[Tales of] The New Sith Order (Redux)

[BadSamaritan]

Here is to hoping "planetary quarantine procedures" really means "Target the city with our orbiting vessels, and level it from the perimiter to the center."

[Defender_16]

+ + +

 

"So, the local civilians may or may not be infected with some sort of parasite." Mumbled Richardson to himself. He knew what that meant; full quarantine or destruction of the population. Preferably one following the other. The life signs surrounding the artillery positions had just turned from potential shields for the enemy, into targets for his soldiers.

 

"Inform the AT-AT units that friendly fire restrictions on Civilians have been withdrawn. If they can be easily captured do so, otherwise shoot to kill."

 

Not long after the order was given the Walkers opened up with their large guns on buildings across the river. Their longer range fire now allowed them to stay farther back and fire with impunity. It would still take some time to demolish the buildings shielding the remaining alien artillery.

 

"Sir, Corvette Merser is on station at medium altitude. Awaiting instructions."

 

"About time. Tell them to descend to fifteen hundred metres above ground level. They're to target any artillery creatures they can locate. They're free to retreat to higher altitude if they take too much damage. Have the walkers ready to advance."

 

+ + +

 

Above the city paired Turbolaser bolts from the Corvette Merser rained down on the artillery beast. Their slow rate of fire allowed the beast's voids time to absorb the shots and recover. The Merser’s Captain seeing this rolled the Corvette eighty degrees, bringing both heavy Turbolaser turrets to bear. When that still proved to be of little effect they fired into the surrounding buildings.

 

The heavy beams struck three of the short apartment buildings blasting them apart with little effort. Shattered fragments of Ferrocrete and tansparisteel flew in every direction, some bouncing off the beast's thick hide others being sucked into singularities. Seeing the problem the Gunboat squadron swept down and fired a full missile spread at the buildings and ground around the target, again using cannon fire in an attempt to distract the singularities.

 

The overlapping blast waves, debris and cannon fire proved too much for the monster and soon a Turbolaser burst burned through it, dropping it to the ground. The other two creatures must have known what was happening because they were soon on the move, directing more fire up at the fighters and Corvette than anything else. With no more artillery harassment the Imperial troops were clear to make the run to the city.

 

The AT-AT's pounding across the landscape fast reached the south west bridge into the city. AT-ST's charged ahead across the bridge and throngs of ground troops and APC's followed close behind the larger vehicles. A second AT-AT formation reached a crossroad farther to the east leading to another bridge. This one was held by fifty or so Vong, again mostly the shorter blade wielding ones with a few tall thin commanders.

 

This time though some of the smaller warriors were equipped with a few additional weapons. Globs of what looked to be a thick gelatinous substance were thrown by foot soldiers in the rear ranks. After impact the globs burst into flames, burning hotly. Several Stormtroopers that were hit went down writhing in flames as the substance soaked through cracks in their armour. An AT-ST was also forced off when it was hit by several globs, their weapons in danger of overheating.

 

The infantry and their bio-weapons had no effect on the AT-AT's which marched right over their positions, crushing many. The following troopers were quick to dispatch any survivors, with three of the white armoured soldiers targeting each of the remaining aliens. The second bridge was reached before forces had even finished crossing the first one. Then they were into the city itself with the Vong artillery no longer able to easily hit them if they had wanted to.

 

The street fighting proved to be harsh, with infantry having to move from building to building to be certain they were cleared. This was emphasized when swarms of the short Vong Reptoid soldiers came charging out of a building nearly flanking a platoon. Occasionally some of the altered humans would also be included in the mix, prompting surprise among some of the troops.

 

Scout troopers reached one of the positions that had been used for cover by an artillery beast and found it empty. The humans had been scattered and put to use elsewhere in the city.

