a dozen Stormtroopers ripped into the Chiss from the side, scorching and penetrating through his armour, peppering him with cauterised holes in under two seconds. The warrior's blade slipped from his hands and he fell sideways onto the floor, his wounds still smoking.

Castor got to his feet, dusting himself off.

"I see the 501st lives up to its legacy," he remarked dryly.

While Tavlar and the others re-secured the perimeter, Castor returned to the hole in the wall, pulling aside the temporary blockage.

"I'll be back in a bit," he said, and crawled into the darkness. The Stormtroopers would only need to wait for a minute before the room's lights shone again, and the databank bleeped as it continued its intrusion.

Castor returned soon after, walking back to the databank and the ICEbreaker module connected to it. The download had resumed, and in the few minutes he'd spent crawling back, the databank was filling up quickly.

"We might have struck spice here, Enigma."

Castor crouched over the databank screen, his eyes scanning the information. Strike fighter schematics, personnel records, operational orders... But there was other data, too.

The files included navigational logs and data, routes crisscrossing the area occupied by the Reclamation. Castor stared at the tangle of routes, trying to orient himself and see what stood out.

He gasped. His eyes widened behind his helmet as realisation struck him like a boulder: All the routes stood out.

"Kriegan... you'd better see this."

Spoiler: OOC

Post is too long. second, more important part coming later

 

[Shoushan]

Spoiler: Equipment

Reinforced Robes

FN-999
Petra Dunstan
Ruaridh Aodh
Nukth Kelga'an


The situation on the ground outside the AT-AT was no less grim than inside. The 908th Legion was consumed by a spell of the dark side of the force into fighting each other instead of the Chiss Ascendancy Forces on the ground. At this rate it was impossible to know if the Operational HQ for the Legion was still functioning. Two Stormtroopers noticed his descent and fired upon him with every intention to slay him in the name of their dark master. Shifting his right hand from side to side and moving his foot back; as water came bursting out from a nearby drain around him to provide him a shield as the laser energy slammed into it and slowly dissipated.

Moving his left hand in a semi counterlock fashion sent the water like a whip into disarming the two troopers before him as their weapon's flung into the distance. Before reaching into the pavement with his unoccupied hand to channel the force into the ground beneath them which cause several large stones to rickashay into their helmet which caused enough blunt force trauma to kill them in one fell swoop. Still the battle seemed like a lost cause as the loyal stormtroopers were being picked off by the planetary resistance while they were preoccupied with the mass betrayal.

AWAKEN DRAGON​

Huang shouted within his mind as his garments were slowly pulled from him as his form began to shift and expand quite rapidly. His arms became longer and his fingers slowly melted into only three on each hand with sharp claws crowning them. His face warped from human looking to more animal looking with a long snout with golden scales covering the snout. His body stretched and stretched into a long snake like shape. His eyes became blood red and a long flowing gold mane became his hair.


A roar echoed from his mouth which caused the buildings nearby to shake for a while. His glowing red gaze followed down the length of his body to his tail. Satisfied that the transformation was completed.

 

[Ruaridh Aodh]

Location: Malidris, Iridonia
Tags: Petra Dunstan / FN-999 / Nukth Kelga'an / Huang Shoushan

[[All allied units, this is Nines. I think we're under attack by dark Force manipulation. If you're still sane, stop the attack immediately and hold a safe defensive perimeter until the Force user has been stopped. If you encounter any hostile "allies", shoot to stun. Do not kill them unless absolutely necessary. I've got to go now. I'm not safe here.]]

