The Spark [GA]

[Mathieu Bahreiko]

Things were, to put mildly, bad. In the recent months, the Galactic Alliance had suffered numerous offensives and several critical defeats; most recently, the loss of the Ithsuhusk, flagship of the Galactic Alliance, had been caught out and destroyed. Morale had taken a nasty blow, and things weren't any more stable for the loss. With the armistrice violated by the First Order, with the Sith Empire's bombing of Thyferra, there were many within the Galactic Alliance who now called for open warfare. Blood demanded blood, and many were eager to line up after the atrocities on Thyferra in particular.

But for all that eagerness, that reckless want to cause hurt in return for hurt, the Alliance military was in the dark about too many things; where were the primary and secondary First Order shipyards? Where were Sith Empire ships refueled? Where were their primary training bases for their ground operations? Planning? Resupply? Too many unknowns to conduct operations, too many different ways a mission or offensive could be stalled, or broken. If the Galactic Alliance wanted to turn things around, the first step was to rectify this shortage of intel.

To that end, several companies were being retasked for deep insertion into enemy territory. The objective was simple; find out where things happened, what was stored where, and get that information back to the Alliance. Information was critical to formulating counterstrikes and coordinated offensives, and there was no time to spare. That was how Lieutenant Mathieu Bahreiko found himself assembled with other platoon leaders on the upcoming missions. Several different locations were being vetted for insertion, and it still was being decided exactly what theater his platoon would be deployed. Some would be deep cover insertions, to provide long-term intelligence gathering for the Alliance. Others, like himself, were short term operations to gather more actionable intel that was needed as soon as sapiently possible.

Once the meeting concluded, Mathieu stepped out of the war room and gave a slight tug at the unfiform's collar. He wasn't normally one for formalities or standing on rank, but occasionally those things had to be observed. Stepping out onto one of the balconies that overlooked the Eriadu skyline, he sighed and dug out a food bar from one pocket and tore it open. Nobody loved war... nobody with a soul, at least... For now, the planet was at peace, and if it was going to stay that way, then he'd have to make some sacrifices. But he had known that before he ever enlisted. He still remembered the look on his father's face, the pride, when he had said he was going to going the military. At the time, it would have been the Protectorate he had signed up with. How things changed...

No wanting to dwell on unpleasant memories, Mathieu scarfed down the rest of the ration bar and headed for one of the armories on base. Perhaps a spar or some time on the gun range would clear his head. The eggheads upstairs weren't likely to have settled on a target for him and his men just yet, so that meant it was time to blow off some steam.

 

[Lyra Sunfell]

Intelligence agents. Admiralty officers. They all had their magic ways of fighting a war, but ultimately it came down to the ones like her and her soldiers to do the actual fighting. After the assaults on Dagobah and Thyferra, well, war was about to boil over the pot again. This meeting had been the beginning stages.

The Alliance needed information. Sometimes they also needed to get information and destroy something at the same time. For that, well, they had Twilight Company. It came with with mobile infantry designation. Not that there were too many so such companies left by this point. Most of the others had been phased into traditional infantry companies.

Not hers though. She was proud of that and of their performance at the Battle of Dagobah. Even better was their temporary transfer to Eridau. They needed a cushy leave, as best as was possible. Besides, it helped morale in the other companies to see Twilight around.

Not for Lyra though. No, she had other duties that still required her attention, especially with the way these meetings were going. She needed to requisition new equipment for this. Maybe get some more combat engineers. A capital ship crew, perhaps. After all, if they had the chance to steal an Imperial flagship, there no reason not to. They just needed the people to pilot it.

She wove through the crowds as headed to the armory. They also wanted more anti-armor weapons, which she found useful. The Imperials relies heavily on armor, even to their detriment, as on Dagobah.

Twilight would be ready for them.

 

[Mathieu Bahreiko]

[member="Lyra Sunfell"]

The armory and adjacent gymnasium were predictably busy; a lot of soldiers used free time to pursue hobbies and maintain their physical health. Training to use heavy gear meant nothing if you couldn't ever carry it with you. Mathieu hadn't cared as of yet to qualify for more than basic infantry gear; a good blaster rifle and pistol were all he really needed, but he knew how to handle a sniper rifle or rocket launcher. But the fancier gear, the exotic weapons and armor... he didn't see a need for any of that stuff in his life yet. As time progressed and he went further and further into the Alliance military, it was a virtual certainty that he'd need to train with new weapons and gear to stay in top shape. But not now.