 

+ + +

 

Jag swooped low above the roof tops firing paired lasers towards the sides of an Artillery beast. Some of the pilots were taking to nicknaming them 'Range’s' due to their mountainous looking spines. The lasers failed to get past the defences so he pulled up rather than enter the area where Turbolaser bolts were falling.

 

The gunners on the Corvette Merser were poor shots and the bright beams struck all around their target as the Range stampeded down streets at impressive speeds. As Jag pulled up to get a better look at where it was heading the Merser's Captain came over the com. "We're pulling up for a few minutes to let our shields recharge. Let us know if there's a need for us before then."

 

Now at a higher altitude Jag could see that the Range was heading back towards the Imperial ground forces. There were several taller buildings in the way, mostly ten story height structures, blocking it from firing into the approaching walkers.

 

"Fel to forward AT-AT group you have a Range, -er artillery beast incoming from a street up ahead. From the east now."

 

Most Stormtroopers quickly got off of the street and into buildings. A few heavy support teams took up positions in windows that had been blasted out and shoulder fired missile teams rushed forward as the AT-AT's stopped.

 

The Range had been shielded from most of the fighters as it passed between two taller buildings. Then it lumbered around the corner and was immediately hit by everything the ground forces had. Six missiles peppered it with bloody craters while the heavy Cannon shots were sucked into voids. Small arms fire didn't penetrate it's tough hide but the E-web teams were making some progress.

 

A plasma ball took the lead AT-AT in the front legs, the explosion lifting it up in the air and sending it slamming down onto it's back. A second knocked a heavy walker off it's feet and into a building, it's ferrocrete front crumbling down into the street. Enraged that it was still being injured the monster spun, firing streamers into the sides of buildings, blasting out whole sides of them. Troopers that had taken up positions inside were crushed under debris or thrown into other parts of the structures.

 

Five Gunboats dropped down to street level flying between buildings and made strafing runs on the wounded Range. Cannon fire from the two remaining AT-AT's cut through one leg and then another, collapsing it and exposing it’s belly. A final burst of plasma scoured off the top on a third walker before the heavy fighters put it out of it's misery.

 

038

[Paul]

Good read as usual Defender my friend. Thank you. - Grand Moff Conway

[Defender_16]

+ + +

 

Richardson looked over the reports coming in from the city and shook his head.

"I want the Corvette Merser back down there engaging that last Artillery unit. I don't care if it's headed farther away into the University complex, just kill it."

 

"Sir the Corvette can't kill one by itself and the Gunboats are taking heavy damage. The Interceptor Squadron assisting them have already pulled back."

 

"Fine, send one of the other Interceptor squadrons in to assist them. Once they're in place pull that Gunboat unit back to the landing zone. The Ties and the Corvette can harass that thing until the Tie Bombers are ready for their run."

 

"Yes sir."

 

The General went back to watching the holo displays of the city as his troops continued to advance. Towards the east a fully supported AT-AT unit had reached one of the strange star shaped structures the Aliens had built, this one in a park. This one looked to be quite flat and there were what looked like landing pads for corvette sized vehicles. This had to be their equivalent of a spaceport.

 

The Vong forces protecting it put up only token resistance, choosing instead to retreat either into the city or public gardens overgrown with strange foliage. In the tighter confines of the city it would be easier to set up ambushes while they could set any number of traps in the gardens. Knowing these dangers the Stormtroopers flanked the gardens while the walkers vaporised the plant cover with laser cannon.

 

The forward elements of the groups that had entered the city via different bridges finally came into contact. Before long all approaches to the entire southern waterway were under Imperial control and a more concentrated push into the city could begin.

 

"Tie Bombers are now reaching attack range sir."

 

"About time. Where's the surviving Range?"

 

"It's headed for the other star shaped structure sir, here." Pointed the aid.

 

"All right, hit it with everything. Proton bombs, missiles, everything they have. We have one of their structures, it won't be seen as a loss if we destroy the other one instead of capturing it."