Ruaridh had heard the orders come in just as he was struggling to divert his own fairbairn dagger away from his throat, wielded by Private Luchan who had lost his mind and put a charric bolt through the skull of their squad's corporal. Ruaridh had turned at the sound of the report, diving to tackle the private and divert the barrel of his DSP-61 before the lunatic could squeeze another shot off. The private had relinquished the sidearm and ripped Ruaridh's dagger from it's sheath at the small of his back, stabbing for his throat with a murderous snarl. Ruaridh barely had time to grab the man's wrists and halt the tip piercing underneath his chin as the two toppled to the ground, rolling about as each struggled to gain the upper hand and pin the other one underneath their body weight. Ruaridh, the more experienced of the two despite being an inch shorter, trapped Luchan with his knees and slowly turned the dagger back, away from his own throat. He leveraged the private's wrist enough, grunting with the effort, then wrenched it back with a snap! of broken bone and crashed his armoured elbow into the side of Luchan's helmet. The dagger skittered away across the ground, Luchan howled, Ruaridh took the butt of his own pistol and battered Luchan's helm once, twice, till the private lay still, unconscious.

Clearly some form of sorcery was at work here, one which had cost Ruaridh not only potentially two members of his own squad but the losses from the rest of his company were no better. Each death was a blow to the entirety of STRIDER, each casualty another of Sycorax's survivors that would not live to see justice done.

"Gone, but not forgotten," Ruaridh whispered, stripping the slain corporal's body of equipment and ammunition. It was a cold act, but one every member of STRIDER had gotten used to on Sycorax where every last resource was precious. If in death their weapons took more lives, the slain brothers and sisters of the company were honoured still.

"You heard the Baron, STRIDER. Non-lethal takedowns of our allies only. If they force your hand, you do what you have to, but if Sycorax taught us anything it was to always be the one doing the fucking forcing!" Ruaridh growled over his comlink to his company. A chorus of "fucking aye!" replies bit back, angered and frustrated but determined to keep on fighting all the harder. A grim smile settled on the Second Lieutenant's face, unseen by his lone remaining squadmate. "Sergeants, I've pinged two drop locations on your HUDs. We have allies in forward LZs that are too exposed out there. If they've been affected by darkside manipulation as we have, they'll need all the help they can get. Get to it, STRIDER."

"Captain Kelga'an, this is Second Lieutenant Aodh from STRIDER Company. I have my men moving in to support your regiment's drop sites while this devilry grips our forces. Do not fire on us," Ruaridh said, opening a channel with the Captain of the 2nd TodHusars Regiment as he set off, giving one last look at Luchan. The poor bastard would probably put a bullet in his own head when he woke up and realise what he'd done. If he did, Ruaridh wouldn't have to agonise over whether to do it himself.

 

[Margo Liaeris]

STALKER

Objective: II - Root & Stem
Location: Veroleem - Surface Deployment
Tags: Hal Vaiken | Kriegan Tavlar | Castor E-196 | Lily Stevens | Leto Karazyn | Katja Javik | Kav Canthar

Ghost

It wasn’t often that Margo’s thoughts drifted thusly, but she was pretty sure that Kav was going to get her killed. But she hardly had any time to roll her eyes, instead intensifying her efforts to pick apart the Chiss attackers who seemingly kept coming and kept firing from the catwalks. Rather abruptly, the intensity of the incoming fire began to dwindle down to nothingness, even as Margo had spotted from the corner of her eye the presence of more Chiss trying to flank them from an opposing catwalk.

Just as she tried to turn to face them, their bodies slumped to the grating they stood upon, and a lone figure dropped down on the pathway Kav and Margo had worked to clear. Margo’s rifle raised instinctively, finger hovering over the trigger, only to ease at the last moment upon sight of the tattered and barely recognizable ISB uniform.

“I am Special Agent Sylus of the ISB, serial number 155/875/2144-Nern. You must exfiltrate me. Bastion is in grave and immediate danger of a bioweapon attack, and I have the codes to disable it."

To say he looked ‘worse for wear’ would have been an understatement. Despite all of her training for situations like these and many others, Margo hesitated from a pure moment of confusion. What was he doing here?

“Cover me.” Margo said, tilting her head to Kav. Her hand grasped the lip of his chestpiece, and her helmeted face drew closer to his as she added: “And don’t stare at my ass.”