Walking over to the quartermaster, he signed out an A320 Blaster Rifle and walked with it to the firing range. The last time he had taken his qualifying course with the blaster rifle and pistol he'd managed to qualify sharpshooter with the former, but only by a single shot. He intended to do better when he next had the qualification course. Taking an unoccupied table, he quickly began the work of setting up the targets and disassembling the weapon. It was a given that the quartermaster kept the weapons in pristine condition, but it never hurt to practice the basics from time to time. With a mental counter in his head, Mathieu sped through the process to disassemble the weapon down to its base parts. As the last piece near-silently touched the metal table, the Corellian gave a small frown. Still not his best time...

He gave the parts a quick shuffle and reassembled them. To satisfy his ego, he was proud to find that he had matched his best speed for assembling the weapon. Taking aim, he quickly set himself to the task of hitting the targets. Some hung motionless in the air, while others darted up and down or side to side. A few were randomly bobbing along the range; all in all, a perfect diversified set to practice with. Letting himself relax and let trained instinct reign, he began firing on the targets in a systematic pattern. Movement was minimized and each shot carefully timed to avoid striking unwanted targets. Again and again he fired. In an odd way, it was soothing to do and helped him relax a little more. Soon enough, he'd have a target world to head for and a mission to carry out. Initial estimates put the planned mission at a week or two for operational duration. Lot of time to work with... he just didn't know what he'd need to do just yet.

 

[Razelle Breuner]

The last time Razelle had walked into a recruitment office, it'd been a resignation to her own personal brand of damnation. Last week, it was a pallid attempt at redemption. Her own crimes were relatively minor, but the woman she had been? Those were legion. Never once had she worked to make a difference. Never once had she worked for anything but structure. Control. She'd thrown herself into the habit of seeking orders to follow for so long that she'd given up the only freedom a soldier has: whose orders she follows.

For now, with her newly-minted and tested credentials, it was Mat. Raz had met some random, dogooder kid with a shiny rank bar and a spiffy new gun a few years ago, while she was running from her latest mistake. Mathiew Bahreiko. He was the sort of guy you saw in high school holos; captain of the sportsball team, perfect hair, good grades, not-so-secret soft side, both popular with and terrible with ladies... You know. Sickeningly perfect and wholesome. He probably grew up on a farm or something gross like that. Now he was some hotshot young LT and had his own unit brewing. Recon, covert ops, the usual.

He'd put out the call. Now Razelle had to make good on her promise to herself. She had to answer.

The Eriadu military complex had been confusing on day one. She hadn't taken any real steps to make contact with her one contact, either. Now that the bureaucrats had run her through a full Hell Week of tests, though, she was allowed to move about the base a little more readily. More importantly, she was finally ready to go meet with Mat. She checked a kiosk and put in her brand spanking, shiny new credentials to track him down. Firing range? Someone just got out of a meeting...

A short walk later, the short blonde wandered in through the door and got herself outfitted properly. Regulations and all that. It was just as nice to have them again as it was irritating to have to abide by them. Raz made a point of choosing the lane right next to Bahreiko and took careful aim, waiting until he was done with his current routine before she let rip. The kid was good. Surprisingly good, actually. But he hadn't spent literal decades pulling at every darting shadow.

She let off the trigger about twenty seconds later, content to see blaster scoring on each ring. Protocol, safety, etc. Then she knocked on the lane divider and brought her head around with a smirk. "Heya, kiddo."

[member="Mathieu Bahreiko"] [member="Lyra Sunfell"]

 

[Mathieu Bahreiko]

Some faces are forgotten the moment you look away. Other faces stick with you, even if you only glimpsed them for a heartbeat. Hers was a face that Mathieu would never forget. Back when he was still a fresh recruit, his temper still untempered with experience and failure, she had been present for one of his many bar room brawls. What made her so memorable though was how rapidly her simple presence killed the escalating tension. A skilled diplomat could quell bruised egos and flaring tempers with those silver tongues and honeyed words; they could appeal to that nobility in all sapient life, a desire for peace and prosperity. He had even met a few people who he was certain could walk onto a battlefield and make everyone put down their weapons.

She was not one of those people.

In less than nine seconds, he had watched her decisively take down four Humans, two Trandoshans, a Weequay, and a Zabrak. It wasn't enough of a takedown to rap skulls and throw people over a table; she had systematically taken apart anyone unlucky or foolhardy enough to step in front of her. Joints were locked or dislocated, and soft-tissue zones were exploited for their effectiveness at producing pain when struck. When the last body hit the floor, moaning in pain, the whole room paused and collectively decided without another word that this was not the place to have a brawl. After that, Mathieu wasn't sure what possessed him to but he walked over and bought her a drink. It hadn't been until he had left the bar and gotten back on base that he realized that "Jane Starkiller" was about the most generic alias in existence.

