Timely Arrivals

[Varik Ice]

Varik Ice​

Equipment: Lightsaber - Armour​

Location: Eadu​

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Varik had to hold back from grumbling as he was marched towards the front, the Captain talking in his ear the entire time. Rain battered down on the top of his helmet and the scene in front, until he was led to the Forward Operating Base. The setup was quite meticulous and there was a heavy emphasis on defense, with fortifications and even some sandbags set up, which seemed an odd choice to the Sovereign. Waiting until he was brought to the Command Headquarters, he turned to his escort.

"Tell me again, Captain, why we're having such difficulty here?" He was in the middle of having something about the militia being entrenched and well-trained told to him, perhaps through some external training or funding when an alarm began to ring out through the base. With the Captain and soon the Colonel rushing out to join the fight, Varik did the same, refusing to sit on the sidelines. Rushing to the front, the white blade activated and appeared amongst the rain, blocking blaster fire that came their way from multiple directions.

The Captain hadn't been joking. This militia was well-organized and effective, and had surrounded the FOB - snipers and suppressive heavy blasters were set up, and soldiers were dying around him while Varik did his best to block the fire coming from mountainsides and corners he couldn't yet see. He did his best to relax and focus, trying to put his finger on where these enemies were.

[member="Thom Betna"]

 

[Thom Betna]

Eadu
Near the FOB

Thom had his binoculars held up to his eyes, with the visual of the early stages of the battle in his eyes. The Mandalorian was not really sure who the defending force was, but they seemed more organized than the attackers. And perhaps he would get a shiny credit or two out of it, he thought. He picked up his blaster and helmet, and pulled the latter on as he began to jog into position.

Stopping suddenly and getting on one knee, Thom Betna brought the sights of his blaster up to his face. It seemed that he wasn't the only one who thought to set up at this position. Ahead of the young man were two snipers. One with the blaster, one with binoculars, calling the shots. These two obviously weren't with the defense effort, Thom could tell that by their lack of uniform. With a smile under his helmet, he pulled the trigger and a blaster bolt struck the rifleman under his arm and going through his chest. Startled, the man's partner pushed himself up to his knees. He was scrambling to bring the blaster on his belt up when Thom hit him square in the chest, taking him out of the fight instantly.

Thom made a slow approach to the now deceased sniper team's nest. He knew it was common practice to trap the approach, but it truly did seem that this militia was not that great or experienced of a fighting force. Thom kicked the rifleman's body to the side and got down on his belly as the sniper had before, shouldering the dead man's blaster. He gave a quick glance along the top of the rest of the mountainside, trying to find more snipers. With a quick look he found none, and thought it best to start raining fire on the main attacking force. So he took his helmet off to get a better look through the sniper's scope, and began pulling the trigger every couple of seconds. Hitting a militiaman with almost every shot, Thom let another smile grace his face. Marksmanship was without a doubt his best talent, if not his only one.

[member="Varik Ice"]

 

[Varik Ice]

Varik Ice​

Equipment: Lightsaber - Armour​

Location: Eadu​

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Varik continued to send bolts flying back, the crystal within his blade sending the bolt back to their senders with more power than before, mini-explosions and sparks unfurling from where they struck into mountainsides - the Sovereign stood over wounded soldiers, swinging the blade around his body to defend them instinctively, refusing to let a single one be picked off. He knew that they were most likely intentionally wounded so he would do something like this, but he had to; once they stopped being useful and nobody came, they'd be finished, and no man or woman wasn't going home because he wouldn't take a risk.

As his eyes scanned for targets in the cliffs and darkened summits, he caught something. A small lightshow on one of the higher areas, two bolts striking out in the darkness. Someone had killed a sniper, or perhaps two. While he continued to block, he saw more bolts begin to screech and fly through the night, with militiamen dropping in the distance as they were suddenly under much less pressure. "Captain! Get your men out of here!" While his blade continued to swing and deflect, he could hear the wounded being dragged away, as many of the soldiers began to pull out and into cover.

Satisfied they were safe, Varik's lightsaber suddenly disappeare, dissipating back into the hilt. Using the darkness to his advantage, the Sovereign suddenly rushed up a cliffside path, travelling up and around under the beating rain. Whoever it was helping them, he'd find out soon enough - but this militia would come first, then they'd have time for introductions.

[member="Thom Betna"]

 

[Thom Betna]

Eadu
Atop the mountainside

Thom let a few moments pass without a shot leaving his newly acquired blaster as he re-shouldered the weapon, then brought his young eye back to the scope of the rifle. He took a moment to scan the base now, and noticed a peculiar being. The white light of a lightsaber shown out in the dark battlefield. Thom watched as the blade deflected enemy blaster fire, then the blade disappeared and the Mandalorian refocused on his original task. A squeeze of a trigger and a bolt shooting out, travelling across the dark battlefield and piercing a militiaman.