 

+ + +

 

Jag watched as the Tie Bomber squadron dropped down towards the remaining Range. They came in, flying in a double stacked V formation out of the east. As they swept below the Merser, which was holding fire for them, they dropped their heavy proton bombs. The fall of the heavy bombs appeared almost slow, as if they were taking their time and had no intention of being rushed.

 

The Range did it's best to project defences to protect itself from the falling weapons. Six bombs were dragged into singularities, the rest hit all around it. Eighteen explosions ripped through that part of the city, half of them overlapping, giving no chance for anything to survive. A dying burst of plasma fire reached up to grab at the bombers but these were newer craft, equipped with shields to ensure their payloads reached target. The Bombers were shaken up by the fire but took no losses. The shockwave carried through the rest of the city, shattering poorly built windows and rattling troopers inside their helmets.

 

When the dust and flame cleared Jag looked down into the crater from above and found no remains of the monster. Tie craft began over flights of the city without serious worry of ground fire. Every so often one of the pilots would report taking hits from razor bugs thrown by enemies on the ground but they could never penetrate armour of a Starfighter.

 

As Jag was heading back to the South again he heard a very different clank come from one of his stabilizer wings.

"Fel to Elsin, I just heard something come from my portside stabilizer. Did you see anything?"

 

The other pilot's voice came back sounding uncertain. "Yeah I was just about to com you. Something landed on it. It's about half a metre long, looks to be another kind of bug. I think it's-"

The sudden scream of tearing metal failed to drown out Tarth's response.

"Sithspit! That thing just took a bite out of your stabilizer!"

 

Another one of the bugs flew up and latched onto the front of the same stabilizer this time near the laser cannon mount. Large mandibles latched onto the cannon and acids started to burn through the armour like it was candy to them. Tarth's scream of alarm drew his attention away.

"It's trying to burn through my canopy! I can't shake it off!"

Other starfighters were also starting to report attacks by the new wave of bugs.

 

"Tarth, set your self destruct and eject before it gets near your hatch!"

 

The sensor contact indicating his wingman changed to a blinking indicator showing he had ejected. The Tie spiralled out of control and crashed on the south side of the river. Damage diagnostics lit up showing that the portside pylon was weakening and would soon be in danger of collapse. Running the risk of tearing the stabilizer off Jag went into a hard dive and armed missiles. As the ground swiftly angled up at him he fired the missiles nearly at point blank range. The explosion rocked the Tie, dropping the shields and putting a series of star shaped cracks in the forward canopy.

 

Barely in control he brought his fighter out over one of the abandoned fields half way to the main landing zone and set down on repulsors. The landing was a bumpy one as the underside of the fighter was damaged which included the repulsor lifts. He set the onboard systems to go through an automatic shutdown and lifted up the pilot seat pulling out an E-11 Carbine. Cracking the hatch open and peeking out Jag could see that one of his hitchhikers was still alive.

 

Though it was burned and half of it's body was now missing, the bug was still moving. It's mouth was still secreting acid and chewing through the wing pylon. Several legs were also intact letting it move just enough to keep up the destruction. Setting the Carbine for full auto Jag lifted it above the hatch sill, aimed, and fired. The first shot blew it's tiny little head off and the next second's worth of fire ripped it to shreds. The damage to the fighter was done though and it would need the entire pylon replaced to fly again.

 

Pulling out his comlink Jag found the main frequency used by the starfighters in atmosphere. "This is Colonel Fel to all starfighters, try to shoot down the new bugs before they can get to your fighters. They don't seem to be all that strong, a stray cannon shot should take any of them out."

 

The commander of the Tie Defender squadron came on the com half a minute later. "Thanks’ Colonel. We also had to set target recognition to flag smaller flying objects. Hope that helps you out, over."

 

"I was a little too late for my own advice. Good hunting up there."

"Roger Colonel."

 

With that dialog over the downed pilot began making his way toward one of the roads used by the ground forces. Hopeful he would be able to catch a ride back to the landing zone.