But he had never forgotten her face, or the way she had taken apart those beings in the bar. So when she suddenly leaned out from the divider beside him, he did the only sensible thing a man could do. With a shout he fell on his ass, blaster in hand but no finger on the trigger. Dignity and tailbone bruised, Mathieu blinked and looked up at the woman with confusion. His mind raced, trying to process this sudden arrival. Realizing that he had a rather undignified response to her simple greeting, Mathieu quickly stood and wiped himself off before he set the blaster rifle on the table and looked her squarely in the eyes and said the first thing that came to mind.

"You lied to me."

 

[Razelle Breuner]

'Startled, but no finger on the trigger. Good trigger discipline, but the weapon could still discharge. No, safety's on. No other visible weapons or threatening posture. Minimal threat.'

Razelle's mind raced without any external motivation. Simply being in a hectic situation left her with plenty to overanalyze. She did manage to laugh as Mat hit the ground. "Oh, did I? Come on, farmboy, what was your first clue?" With a smirk, she reached down a hand, offering to help him up. "C'mon. You're a big-shot lieutenant now. Wouldn't do to have the CO on the floor. Bad for morale." She made sure to check for knives or any sort of aggressive posture when he made a move. Ready to disarm at a moment's notice.

"Let's try those introductions again. You're Lieutenant Mathieu Bahreiko. I assume you weren't back then, though, so you're a pretty good soldier. Corellian accent. Solid shot, though a bit too meticulous. You've seen combat but you're still shaking off training and drills. Tested, but not tempered. Since you're on-edge in a firing range, you just got out of a meeting with bigwigs. You're not depressed enough for it to have been a dressing down, so you just got offered more responsibility. Special mission for your new command." She smirked. "That about right?" It was rhetorical. Razelle assumed she was right. She didn't require validation.

The blonde shrugged and placed her pistol back on the counter behind her, leaning up against the divider and crossing her arms over her chest. "Name's Razelle Breuner. Private Breuner now. Not a big deal. Privates do the heavy lifting." She reached up to fiddle with her hair. A lack of stim sticks was giving her the jitters. "I've got some previous experience. SIS reviewed my history and I'm cleared to come with you." Her tongue flicked around in her mouth as if moving a stick that wasn't there. "Any questions?"

[member="Mathieu Bahreiko"]

 

[Corey's OOC]

Specialist Kyle Farnes was working on his shakedown from the deployment on Byss. He was part of the Pathfinder teams, and that meant being deployed when a landing zone wasn’t always safe, and working to make sure other teams could fortify the location upon landing. It wasn’t a bad gig, he was here to fight the good fight, he supposed. But today it was a matter of meeting with the quartermaster, and getting himself certified for a few more weapons. He might not ever get ready for heavy weapons, but he was the airspeeder pilot as well. He had his extra tasks.

And that was getting people from point A to point B while being the most obnoxious thing on the battlefield. Still, Kyle walked up to the quartermaster and picked up his next weapon, one of the BlasTech rifles, he thought it was the A320 and grabbed some power packs. He wasn’t in any form of the armor, just his regular fatigues as he stepped into the range.

Pressing the button to activate one of the lanes, he picked up his rifle and pushed it to his shoulder. He looked down the range and squeezed off a few shots, hitting the target’s body once, twice, thrice. This weapon felt good. He was going to need to get out into the world again and taking the fight to the enemy. The trick was, who, and where? He was waiting on one of those calls, to activate his team and send them fighting.

 

[Mathieu Bahreiko]

[member="Kyle Farnes"] | [member="Razelle Breuner"] | [member="Lyra Sunfell"] ​

Private. Private. "Yeah, there's not a chance in hell that they keep you at that rank once you finish a mission." Frankly, he found it insulting that they had put someone with her skillset as a Private. Not even counting her decisive takedown of multiple hostiles, some armed, she had just done an accurate psychological profiling of him with little to no information. Then again, she probably didn't get put through a full evaluation to showcase that skillset. There was simply no way she could go on a mission and not make it immediately apparent that she was woefully overqualified to just be a Private. If she got anything less than Corporal, or even Sergeant, he'd take personal offense to it. Not that he could do much as a Lieutenant, and not even one directly over her in the chain of command. Still, he'd have to at least say something to someone and get them to do a full tactical analysis of her skillset. Maybe...

Before he could say anything further, already having decided he wasn't going to insult her by confirming everything she just said, Mathieu gave a small start and pulled back one sleeve to reveal a tac-pad on one wrist. It beeped quietly, signalling an incoming communication. Tapping the screen, a small hologrpahic figure of an Alliance officer came up. "Lieutenant Bahreiko. Your destination has been decided upon. A briefing for you and your team has been scheduled for 1450, in conference room Resh-7-1-4." A quick glance at the chronometer on the pad confirmed that that was just twenty minutes away. "The rest of the team will be contacted and will meet you there." Mathieu started to say something about not getting to pick his own team for this, but the transmission was terminated.

