The Dawn[Death Watch VS GR]

[Subject 37]

Kashyyyk - Above Kachirho

"They called it the Mandalorian Wars." Those had been her words. The beginnings of a speech. It hadn't been a grand one, not like the speeches of old, not like those told by the Mand'alors of old, not like those told by Cassus Fett or Pre Vizsla. She was neither a hero nor a figure worthy of reverence, she was simply Sera Spar. Yet she had wanted to inspire. She had wanted to speak to them, say something of note. So she spoke from the heart. "They called it a series of Massacres masked as a war."

She bit her tongue for a second. "To us it was a Crusade."

A great Crusade.

"A path of destruction that cut through the body of the galaxy and straight into it's heart." The ship had rumbled slightly as she had spoken, a heavy shake rattling it as the vessel had crested through the atmosphere. "We put fear into their hearts. We conquered. We destroyed. We took our rights of blood and battle."

There was a slight rumble of approval. "We will do so again."

It was not a grand speech. It was not worthy of the history books nor would it inspire men for centuries to come, but it was something. Perhaps they would keep it in mind, perhaps they would show their ancestors worth, or perhaps they wouldn't. For Sera this was simply the beginning. She knew what they were doing here, she knew what the galaxy would think of them, and she was glad for it.

No longer would they sit idly by, no longer would they be second tier to Jedi and Sith.

No.

The Galaxy would know them. It would stare the black visors of Mandalore and tremble with fear, just as they had centuries ago.

This she knew, and as the bay doors opened and her Basilisk War Droid dropped from the sky it was the only thing that went through her mind.

 

[Gir Quee]

Obi-Wan Kenobi, approaching Kashyyyk

"Repeat?" asked Gir, arching an eyebrow.

"Traffic control reports multiple Basilisk war droids launching right now."

"And sightings are confirmed?"

The communication's officer nodded, "Sightings are confirmed. There isn't anything quite like them..."

No, there really isn't...Gir crossed his arms as his head swiveled to the officer of the watch, "I'd suggest having someone rouse Admiral Lod from his quarters. He'll want to be aware and present for this."

The Republic officer briefly considered Gir's suggestion before moving to act on it. While the blonde man officially didn't hold any rank in the Republic military any more, his influence continued to pervade through the Navy through the officers he had trained and the men he had served with. Still, Gir found himself having to be careful with his suggestions. He didn't have a strict chain of command structure that he could fall back on to force certain actions by the Republic's personnel. The officer of the watch glanced at a young Sullustan ensign, who quickly dismissed himself from the bridge as he began to speak into his comlink.

"Flight controller?"

"Sir?"

"Scramble Avalanche and Torrent squadrons to investigate and...skirmish these interlopers. I'm not interested in their destruction, but we just need to gauge their strength."

"Aye sir."

It looks like Commander Strosk has this under control. Gir slipped away from the command walkway, but not before seeing the first flights of Typhoon-class Modular Starfighters of the squadrons jet out of the star destroyer's lateral hangar bays. Gir wasn't entirely certain that the raiders would be interested in attacking spaceborne commerce, but it was current Republic doctrine to try and secure outlying areas to contain the threat before it spread elsewhere. but action needs to be taken at the target site as well. He flipped on his comlink headset to a channel he shared with another local Directorate officer.

"Major Tierce, are you available?"

It took several seconds before Gir heard his voice.

"I'm a little busy at the moment, Quee. We have suspected Mandalorian intruders headed towards our convoy's port location."

"That's all I was going to inform you about."

"Understood. Tierce out."

Gir knew that the Directorate marines at Kachriho would probably only be a small part of the world's defenses. The native wookiees would likely show up in force, as would any federal Republic forces present. But would it be enough? He briefly contemplated who else could show up. He winced. Hell, perhaps some of [member="Jack Sparrows"] or some his somewhat less than reputable associates could be there...this could get interesting...

[member="Sera Spar"]

 

[Destin Eden]

Like with many other things, she had trouble following [member="Sera Spar"]’s speech. Not that it was boring her – she kept it short, thank Vizsla – it was simply an Andy thing. Unavoidable.

Thankfully, the mission parameters were as KISS as it gets.