 

039

Edited November 1, 2007 by Defender_16

[Paul]

Great read as I like these parts of the story. Are you changing any of the parts coming up? Just wondering. - Grand Moff Conway

[Defender_16]

Not really planning on changing any of the existing parts except to fix grammar or smooth action out. I've already done that with a lot of them. Some of these next few posts will seem rather short. 4 more posts until all of the older stuff is exhauseted.

 

+ + +

 

"That was annoying." Grumbled the large General. "We lost nearly half of our Tie Starfighters to those stupid bugs in one way or another."

 

"It's a good thing the Assault Gunboats had been pulled back from the city sir." Commented the aid.

 

"Yes. Now we have to do most of the action on foot the same as the enemy is doing. How are our troops faring?"

 

"The infantry are exhausting their power packs as fast or faster than we can get new men to the font lines. The enemy body armour is very durable. At the moment we're only able to advance because of the heavy fire provided by the walkers."

 

Richardson made a noise of further annoyance. "We don't have enough troops at the front line to take the entire city right now. We need time to rearm and reorganise. Have our men begin setting up defensible positions and scout around for good locations to place a forward command post. Once you find a good spot start sending in shuttles with weapons, equipment and ammunition."

 

This was going to take some time Jerej knew. Night would be coming on soon and there was no way of guessing at the enemies' night abilities. Symbols on the map representing deployed E-web positions began to appear slowly, forming a line across the city. AT-ST's took up positions on the streets that intersected that line. Their concussion grenade launchers would serve well for defence and give time for some of the troops to go for ammunition.

 

A few undamaged AT-AT's located a good position for a command post and formed a perimeter. Soon shuttles were arriving carrying ammo for the Imperial troops. With the setting sun this would now be a waiting game. It would be many hours before all of the ground units were ready in sufficient numbers to resume the advance.

 

+ + +

 

The sun sank below the horizon well before Jag had made it back to the landing zone. He wasn't the only pilot to have been downed and the Stormtroopers were too busy to help uninjured ones that were on their side of the font lines. He had met Tarth at one of the bridges on his walk. Other than having his flight suit soaked through he didn't appear any worse for wear.

 

He reported into the command post, received permission to take shifts flying for pilots that were rotated off for sleep, then found a cot for a few fours.

 

Three hours later he was woken up by a woman in an intelligence officer's uniform.

 

"Colonel Fel?" She asked but before he could reply she continued. "Come with me."

 

+ + +

 

"Sir." Interrupted the General's aid. "There's an intelligence officer here to see you."

 

"Intel, what do they want? Who is it?"

 

"It's a Commander Shanna Vance sir."

 

"Oh her. Fine send her in."

 

The door to the tactical room opened and in stepped the woman Jerej had last seen on the bridge of the Admiral's command ship. This time wearing a uniform instead of the dark hooded robe.

The Aid stepped outside, not wanting to be a potentially disposable witness.

 

"Welcome!" Belted out the General in his best booming voice. "Come to see how inept I am at planetary invasion?"

 

She tilted her head and looked sideways at him. "Come now General. I've read your file. If you were truly inept at this sort of work you would have been dead long ago. As this could be considered one of the first ground engagements against this species it's expected that casualties will be high."

 

"They're higher than I thought they would be. AT-AT's are nothing but large targets to the enemy’s equivalent units. Our fighters are being chewed up when they provide any cover fire. The Stormtroopers are almost forced into retreat again and again with the enemy close combat tactics. I think I’d do better fighting defensive battles against these little monsters than offensive ones."

 

"I heard reports about some kind of parasite."

 

"Yes, yes. Human Civilians that were captured by the enemy by the looks of it. We found some other civilians that had been hiding in the forests since the invasion and they didn't look to be infected.

