Roleplaying: Mercenary Mission One

Last edited by Reepicheep on Fri Sep 19, 2008 3:04 pm; edited 6 times in total

Ferno jumped in a damaged fighter. It was in bad shape but still flyable and had one working lazer cannon. Some one outside yelled, "What do you think..."
The door slid shut and he took off. He dodged enemy fighters, and after finding a weak spot in the un-sheilde blast door of the "Empeor's Bane" and blasted open a hole big enough to fly into. When he was inside he saw some wounded pilots he recognized as Skar'kla troopers. Apparently some selfish Skar'la's had left them behind.
"Those cowards", he muttered and started loading them into the fighter's storage hold.
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Where sky and water meet,
Where the waves grow sweet,
Doubt not, Reepicheep,
To find all you seek,
There is the utter east.

Aden and the four other commandos stood in a half-crouched position, mag clamps anchoring them to the deck, as Dek went to work on the door panel. After a second, the door popped open, revealing a brightly-lit, pressurized deserted chamber. The large blast doors leading to the bridge lay less than forty meters away.

“Let the chamber drain," Aden ordered. “We’ll open the bridge up to vacuum. Even if they are in vac suits, it will make fighting for them harder. Let's go!" He deactivated his mag clamp and clicked it back onto his belt. The remaining six lurched forward into the chamber. The readings on Aden's HUD showed the oxygen level steadily plummeting. Once it reached zero, he motioned to Dek, who ran up to the next door panel and got to work.

“Weapons ready! Flash band grenades only. We don't want to damage anything," Aden shouted as the door mechanism began to whir and click. Six blasters were aimed and ready as the door slid back, What lay ahead was a chamber filled with vac-suited Republic officers. The bodies of officers not wearing vac suits lay crumpled on the floor and slumped over at stations. Several transparisteel windows were shattered, with emergency shields pulled down over the gaping holes. A series of holes in the ceiling showed the result of a Skar'kla starfighter's strafing run. Whatever had happened to the bridge, it had sucked all the oxygen from it.

All heads turned to the six Skar'kla Commandos, and blasters were turned to point at them. A Blood Squadron commando let fly a Flash Bang grenade, which sailed into the chamber and exploded in midair. The grenade erupted with a loud popping sound that would have busted all un-protected eardrums. Shrapnel flew from the grenade and nearby equipment, shredding vac suits.

Aden open fired. A quick volley of blaster bolts took down a trio of troopers hefting heavy blaster fire. Jarvis was on his left, letting loose a storm of fire from her blaster pistil. Enemy fire left a smoking hole in the chest of one of the Blood Squadron commandos. He slumped over backwards into the decompressed chamber, then began a slow, zero-g tumble towards the hole to space.

Aden cursed as a blaster bolt hit him square in the chest, pushing him back a few steps as it ricocheted off his armor. He let loose a four shots in the direction of the blaster bolt, and saw a Republic trooper slump over.

The bridge was now completely void of oxygen. Two Republic troops remained, hands raised in the air. The two remaining Blood Squadron commandos quickly tied and gagged them. “Dek! Get to work. Let's see what off this wreck is still functional." As soon as he said it, a tremor shook the bridge. Aden turned his head to stair out the front viewport. " What in the name of..." Another blast shook the bridge, this one more violent than the first.
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Gavin holstered his blaster and switched his vibroblade to his right hand as Dawn Flight neared the end of the corridor. Some members from Skull and Bones had linked up with them as they cleared the corridor.

“Hey Cap, can you hear that? It sounds like we’re real close to the reactor…”

“Shh!” Gavin hissed and motioned with his left hand for everyone to crouch down and be silent.

Gavin then crept forward and peered around a corner that went down towards a door that entered the main corridor and reactor room. Moving forward were two New Republic troopers rifles raised with vibrobayonets attached. Gavin quickly moved forward still in a crouch until he came within striking distance of the first trooper. He then rose up from his crouch simultaneously delivering an upward diagonal slash into the trooper’s back.

The other trooper turned and stabbed at Gavin with his vibrobayonet. Gavin managed to dodge out of the way but not before it took a glancing blow into the upper arm armor protection of the suit. He then delivered a quick counterstrike, his blade cutting diagonally across the trooper’s chest. As the trooper began to fall to the ground Gavin delivered a second blow, this time to the trooper’s back, to make sure the trooper was dead.

“Corridor clear! Move on towards the reactor.”

The corridor then briefly echoed with the faint sound of armored suits and weapons clanking as the squad rose up and filled down the corridor. They encountered no more resistance and finally reached the end of the corridor where it connected with the reactor room.

“Fan out and form a defensive perimeter. If an enemy shows their face, blast it but do not follow if they get away…they may try to lure small groups off into a trap. Flight Officer Bendall you’re in charge while I check on the situation with the reactor.”