"Alright well...," He turned to the woman and idly clapped his hands together, "I guess duty calls. Time to go see what bantha fodder is being thrown together for me." It was clearly evident that he was not the least bit happy to have had no say in who was on his team for the operation, his body language and tone making that all too clear. "I'll see you around, Razele." Turning, Mathieu gave a grunt as he nearly ran another man over. One hand clapped the other man's shoulder, steadying them both. "Sorry 'bout that," he said as a quick apology before he hurried back to the quartermaster to return the gear and then made for the conference room. It wasn't too far off, but he didn't want to be the one leading the op and be the last one in the room. Set a bad image, and even if he wasn't thrilled about all the circumstances, this was still an opportunity for him to make some heads turn in a better light for him than a brawl did.

Checking his uniform briefly before entering, he was pleased to find that he was the first member of the team there. At the front, a middle-aged Human woman with short red hair was busy discussing a matter with a Mon Calamari male. Briefly, she looked over as he stepped inside. "Ah, Lieutenant. Good. Take a seat, the rest of the team will be here shortly." And with that, she resumed her previous discussion. Again, Mathieu felt himself grow agitated, but managed to keep a lid on it. He wasn't being pandered to, or treated like a child. It was just the Alliance moving things about. As a Lieutenant, and one that hadn't seen a proper fight at that rank, they were probably just a little cautious about how things would be handled. With the recent events motivating something of a shakeup, things were probably being accelerated and people being put forward for operations and training faster than they might have been during peacetimes. Once the mission was done, he'd have his team and his earned privilages. For now, he just had to wait for the rest of the team.

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Kyle Farnes"] [member="Mathieu Bahreiko"]

Noah popped his neck as he loaded another round into a magazine. Noah was on autopilot, loading rounds into magazines had become as natural as breathing, eating or sleeping to him. He guessed that's what happened when you spent twenty-one years as a commando and a mercenary. But in all his years the one thing that would always calm him down was this, round after round right into the magazine. After a few more rounds Noah stopped and looked at the mag, holding it in his hand, testing the weight, an experienced soldier needed to only feel the weight of a magazine to know if it was full or not. Of course Noah wasn't stupid, he had been counting the rounds before he put them in and he knew the magazine was full.

Setting the magazine down Noah reached for his CQCR that was across the table and examined it. It was in its standard combat configuration that Noah tended to put it in. A CQB scope with a miniature red dot mounted on top to allow him to engage at both medium and close range. A stubby foregrip allowing him a good choice between control of his rifle and mobility in close quarters. And finally a suppressor because well not only did it suppress the sound of the weapon but it did less damage to one's ears.

Standing up and pick up his rifle at the same time Noah walked with the rifle and the magazines he had loaded over to a firing lane. Putting the items he had brought with him down on the little table Noah set grabbed a flimsi target and attached it magnetically to the target plate and sent it down the range as far as he could. Fishing into his pocket Noah fished out a pair of wireless earbuds and put them in. Pulling out a music player Noah set it down before picking up his rifle, loading and mag and slapping the bolt release. Looking down to the music player Noah tapped play and then leveled his rifle towards the target.

A beep came over the earbuds and Noah immediately squeezed off two rounds and lowered his rifle. Again the beep sounded and Noah repeated the same movement again. The thing Noah was doing was often referred to as a double tap drill. The objective of it was to develop the fast-twitch muscles in it to allow for faster reaction times when firing. While Noah was a great shooter something that remained with him from his commando days was consistently drilling to make sure that he never lost his edge. Though at the age of thirty-nine he was starting to see the signs of slowing down.

 

[Razelle Breuner]

She didn't know how to break it to him.

Raz took as long as she felt comfortable with to stall behind Mat, making sure she didn't follow him directly into the room. No matter how much she waited, though, she was going to be following him into that room. As she wandered in maybe forty seconds behind her shiny new CO, Raz's mind went ballistic attempting to process all of the information her newest environment presented. 'Open area. Multiple points of entry. Garrison provides security, but good crossfire angles and no posted guards.' Her eyes flicked to the NCOs up front. 'Mon Cal. Soldier culture. Armed but unlikely to break protocol to hide weapons. Blinks a lot. Likely susceptible to visual assault.' The redhead... 'Career. Minimal threat. Weak ankle on the right, probably from an old injury. Step, kidney, throat, down.'

