Where My Country Gone? [Red Dawn]

[Caulder Dune]

CARTAO SYSTEM
IN ORBIT OF CARTAO

"Gerion," people often asked him, "Where in the galaxy did you get a Lucrehulk from?" It was a reasonable question to ask. People weren't supposed to have Lucrehulks, and yet Gerion had been lugging one around since his early days as a meaningful part of this galaxy. It started somewhere with the Death Watch, at which point it changed governments based on his loyalties, but right now it was still crewed by some of his friends in the Techno Union. Some relationships were just meant to be. It was actually the second ship those ruthless, quasi-Mandalorians had stolen from them. The first had been a salvaged Venator-class Star Destroyer. The perpetrators of that hijacking had been Ewoks. It was a dark smear on his history, no doubt about that. Few things were more undignified than having valuable property stolen by Ewoks.

Except having your entire system of democracy overthrown by a selectivist windbag and a clone army. That? That was far more humiliating.

Fortunately for the Republic, the private sector was here to fix things. This would be a swift and decisive attack, although Gerion was not at all happy about the plan of action. The plan of action called for relying on information from a source he deemed unreliable. However, there were elements in this corporate alliance that would like all options to be explored before systematically executing every single clone this side of the Republic border. Apparently, the clone army was only obedient to the so-called Prime Minister by use of a bio-chip. The Garter Woman, the company's CEO, had provided the means to deactivate those chips. With any luck, once those chips were out of the picture, the clones would begin to question her authority and rally alongside the senate. At which point, the meticulous process of reclaiming the regions held by the renegade army would be much easier and much less violent.

That was what the optimists expected, anyway. Gerion himself had wagered ten credits against his colleague, Mr. Irani, that the obedience chip wouldn't factor into it at all. If anything, the clones would just fly off the handle and slaughter everything that wasn't, well, them. Mass produced biological soldiers were far less reliable than mass produced robotic soldiers. No one had to be a droid manufacturing mogul to see that... But fortunately, gerion wasn't calling the shots on what to do for this one. That was Danger. And Danger wanted to try out these codes, so try them out they would. A corporate fleet, containing elements from the likes of Hegemonic Automaton, Santhe-Sienar, Corelian Engineering, and another assortment of parties had amassed for a precision strike on Spaarti's Cartao headquarters. With any luck, elements of the true Republic would also be joining them.

As the fleets dropped out of hyperspace one by one, Gerion began transmitting to them from his command ship, the Machinator. "Gentlemen. Also ladies, if there are any present. We don't exactly have time for roll-call."

Cartao had millions of these clone troopers stationed on it, all swearing fanatical loyalty to the Prime Minister. The fighting would be fierce, but they only needed to hold the headquarters temporarily to deactivate the bio-chips. Once that happened, they would lose the resolve to fight. In theory. Maybe if the Garter Woman was right about this, Gerion would find it in his heart to not have her detained and brought to trial for one crime or another.

"On the planet below lies the Spaarti Corporate Headquarters. It will be defended by several legions of clones. Well trained, well armed, and all, I suspect, craving nothing more than death in combat. That headquarters is the source of this crisis and capturing it will allow us the possibility to end this quickly and decisively. I am transmitting our objectives to you now. Begin deployment when ready and stay alert for signs of a hostile naval force."

Gerion did not know if the clones had access to a fleet of their own. So far nothing showed up on scopes... But that could change.

OBJECTIVES:

• Seize control of Spaarti's headquarters by any means necessary, clearing the way for our technicians to access the mainframe.
• Hold off the inevitable clone trooper counterattack by any means necessary until the deactivation codes are uploaded.
• Withdraw from the headquarters and wait to see if this actually works.

TAGS:

Spoiler

[member="Popo"] [member="Judah Dashiell"] [member="Spencer Jacobs"] [member="Taeli Raaf"] [member="Uriel Escria"] [member="Ordon Trozky"] [member="Captain Larraq"] [member="Danger Arceneau"] [member="Draco Vereen"] [member="Tmoxin Temi"] [member="Cryax Bane"] [member="Rayl Wilded"] [member="Darell Irani"] [member="Darth Metus"] [member="James Justice"] [member="Ember Rekali"] [member="Krenis Skirata"] [member="Aldiel D'Lessio"] [member="Gilamar Skirata"] [member="Alric Kuhn"] [member="Akatan Adasca"] [member="Ven'Rain Sekairo"] [member="Selka Ventus"] [member="Siobhan Kerrigan"] [member="Jorus Merrill"] [member="Hion the Herglic"] [member="Sasha Santhe"] [member="Edwin Gerald Finbur"] [member="Hestan Kantrael"] [member="Amarant"] [member="Laguz Vald"] [member="Rusty"] [member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Faith Balor-Organa"] [member="Ella Nova"] [member="Ben Corscifine"] [member="Gir Quee"] [member="Vitor Imperieuse"] [member="DS-772"] [member="Faith Balor-Organa"] [member="Lady Kay"] [member="Mantic Dorn"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

Corellian Engineering Corporation's Defense Fleet arrived in the Cartao system shortly after the Hegemonic fleet reverted to realspace. Ayden flew in his own frigate, the Starfall, while commanding the CEC Defense Fleet. He had had time to review the data transmitted to him by members of the Republic who opposed the Prime Minister. This meant that they had a record of the IFF tags used by those groups, rendering them neutral to the corporate scanners. The only Republic assets and forces that would be targeted then would be the ones commanded by clones or those loyal to the madwoman's whim.

"Launch all fighters and have them take up defensive formations around the ships. Prepare the dropships for launch. The first wave of droids will break any defenses the clones have set up around the Spaarti headquarters while the second wave will move in to secure." Ayden detailed to the rest of his task force over secure holographic channels. "Depending on what kind of resistance we find, elements from our starfighter squadrons will be retasked to handle it. In the mean time we're to secure the geosynchronous orbital point above Spaarti HQ. Any Republic IFF tags not verified by our contacts are to be targeted. Ships that open fire on us are to be relabeled as hostiles and will be retaliated upon with full force. Broadcast our intentions across the system to ensure no one is unduly caught in the crossfire."