She walked toward this agent ‘Sylus’, slinging her rifle via its strap across her form so as to free her hands and reach for her survival pack. She pulled out a stim and glanced at the battered agent through her visored eyes. “You’re gonna need this.”

Without asking she would reveal the needle and reach for his arm to inject him with the substance. Margo was no medic like Spectre, but she was no stranger to having to do whatever was needed to get out of a situation alive. After applying the stim, Margo’s voice chimed over the comm frequency: <“Team, this is Stalker - we’ve found an Imp POW here in the hoist house of all places. He says he has vital Intel concerning the security of Bastion itself - something about a Bioweapon. He’s in rough shape but he’ll live, for now. Hoist house is secure and we’re ready to proceed - please advise as to what we should do with the POW, over.”>

 

[Kav Canthar]

R A N C O R
THE EMPIRE
INSIDE HOIST HOUSE
ALLIES: Hal Vaiken | Margo Liaeris | Lily Stevens | Leto Karazyn | Katja Javik | Castor E-196 | Kriegan Tavlar | Sylus (Γ059)
ENEMIES: Chiss Forces
ENGAGING: Chiss heavy gunners
GEAR: Commando Armor | Z-6 Rotary Blaster Cannon | TL-50 Heavy Repeater | C-10 Heavy Blaster Pistol | Phase-Knife | Grenade loadout

Rancor was in his element.

<<"Rancor to Sarge, we're making noise as ordered. Dealin' with the final turret line right now.">>

As the large humanoid stomped toward the closest Chiss emplacement turret, he fired a steady burst of triple-barrel blaster-fire, which took the closest enemies in the torsos. They dropped with mixtures of gurgles and shouts. As Rancor reached the turret, he slung the TL-50 repeater, before he reached out and grasped the tripod mounted weapon with a single gloved hand. Then, with a grunt, the heavy smashed his crushgaunt into the weapon itself, cracking the internals, and overloading the power cell housed within--

<<"Catch.">>

--and with a heft, the tripod turret ripped free and was sent sailing toward the Chiss further along the line. There was a moment of horror in the red eyes that Rancor relished seeing, then the power cell ruptured and exploded with a fwoosh-boom. That side of the hoist house was decimated, as both walls, ceiling and Chiss were caught in a plasma-infused explosion that tore everything within several dozen feet to atoms.

That took care of the turret line.

And the Chiss on that side of the building.

<<"All clear this si--">> Rancor began to say, as he turned, though the appearance of an unknown sentient beside Stalker caused him to stop. Without hesitation, the heavy grabbed the Z-6 rotary blaster cannon from his side and aimed it, as he began to spool the multiple barrels ready to unleash a torrent of heavy fire. <<"We good here, Stalker?">>

In response, his fellow SCAR trooper walked over and pulled Rancor in close by the chestplate, before she uttered a warning.

Rancor raised an eyebrow inside his helmet.

...

<<"No can do, Stalker,">> Rancor said, smirking. <<"Have to watch your flank. All of it. Sarge's orders.">>

Seemed the wounded unknown had said something to Stalker with enough justification to warrant tending to. Still, there were more Chiss to deal with, to which the heavy turned in his dark power-armor and aimed the rotary cannon toward the approaching hostiles. He pulled the trigger, and watched as a haze of blue blaster bolts filled the space between the three Imperials and the Chiss reinforcements:

<<"We need to confirm his serial code and ID,">> Rancor shouted over the loud roar of his weapon, as he stood firm and held the position. He continued to fire controlled bursts, even as the Chiss fired charric carbines back, as several bolts impacted on the heavy's thick armor. <<"Until then, we do not arm that POW... I'm a little busy, feel free to handle that check-in!">>

With teeth gritted, Rancor continued to hold the point, even as the power pack began to whine due to lack of charge.

It wasn't a problem.