When her paranoia was content, Raz finally made eye contact with Mat and gave a smirk, then snapped a quick salute. "Private Breuner, by request, ma'am." No emotion. Soldier time. She didn't know enough about this woman to know how far she could push protocol. She stood until she got a bit of acknowledgement, then took a seat near - but not next to - Bahreiko. Only after she was properly settled in did she finally flash another menacing little smirk at the poor farmboy she had made a new hobby out of tormenting.

Since the two of them were the first in the room, she was in a good position to catalog the rest of the team as they wandered in. In the back of her mind, of course, she was warning herself loudly against too much overanalysis. If she showed as too observant, SIS might decide she was a better fit where they could keep a more direct eye on her...and getting reassed to an intelligence division was a mistake she didn't want to repeat a third time.

[member="Mathieu Bahreiko"] [member="Noah Corek"] [member="Kyle Farnes"] [member="Lyra Sunfell"]

 

[Lyra Sunfell]

"No!" Lyra interrupted the quartermaster, waving her hands. "I'm not here for practice drills. I'm here to requisition mortars and anti-armor for my company." There was a disgruntled snort and the woman bit her lip. Oh, this was frustrating. How she missed the days when they were on their own and could just go purchase their own from the black market.

Which, as an after-thought, she realized could be a possibility. She still had the old contacts, after all. Her sister knew people who had ins with the Mandalorian clans. She could probably get a hold of some high quality weapons. She'd need to get a message out with her shopping list. Or, maybe, perhaps not. Only time would tell.

A message beeped on her datapad and she paused, consulting it. There was to be a mission, and her presence was required.

"My executive officer will be in touch," she finished and strode to the meeting room. Something ached in her cybernetics and she grimaced. Need to get that checked out and repaired as well.

A few others were already in the room when she arrived. Lyra saluted the senior officers and took a seat, examining the others. A Lieutenant and a Private. Interesting. She wasn't entirely sure what this was going to be about. Wasn't new recruits to Twilight. That went through her directly. No, this was going to be some sort of mission, as far as she could tell. And that, in her mind, was a good thing.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Another few shots down range and the expanded power cell was dropped from the rifle. Kyle placed it on the table and called the target closer to him. Inspecting his handy work, he grinned to himself. Sure, he didn’t have anyone else here but it didn’t prevent him from being proud of what he was able to do. The soldier was starting to feel like he had the hang of this. Before it was all stealing swoops and using small arms. These rifles and carbines, they were something new.

Looking at his commlink, he nodded. He was ready to get another task. The Pathfinders got called at anytime when something was ready. And it wasn’t that they were always working in one unit. A bit more ragtag where people could take the assignments they wanted, they were also kept on a list of skills. He grinned as he returned his rifle.

Stepping into the ready room a few moments later, Kyle saluted the Lieutenant and when put at ease made his way to a seat. What was this mission all about then? Hopefully taking it to the First Order. They needed to get them back for Nemo.

[member="Lyra Sunfell"]
[member="Razelle Breuner"]
[member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Razelle Breuner"] [member="Mathieu Bahreiko"] [member="Kyle Farnes"] [member="Lyra Sunfell"]

Beep. Two rounds down range, center mass. Beep. Two rounds down range, head. Beep. Two shots down range, center mass. Noah had been doing this for the last ten minutes. Each double was alternated to either the center mass or the head with each double tap being about three seconds apart. He had been doing this for so long and was so engrossed it in that he didn't notice his comm go off and he didn't notice the young Corporal approach him and reacted like any highly trained killer would. Drawing his sidearm from its holster attached to his right thigh Noah put it under the chin of the Corporal. Nearly as quick as he did it he re-holstered the sidearm and gave the kid a glare.

Removing the earbuds the glare stayed on his. "Didn't your mother ever teach you that it's impolite to sneak up on someone?" Noah asked. Gulping the Corporal nodded. "You're requested in conference room Resh 7-1-4 for a mission briefing." The Corporal ground out extremely quick before he saluted and took his leave. Sighing Noah slipped out of the booth and packed his weapons up in a small rucksack before slinging it over his shoulder and walking from the armory.

It took Noah a few good minutes to get to the conference room but when he did he was surprised at the lack of people there. The first person he took notice of was the blonde haired woman. Her eyes stuck out to him, they were scanning the room, looking for things, analyzing everything and everyone in the room. For that he couldn't decide if she was a problem or not. Next was the young officer near her, he didn't look too inexperienced but he also didn't look like he should be leading a op like this but of course as the brass like to remind him that wasn't. The other woman he was one-hundred percent sure she was Mandalorian, the clan facial tattoos gave it away, career soldier like himself too. The last person was the possibly youngest person in the room, Noah guessed at least, he looked like he was a member of the Pathfinders, good it was good to have one of them on a op. Noah finally sat down at the far back right of the room and sat back waiting for the briefing.