The ships moved in formation with one another, every bit as drilled and disciplined as a military force. The fact that many of the crew were former soldiers within the defunct Protectorate only served to reinforce the prowess of the defense fleet. Many of them had seen action in the wars against the Lords of the Fringe and Confederacy, so nothing here was anything new to them. Shields were brought online and weapon emplacements were charged and ready to fire on any hostile targets that approached or fired upon them. Active scanners swept the orbit around the planet to discover any undesirable surprises. They would not be caught unawares by any trap set for them by the clones.

Spoiler

Something more for my use later than anything else. I doubt this is the thread that'll see the fighting break out.

CEC Defense Fleet - 12,376 meters

3x Antilles-class Star Defenders - 4,800 meters

• Twenty-Four Talon Heavy Starfighters (Three Squadrons)
• Twelve Wasp-class Starfighter (One Squadron)
• Ten Eharl-class Assault Starfighters (Two Squadrons)
• Seventy-Two Dagger Swarm Starfighters (Two Squadrons)
• Twenty-Four M47 Illria-class Dropships

4x Noble-class Star Defenders - 4,000 meters

• Twelve M47 Illria-class Dropships

6x Horn-class Escort Cruisers - 3,000 meters

• Five Eharl-class Assault Starfighters (One Squadron)
• Six M47 Illria-class Dropships

32x Talon Heavy Starfighters - 576 meters (Four Squadrons)

----------

Total Numbers

36 Wasp-class Starfighters
60 Eharl-class Assault Starfighters
104 Talon Heavy Starfighters
216 Dagger Swarm Starfighters

156 Illria-class Dropships

6 Horn-class Cruisers
4 Noble-class Star Defenders
3 Antilles-class Star Defenders

 

[Sasha Santhe]

Sasha Santhe wasn’t an admiral or general, and she wasn’t entirely sober, but she did have experience in combat. When she was a girl, younger than she was now, she fought with the Sith Empire across many worlds. That gave her enough confidence to join in the little corporate armada being assembled. She smiled at the thought of [member="Gerion Ardik"] leading a group of any sentients. The man played around with droids, and had little charisma. Still friends were friends.

Of course in the group was [member="Ayden Cater"]. Sasha wondered what was under his hat. Hat hair no doubt. Or maybe he was bald… she’d have to get a look later, maybe recommend some hair products that would help keep his hair even under the hat. Until then….

The Santhe Corporate fleet hung in the stars. Santhe being a corporation that specialized in fighter craft had a fleet that represented this. Little subjugator and sentinel class vessels filled to burst with fighter craft escorted the larger and aging destroyer classes found once commonly within the sectors controlled by the Sith Empire. Sasha eyed Tyrins command ship at the thought of the old empire. Why were they friends? Sasha bet Gerion asked that question more than she did.

“Launch!” Sasha said while waving her hand out in a dramatic fashion for the holocameras. Maybe they would make a documentary about this day, something for the PR department to consider. Fighters launched from vessels and flew about.

“Fighters forming a screen now,” one of the crewman said. Small darting vessels took positions by squadron patrolling around the larger vessels. “Shall we engage?”

“Wait for Cater. We’ll back him up in space. Meanwhile prepare troops for ground operations. Should we find a hole to land and secure the facility we should take it.”

 

[Gir Quee]

War makes strange bedfellows​

~Helen Thomas​

Champion-class Star Destroyer Obi-Wan Kenobi, entering the Cartao System

"Reverting...now."

The wedge-shaped prow of the Obi-Wan Kenobi into the black clothe of realspace. A series of cronau radiation flashes from behind the star destroyer announced the arrival of the rest of the True Republic fleet. Nearly a lfifty kilometers away, a squadron of Stormfire-class Assault Frigates bearing the corporate colors of Lucerne Labs reverted into realspace. Admiral Quee eyed the squadron coolly. He had always found it a weird notion to risk personal property in a national conflict. But I suppose national and corporate interests are far more intertwined than my natural inclinations for the natural philosophy...He shook his head, as if to banish the thoughts away from his mind. A green-skinned duros strode up to join him at the edge of the bridge viewport.

"A lot of starships," remarked Lod dryly.

A wry grin creased his face, "There are a lot of people in the galaxy, after all. It would seem that the late prime minister and her rogue army found that her actions were not taken to kindly by many of them."

The blonde man turned around to address the bridge crew, "You all know that I'm not much of one for speeches. We all know what we are here to do. Let's do it. Launch all starfighters and prepare for the orbital assault on the headquarters."

A murmur rose from the crewpit as orders began to get relayed from their stations to the rest of the Republic fleet. Gir himself strolled back to his command chair to assess and correct the operational directions it would take to ensure that the True Republic's mission was a success.

 

[Nick Sept]

(OOC: New character, going to make this skirmish into an origin story, because that will be fascinating. Good luck!)



NC-0739 did his rounds, black armor plodding through the base. "Sir," a voice began at a terminal, "Ships are inbound. Some of them Republic."


"Our own countrymen have betrayed the will of the prime minister, they will be fought," the Lieutenant began.


NC checked his weapon. "Sir, I'll lead a contingent of groud troops to ready position. If that fleet punches through, we'll have to defend. Please send an alert."


The Lieutenant nodded. "You will be in field command for the front entrance. I will send back up."


NC marched on, followed by a contingent of others. He was a black-armored clone, a shadow who specialized in recon and close quarters combat. Due to his proficiency at urban command, he volunteered to guard the cloning facility--the last line of defense for his brothers. But now, the orders had come in. The commander herself, Lasedri, had authorized a takeover, and now it would end in bloodshed. But who would win, that was still up for debate.He raised his rifle and stood before his brothers, bellowing a battlecry. "Death to the traitorous Senate! Death to the fools! We will restore the Republic. VIVUM, GENEVIEVE!!!"


"VIVUM, GENEVIEVE!!!!" the reply from more troopers than he could count. He'd take command.

 

[Weiss]

The massive walkers moved in a familiar rhythm to its passengers. To the republic marine core it was another at the job.

Only now they were fighting traitors and not sith.
Perhaps traitors duped by the sith? Weiss allowed himself to think as he shook his head at it before it had been properly analyzed.

Having been given command of parts of the ground attack in the operation coordinated by @gur quee Weiss went over the map again.

There were corporate forces in the area, taking matters into their own hands which complicated matters but he did not rule out that they might be an asset. Naturally that depended on their purpose here.

"Colonel!" the walker chief shouted in the com.

"We are within range and the 302nd has secured enough communication arrays to broadcast." the soldier finished reporting.

"Acknowledged Lieutenant." Weiss replied.

"Transmit message."

