Soldiers, one in the same..

[Valkren Calderon]

If a man says he is not afraid of dying; that man is either lying, or a Republic Commando.

Sergeant Valkren Calderon, a member of the temporary Commando team of Saber squad, sat aboard the Champion-class Star Destroyer, the Obi-wan Kenobi. The man seemed to be getting the strangest of looks while aboard the ship, being clad in full Heavy Assault armor and just sitting on one of the benches among the corridors of the Ship. He hadn't noticed any of them, because he was so entranced in the datapad he had in his gloved hand. With his helmet in the seat beside him, he was frantically going over loads of data that he had compiled together for a presentation to the Supreme Commander of the Republic, [member="Gir Quee"].

That's why the Sergeant as aboard the god-forsaken ship and not on the ground, where he should be. He needed help, and he needed it bad. After his last mission on Nar Shadaa he had come upon some unsettling information involving the location of his target, Doctor Ar'man Shaw. He had gone to his superiors for resource requests before, but never this high up..This was a new one, and it felt like he was walking into a firing line.

"Here goes nothing.." Valkren said as he stood up, taking a few steps to round one of the ships corridors, and tapping a command on the console next to the door of Gir Quee's office, requesting entry. He held the datapad in his right hand, with his helmet tucked underneath his left arm as he waited for the door to open.

That was another thing, usually he had called ahead to ask for resources, this time..He didn't.

 

[Gir Quee]

"You have a guest at your door, sir," informed his protocol droid.

Admiral Quee glanced up from his desk, sparing a glance from the holo-camera that was recording a message to send back to his family on Hast. Gir tapped a button on its side, turning the machine off. It was a crappy start to that anyways. He briefly glanced at his wrist chrono before looking back up at the 3PO unit.

"I didn't miss an appointment on my schedule, did I?"

"No sir," said the droid, "I am sure of it."

Gir nodded and pointed at the security screen situated next to the gold-plated droid, "Who is it?"

The droid glanced at the monitor, "I do not recognize him sir, but he appears to be one of our soldiers of some sort judging by his armor."

Gir nodded. The blonde man maintained an open door policy, allowing theoretically any soldier in the Republic to get ahold of him to meet privately if they could get onboard his ship. Yet most of the times, problems were worked out through the chain of command, which made him instantly curious about the nature of the soldier's visit. The last soldier to use that policy ended up in a court room bringing her superior officer to trial for rape. He briefly shuddered at the thought before waving at his 3PO unit to open the door. The blastdoors slid open to reveal Admiral Quee in a half-buttoned duty tunic, which he immediately began to button-up again. The admiral stared at [member="Valkren Calderon"]'s form.

"What brings you to my quarters, soldier?"

 

[Valkren Calderon]

The Sergeant took a few steps in before hooking the datapad to his utility belt, leaving his right hand free. He'd lift his gloved hand up and formed a firm saluting stance. With his helmet under his left arm, standing at attention, he'd speak up.

"Sir, Sergeant Valkren Calderon. Republic Operator T-52, commanding NCO of Saber team." He couldn't remember the last time he saluted someone like that. He had been in the field so much that he had almost forgot about the chain of command. There were no 'officers' during a firefight..When the mission was going sideways and you were low on power packs, you didn't look to the man with the most brass on his chest, you looked to your team lead..Someone you trusted. He'd remain at attention, waiting to be set at ease.

He had all the data he needed on that pad on his belt, and he had abit of a helping hand from someone if he needed it. Which he may very well, considering what he was there to ask for was one big favor..

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

The admiral quickly returned [member="Valkren Calderon"]'s salute and eyed the man curiously. It was rare these days that he met someone who did a lot of the work on the frontlines of the ground army, especially if they were not an officer. But it was probably even rarer that he met an operator. The admiral gestured for the other man to take a seat.

"We'll dispense with the rest of the usual formalities from here on out," decided the admiral, "what brings you here?"

 

[Valkren Calderon]

"Sir, if you didn't know before. My team and I have been tasked with the search and rescue mission involving a Doctor Ar'man Shaw. We have reason to believe that a group of highly trained and well-equipped mercenaries have been paid for the capture of Shaw due to his work. That being said, my team knows nothing more about the conditions of Ar'man Shaw, we don't even know what he was working on sir."