Grinning, the uncouth Rodarch filed into one of the dropships along with her brothers and sisters in arms. Unlike the other Mandalorians in the vessel, however, the girl was hefting a much more imposing weapon. The flamethrower earned her a few curious looks and one or two appreciative nods.

No surprise there. Kashyyyk was the ideal hunting grounds for a pyro.

Through the midnight darkness, the ships and Basilisks rained down on the unsuspecting forests below, come to sow terror and desperation.

Andy laughed at a joke told by a nearby warrior, then bent to check her weapon once more before the landing. Everything was in place, the tank was full, the nozzle set to a wide spray. It would be a glorious day indeed.

With a soft thud, their dropship landed a ways from Kachirho, in the shadow of the nearby trees. They spilled out from its belly, and their war cries tore through the stillness like the jagged edge of a beskad.

Glory, here we come.

[member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Andy Rodarch"] | [member="Gir Quee"]

Basilisks were never really made for Dogfighting, so when the Republic's fighters came, Sera and the other Mandalorians really had one choice.

Her teeth grit together, her hands tightening on the hooks that held her in place. The monstrous machine bucked, and then suddenly jerked to the side as one of the Republic fighters spewed a string of laser fire directly towards her. The Basilisk shifted, it's great metal skin blazing with fire as the lasers arched across it. Half a cry escaped her lips as the massive metal beast slammed into the oncoming fighter, it's arms wrapping around the metal hull.

There was a screech of metal as the Basilisk Tore into the fighter, an odd robotic roar pulling from it's maw.

Her eyes met those of the pilot within the cockpit, her lips thinning as he moved to release the controls. Before he had a chance Sera pulled the disruptor from her thigh, freeing the weapon and letting loose three shots. The powerful charge cut through the Fighters cockpit and through the pilot, instantly killing the man as several holes were formed within his body. The fighter listed to the left for a moment, then sheered downward suddenly as gravity and wind took hold of it.

A string of curses left her lips as the Basilisk tried to free itself from the tumbling fighter, it's arms tearing away at the ship until finally it came loose.

Her fingers dug into the back of her mount, her eyes closing as the Basilisk bound away into the air.

 

[Bestala Vizsla]

Once [member="Sera Spar"] leaped from Death Watch’s vessel on her Basilisk War Droid, Bestala followed on her own. Her eyes locked onto Kachirho. Her suit’s computer began to examine the tree houses. It compared the village as-built to the schematics that Death Watch had acquired during their prep for the raid.

A laser bolt zipped just a breadth away from Bestala’s head. She glanced back to see a Typhoon-class starfighter sent by [member="Gir Quee"] to intercept the Mandalorians. Preferring to allow the AI of the war droid to handle the flying, Bestala changed its settings to do its best to evade fire.

Not relying on the traditional aerodynamics of a plane, the Basilisk war droid moved very erratically from the Typhoon-class starfighter pilot’s point of view. It quickly dove toward the trees.

For the next few seconds, Bestala and the war droid just barely avoided the Republic starfighter’s fire. Yet just before she could have reached the cover of the trees, the war droid’s system gave an alert that a missile had locked onto her. She glanced back once more to see a missile heading straight toward her from the starfighter that chased her.

In haste, Bestala ditched her war droid and leaped from her mount. She had steered the war droid in the opposite direction as she jumped so that the two could get as much separation as possible before the missile struck.

The treetops engulfed Bestala before she could witness her war droid being destroyed by the missile. Yet for the moment, the jungle would have been too thick for the starfighter to continue its pursuit - especially when there were plenty other war droids to destroy.

Before falling too far, Bestala activated her jetpack and continued her approach toward Kachirho.

Activating her comms, Bestala contacted [member="Andy Rodarch"] to say, “Pyro, I'll need your 'help'. I'm heading to Tree Vikkilynn.”