With that a channel system wide was opening declaring that Republic forces were here to fend against a direct threat to their government. All civilians were asked to evacuate the area around the Sparti head quarters and proceed to republic help camps until the situation was under control.


--------
---------

With the message being out there, repeated ever so often, Weiss turned and hit the door panel opening up to the rear of the vehicle.

The walker, serving as Weiss mobile head quarters held a briefing room currently filled with holo-maps and communication personnel following the development.

He looked around the room for a short while before his eyes found Sergeant [member="Valkren Calderon"]

He walked ip to the NCO and offered him a swift salute. They had worked together in the past and Weiss knew the Sergeant was more then capable of handling extreme situations.

"Listen in Sergeant," he began

"The Spartii facility holds the key to the clone armies being used to support the Usurpers reign on Chazwa. We are going to shut it down." he roared as the noise of the walker lowering first itself and the boarding ramp trembled through its hull.

"Your units prime objective is to secure the main building.

"Be advised, there are private forces in the area sharing our ambition. We are only here to make sure the clone army is stopped."

"Intel suggests these originate from the Technocrats. ID what you are shooting at sergeant, or this will turn into a political catastrophe.

"You will be dropped on the roof and from there you are to make your way down to the buildings security center and assume control over the building. Attack ships will level that rooftop from all hostile installments. You will be landing on a surface smother then baby skin Sergeant. But expect fierce resistance once you breached the roof."

"The schematics we have is being transmitted to your pad."

"The main force of marines will form an iron circle around the building and will initiate its attack ones you have confirmed touch down on the roof."

"Double speed sergeant and may the force be with you." he ordered and gave the marine a stern salute.

Weiss held his stance in front of [member="Valkren Calderon"] - offering his respect one soldier to another.

This was Republic soil and diplomatic discussions with the local defense force had agreed on that the republic military support now was necessary.
It had allowed for this intervention.
Regardless, there were key objectives and the strike team sent to capture the control room played a vital part in making the coming blood bath slightly less bloody.

Then Weiss turned on the channel to high command.

"This is colonel Weiss. The 313th, 314th, the 322nd and 745th marine battalions have started operation nest building." he announced in the secure channel to [member="Gir Quee"]

He just hoped someone held tabs on the private forces in the area. Some coordination would not hurt.


[member="Nick Sept"] [member="Gir Quee"] [member="Sasha Santhe"] [member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Gerion Ardik"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

Objective: Secure Spaarti HQ
Location: Low Orbit over Cartao
Allies: [member="Sasha Santhe"], [member="Gir Quee"], [member="Weiss"]
Enemies: [member="Nick Sept"]

Orbital resistance was surprisingly nil. Though that did not mean that they would not face any, Ayden was the sort to bet on traps and surprise attacks rather than no opposition. But that was not what had the bulk of his attention. For all his skills and talents, the one Ayden was most proud of was his ability to reason things out and extrapolate natural consequences. Their objective here was to disable these alleged loyalty chips, at which point... what? The holoconference had at least agreed upon the need to disable the source of further clone creation, and there had been some talk about what to do afterwards... but there had been a woefully inadequate assessment of the situation in its totality. This was not a problem that came with a convenient switch to just deactivate it.

Right now, these clones were apparently utterly loyal to the corrupt Prime Minister. These clones were bred for one thing and one thing only; war. They were her personal army to carry out her extremist agenda with. But such a mandate went deeper than that. A lifetime soldier was comfortable in the rigid, well-defined structure of a military; there was an obvious chain of command to follow, and not every sentient could break away from that after years in service. To be born and raised in such a system... There would be clones who would not need a loyalty chip to make them follow her orders - some would follow her orders until death because she was their commander. It did not matter if she had legitimate authority to do anything; they would follow her orders and defender her, violently and without hesitation, against any who threatened her.

Then there were those who would suffer immediate crises of conscience whenever these loyalty chips would be deactivated. They had not been in total control of their own actions, but they would remember them all too well. They would remember hearing the orders, thinking that those orders were just, and then carrying them out without question or qualm. In their mind's eye, all they would see is that they did these things. Without the loyalty chip to enforce such orders, their conscience would come screaming back. To have that much blood on your hands, to feel utterly responsible and monstrous for your actions... There would be a great many clones who would probably see it as the best recompense for their grizzly actions to take their own lives.

But even so... surely it was still the best course of action if some of the clones lived at the end of the day, right?

But Ayden just grimly stared ahead. The depressing fact though was that these would just be the first wave of casualties, the die-hard fanatics and the suicidally repentant. Once this insurrection was put down and credits changed hands and the corporations went back to their operations, the clones would still have to be dealt with. They would need social reconditioning, psychological evaluations and counseling, they'd need assistance starting a new life... a life where all anyone would see when they looked upon them was the face of a monster who fought to keep a madwoman in power... the common people of the galaxy would never understand... And that mistrust and hostility, on top of all the other stress, would lead to psychotic breaks and more suicides. There would be those clones who would feel that they had to get back into a command structure, no matter the legitimacy or moral-views, just to be rid of their troublesome free-will.

Where did that leave the clones? The barest of percentage's percentage surviving and successfully reintegrating?

Surely they could do better. Some of the galaxy's best and brightest oversaw the corporations that had come together. Surely a better solution could be found.

But time was short, and they did not have the luxury of sitting about in a think-tank until they all came up with the solution. But Ayden knew, as he turned from his place within the frigate's CIC, what better solution there was. "Roland, patch me in with the other corporate heads present and our allied Republic forces." There was a pause before he got a beep of acknowledgement from his wrist device letting him know that he was on the air. "Orbit has been tentatively secured. I have with me the codes provided to Miss Arceneau by way of defectors from the Prime Minister's forces. In a short while I will take a shuttle down to the planet to link up with corporate and allied forces to secure the Spaarti HQ. Once this is done, I will begin work on ending this conflict before it can spread further by way of disabling the loyalty chip present in all clones."

Stepping out of the lift, Ayden began changing out of his normal clothes and into something a little more practical for a walk across a battlefield. Sure, a personal shield generator was nice but he liked to have redundant protections. Besides, he thought to himself as he worked a gauntlet over his forearm and gave the glove a test, this meant he could bring Roland with him in case there were any nasty network defenses in place that they had been uninformed about. "It's unknown if any hostile forces will attempt to throw us out of orbit, so I encourage all of our naval forces to stay on alert. Hopefully we can put an end to this conflict before any greater loss of life occurs."