 

[Mathieu Bahreiko]

[member="Razelle Breuner"] | [member="Lyra Sunfell"] | [member="Kyle Farnes"] | [member="Noah Corek"]​

​

Mathieu felt it just before he heard someone step up beside him. As he looked over at her, eyes widening slightly, he could practically see the conversation unfold between them; her mocking his shock, maybe even making some kind of joke about bantha fodder reporting in. Of course he doubted she'd be as cheery saying that, but nevertheless there was no missing the amusement behind her eyes. Others began to stream in over the next few minutes. Some looked like they were pilots while others definitely had the movement of infantry or special forces. All in all, a rather disparate group of individuals

​

"While we all grieve for the loss of Supreme Commander Nemo Ven, HIGHCOM has ordered that we proceed with operations. Unfortunately, with the armistice previously in play, operations were allowed to lax in regards to monitoring the First Order, so we're behind on intelligence from their territory." The woman spoke from beside a holotable, her hand resting lightly on one panel. As she spoke, she began to tap on one console, bringing up holographic maps of their half of the galaxy, displaying Galactic Alliance and First Order territory. "In order to remedy this, HIGHCOM has ordered numerous probing operations into First Order space. The goal of these operations is not to damage or capture resources or personnel, but simply to gather intel. We fell for a trap because we did not have adequate intelligence on our enemy's movements. HIGHCOM is determined to avoid repeating this mistake."

​

As she finished, the Mon Cal male stepped forward. "UNICOM has identified the Phu System has a target of interest. Based on previous operations and known enemy movements, we believe the Phu System has a listening post stationed on the planet that has been feeding intel back to the First Order." He placed a hand on the table, shifting the image to one of a terrestrial world. It didn't look very well developed from the scans, but those weren't always the best indication of what a planet would look like on the ground. "We have not yet taken in-depth scans or reconnaissance of the system, as UNICOM wanted to avoid potentially alerting the First Order that we had suspicions. What we do know is that there is a small First Order garrison on the planet, though we have reason to believe that the garrison is lightly staffed so as to avoid drawing our attention to the system."

​

Knowing that was his cue, Mathieu stood up and started to walk up to the holotable. He did his best to keep everything bottled up and hold a professional face, but this was going to be his first official operation with him in command. "Lieutenant Bahreiko has been selected by UNICOM to lead the operation." Looking over at him, the two shared a quick look and Mathieu gave a quick salute and a nod. "Thank you, General Kardils." Mathieu turned and faced what was going to be his team. He took a breathe and glanced down at the console before bringing up a closer scan of the capital city on the planet. "So our mission is to survey the planet and ascertain whether or not there is a listening post. If there is, our orders are to tap into the enemy's systems to gather any useful data. If not possible, UNICOM wants the outpost and local garrison destroyed."

​

As he spoke, Mathieu grew noticeably more relaxed and confident. "Based on past experience, we can expect roughly a battalion or two of First Order soldiers. They'll likely have light armor support, as well as starfighter air support. If an assault is made on the garrison, we'll have reinforcements from the 61st and 498th Mobile Infantry Company, as well as support from the 257th Armoured Company and starfighter close air support." The holograph shifted to a region just outside the city. "We believe the listening outpost is most likely located at the top of this mountain here. The garrison is located on the southeastern base of the mountain. Any approach we make on the eastern side will be difficult to conceal, as this side of the mountain has very little in terms of cover. The mountain runs west in a chain for more than two hundred kilometers; generally untraversable, with the observed weather patterns indicating a high probability of heavy snow and wind. Our two current options for approaching the mountain from the northwest, using this canyon has cover, or come in from the northeast."

​

Taking a pause to breathe, Mathieu continued. "The locals have a series of shrines on the lower parts of the mountain chain, near the base. We'll need to ascertain on mission whether or not civilian presence will be a concern, but UNICOM believes that the local Bardottans were kept separate from the First Order's considerations and should not pose a threat to our operation." Letting the holograph fade, he walked around the front of the table and looked at each member of the team. "UNICOM wants this done within the next ninety-six hours. We have the next six to study available recon scans and put together field kits. We're making our approach in two civilian transports. We'll rendezvous in the city and begin the operation then. Stealth U-Wing transports will be on standby at the edge of the system to extract us if necessary. If not, two Nebulon B7 frigates will await our signal to jump in and assault the garrison." He gave one last look around and opened his hands in front of him, as if inviting a response. "Any questions?"