 

[Gir Quee]

Obi-Wan Kenobi, approaching Kashyyyk

Admiral Lod, not quite fully dressed, stood next to Gir by one of the bridge's holo-tanks watching the Republic starfighters and Basilisk War Droids clash as the raiders approached the world's surface. It probably rated as one of the most unusual fighting that Gir had seen. It's almost anachronistic to see men riding into battle on mounts...After their initial contacts with the droids, it seemed clear to him that the war droids had a distinct advantage at close quarters combat. The droids were around half the size of each of the Republic fighters, and their riders brought with them unpredictable weapons and tactics. Yet that strength also appeared to be a source of weakness. The standard long-distance engagement distance of a starfighter with computer targeting-augmented weaponry ranged at several kilometers. While he did not doubt that many mandalorian battle armors provided enhanced aiming to their wearers, he knew of few personal weapons that had the range and the power of the starfighter's weapons. This led to the starfighters trying to keep a measure of distance between them and their targets that quickly evaporated as the basilisk war droids neared the surface. Realizing that such close quarters combat over the treetops favored the raiders, Admiral Lod recalled the Typhoons back to his star destroyer for rearmament, deciding to keep them in reserve until a proper opportunity appeared to deploy them again.

​

***​

NPC action: Major Tierce and his Directorate marines, on a ridge overlooking Kachirho

"What do you think they're here for, sir?" asked Sergeant Brynes.

"Maybe the same reason we're here?" guessed Tierce, laying supine among the tall grass, "I'm not so sure the Guild will ever give it to us though, if the information is even here any more..."

But the ongoing negotiations weren't at the forefront of Major Tierce's thoughts. Kachirho seemed to be a magnet for violence, which had precipitated their current position. The native wookiee warriors, armed with an assortment of bowcasters, Kashyyyk long-guns, and even Ryyk blades had taken up their pre-planned positions. Most of them scattered across the branches of the giant Worshyr trees, using their arboreal claws to climb into concealed positions from which to snipe the raiders. But a small but higly visible contingent of wookiees occupied the line of dugout earthworks that ran throughout the white sandy beach. These positions had been made famous by the ancient Battle of Kashyyyk, but Tierce really wondered if they would prove to be a viable defense against an enemy known for aerial assaults. A handful of Republic marines had scrambled to take up positions in the earthworks alongside the wookiee warriors, but most were still mustering out, being caught by surprise by the sudden incursion. Tierce's own group, a Directorate marine platoon on the nearby Freedom-class Escort Frigate Valiant Lantillies, had concealed themselves in the dense foliage on top of ridge overlooking the tree city. Little did Tierce know it, but it was the same spot that thousands of years ago had concealed a group of Clone sharpshooters. Tierce had seen to it that his squad leaders had deployed their sparrow drones some distance around the group to act as sentries to prevent the group from being surprised. For now, they waited.

[member="Bestala Vizsla"] | [member="Sera Spar"] | [member="Andy Rodarch"]

 

[Destin Eden]

“Vikkilynn?” Andy echoed. “Where’s— ooooh.”

[member="Bestala Vizsla"] forgotten, the pyro turned to her left. For a moment, the world seemed to slow down. There, on her left, a perfectly peaceful scene; a dad wookiee, a mama wookiee, and two little cubs. They were weaponless, mid-packing what seemed to be a quaint afternoon picnic. Eyes wide, they met the featureless buy’ce gasmask, terror reflected.

Andy squeezed the trigger.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH

Anyone in the vicinity would be the unhappy victim of the stink of burning flesh, burning fat, and – worst of all – burning fur. Nasty.

“Vikkilynn, you were saying?” Andy smiled at the twitching remains of her homebrew napalm. The fires would spread quickly given the forested terrain. It was going to be beautiful.

Her HUD lit up with directions a second later, and Andy frolicked towards Vikkilyn. The white phosphorus mixture still needed some field testing, and what’s more perfect than a treehouse full of flammable carpets?

[member="Gir Quee"] | [member="Sera Spar"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Gir Quee"] | [member="Andy Rodarch"] | [member="Bestala Vizsla"]

The fighters slowly departed, but Death Watch was hardly done. They moved forward, Basilisks breaking through the tree tops as they went crashing into the city below. Heavy metal went crunching into ancient wooden platforms, crushing bodies, buildings, and anything else that lay below. Sera landed upon the cities main platform with a heavy thunk, her Basilisk smashing into the ancient wood and cracking into a thousand pieces. Around her the natives roared, blades bared.

She scowled, slipping from the back of the great metal beast.

The Wookiee's gave her no chance to gather her wits, not a minute to think.

One of the larger creatures roared at her, jumping in her direction with it's great blade swiping forward. Her eyes bulged and she ducked, the blade slicing over her and striking the metal armor of her Basilisk. In reaction the great metal beast lurched to the side, it's arm coming up and slamming into the walking carpet. There was a slight squelch and the creature fell to the ground, crushed beneath the weight of the Basilisk. Before any Wookiee could move the Basilisk opened it's missile pods.