As he stepped onto his personal dropship and undocked from the frigate to join the latest wave of dropships heading down to the surface, Ayden just silently wished that nothing else went wrong before he had a chance to save as many clones as he could.

 

[James Justice]

James' fleet was--small compared to those already around the planet. And much more scrappy. Half the ships were created by Blith-Tech, the other half were junk freighters he had bought out along the way--most of them were still piloted by their original crew. The bulk of his fleet were Light freighters or cruisers, perfect for his style of warfare that he had come anticipating--and found none of. He winced, ah well, he would survive. The few scratches on the company vehicles, the better it was.

"This be Captain James counting in to help ye out," he said into his comm. He had called ahead, had been present when Danger had called out for the assistance to take out the enemy. He had taken a more militant stance, standing for destroying the clones by demoralizing them at every turn, cutting them to pieces over a thousand battles across a thousand fronts. While his smaller force would be capable for that--those with strong forces like Correllian Engineering would be able to do strikes like this. Far be it from Justice Shipping to let the big boys stand up for freedom while their CEO sat idyll by.

He watched as the atmosphere acred across the veiwport. He had just come back from his slaughter on Sernpidal. His mind began to roll over the events yet again. Had he made the right choice, slaughtering his foes like that? Sure they had been evil, sure they had been in the wrong with kidnapping the women--but he had been ruthless. He swallowed, he had no time to think about that, pushing it to the back of his mind where it still lurked, demoralizing his confidence.

 

[Valkren Calderon]

--------Briefing-------

The Sergeant simply nodded to [member="Weiss"]'s orders. It was true, the two had worked together before on previous assignments and the duo of their teams had proven quite useful in combat situations. From the sound of it, Saber Team, Valkren's team of Republic commandos, would be alone for the most part.

Fun stuff.

The opposition, clones? Very strange indeed, Calderon had much experience with Republic Clones, having worked with a good majority of them. It was actually surprising that their commando unit had not been replaced by a group of clone commandos, as most had been during the clone wars back in granddaddy's day. Saber team was one of the few specialized Commando units left that didn't have a single clone in it, as far as Valkren knew. He preferred it that way though; don't get him wrong, he knew the ability of clone combatants and he had the upmost respect for them, but there was something about a warrior that had been taught to fight after living their childhood out normally.

It gave them something more to fight for.

However, no matter the opposition, enemies of the Republic were still enemies, Saber team would fight nonetheless. Yet, [member="Weiss"] still left something unanswered, 'private forces?' Valkren had only dealt with private forces one before, and it was a nasty sight indeed. Mercenary groups were just the same as lone mercenaries, only concerned for the pay, never for the lives around them. Still, Saber team could deal with them as well if the time came.

"You know we'll get it done sir." He returned to the captain with a salute, before spinning on his heels and marching away.

--------Moving forward-------

Valkren, now clad in his specialized heavy assault armor, that was marked with several grey stripes, would make his way down the short corridor of a Galactic Republic tactical dropship, his helmet in his right hand with his left moving across the ceiling of the metallic death trap, keeping him steady. The NCO of Saber team moved through, fist bumping Corporal Jonathan Michaels, their demolitions expert as he looked up from his sitting position. "Ready to embrace the suck boys?" The Sergeant spoke up, continuing to move down the line. His five men began to speak up as they responded to his question.

Michaels, "You know it, Boss."

Specialist Watson, the team's designated marksman, came next. "Aye Aye, Sir."

Lance-Corporal Young, their intelligence analyst chimed in through the comms, he already had his helmet on, with his visor illuminating a bright blue. "Depends, does it suck as much as Lee's cooking?" Ofcourse, the younger special forces member spoke about Michaels' wife. "Funny, kid..Very funny."

Then the team's two assault specialists, O'Connor and O'Riley, both stood at the rear of the dropship, tinkering with one of their Z-6 Rotary cannons. O'Connor lifted a thumb into the air, "Good to go in about a minute."

Valkren smiled as his team seemed to be ready, once more, for another mission. He had honestly lost count of the mission completion rate, but he was surprised that some of his men had not received many medals. Maybe that's where the term, 'faceless heroes' comes from. The Sergeant turned back to the side door of the tactical dropship, lifting his assault helmet over and onto his head, his visor illuminating the same blue that Young's did as his Heads-up display kicked in. He'd reach for the door controls and unhook the emergency latches, due to it being a quick insertion, they'd need all the openings they could get. There was a hiss as the doors slid open, his men slowly checked in one-by-one once more as they slid on their own helmets and activated their communications. Valkren leaned out the door, looking toward the front of the dropship.

What a goddamn beautiful sight.

Leading their lone dropship was a line of assault ships, Valkren didn't know if they were commanded by [member="Gir Quee"] or another officer, but whoever it was, the Sergeant truly appreciated the help. He reached up under his helmet, tapping his communicator with two fingers. "Captain [member="Weiss"], we have eyes on the main building. It's a good bit away, but in range of the assault ships. Permission to begin our insertion? You'll need to tell whoever is in command of those ships to engage the defenses."

 

[Nick Sept]

(OOC: as the only resistance in this thread I may have to jump posting order frequently. I apologize for the utter lack of space action, but I feel like engaging most of you on the ground will be easier for me to write, and I would be disappointing you all if I tried to fleet simultaneous to that. Feel free to land or write your own opposition or provide logistical support and targeted bombing)


[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7F0VsxnXSQ[/youtube]



Location: Facility shipping entrance, north side.


Objective: Repel an ungodly amount of force.


Allies: His brothers in arms.


Enemies: [member="James Justice"] [member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Weiss"] (you're the traitors! ) [member="Sasha Santhe"] [member="Gir Quee"] [member="Gerion Ardik"] [member="Valkren Calderon"] and like a billion other things going wrong



NOTHERN FRONT



NC and the others had their work cut out for him. Multiple vectors of attack and approach, the planet was easily surrounded. The base's anti-air cannons began firing as the message was sent by their attackers. Civilians had been evacuated a week ago--only military personnel were here now.


Any sensors scanning the planet would detect some mild seismic activity, but nothing on thermal or ionic sensors. The remainder would find troops fortifying walls and entrances to the facility. They'd known. They'd prepared. They we're certain of the objective--capture the clone facility. They knew that this assault had to be stopped here, or else the clone armies of the Chancellorship would be unable to produce more back-up.