“Yes Cap.”

Gavin then walked off towards the reactor control room. As he walked pulled out a rag from one of his utility belt pouches and began wiping the blood off the vibroblade.

Saul spotted Gavin as he and his men poured into the reactor room. "Gavin, over here!" Saul waved a hand.

Gavin sprinted over, tucking away a bloody rag as he approached Saul and Frender.

"Gavin, we've swept the reactor for demolitions charges and cleared the console for any self-destruct sequences. From what we can tell, they didn't even try to sabotage the reactor."

Gavin flashed a look of curiosity.

"And if they didn't plan on destroying the ship, then that means they plan on taking it back-" The whole ship shuddered as another salvo crashed into the gunship, "-that came from the starboard side."

Saul glanced at Gavin and Frender, the Ryn chipped in. "Sir, that salvo came from the direction of that other gunship. They're shooting at their own ship, and at the sides, not the bridge or engines..."

Saul caught on. "So they're taking out the weapon's emplacements...with the shields down, it wouldn't take them long to systematically defang this ship."

Frender's face showed worry. "If they take out all the guns, then we'll be stuck with a worthless gunship. The whole mission will be shot."

Saul turned to Gavin. "Gavin, we've got to inform Commander Kad before they take out the port side guns."
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Gavin nodded

“Divert all weapon power from starboard weapons to port weapons. We need to be ready to hit them hard as soon as the bridge is captured. Start working on the reactor console to see if you can hack the system to start charging the shields to buy us some time if Commander Kad is having trouble taking the bridge.”

Gavin turned towards where he had ordered Dawn Flight to prepare defensive positions

“Flight Officer Bendall, over here on the double!” Gavin bellowed. One of the armored Skar’klas jumped up from their position and came running over to the reactor room and saluted.

“Flight Officer Bendall reporting sir!”

“Get to work with Saul’s group and try to slice the reactor controls so we can start charging shields to buy some time.”

Gavin then pulled out his comlink.

“Commander Kad, Captain Vendar here. We’re being fired on by the enemy gunships. Damage reports down in the reactor room indicate they are targeting starboard weapon emplacements but leaving engines and bridge intact. We have control of reactor and are working to start charging shields. I am transmitting a code message to your comlink. Once you take control of the bridge begin broadcasting it on all Republic frequencies. If I’m right it’s the first code sent by friendly vessels to call off friendly fire. It should buy some time for us while they sort out what’s really going on.

Standard military procedure should require them to open up a link with us at which point they will give a challenge and you most respond to the challenge with the correct code word or words. If you’re lucky it will be in the communications officer’s log book. They will maintain weapons lock on the ship unless the challenge is correctly responded to.”

Aden listened as Gavin spoke through the comlink. “Alright, Captain. I'll see what we can do," he said, propelling himself through the zero-g over to the comm unit. "Dek! Get this ship broadcasting friendly signals. Tell them we killed the boarding parties and that the ship is under control."

Dek ignited his repulse pack and floated up to the large bank of computers filling the middle of the bridge. The Blood Squadron commandos had managed to patch the bridge back up enough with the bridge's repair kit that it was able to hold oxygen again. The Tusken Raider's systems started pumping oxygen into the bridge. Aden's HUD sensors showed that the amount of air was breathable for humans, so he took off his helmet and turned the nozzle of his air tank so it would re-fill.

Dek's fingers flew as he went to work on the computer screen. “Commander, they opened up a com link. They say they want to talk with the captain." Aden cursed in his helmet. " Tell them he died in a hull breach." Dek patched his helmet comlink through into the bridge's console and replied. “They say they want the acting officer." “

Tell them he's not on the bridge and it'll take a minute to raise him. We need to buy time!"
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Saul shuffled his blaster rifle as he cradled the heavy weapon in his arms. With the reactor secured and the big picture being played out elsewhere, there was little else for him to do other than hold on to the chamber.

"Frender, get me a link with all members of the squad. I'm going to set up a temporary op post. It's going to take a while to secure this ship, so we might as well be coordinated while we do it." The Ryn shook his head and began dialing up secure comm transmissions with the other members of the Skull and Bones squadron.

Meanwhile, Saul set up a computer on a nearby engineering station and began downloading schematics and deck plans of the ship. Each member of his squadron had tracking devices in their suits, thus he could overlay the information with the ship's info in order to get a picture of where everyone was.

With one hand held to his ear, Frender looked over, "Sir, Bones squad reports zero casualties...they're meeting stiff resistance near the zulu deck cafeteria area but are progressing steadily. Skull squad is clearing one of the secondary corridors leading to the reactor...they should be here momentarily...they have two casualties...Nev and Sudis both took bolts to the legs, but members of Dawn Flight are helping them along. Reports from Blood squad are sketchy, sir. Dek is working over time on the bridge, bringing systems and control back up...seems the enemy is opening communications with us now...Bannick reports one casualty and one kia."