A string of rockets flew free from the side of the Basilisk, a swarm scattering around the plaza and striking anything and everything within reach. Explosions tore across the platform, fire beginning to rage in a great storm.

 

[Gir Quee]

Obi-Wan Kenobi, entering geosynchronous orbit over Kachirho

"Comm," started Admiral Lod, "inform all vessels in this area that they are to disperse. This is area is unsafe and is under lockdown."

Gir watched the communication officer as he began an open-broadcast to the vessels in the area. He wouldn't be surprised if some of the local space traffic left already upon hearing the raid. But there always seemed to be the more stubborn captains and those that were uninformed. He considered one of the holo-stills of the raiders taken by a Typhoon's camera.

"Basilisk war droids don't have hyperdrives," observed Gir, "at least the models that we know of."

"They had to have a carrier vessel then," mused Lod, looking the orbital traffic, "but that does not help us much. The droids are small enough to be carried by any number of ships. From that bulk freighter over there to a drone barge."

"I'd admit that class size alone wouldn't be too helpful," said Gir, "but combined with traffic patterns, we might be able to nab their base vessel."

"And if it jumped out?"

"This doesn't appear to be a one-way invasion. The amount of forces are present are too small to even hold Kachirho if they were to take it with no losses. And I doubt that this is a suicide mission, which means they should have extraction vessels of some sort."

"Start looking then, but if you do not find anything, I will not be surprised. One of our interdictors will be here shortly. They may be able to help you with your search. You will excuse my lapse in attention about this...I have yet to completely coordinate how we will be landing the marine reinforcements at the city."

***​

NPC action: Major Tierce and his Directorate marines, on a ridge overlooking Kachirho

Scattered fire broke out from the trees and foliage as the invaders descended. Major Tierce peeked through the scope of his Burststreak weapon system at one of the raiders. While the individual raiders were fairly small at the distance, their Basilisk War droids were not. Standing at least 3 meters tall and with an even greater length, the mechanical marvels weren't exactly hard to spot as they rampaged throughout the city. Kind of a bold place to put yourself, without any cover or concealment. He moved his reticle up from the body of the droid towards its rider. It briefly wavered as he adjusted his breathing. His reticle became still over the body's center of mass. He pulled the trigger. His shot flew out of his barrel to strike the raider in the thigh. Tierce watched as the man toppled off his droid to fall among the burning foliage. Other shots rang out from the ridge to lash out at the raiders, even as the Wookiees and Republic marines formerly stationed on the beach moved up to reinforce . A pair of Oevvaor jet catamarns skittered around the treetops, harassing the raiders. One of their occupants fired his bowcasters at [member="Sera Spar"]. He toggled his comlink.

"Valiant Lantillies, this is DO532, we are going to move closer towards the city proper."

"Good copy. We are too."

Sergeant Brynes began to rustle the men up, causing them to move out by fireteam towards the city. The troopers rocketed up into the air before descending upon the ill-fated city and its chaos. Masses of civilians poured out of the city even as marines, rescue workers, and firefighting robos filtered in. Tierce found himself ascending into the air before coming to rest on one the platforms next to a robo that was busily putting out one of the fires with its chemical sprayer. Out of the corner of his eye, Tierce could see the angular mass of the Valiant Lantillies slowly gliding over the waters towards the city.

[member="Bestala Vizsla"] | [member="Sera Spar"] | [member="Andy Rodarch"]

 

[Bestala Vizsla]

As Bestala approached Kachirho via jetpack, two small probe droids, just as DRK-1 probe droids, detached from Bestala’s jetpack. They flew away from Bestala in two different directions and began to survey the area under the cover of tree branches and leaves. The information the two probe droids collected was fed to Bestala.

In response to [member="Andy Rodarch"], Bestala said, “Yeah, Pyro. I’d like you to burn ev-er-y-thing on the way to Vikkilynn!”

Once close enough, Bestala deactivated her jet pack and landed on a tree-house near the outskirts of Kachirho. She had a pair of blasters drawn. A male Wookiee warrior emerged with a bowcaster and shot at Bestala. However, she was already rolling to the side at the sound of his footsteps.