NC set his sights on the most likely approach and readied his blaster rifle. He had a good fifty men with him at this entrance. More were setting up barricades at the south entrance and the west. The side was a solid concrete wall, and the anti-air made landing in the base a high-loss strategy. If they wanted to take the base instead of a smoking crater, they'd have to try a land approach. Klaxons blared orders were made. Rocket launchers, battle rifles, but few snipers--the recon troopers had all been called to Chazwa. They were under-manned, half of the squadrons here were in training. This was gonna be hell.....



SOUTHERN FRONT




Lieutenant TS-1937 Closed his holopad, sighing slightly. This was not a glorious death. This was a seige, far and away the least pretty or meaningful of wars. They had to hold out for three days, at the least, before a naval detachment could come and assist them. Three days of defense, with the largest detachment of infantry possible. They'd have to salt the earth, and burn the fields. They would let rivers of blood run, and end many lives. He stood, holding his monoculars. Soon, his plan would come into play. "We'll have to move in proper sequence, with everything timed perfectly," he said to his men, many of whom were standing at consoles. "The proper ambush is like a dance. Mind the Tempo," the bookish trooper in white armor with blue shoulderpads said gruffly.


"Aye, Poet," one of the other clones said gruffly. "We'll mind your tempo, with our usual grace."



TS laughed. "Your bluntness and my grace could makes the stars shift direction, lads! TO GLORY!!"



WESTERN FRONT


YR-17 began her final inspection. A full drive of cavalry forces. The speeder bikes were is position. She nodded to her partner in crime, TG-29. "Tiger, get ready for hell. We'll do what we can to stop these bastards, but--"


TG shook her head. "No buts, sis. Come back alive. Also, make 'em scream a little. And if they get past you by some damned miracle, they'll have to deal with me. And we both know how much I've been waiting to show a little hospitality," she said with the kind of grin that an eight-year-old gives her big sister right before shes throws a wild animal at her.


YR sighed. "Don't do anything I wouldn't. Not that it's a long list. And watch your language."


"I'll keep it under advisement," she said with a mock salute. The others nodded and chuckled darkly. The Tiger's company was not known for it's discipline. Hell, many of the troopers here weren't. They got sent here usually for re-training, not a long-term engagement.

 

[Weiss]

Location: Command walker
objective: Secure the spartii HQ building
Enemies: [member="Nick Sept"]
Allies [member="Valkren Calderon"] [member="Gir Quee"] [member="James Justice"] [member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Gerion Ardik"]


"Lets level some ground. Fire the artillery!" Weiss ordered. Within seconds the stab had forwarded the order to the distant Republic artillery that started to pound the ground around the Spartii HQ. The Heavy artillery was designed to both level the physical structures around the SPartii HQ as well as disable any hostile armaments in its vicinity, should there be any.

There was no shield detected and if that was correct most of what was around the building would be severely demolished by the heavy bombardment.

With the bombardment still firing Weiss then opened a channel to [member="Valkren Calderon"]

"Acknowledged Sergeant. Prepare Saber team for insertion." Weiss replied to the sergeant. Saber team was as good as it gets without cheating. But the colonel knew he would be in for a ride. The clones in that building were produced for one thing only. But then again, clones had several draw backs. Having chips installed apparently one of them.
He then opened another channel allowing for the sergeant to overhear his next command.

"Sharks! This is colonel Weiss, sweep that roof, leave nothing standing."

"Roger that, sharks engaging." was the dry response from the attack ships commander. They darted forward leaving thin streaks of air in their aftermath. Soon their approach was met by whatever AA the HQ still held operational during the bombardment and a few of them did encounter problem. Their work accompanied with artillery pounding should however allow for a safe appraoch for [member="Valkren Calderon"] and his unit.

Weiss switched com frequence once more.

"Seize artillery bombardment. Have the tanks appraoch the main entrance and blast it to hells."

There was a short period of silence, offering false promises of a breather to the defenders of the building. It was soon breached by the roaring sound of Heavy tanks moving in at the front of the building. Their repeating rifles and grenade launchers aimed to end any survivors of the artillery bombardment outside.
But their main purpose was to open the main gate for the coming assualt.
Using their beam canon turrets to shred through any barricades in front of the main gate as well as disintigrating the actual gate itself.

With any luck the entrance hall of the impressive building would be torched before the republic troopers even entered it.

Behind the heavy tanks TAVs were moving in. Thier goal was to enter the actual entrance hall and unload the republic marine force in the bottom level bringing the fight to the interior of the building.

Weiss grabbed his cigarr as he positioned himself in the walker lift and pulled the leveler sending him up to the roof of the walker, he accepted a macro binocular from his second and scouted the area.
The Republic army could just as easily level this building. But intel had decided to hold off, there were corporatiions following this affair and the information on these clones would be vital to secure. That would be hard to accomplish if the building was turned into a pile of rubble.
He spat the end of his cigar out and mumbled a curse. They were both outnumbering the usurpers clones and had far more reasources. But if the clones were as brainwashed as they said, they would fight to the last man and to purge the interior would be a bloody mess.

"They had some light vehicles deployed on the western side. Have the 22nd light mobile company engage, followed by the 12th and the 17th Mobile infantry companies." And with that Speeder bikes rushed forth to engage the clones speeder bikes. They had the back up of two Marine infatry units carried forth in their [url=url=http://starwarsrp.net/topic/5158-tav-enforcer/] - guns blazing in all directions to catch any speeder bikes trying to encircle them. Once they were defeated the TAVs would unload its troopers that would proceed to enter the building from the western entrances.

Weiss sighed and removed the binoculars.

"Give me an open channel." he ordered.

"Genieve loyalists! This is Colonel Weiss of the Republic armed forces. Under the authority of the Republic Supreme Commander you are ordered to stand down and surrender yourself to the Republic justice. The Prime Minister has abandoned the Republic and is a criminal in Reublic space.@

"Any soldier who serves the usurper out of misconception but is ready to surrender now will be granted an acknowledgement in this during your trial."

"I repeat, the former Prime minister of the Republic is a criminal, the Republic Armed forces are ordered to arrest her."

Weiss switched it off. Why bother he mumbled to himself but orders were orders. If there was any chance those chips could be broken by a strong willed clone they were to be arrested instead of killed.