 

From what the medics have been able to figure out, the infected ones appear to have been implanted with parasitic nodes or things. It's not airborne like we feared at first. At least... we don't think it's airborne.â€

Edited May 1, 2007 by Defender_16

[Paul]

This part is awesome dude, so is the next one. - Grand Moff Conway

[PsychoInfiltrator]

Sure seems to be shaping up well...

 

[Crying shame the Empire never used, I dunno, shielded ground vehicles, ie: speeders.]

[Defender_16]

Actually I've already been designing the next gen of Imperial ground vehicles. Hey, did Chariot LAV's have shields? I remember the NR using something similar to it with really weak shields.

 

+ + +

 

Jag had recognised the woman in the Intel officer's uniform as the cloaked figure from the bridge of the Superior. Though he had done his best to pretend that he didn't recognise her, he had the distinct feeling that it was of little use. Now he looked over the strange vehicle that he had been tapped to pilot out over the enemy held portions of the city. From the outside it looked like an assault shuttle but the internal spaces were closer to that of an armoured personnel gravsled.

 

Troopers armed with heavy weapons and camouflage gear were strapping themselves into tightly packed jump seats facing each other. At the front was a single pilot’s seat and another jump seat. He climbed in to begin system checks and soon located a bank of controls for explosives planted in the hull. He had only heard about vehicles like this, never seen one.

 

The Intel officer climbed into the forward most Jump seat. She was wearing a combat suit that was somewhat of a cross between regular and scout trooper armour. A lightsaber was attached to special mount on the leg armour. "Colonel, here's your briefing." She spoke up. "You're to take us out over the city in a search pattern until those sabotage bugs that downed your fighter attack us. Once they've done enough damage to the outer shell we trigger the explosives and then crash land behind enemy lines."

 

Jag wasn't happy with where this was going but he was under orders. He brought the shuttle up on Repulsors and into the light of the sun coming up over the horizon. They headed for the city once the ship cleared the tree line. "Are there any areas that I should aim for as we crash?" He asked.

 

"We're trying to put our insertion team behind enemy lines with as little interference as possible. You're an experienced pilot Colonel. Find a place."

 

He scanned the city layout and surrounding land mass. "Will this vehicle work underwater?"

 

+ + +

 

The head of High Admiral Burgan stared out from the holo projection hovering above General Richardson's desk.

"According to the data from the ExGal facility, the creatures that were attacking your starfighters are called 'Grutchins.' They can eat through just about anything given enough time. It looks like the Vong have to destroy any of them that survive attacking their enemies after release. Either that or the particular alien that was observed didn't care for them too much, it's hard to say."

 

"They arn't very tough, but they can cause a lot of damage. Can I expect any starfighter replacements?"

 

"No, I'm afraid not. We're sending down a full garrison base for you so that should help with starfighter maintenance."

 

"It's something. I don't know how well one would hold up to these 'Range' artillery creatures they use. It takes a lot to down one of them."

 

"Ok, ok, you'll get five more Tie bombers with your garrison base but that's it. Command doesn't want us sitting here any longer than necessary. Once the planet has been pacified I'll leave a garrison on the ground, a Destroyer and escorts in orbit then we pull back. If the enemy lands more ground forces do you think you can hold?"

 

Jerej grinned. "Worried I won't make it if you leave me behind?"

 

"You're not staying behind, I'll need help with assaults on other planets. Will whatever commander you leave here be able to hold?"

 

"Hard to say. I give us a few days if the fleet has to run for it, provided we have defence shields in place."

 

"The Core fleets are starting to mobilise. Faster ships are already on their way out but it will be months before we have enough strength here to force a total victory. The Garrison base should be finished inside the week. We'll keep the main force in orbit until then. How many troops should we leave behind?"

 

"Two augmented Regiments should be enough."

 

"Good. I'll see about finding occupation troops from the other Star Destroyers. One of them is bound to be carrying a Floating fortress or two. Burgan out."