 

[Lyra Sunfell]

Well, that was interesting. Lyra steepled her fingers as she listened to the debriefing. Misinformation. That would be beneficial. Send inaccurate or outdated intelligence. Bring the entirety of their intelligence agency into question. Of course, that would be a longer, more delicate operation. Not something that they could handle solely on their own. SIS likely had a hand in this, if she could make a guess.

"You want the Firebird hanging at the edge of the system with the frigates?"

Her concern was her soldiers. It was unlikely that they would be able to fit the entire company plus the strike team into the transports. Not without raising suspicion. There were too many of them. And they were infantry, not special operations. Not that they couldn't do it, but there was a lot of risk that she could see in the plan. Two battalions were more than both mobile infantry companies combined.

Unless they could serve as a distraction. That was always a possibility, but somewhere other than the target. No, not likely.

"Well, then, let's take a look at the intel. Plan for an assault on the post and the garrison, just in case.”

 

[Corey's OOC]

Kyle looked around, these were a group he wasn’t used to. It didn’t make a difference, but up until the invasions that had hit the Alliance, he was working with the same group of Pathfinders taking missions jumping out from Sullust and keeping the peace on some of the outer planets for the Alliance. Now though, he was being briefed with a new group. Taking a look at the datapad that was handed to him, he nodded. So, he had a few messages to check in with. Not that it was all important. He tapped out a few messages as he looked up.

Paying attention now, Kyle was listening to the new commanders, and when the Lieutenant began speaking, he swapped the datapad into a note-taking process. He was listening, there was a listening post, and he could get there to help take it down. The soldier nodded as the conversation continued, briefing and all. Smirking, he was starting to feel a bit better about it all.

“What will we be using for ground transport? And what amount of supplies are we trying to take?”

[member="Lyra Sunfell"]
[member="Mathieu Bahreiko"]
[member="Noah Corek"]
[member="Razelle Breuner"]

 

[Razelle Breuner]

The first one to enter the room was a middle-aged woman who moved too smoothly. With a whirr and a click during each step. Cybernetics, then. Considering the long sleeves and gloves, she likely had all of her limbs replaced. Cybernetics had the potential to be extremely unpredictable, and on top of a seasoned vet. If she went ballistic she'd be a problem. Cybernetics weren't as easy to cripple as bio limbs, and Raz didn't have any ion weapons. She'd need to pick up a shock knife sometime soon, just in case.

Next, a kid. About as old as Bahreiko. Air force? Starfighter corps? Maybe. He wasn't big on protocol. Look of a street punk, honestly. Maybe a booster or a rake. Hard to tell with him in uniform. Poor kids from rough backgrounds tended to come strapped with concealed weapons. He was all flesh, though, and didn't carry himself with enough professionalism to make her think he'd ever touched a self-defense course. Vulnerable up close, as long as she could avoid shivs. Probably a bit of a showman, too. Use that to your advantage.

One of the last into the room was...what, another old guy? With this many humans past their prime on one squad, they might be in a rough spot if they got into any actual violence. Old. Still pretty fit, but nowhere like he used to be. This was the kind of guy who had no problem walking into an official briefing loaded for combat. Some people were hotshot youths...and some people never grew out of it. Still, she recalled a couple of glimpses of him making love to his rifle on the range earlier. Marksman? Maybe. Probably, even. His joints were old. Approach from an awkward angle and trust his slowing reactions to give enough of an edge to go for major tendons. Years of stress would make them more likely to give out.

Two vets and two young guns. Actually not the worst lineup. Hopefully at least one of them had a half-inkling how to do a raid.

"Do we have any information about what we're looking for? The layout of the objective, or where we'll be slicing in our own comm feed? Any other known outposts to take example from?"

[member="Kyle Farnes"] [member="Lyra Sunfell"] [member="Mathieu Bahreiko"] [member="Noah Corek"]

 

[Mathieu Bahreiko]

[member="Razelle Breuner"] | [member="Lyra Sunfell"] | [member="Kyle Farnes"] | [member="Noah Corek"]​

"If Firebird is available and it would be more suitable for Twilight Company to stay with their ship, then we'll bring it along for the op. We'll see if UNICOM can spare another company for the assault, give us a little more to work with." Mathieu started working down the list of raised questions, hoping to answer them in a way to clear up any confusion and give backing to UNICOM's decision for him to lead the operation. "As far as supplies go, it's going to be what we can carry going in. Unmarked civilian transports will get us to Phu. We'll have to acquire speeders or some other form of transport once we get to the planet. Depending on circumstances, UNICOM will either deploy M47 Ilria Dropships or Stealth U-Wings for transport once we signal them. First Order orbital presence should be negligible, but with the possibility of a listening outpost in system, HIGHCOM doesn't want any capital ships getting any closer to the system than absolutely necessary."