The bowcaster’s shots just barely missed Bestala. The Mandalorian shots just a couple times at the Wookiee - one bolt landing on the Wookiee’s left shoulder, the other straight at the Wookiee’s forehead. Bestala’s assailant fell to the floor dead.

Making sure she would not receive more surprises, Bestala entered the tree house with her pistols raised. The only other occupant within the tree house was a Wookiee child - from its posture, obviously scared. The child eyed the bowcaster that the slain Wookiee had used.

Once Bestala noticed that, she twisted her right wrist. Four darts shot out of her gauntlet and struck the Wookiee child - knocking it unconscious.

After that, Bestala emerged from the tree house and began to make her way toward Tree Vikkilynn.

[member="Gir Quee"] [member="Sera Spar"]

 

[Subject 37]

[member="Gir Quee"] | [member="Bestala Vizsla"] | [member="Andy Rodarch"]

There was a sudden, and very jarring thud as the bowcaster bolt struck her in the shoulder. She could feel the searing impact almost instantly the armor folding in around the charged metallic bolt, it's tip barreling through one of the layers of Asheran Armorweave. A wince scrolled across Sera's face, her teeth gnashing together in pain as she shirked back and half shrunk, her body falling to the right as the momentum of the bowcaster carried her to the side.

As she turned Sera' other hand came up, the blaster pulled free once more and aimed towards the assaulting Wookiee. Three shots saw the creature drop, the disruptor quickly burning holes within the creatures flesh.

"Kark!" She cursed her own stupidity.

The Basilisk at her back afforded her some protection, but Sera did not wear the Beskar that many of the Clan did. While the famed Mandalorian metal would have afforded her almost complete proteciton from the Bowcaster bolt, it also would have slowed her down considerably. The armor she now wore, crafted by Saeva, was light, multipurpose, and intensely useful. She preferred it over the standard Beskar'gam, and eventually she planned to craft her own version of it. For now however she would have to remind herself not to be foolish, otherwise she'd never get the chance.

"Malfegor." She spoke, the great metal beast at her back suddenly snapping to attention. "Burn it all."

The creature seemed to beep with glee, and then suddenly it bounded off.

In an instant fire began to rain down, the hulking Basilisk fired it's weapons en masse, targeting nothing specific and simply brazenly striking at whatever it could.

Sera meanwhile struck out towards the Wookiee's around her. She moved with simple precise movements, a dozen or so of her kin quickly joining her in the beginnings of the rampage. Her disruptor tore through the Wookiee's that got too close, the blade on her arm slicing those too slow to catch her. They fought hard, and from the view in her HUD she could see some of her brothers fall.

 

[Destin Eden]

It wasn’t her birthday today, but hey, it might as well have been.

“With pleasure, ma’am!”

Not that she really needed [member="Bestala Vizsla"]’s confirmation, but it felt good nonetheless. Without further ado, the excited pyro turned her hell-spewing nozzle to the pathways behind her as she approached Vikkilynn. Flames flared up greedily on contact with the ample sustenance. For miles in every direction, far as the eye could see, the wroshyr trees rose from the ground far below, mighty and ancient.

Mighty, ancient, and delightfully dry.

Mad cackling could be heard, though muffled-like, as Andrea Rodarch torched her way towards the treehouse. It mattered little to her if the civilians escaped by the time she arrived. Where would they escape to? Fire on the left. Fire on the right. Fire below, fire above.

Fire everywhere.

[member="Sera Spar"] | [member="Gir Quee"]

 

[Gir Quee]

Obi-Wan Kenobi, entering geosynchronous orbit over Kachirho

"That's a lot fire," observed Admiral Lod, watching the satellite feed of the village, "they mean this to be a terror attack."

"They will kill hundreds," guessed Gir, "if we do not take quick action."

"I do not think the local droids will be able to fully contain this blaze, nor do I think that enough emergency firespeeders will arrive in time to minimize damage from the attack at this rate."

"What's their ETA?"

"Dependent on which village, outpost, and city that they're coming from," mused the duros officer, "the two assigned to Kachirho have been assigned to keep a path open for evacuation. The first shouldn't be there for some minutes. That's a problem."