 

The General grinned, the HAVr A9 Floating Fortress was preferred by occupation troops but were shunned by attack forces in favour of the AT-AT. Against Rebels they were roughly equal in their preferred terrain types. Against these Vong there was no easy way of knowing.

 

+ + +

 

Jag watched as the red warning lights went off indicating more damage was being done to the engines. They were losing power and if they didn't throw off the bugs now they would soon plummet from the sky. It was time to set off the charges in the aft parts of the shuttle. He started to reach for the switch but it suddenly flicked upwards on it's own.

 

The explosives detonated throwing him against the restraints and sending the shuttle out of control. He angled away from the city as much as possible finding that they were headed straight for the river on the northern side of the city. When he tried to level their descent the falling deathtrap nearly went into a flat spin.

Commander Vance took the opportunity to send out a distress signal.

"Mayday! Mayday! We've been hit! Engines out, we're going down!"

 

Using every trick he knew Jag still couldn't slow the descent of the shuttle. He aimed for the water as called for in the plan but now he wasn't sure if they would survive the impact. At the last second he yelled out, "Brace!" and grabbed his restraints. Everything seemed to slow down as if the air inside had turned as thick as water, restricting movement. When the air returned to normal the vehicle was surrounded by water and sinking.

 

"Anti-concussion field." Said the Intel officer replying to his unspoken question. She then reached over and flipped the rest of the detonation switches, setting them off in sequence. The explosions ripped their smaller insertion vehicle free of the wreckage. Engaging the small repulsors Jag started them moving upstream.

 

Within minutes they had moved out of the city and around a bend in the river. They continued against the current at a slow pace for the next half hour. Vance signalled him to bring them in to shore and Jag grounded their vehicle in shallow water just short of land, the topside hatch exposed above the water line. Vance was un-strapped and out the hatch in seconds. Stormtroopers and Commandos followed, quickly making their way to shore and establishing a perimeter.

 

The Intel officer spotted something amiss and re-entered the ship to speak with Jag. "There's damage to the starboard repulsors just below the water line. The burns continue all along that side."

 

"It's worse than that. We only have the two small aft repulsor plates working. The main repulsors must have been chewed up by the charges. The water could have reflected enough of the blast. This thing wouldn’t make ten kph over land now.â€

[Defender_16]

+ + +

 

The team hiked up the embankment, crossed an abandoned roadway and headed northwest. Tree lines bordered a series of fields along the river, running in straight lines away from the water. The fields were filled with un-harvested crops nearly at maturity. Why the Vong hadn't taken in the crops yet was beyond Jag. Pirates or insurgents would have stripped the fields by now and loaded the food into ships. Unless it had been poisoned somehow. The young pilot didn't feel interested in testing that theory at present.

 

The scout that had taken point halted and held up a fist. Everyone in the column stopped and crouched or looked for cover. The scout, also crouching now made quick short chopping motions with his hand, pointed roughly forty-five degrees to their right. Vance keeping low headed up to the point man.

 

"There's five or six of them." She whispered to the scout. "Hard to say, some of them are close together."

 

"I only counted four." Replied the scout.

"Some are behind trees. I think they're humans."

 

She gave a hand signal for everyone to take cover, though most had by now.

 

The tiny light of a signal flasher appeared from behind a bush, sending a message in blink code. It was just a basic signal that even civilians knew.

"Send the counter signal." She instructed the Scout. "Everyone hold fire." She whispered back to the others.

 

A half minute later a handful of humans dressed in painted clothing emerged from the underbrush. From the way they moved all but one of them were civilians. A tall man waved them towards his position. Standing the squad moved up and took cover in the bushes along with the civilians.

 

The tall man looked like an ex-Stormtrooper and wore patched together armour with leaves and parts of other local plants adhered to it. His hair was streaked through with grey at the temples. "Quan Rowan." He introduced himself, sketching a light salute. "Professional Soldier."

 

"A Mercenary." Frowned the Commander.