 

[Valkren Calderon]

The Sergeant nodded to himself as he heard the command from [member="Weiss"], the Colonel giving his team the go ahead to 'get some,' as they would say it.

"Saber Team, hook up! This will be one of the fastest insertions that we've preformed yet." The Sergeant spoke into his team's communication system, that being the only way they could communicate at the moment due to the high frequency of rounds coming from the Republic's extreme firepower. Calderon grasped a hook-like device from his utility belt, yanking it up and hooking it to the top frame of the dropship's door. The rest of Valkren's team followed suite, O'Riley and Michaels standing on his own side; while Young, O'Connor, and Watson hooked to the side opposite them.

"Remember boys, there's no prize for coming in second in a battle." Valkren spoke up, lifting his rifle up into his right hand, gripping the cord with his left.

They all responded to Valkren's known version of motivation with a few snickers a jeers, before all leaning slightly out of the dropship, preparing for the drop. The Sergeant looked ahead, Spaarti's compound was almost camouflaged in a cloud of dust due to the heavy bombardments and strafing runs from Republic forces, but Valkren could still see lines cutting through the dust from the attack ships that strafed the compound.

Saber team was up next.

"Saber team, we have the green light! Beginning insertion!" The crew chief of the dropship yelled to them from the rear of the cockpit, Valkren responding with a simple nod as he looked ahead once more. The dropship plummeted forward into the plume of dust and smoke, slicing through into the open air beyond it. The compound was impressive, and it almost looked impenetrable with the amount of clones that moved amongst the ground.

"Move! Move! Move!" The Sergeant spoke up as the ship roared over the building that the Colonel assigned his team, all six men simply leaning forward and falling out of their metal deathtrap. Jumps never got any easier: the tunnel vision from their visors, the ground getting larger and larger as they plummet toward the ground, their gear slapping against their combat armor as the wind takes it, it was unnatural to say the least. About halfway through their 'freefall,' the cords caught and slowed their approach, jerking them upward slightly. There was a mix of grunts and curses as it all caught them by surprise, yet again. The dropship slowed it's approach slightly to provide a smoother landing for the commandos on the battle-torn roof.

All six men hit the ground, the sensors on their boots snapping the cords as they landed and rolled into a halt. One by one they formed into a crouched position, making a perimeter almost on habit, their weapons raised. Valkren's roll certainly wasn't an easy one, as soon as he landed the commando rolled directly into the remains of an Anti-Air turret, damaging his long-range communications pack. He could still contact Colonel [member="Weiss"], but no one else unless they were in close enough range. As the Sergeant moved into a crouched position, gripping his Valor assault rifle with his right hand, he motioned the team toward the roof access with his left fist. "Michaels, set thermal dets' along the door. They know we're coming, so let's give whoever is on the other side of the door a surprise."

"Aye aye, Sir!"

"O'Connor, O'Riley; rotary canons out! Get behind that debris and focus on the door. The rest of you find cover, if there's OPFOR on the other side of the door then we'll handle them!"

The team followed his orders, his two assault specialists removing the Z-6 Rotary canons from their supply packs and engaging them, lifting them from their hips and pointing them towards the roof access.

"Colonel [member="Weiss"], we're ready to begin the assault, give us the word!"

 

[James Justice]

James and his men landed in a safe zone covered by the other larger forces. His small army began to spill out into the fields, into the world where he knew hell would open up. They were mercenaries, some he trained, some he knew personally, most were criminals, many, he knew would not live to see tomorrow. They knew it too. They came for their own reasons, all knew the chances of survival were slim. But they came anyway.

They believed in the cause, they believed in freedom. Their armaments ranged from the massive Devastator by Merc Weaponry to snipper rifles and assault rifles. He waited as they gathered their weapons and formed up into semi-strait lines. Their armor ranged from Mandalorian to Ecchani. Their species were human to Wookiee, Their missions were to protect freedom.

At last he surveyed them proudly before standing on a crate.

"Today mates," he bellowed, his voice clear and loud, 'We shall stand and fight. We are brothers. Long have we held grudges and our differences but today, today that does not matter. We be gathered to fight a common enemy. An enemy as old as time itself. We will fight them and we will show them no mercy, for they will show none. We will make an example of those who hope to fight the life of freedom, those who wish to tell us what we can and cannot do. We will shove their arses back into the abyss," his arm swung a wide, sweeping gesture, "And we will slaughter them across every field. One day our children will a be looking back on this day. And they will say that today, today we saved them from a dark future. Today we made history. Today we stood for Freedom. Today we waged a war that would not be forgotten. We fought against the odds, we fought for life itself. We saw a thread we dun't back down, we made an example of them. So go now, go, wage the war, make an example of our enemies and show no mercy!"

The murderous roar of James' mercenaries could be heard for miles. A loud, savage cry of death, of destruction, of harnessed rawness. For those who could feel in the force, it emanated darkness, and at its heart, at the darkest point was James Justice, the people's criminal.

[member="Valkren Calderon"]
[member="Weiss"]
[member="Nick Sept"]
[member="Ayden Cater"]
[member="Gir Quee"]
[member="Sasha Santhe"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

Location: Dropship on approach to Spaarti HQ
Objective: Secure the Spaarti HQ
Allies: [member="Valkren Calderon"], [member="Gir Quee"], [member="James Justice"], [member="Weiss"], [member="Gerion Ardik"]
Enemies: [member="Nick Sept"]

Nothing was ever simple and easy. The mad Prime Minister had revealed herself and her allegiances this day. The clones on the surface, though numerous, could not hold against an assembled fleet from Corellian Engineering, Hegemonic Automation, and Sienar Fleet Systems. Though no enemy presence had been found immediately in the system, Ayden knew that they would not be allowed to take Cartao's orbit uncontested. And he was right.

More than a dozen wedge-shaped ships dropped out of hyperspace, flanked by their support ships. Some might mistake them for Republic ships, but Ayden knew their forms well even from the flickering sight of a holoprojector. They were ships he had encountered over Geonosis a long time ago. Though they all outwardly looked similar, Ayden knew that there were armament differences between them all to make them nasty pieces of work. The radical Rebel Alliance had revealed itself as backing the Prime Minister, herself the author of the equally radial selectivist ideology that the Rebels followed. Admiral Nai, a woman whom had served with Ayden since his joining of the fledgling OmegaPyre group before it had ever dared to call itself the Protectorate, stood on the bridge of one of the Antilles-class Star Defenders and analyzed the situation with seasoned eyes.