Grief gripped hold of Saul as the new hit him. One of the members of his squadron was dead. Either Odalis or Castell. "Find out who, Frender."

"On it sir."
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" They say they want the acting officer now, Commander." Aden jotted the emergency code down on his left Beskar gauntlet using a stylus. Aden stood up from the comm officer's log computer and sprinted back to the middle of the bridge. " Okay, acting officer has arrived. Patch me through." Dek had a worried look on his face as he hailed the Republic gunship. " Good luck, Commander."

A static voice echoed through the bridge. " Tusken Raider, I repeat, state emergency code sequence or you will be fired upon." Aden coughed into his hand, then glanced down at the body of a dead lieutenant laying sprawled next to him. He cleared this throat. " This is Lieutenant Devardis of the Tusken Raider, hailing all Republic ships. We've taken heavy casualties, but we've repelled the pirate boarding parties..." The Republic voice came back on over the comm unit. " Last chance, Raider, state emergency code sequence or be fired upon." Aden glanced down to his gauntlet where he had written the code.

" Yaga Minor 4, Selonia 5, Dantooine 1, Fresia 12," Aden said while praying the code wasn't outdated. A moment pasted before the Republic gunship responded. " Code correct, Tusken Raider. Our sensors report you are too damaged to continue the fight. We have orders from the fleet commander for you to hang back behind the frigates for the remainder of the battle."
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The ships ceased the bombardment of the Tusken Raider. Keenen let out a sigh. He wouldn't have to execute his plan after all.

He tried to decide on his next move. He could head back, or maybe go take refuge in the Raider? No, that would be foolish. He didn't want to put himself completely out of the battle. Whatever had made them stop firing on the Raider might not keep them calm forever.

“Zoomer to Cap, Jensen and Ulrand just pulled two guys back behind barricade both minor wounds to legs. Jensen administering first aid and requests permission to set up aid station further back.”

“Understood, I’ll see what I can do.” Gavin said switching his helmet back to the comm. frequency the reactor force was using

“Saul my medic, Private Jensen, says Nev and Sudis wounds appear minor, nothing a little bacta can't cure. I’m going to help Jensen set up an aid station so he can properly treat our wounded and move them out of the line of fire.”

Gavin glanced down at the schematics of the reactor room and nearby rooms.

“There this looks good, it’s not too far from our defensive line but is on the side of the corridor so no blaster fire should find its way in. According to this map it should be workshop so there should be tables we can use too. It should only take a few minutes to set up there and then I’ll go see how our defensive positions are.

If things are going well at the defensive lines I may take Dawn Flight and start probing the defenses further in to see if we can take a gunnery station or two while we’ve still got the momentum of attack. At the very least it might prevent some Republic forces from making our bridge strike team's job any harder than it already is.”

Saul let out a sigh of relief as he heard that his men's wounds would be taken care of. His gaze poured out over the screen before him as he study the ship's deck layout. "Bones squad, past that cafeteria is the main access way to the port side weapon's bays. Those emplacements should be abandoned since they were planning on blowing them up. If you can work your way there, set up a defensive perimeter and hold out until we can get some men there to man the guns."

"Sounds good Saul, I'll let you know when we're through. Bones 1 out."

"Frender, any word from the bridge?"

"Not yet sir. Things are pretty tense up there."

"All right. Gavin's setting up a med station, why don't you go check on Nev and Sudis. I'll work on getting the other squads integrated into our comm network."

Saul quickly started typing in commands, expanding the friendly signals, and adding them to the tac control setup. Soon each unit was lit up on the screen with their position and designation, while the comm chatter scrolled along the bottom. The tenseness of the operation began to alleviate as the chaos rescinded. There was no longer any worry of being cut off or any doubt as to where everyone was. Every commander could now simply check his datapad for an instant readout of the situation.

Saul eased back in his chair as the data funneled in. "Gavin, this is Saul. I've got a tac net setup and everyone in the reactor assault party is locked in. You should be able to contact all your units now with complete status and location intel. I'm working on getting the bridge units in now...Saul out."
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Anxiety still gripped Aden as he and Dek filed through all the Tusken Raider's status readouts. Sooner or later they were going to have to comply and make they're way behind the Republic forces, as they were ordered, or the Republic forces were going to get suspicious.

He pulled out his comlink and clicked in the channel for a team-wide broadcast. “Boarding team, this is you're Commander. We've been able to trick the Republic forces into thinking the boarding team was killed. For better or worse, this means all the Republic troops on this ship also think the boarding crew is dead. So you might be seeing some of them. Stay alert. They'll be surprised and confused when they see you, so you'll have that advantage."