Gir eyed the map carefully, noting that the two airspeeders keeping an exit open on the most landlocked portion of the wookiee city. With water surrounding much of the city, large numbers of the civilians had started jumping off the bridges or running into the surf in order to avoid the rising flames. I wonder how well wookiees swim...He quickly cast that thought from his mind. Even if the people could escape the flames, the city would not be capable of moving. He began to think out loud.

"From what I can recall from our liaison training, incendiary weapon deployment is affected by three terrain characteristics: soil, topography, and vegetation."

"The city is located in the Wawaatt Archipelago," muttered Lod, "I think that we can safely say that the soil, and consequently the plants, are going to be pretty moist that low and close to the sea level."

"On the sea side area," said Gir, pointing to the rising cliffs to the right of the city's numerous piers, "but that area is too highly elevated to retain that much moisture in the soil, though I'd imagine that the plants probably contain a lot of moisture."

"A mute point considering how fast the flames are spreading. It looks like an exceptional, high-grade weapon. I do not think the plants will be stopping that. So essentially we have half the city open to the water for them to flee too. But we have nothing that can stop the flames moving in from the land to consume the city. I'm tempted to try and scrounge up some cryoban weapons to deploy there."

"Do that," said Gir, "but I have one other option we should consider...given the stakes at hand."

***​

NPC action: Major Tierce and his Directorate marines, Kachirho

Major Tierce leveled his CSPL-12 at the base of the Wroshyr tree before tapping the firing stud. A loud "pop" emanated out of his weapon as the canister shot out before abruptly plummeting into a line of flames growing at its base. A cloud of silver-blue droplets expanded out to cool down the flames. He saw a blaster bolt fly at him before one of the medics stepped forward with his own Burststreak weapons system to suppress the assailant with his own blaster. Tierce lowered his CSPL-12 and knelt down to reload it.

"Sergeant Brynes," said the man, "I've used up my two cryo canisters."

"I've got one left myself. Can't say I expected us to be putting out fires."

"Or designating targets."

He slapped the dye canister into the weapon, took aim, and but he didn't fire. His HUD scanned the area for life forms, but aside from plants, there were none. He tapped the trigger, sending the projectile in an arc that saw it plummet into the foliage before the rising flames. It erupted into a purple smoke. A trio of mass driver shells from the Valiant Lantillies descended to pound the ground at the site of the marking dye, forming a set of interlocked craters several meters wide and deep. Another column of colored smoke rose up some dozens of meters away from that one. Another salvo of solid shot smashed into the ground, forming another series of interlocked craters that linked up with the others. The flames continued forward across the foliage to suddenly meet the impromptu fire break. Tierce cocked his head to observe the escort frigate hovering over docks. Oevvaor jet catamarns flitted from the upper reaches of the canopy to the frigate and back again, evacuating trapped residents and warriors alike as the robo droids continued to tirelessly fight the blaze at key sections to prevent the fires from spreading at strategic points. One of the Valiant Lantillies's quad autoblasters opened, ripping apart one of the basilisk droids in a torrent of blaster fire even as the wookiees and Republic marines to engage the Death Watch's warriors in battle.

[member="Bestala Vizsla"] | [member="Sera Spar"] | [member="Andy Rodarch"]

 

[Subject 37]

Sera moved quickly, more quickly then she had before. The Wookiees and the Republic were always going to put up stiff resistance, and Death Watch hadn't brought near enough troops to actually make an impact on Kashyyyk, but that wasn't why they were here in the first place. She rushed forward, dashing between Wookiee lines and cutting her way through some of the larger creatures. Half of them weren't downed, but that was okay.

The Carpets were tough as all hell.

Her goal here wasn't to kill, wasn't even to burn.

Sure the Basilisks were doing their work, Andy did what she always did, but none of it was what Sera was here for. Kashyyyk itself was a bastion of sorts, dense wood, thick trees, and miles upon miles of landscape that most people could never even think about traversing. Then again, Sera and Death Watch weren't most people. "Move forward!"

Her words broke the air.

The Wookiee's began to focus their attention upon what was causing the most destruction, The Basilisks. The ancient war droids were powerful, worse then that, they were indiscriminate. They seemed to fire at whatever moved now, shooting their pulse cannons almost wantonly releasing charges of incendiary missiles and letting concussion rockets fly free whenever the opportunity presented itself. Some were quickly shot down, but others wove about and avoided their fate.

All Sera needed was a little longer.