The Corellian fleet moved from its initial position to defend the dropships as they descended into Cartao's atmosphere. Rebel fighters were being launched and made a beeline for them intent on keeping as many corporate forces from the planet as possible. But their way was barred as the flak cannons from the Horn-class Escort Cruisers lit up the space between the two groups with a veritable shower of metal death. Some fighters would have been arrogant enough, or perhaps just foolish enough, to dive headlong into the flak shower. Flaming pops of metal and oxygen were the end result as the majority of the Rebel fighters pulled away. However they were unable to return to their carrier ships as they were set upon by Corellian fighters. Dagger swarm fighters descended upon the Rebels like a cloud of vermin, endless in numbers and unrelenting in force. Talon heavy fighters cut around the edges, keeping the majority of the Rebel fighters contained away from the support of their capital ships.

Looking to cut open a hole for their harried fighters, the Rebels dispatched a trio of frigates and a cruiser to try and tear apart the Corellian fighters. They were met with hypervelocity slugs from the Horn-class cruisers. Though the CEC cruisers were sniping any Rebel fighters that attempted to break away, they were still more than capable of engaging the enemy capital ships. And this had the domino effect of dragging in the heavier Rebel capital ships into the battle, which just prompted a response from Corellian Engineering's heavy capital ships. Brilliant explosions erupted from the bows of the Antilles and Noble-class Star Defenders as they fired their massive hypervelocity cannons. At eighty hundred meters or more in length, these gargantuan cannons accelerated their massive slugs to frightening speeds. Such mass with such speed meant that went the first one slammed into Rebel ship, it was in for a bad time. One hit, the capital ship could certainly expect its shields to hold. Two, maybe even three if the shields were suitably reinforced to double front.

But Admiral Nai had ordered all ships to target the lead Rebel destroyer. Almost a dozen heavy slugs were hurled across the short distance to strike at their target. Its ships flared angrily at the first impact, fearfully at the third, and impotently as the fourth shot pieced the shields and slashed across its hull before zooming off into emptiness of space. The remaining slugs impacted against the unshielded hull to devastating effect. One of the shells impacted the Rebel bridge directly. Al that was left was a sparking tower as the bridge was blown clean off by the vicious impact. Even as the ship lost control and began to drift lazily away from the planet with smoke and debris trailing from it, the other Rebel ships pushed the assault. However fierce these cannons were however, they needed time to recharge.

But Ayden had known that when he designed them.

Scores of heavy energy torpedo projectors suddenly glowed with an angry azure light, charging up as turbolasers opened fire on the approaching Rebel destroyers. Their cruisers were not shielded from fire either as ion cannons slashed at their shields. From experience, it was known that the Rebel destroyers were largely unaffected by concentrated ion fire. But their frigates and cruisers did not have such protections. Racks of missiles slid out from behind protective durasteel plates and erupted with a barrage of short range missiles that did not rely on advanced or sophisticated targeting systems. They would impact against shielded and unshielded targets before the energy projectors began lancing the enemy ships. It was a bloodbath.

Ayden saw the light show from his dropship before the flames of atmospheric entry took away all but the brightest weapons fire and explosions. He smirked to himself as he descended to the surface. He was on approach to the northern section of the Spaarti headquarters. The bulk of his forces were on approach to the southern side to keep attention there. Orbital scans had indicated that the majority of the clone defenders were present there, as that was the most natural point of entry to the facility and so that was where he was going to direct most of his own forces. Several squadrons of starfighters were in the skies above the headquarters, weaving through the air to avoid anti-air cannon fire. Ayden's dropship had come down further away from the headquarters and made his approach almost barely above the ground to keep himself off sensors for as long as possible. A handful of other dropships went with him to ensure he had infantry support if the enemy fortified the northern wall.

As they grew closer, Ayden began to sense the clones. His own support forces were all human, rather than droids, because of a very particular skill that the Corellian had honed over the years. Reaching out with his mind, he began to stir a fire in the minds of his own forces, bolstering their morale and concentration, their coordination and determination. These three patrols would have the same sort of fighting effectiveness of a much larger group of infantry. At the same time he was bringing courage and favor to his men, Ayden began to reach out and touch the minds of the enemy closest to his landing area. It wasn't a hammer to their metaphysical brains, but something most subtle, more sinister. A crawling sense of doubt, bolstered by the knowledge of just how many ships were in orbit, would begin to seep in. Strong minds could surely throw off such effects, but it would need a talented officer to rally his men to keep them from feeling such nasty effects among their own.

And if it came to fighting... Ayden ran a hand over the lightsaber at his side. He was ready.

 

[Miss Blonde]

.

 

[Nick Sept]

Location: The mother of all anti-climaxes
Objective: No bloody idea
Allies: Dunno yet
Enemies: Also uncertain


(OOC: Really, calling it off before any actual plot happens? Well, whomever wants to stick around for the next part, totally can. But if you were here for the war and have no interest in the talking bits, it may get a bit dull after this)




[member="Patricia Susan Garter"] [member="Ayden Cater"] [member="Gerion Ardik"] [member="Weiss"] [member="Valkren Calderon"] [member="Gir Quee"] [member="Sasha Santhe"] [member="James Justice"]



There was a saying among many religious folk in the galaxy: "The Force works in mysterious ways." It wasn't so much a guide, as a philosophical admission that sometimes thigns didn't make sense. War. Disease. Famine. The struggle between light and dark. Tax codes. Lots of things, that totally were entirely real, but yet still made many sentient begins look up in the sky, and ask, in an even, tearful, voice "Are you fething kidding me?"



However, upon occasion, the force compelled people in odd ways. Perhaps it was the suffusing energy of battle meditation lingering in the back of NC-7. Or it may have been the battlefield stims he had injected while preparing for the offensive. Or it might have been that he'd always been an insubordinate little schutta-puncher. Maybe the cybernetic components of his artificial eyes were filter out or interfering with the control chip's frequency. Maybe the force itself had a plan. Or maybe, just maybe, the powers that held this universe together happened to have one sick sense of humor.