Suddenly the terrain immediately in front of Thom exploded; a blaster bolt destroyed the ground in front of him. He scrambled backwards, pulling the rifle with him. More and more bolts hit near his location, and Thom covered his head with his forearm as he continued to reverse. Finally reaching relative safety, the Mandalorian climbed to his knees and threw his personal rifle over his back and shouldered the sniper. He stood, and moved to find a new, safer position. Unknowingly walking in the direction of [member="Varik Ice"] .

 

[Varik Ice]

Varik Ice​

Equipment: Lightsaber - Armour​

Location: Eadu​

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Varik continued up the mountainside and began scaling the more steep part of it, going much faster than most would be able to. As he saw shots from various angles begin striking the cliff he was climbing, he knew that their unlikely ally must be up here somewhere. The soldiers below began setting up proper defenses and emplacements along with counter-snipers, beginning to return fire and relieving some pressure on the Mandalorian.

As the Sovereign reached near the summit, he came around a small formation to find the armoured man with the sniper rifle shouldered, another rifle on his back. He approached, ready to speak, when a sniper picked out Thom, a precise shot aimed towards the one who'd helped them. Without hesitation, Varik's lightsaber activated, extending and not far from the side of Betna's face as it reflected the high-powered shot and gave it even more charge behind it - it struck where the sniper was standing, collapsing that part of the mountain below him as he fell to his death.

Ice took up a position near the Mandalorian to guard him from further fire, the other ambushers now with the tables turned on them as the Sovereignty forces started to push them back and lay down suppressing fire.

[member="Thom Betna"]

 

[Thom Betna]

Eadu
With Varik Ice

Thom continued to march onward, with his head turned to keep an eye on the battle raging on below him. From what he could see in the dark, his new teammates were beginning to set up proper positions. Perhaps that was my doing, the Mandalorian concluded. He assumed his aid has helped at least a bit so far. The young man turned his head back to look in front of him. An unknown figure was approaching Thom, and the sound of a blaster bolt grew louder and louder. Suddenly, the figure reached out with his white lightsaber, deflecting the bolt that would have killed Thom Betna.

Slightly in shock, the Mandalorian threw himself onto his belly and struggled to pull his rifle up. He brought the scope up to his eye just in time to see the ledge where the sniper had been crumbling and falling to the base of the mountain. "Karkin-" Thom cut himself off as he spotted yet another hostile sniper and pulled his trigger, removing the enemy from the fight. "You saved my life friend," Thom continued to scan the mountainside, afraid of another marksman potentially ending him. "Name's Thom Betna. I'd say I owe you more than one favor for that." He finished, his Mandalorian accent speaking out above the sounds of the rain and the ongoing battle. He brought his gaze down from the mountain to the main battle below, noticing that the defense was beginning to turn the tide. Nevertheless, Thom continued spotting and making shots.

[member="Varik Ice"]

 

[Varik Ice]

Varik Ice​

Equipment: Lightsaber - Armour​

Location: Eadu​

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Varik hadn't spotted the sniper that Betna picked off, which made him even more glad that he did. He was sick and tired of having blasters fired at him from the dark by now, though things seemed to be more under control, with the forces below spreading out to isolate and hunt down more of the ambushers and push the rest back, with a task force moving on the militia's base. Rain continued to come down hard, battering itself against the Sovereign's helmet as he overheard Thom.

"Varik Ice. We're even." As he saw it, this Mandalorian had saved the lives of more than enough of his soldiers to be given a pass on oweing him a favour or two. He'd had good experiences with his people so far, and this wasn't any different. Varik kept himself in a ready stance to block more bolts as he stood near the man, his eyes scanning more cliff faces. He did sense more nearby, but hey seemed to almost have had some kind of...training, or something. Something that threw him off, made it hard for him to determine their location.

[member="Thom Betna"]

 

[Thom Betna]

Eadu
With Varik Ice

Quickly, Thom stood from his position and moved a bit closer to Varik, resting the sniper on a rock formation in front of him. "If you don't mind me askin'," Another shot rang out from Thom. "Who exactly are you and your fellows down there?" The Mandalorian flinched as a blaster bolt landed relatively close to his position, but it took only a moment to locate the origin of the shot, and then just a few more to remove the threat. "They seem capable down there. But this force we're against seems mighty capable themselves." He looked down on the main battle, his new side was definitely the winning side down there, so he was convinced that his enemies on the mountainside were the biggest threat. Thom was convinced they had forgotten about the battle below the mountain, and were focused on him and Varik.

[member="Varik Ice"]