The Sergeant straightened his posture, lowering his hand from his forehead and bringing it down to his side. "However; sir, we now know where he's being held. It seems to be an unidentified planet in some sort of stronghold-like complex. We received this data after raiding a Nikto crimelord's compound on Nar Shadaa, it's unknown of who exactly hired the mercenaries sir."

Valkren stopped for a moment, gulping as he attempted to get by a sudden pause in his presentation. "Sir..You can look at my team's records..We've used Republic resources rarely. I can recall only two times in which Saber team has had air support, and only once we've called in a strike team for assistance. So you have to know, what I'm about to tell you is bad. This complex, is a fortress."

As he said the word, 'fortress,' he'd yank his datapad from his belt. With one hand he'd hold in and swipe his thumb across several commands on the pad, causing a hologram to jut out from a small projector on the front of the pad. The hologram showed a rather large crater, with a large and lush field. It seemed like the flora around said crater had all been cleared out for several miles.

"The fortresses peak can barely be seen over the edge of the crater. According to Intel, the air-defense systems on the edge of the crater are high-grade stuff...There's also some sort of bunker-like buildings on the outskirts of the crater. The reason I'm telling you all of this, sir..Is because my team and I can't run solo on this one. We need help sir.."

The hologram would shimmer, slowly rotating infront of the commander. "Sir..My team and I have been doing some talking, along with my good friend [member="SARI"].. An attack with ground forces from this direction, along with air support and airborne troops at the right angle..At a very low approach, we can breach the perimeter."

After several more swipes with his thumb, several green arrows would span across the ground from the east approach, along with several blue arrows directly above them. "After moving through these bunkers, operators can rappel down the side of the crater to get into that stronghold and get the Doctor."

The hologram vanished suddenly, leaving only the soldier, the officer, and the protocol droid all alone in the room. "Sir, this can all be done..We'll meet with heavy hostile presence, but it can be dealt with using a large enough force."

The man sound determined to finish the mission that was laid out infront of the two, for what reason though? Did he just want to prove the capability of Saber team once again when they got inside the compound? Or did the Sergeant have another reason.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

The admiral listened quietly to [member="Valkren Calderon"] as he presented his case to the man. The admiral hadn't heard of Saber team, though he remembered seeing the name Ar'man Shaw in several recent documents that came across his proverbial desk, though what the doctor did was something he didn't know. Gir could likely pull up the files to verify what the sergeant was saying, but the fact that he had come this far up meant that more likely than not, that the sergeant had expected everything he said to be meticulously inspected for veracity; as it would be by C-5PO and his aide to make sure there weren't any details he would miss when it came to making a decision. The admiral briefly stroked his chin.

"What sort of help did you have in mind? Air support from gunships, additional special troops," asked the blonde man, "jedi, even? Or is it something else logistical, like a stealth insertion craft or a certain piece of intelligence?"

Gir was not exceptionally experienced in running ground operations, having only fought in two ground battles during his career. But all military operations shared the same common core elements at their source, which Gir would state would be their end goal: victory over the opposing side. Only the specific paths to it differed, but again, there were similar philosophies and guidelines to it that Gir could translate from space warfare to the groundside.

 

[Valkren Calderon]

Bad thoughts raced through his head as he watched the cogs turn within Gir Quee's mind. How would he react? Would Valkren finally be able to end this hellhole of a mission?

There was a spark of hope inside of him once he heard the response, hearing that the Commander was interested in the operation. "Gunships to hit the defenses hard, while at the same time, hitting them with ground forces and strike teams. These mercenaries, they're well armed and there's alot of them. Whoever is in charge of the bad guys here is wealthy sir..This is going to require a joint-force operation. So, yes, Jedi if they are willing."

(Republic group roleplay, HINT HINT )

"I know I'm asking for alot sir..I'm not looking for glory, if you want to take this mission under your wing then please, do it sir. You can put saber team wherever you want us sir. We can be the spearhead of the operation, taking the brute of the main force. You can put us in a dropship and get us in there right away once the ground force clears it up. Anything is fine, aslong as we get in there at some point..Sir."

[member="Gir Quee"]