Whichever of these were true, false, or just right out funny, the stormtrooper in solid black armor removed his helmet and walked over to a comm terminal. He activated an access code a low-ranking squad captain should not have had. He went on screen. "Garter," he said, his voice sounding less like one you'd expect, and followed with a sigh, like he'd smoked far more than a solider should have, "This is NC-0739. We'll hold to your orders, ma'am. However, an answer is in order. Whomever is seizing our facility, they need to talk. And somebody needs to damn well find out what the score is, here. We will abide your orders, but we need to talk. Now," he said, the emphasis in his voice about as subtle as a primed thermal detonator. "It isn't optional. Your children, as you wish to call us, are scared, and pissed, and armed. So, who's leading these troops, and who is going to negotiate terms here?"



He said he'd take field command. Truth is, this mission would've been a slaughter. The Cartao facility was as much a training facility as it was a medical lab. Half of these troopers were still in training. But still, he had had orders, and those orders had been rescinded, and he had no idea why. The other troopers had dropped their weapons. The glowing red goggles flickered on the hologram. "Meeting room. Thirty minutes. AS active field commander, I will maintain a presence at the negotiations."




The hologram cut out. This day may not end in bloodshed, but there would be something to be answered for.

 

[Ayden Cater]

This posts contents are non-canon.

Spoiler

Location:

Spoiler

On approach to Spaarti HQ
Objective: Seize the facility
Allies: [member="Valkren Calderon"], [member="Gir Quee"], [member="James Justice"], [member="Weiss"], [member="Gerion Ardik"]
Enemies: [member="Nick Sept"], [member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

It was interesting to Ayden that as they were coming in on approach, his other forces reported a cessation of hostilities from the clone forces. It was as if someone just flipped a switch and they stopped. Of course, Ayden had one comm open and so heard the apparent plea of one Patricia Garter. His eyes narrowed. Her presence here changed nothing. In fact, it made things significantly more clear-cut. She was accussed of supplying the mad Prime Minister with her clone army. And now, after allegedly going into hiding, handing control of the company to Danger Arceneau, and providing the codes that would be needed to gain access to the Spaarti mainframe, she just so happened to show up... Ayden was many things, but he did not believe in coincidence.

This simply made his approach that much easier. Danger had given strict orders; seize the facility with minimal loss of life, clone or otherwise. Ayden had a job to do, and he wasn't going to stop unless a certain red-head herself gave him the call to do so. As his dropship came up over the ridge where they could have landed, Ayden instead simply jumped. Wrapped in the force, he was utterly invisible as he dropped down and landed without a sound. His forces would have marched up to the front gate and there would have been talk of exactly what was to be done then. But as the Corellian approached the first door, a deeply unsettling sensation began to stir in his gut. He had a bad feeling about this. What 'this' was was soon made all too apparent.

In orbit, Admiral Nai was directing her forces when all of a sudden a call went out on open comm channels. "TRAITORS!" the voice screamed, filled with rage and indignation. One by one, the Rebel ships began to shift free guns towards the planet and began to bombard the area around the Spaarti headquarters. It seemed as though they did not appreciate the clones simply ending the fighting like that, as if they were turning against the Prime Minister. A radical group following a radical ideology of a radical woman; who could have guessed that this would have been the outcome.

But the corporate forces weren't content to sit idly by. Shouting out orders to the crew on her bridge, Admiral Nai began coordinating with the other corporate forces in orbit to quickly put an end to this Rebel assault. Bombers were diverted from their atmospheric runs and brought back into orbit where they began to open fire on the Rebel ships, concentrating their fire on the turrets that were firing upon the planet.

On the surface, Ayden gave a grunt as one turbolaser bolt struck the facility's shields. It was a brilliant flash, but ultimately harmless... for now. The dozen that followed would have made a pretty technical display of lights above the facility were they not attempted death knells on all within the facility. But Ayden trusted his ships and the superior corporate numbers in orbit. They would handle the situation while he worked his way deeper and deeper inside. In one hand was a data chip with all the intel that Danger had given, and in the other lay the transfer core for his own AI. Once he found an appropriate console, it would be time to sit down and work on securing the facility. If the codes Danger provided worked, then Miss Garter would have been exonerated of any wrong-doing. But if they failed, then that would be confirmation of what some of the other corporate heads had said during the emergency holoconference - that she was in league with the Prime Minister and could not be trusted. If that happened, then a loss of one facility would have been the least of her concerns.

 

[Vaudin Miir]

[member="Ayden Cater"]
[member="Patricia Susan Garter"]

Vaudin Miir, Senator, drunkard, and all around good guy, was not into wasting life. In fact, neither was the Iktotchi government that he represented. That said a small fleet of transports had been commissioned in the event that this clone army could be saved. He entered the system on the bridge of a decommissioned Watts-class destroyer that sported a #clonelivesmatter sticker on the side and began transmission of simple instructions.

"All clone troopers." the transmission stated, "You are being offered your freedom. Transports are in route to you for the purpose of evacuation and relocation. Any questions you have can be answered by ship crews. Thank you."

The transports from Iktotch and CEC began landing protocols immediately.

 

[Miss Blonde]

.

 

[Weiss]

Objective: Secure the Spartii HQ


"Seize bombardment!" Weiss ordered.

It took a while before it was replaced by orbital bombardment but that too stopped pretty quickly.

Weiss could not believe it. Reports were coming in about clone troopers putting down their weapons and returning inside.

"Keep pressing inside. I want this building under lock down until further notice." he ordered and the republic battallion moved in.
Whatever this was, it was not Weiss's concern. He was here to shut this building down and ensure it did not continue serve the usurper.

With a nod he ordered the walker to move forward alongside the tanks and transports.

The republic officer then proceeded to activate an open channel.

"To all present forces not under republic command. This is Colonel Weiss of the republic Marine core. I have orders to secure this building in the name of the republic per order of the supreme commander. Stand down until the situation is resolved, no further coorporate assets is needed to be damaged. I repeat, stand down and await clearance to enter or leave the structure."

Weiss switched frequency to [member="Valkren Calderon"]

"Sergeant, secure the control room. And await my arrival, it seems the clones are stepping down but we cant know for sure.

Weiss's marine brigade would form an iron ring around the building, putting up road blocks and id controls everywhere. While this most likely would stop mercenary forces ir company security units a lone stealther would have little problems sneaking past, especially if using the force to conceal oneself.



[member="Gerion Ardik"][member="Ayden Cater"][member="Sasha Santhe"][member="Gir Quee"][member="Nick Sept"][member="Ayden Cater"][member="James Justice"][member="Valkren Calderon"][member="Patricia Susan Garter"][member="Vaudin Miir"]