Rancor held the Z-6 one handed still firing, before he yanked the weapon charge lead free, and pulled it around behind his back; and with practiced ease, he slipped the converter plug under the armor plating, before finding the side port of his armors power pack. The rotary cannon was instantly recharged, now connected to a longer lasting power source, and would fire for at least an hour unhindered.

<<"I'm usin' the armor power pack, my moving pace is gonna be slower now - but not by much!">>

Still, unlimited firepower channeled from the armor directly?

Worth it.

Rancor grinned as he continued to lay down innumerable amounts of aggressive sustained counter-fire at the Chiss...

 

[Margo Liaeris]

STALKER

Objective: II - Root & Stem
Location: Veroleem - Surface Deployment
Tags: Hal Vaiken | Kriegan Tavlar | Castor E-196 | Lily Stevens | Leto Karazyn | Katja Javik | Kav Canthar

Ghost

Margo shot Kav a sidelong glower at his retort to her warning, but otherwise said nothing. Despite Margo being the ranking member of the squadron between the two of them, he did have a point about authenticating this ‘agent’ before doing anything rash. Without hesitation, she accessed a direct comm line with mission control, keying in Kav as she did so. <<“Stalker to Overwatch - authentication code 090-Mike-Lima-476. Standby for asset serial number authentication and extraction authorization.”

A brief pause ensued, but within moments a voice responded over the comm channel through a mild field of static. <<“Overwatch to Stalker - good copy. Ready to receive authentication code, over.”>>

Margo’s hand noticeably rested on the pistol holstered at her side as she began: <<“Asset self identified as ‘ISB Special Agent Sylus - serial number 155/875/2144-Nern, over.”>>

Another pause, this one slightly longer than before. Each moment was punctuated by Kav’s incessant and overwhelming covering fire down the corridor leading deeper into the base, and each moment also presented an opportunity for this ‘agent’ to try and gain the mastery over her - emphasis on ‘try’.

The tension would be broken by the voice yet again. <<“Overwatch to Stalker - serial number authenticated with identity provided. We are transmitting picture on file for field verification. Please advise, over..”>> After another few moments, the promised picture transmitted over the secure line and was displayed in a popup within her tactical hud.

Firmly yet gently, Margo’s hand reached for Sylus’ chin and made to tilt his head upward so she could get a good look at his face. Best she could tell, his face was a match. <<“Good copy on facial verification, over.”>>

<<“Extraction authorization granted, priority RED. Over and out.>>”

Well that was that.

<“Stalker to Sarge, Agent Sylus’ identity and serial number verified, and we’ve received extraction approval from overwatch with top priority. What are your orders?”>

 

[Katja Javik]

The Empire
SCAR Squadron
Hal Vaiken | Lily Stevens | Margo Liaeris | Leto Karazyn | Kav Canthar | Kriegan Tavlar | Castor E-196

​

The low rumbling around them didn't catch her off guard. Hal had warned them of the risks of their mission but the accompanying droids were an unwelcome addition that blocked off the path to her ally. Rather than shouting over the fray, she used the comms to contact him.

<Stay back and shoot. You're not going to be able to stab these things to death.> She told him but knowing him, he would likely take it as a challenge so she added <Phantom, I'm serious. I can patch you up but I can't piece you back together.> highlighting the importance of her warning.

As she backed away from the droids, maintaining constant blaster fire on them as she did, she crouched down and dragged one of the wounded Chiss soldiers to his feet and held him in front of her to use as a shield, allowing her to momentarily focus on an offensive attack, taking out three of the droids before the soldier succumbed to his wounds and became a dead weight which she carelessly dropped on the floor.

Aware of the presence of someone behind her, she quickly turned, using the momentum to send a powerful kick towards the head of the assailant, stunning him before planting a firm foot against his chest to kick him over the railing where he would fall to his death.

Her gaze shifted back to the remaining droids as some continued to advance on her.

"Let's go, tin cans."