And that brought up Razelle's question. Inwardly, Mathieu grimaced; it would figure she'd ask the question that had the least amount of intel to answer from. "Without a detailed orbital scan, we can't be certain where the listening outpost is, what it's design will be like, or even if it exists. Without boots on the ground, unfortunately, we're limited to best guesswork. As far as the garrison's layout, UNICOM did forward schematics for a few designs that were encountered previously in skirmishes prior to the armistice. We'll go over those and isolate any common features, give ourselves the best chance at infilitration we can get. But again, unfortunately, because we're going out as part of HIGHCOM's first wave of intel-gathering operations, we don't have as much intelligence on our own operations as we'd like. We'll have to reassess once we get planetside, and again if and when we locate the listening outpost."

Turning briefly back to the holotable, and catching sight of General Kardils's own observation, Mathieu brought the holograph back to the scan of the mountain range where they believed the listening post would be, as well as the garrison to the southeast of it. "It'll take roughly ten hours for the civilian transports to get us to the Phu system. So we'll have just over three days to conduct operations before the raid happens. We can recuirt local Bardottans to help us if we decide to classify them as friendlies." Mathieu began working through the finer points of the operation as ideas started forming. "Once we get planetside, we'll establish a primary rally point and base of operations, as well as a fall-back rally point should the first become hot and we need to call for evacuation." Considering for a moment, he scanned over the room before giving a small nod to no one in particular. "We can't coduct an effective operation if we don't know the capabilities of each other. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Lieutenant Mathieu Bahrieko. I'm Platoon Leader for 498th's Aurek Platoon. I'm qualified sharpshooter for both blaster pistols and rifles, and have basic familiarity with demolitions and first aid." For a heartbeat, he scanned the room and waited to see if anyone would take intiative to give their own account of their capabilities, or if he'd have to order each one to do so.

 

[Noah Corek]

[member="Mathieu Bahreiko"]-[member="Lyra Sunfell"]-[member="Kyle Farnes"]-[member="Razelle Breuner"]

Noah stroked his chin as he took in the holoprojector and the area in which the listening post and garrison would be in. His attention was drawn to a mountain in the chain that was about a kilometer away from the main point of interest for the operation. It was a bit taller than the one they were after and provided a great line of sight of both the proposed listening post and the garrison. Noah brought the mountain to the forefront of the holoprojector. "I just took notice of this mountain here. A small team with the proper gear could climb it and set up a observation post and feed intel to the team infiltrating the base. Also it's close enough so in case of the team on the ground being compromised the team set up in their OP can provide sniper support." Noah explained and emphasized points on the holoprojector as he talked.

When Bahrieko said that they needed to know each other to operate effectively Noah nodded. Every team he had worked with for more than a few months had been the best teams he had worked with and while he didn't doubt this was going to be one time thing but even then it still helped to know each so they could better operate together so he decided to start. "Colonel Noah Corek, commander of the 1st Composite Shock Trooper Battalion nicknamed the Omega Old Guard. Originally I served as a team leader in the Republic Army Commandos, there I specialized in marksmanship and everything to deal with smalls arms. I've also picked up some less than legal skills growing up, slicing, hotwiring, pickpocketing etcetera." Noah said, twirling a stylus between his fingers.

 

[Corey's OOC]

Kyle was really not sure why he was invited to some of the briefings, but he was here to help with the Pathfinders. Maybe he’d be able to class up some day, but he knew the more he classed up the less and less combat time he had. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to class up, but he actually enjoyed the combat aspect of his life. Sure, maybe it was bad, but he joined to help repel the Sith and First Order. He needed to ensure the Alliance survived because life under the Alliance wasn’t so bad. With the Sith in command? It just felt like they didn’t worry about the little guy. Sure, the Alliance wasn’t perfect, but it was alright. Planets got to dictate rules, not some over arching religion of space wizards.

He looked up at the briefing and tapped a few keys on the datapad, pulling up the Phu System. “If we get me near a motorpool, I can boost us a few speeders. Just point me to which ones. That should at least keep us mobile. May get us some heat, but… I’m not going speeder shopping in First Order turf.” He looked over at Noah.

“I mean, I was on Coruscant growing up, learned to break a few doors down. Without too much property damage. I suppose we can race to slice a door.” He laughed. “But it’ll be good to have someone else hotwiring too. Lifting the speeders should give us a mobile shelter, of sorts?”

[member="Noah Corek"]
[member="Mathieu Bahreiko"]
[member="Razelle Breuner"]
[member="Lyra Sunfell"]