He clicked it off that channel and commed the bridge of the Glitterclaw. " Captain Tistell?" A moment went by with no answer. " Here, Commander. The battle goes well. We've been able to disable another one of the frigates. The Corascanti Sun remains, and it's hanging back behind the remaining gunship and fighters."

Aden's spirits lifted. Maybe now the Republic fleet's commander would surrender. And maybe he'd have something to bring back to Thrawn. “Tistell, members of my squad were injured. Send a med runner to pick them up, and I'll go back with them to the Glitterclaw. Maybe we can work out some terms of agreement with the Republic forces.
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When Gavin reached the defensive perimeter he saw Jensen busily at work. Next to Nev and Sudis were bits of their suits which Jensen had cut off with his vibroscalpel to treat their wounds.

“Jensen I’ve located a room we can set up your aid station. Are those two stable enough to be moved?”

Jensen nodded
ig
“Alright let’s move and set up.” Gavin pointed to two commandos nearby

“You two come with me, you’ve just become stretcher bearers”

With the small group the wounded were moved into the workshop and the two machine tables were cleared of the tools and spare parts. Jensen then lost no time in setting up his medical equipment and resuming his administration of first aid.

Gavin then received the transmission by Saul.

“Alright Jensen, it looks like your set up so I’m going to return to the lines and see if we can start pushing inwards.”

Gavin turned to the two commandos from Skull and Bones

“You two assist Jensen however he needs. Put together a stretcher from what we have here. If Jensen doesn’t need your help caring for the wounded already here I want you in position to retrieve wounded. If someone calls for a medic or stretcher I want you at that position faster than the Millennium Falcon made the Kessel Run. These orders stand until Saul Razaar says otherwise.”

Gavin then left the improvised aid station and returned to the defensive lines.

Saul finally got the bridge forces tied into the command net, though he didn't have time to think about the man he lost, and now he was working on tying in to commando's space net.

There! Got it!

Signals and messages started pouring into his display, along with the approach of one of the Skar'kla's shuttles.

"Commander Kad, this is Med One, preparing to initiate Operation Smoke and Mirrors."

Smoke and mirrors? Saul heard the commander give his approval.

"Beginning attack."

Saul grew a bit nervous and opened a comm channel to Dek. "What's going on up there?"

Dek's muffled voice came back. "Commander Kad is having the shuttle act as our raiding reinforcements. Once they dock, we're going to ship the wounded over to them, then make it look like we're chasing them off."

A big smile splashed across Saul's face. "Kad's really playing it sharp on this one. Let's hope that mando doesn't get too bright or someone's liable to make him an admiral in their navy."

Sure enough the shuttle and the gunships exchanged trivial fire and the little fast runner docked to the side of the big vessel. The wounded were quickly shuffled aboard and the shuttle released it moores and shoved off, again exchanging mock laser fire as it escaped.
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These defensive lines should be able to repel all but the most determined counterattack by the New Republic.

“Alright Dawns form up on me, we’re going to see about helping the forward units capture gunnery stations. Move out”

Gavin and the rest of Dawn Flight advanced through most of the aft gun deck without incident. About midway through the aft gun deck they ran into Bones Squad which was busily stacking crates to block off the passage to the forward gunnery positions.

“I’m Captain Vendar, what’s the situation here Bones?”

“Sir all aft gunnery stations are in our control. We just gave them a test run for Operation Smoke and Mirrors that evacuated our wounded. We’re working on taking control of the forward gunnery stations but have been meeting some resistance towards the forward missile bays. You just missed it but the Republic troops made a counterattack to try to retake the aft gunnery stations.”

Gavin peered around the trooper to look down the hallway. The walls were scorched from recent blaster fire, some of the holes still smoking. Lying on the ground were the bodies of about a half dozen Republic Troopers.

“Alright everyone take what ammo you can from those Republic troops. Two from Bones Squad stay here with Flight Officer Bendall. Everyone comes with me, we’re going to capture those forward missile bays before they get a chance to sabotage them.”

Gavin then switched his comlink frequency so he could communicate with Saul Razaar at the improvised HQ at the reactor core.

“Gavin to Saul. We’ve taken control of the aft port gun stations. From the looks of things the gun crews evacuated their stations but never got around to disabling gun controls, must be fresh recruits. Two members of Bones Squad are working on reactivating the guns, I’ve got my slicer working with them to see if we can slave several of the guns together to be fired from one gunnery station.

The forward missile bays are still under control of the Republic. I’m going to combine Dawn Flight with the rest of Bones Squad and try to take those missile bays before the gunners get a chance to sabotage the controls. If I can I’ll try to convince them to surrender. Any news from the bridge that we should be aware of?”

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