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"]