 

"Business was getting slow so I had signed on with the local constabulary. When the invasion sirens went off I tried to get as many people out as I could."

 

"What have you seen from out here?"

 

"Just enough. We were farther north but started heading back towards the city after we saw the landings yesterday. Any idea who these guys are?"

 

"Some. How widespread are they in the area?"

 

"Not very. They swept the farming areas and killed or took away anyone they could find. We tried to fight a small group of them once but that didn't go well. We were able to contact another survivor group closer to the city. They said the captured people were being experimented on."

 

"They have been." Said Jag. "There was some kind of growths put on them and they attacked our troops like they were possessed."

 

"Yeah… Makes sense. We dragged away the body of one of their weird little soldier types. Had some kind of bony hooks and things sticking out in places." The man shook his head. "Creepy."

 

He reached down and traced a line through the dirt. "That's the river, I figured we were about here. We tried to come in from the northwest yesterday but there was a base hidden in the forest."

 

"There's a third base structure?" Questioned Vance.

 

"Yeah I guess. We didn't get very close. We did see a lot of those shell shaped little out-buildings they use."

 

"The teams in the city didn't report any smaller structures near the captured landing pad. There may be some in the campus but we might have mistaken them for debris."

 

“We’ll have to check them out.â€

Edited November 1, 2007 by Defender_16

[nordwindranger]

excellent just excellent

[Defender_16]

+ + +

 

Three hours later they were deep in a large patch of forest north east of the city. Shanna peeked around a tree and looked through a small pair of macro binoculars at the structures to the south. It looked to be another of the giant starfish shaped constructs like those in the city, but this one had wrapped itself around and between the trees. With the heavy cover it would be impossible to spot from the air. Surrounding it were dozens of smaller shell like objects standing a little over two metres tall. They appeared to be empty at the moment and only a dozen of the taller warriors patrolled the grounds.

 

"Twelve outside on regular patrols." Said Vance to the others.

 

"Should be around the same number inside." Commented Rowan. "Some of our people tried to go in closer but were caught. When that happened about an equal number of them rushed outside."

 

"How far out were they? Did they set off an alarm?"

 

"One hundred metres or so. The rest of us were too far away to tell what tipped off the warriors."

 

"Ok. We set up no closer than two hundred meters. You should have a minute to sight your targets. I'll give a double click for a ready signal then a second double click a few seconds later for everyone to fire. Stay low and quiet. Move."

 

The Stormtroopers and Commandoes took the flanks while the armed civilians went up the middle along with the Rowan and Jag. They took their time, careful to stay behind cover and not make very much noise. One of the civies tripped and almost fell but was caught in time by one next to him. Rowan waved them to take cover for a moment while a patrol came towards the area. When they were far enough past, the group continued on until the proper distance. The civies set up under the remains of a fallen log and some underbrush and waited.

 

They watched the patrol circuit carried out and had familiarised themselves with it by the time the first double click came. Everyone sighted down their weapons, either at the closest enemy or those in position to respond. The second click came and fifteen blaster bolts flashed out at their targets. The Commandos downed their targets either with powerful or well targeted head shots. Jag's weapon burned most of the way through the chest armour a warrior was wearing, throwing him off his feet. Fire from the rest burned tiny holes in armour or spun enemies around.

 

All pretences at stealth abandoned with some of the enemy patrol still alive, some of the troopers opened up with support weapons. Less than a handful of surviving warriors charged the civilian positions. Jag's blaster burned off a fist sized chunk of a warrior's arm but otherwise seemed to have no effect. The Vong swung his melee weapon in an arc at the tree stump Jag had been using for cover. He fell back as the blade like edge bisected the stump, dropping it to the side.

 

The pilot fired blind from his prone position and the beam struck his enemy in the throat. The Alien grabbed the remains of his neck with one hand and raised his weapon to swing with the other. A second bolt caught it in the forehead and a third in the chest, then it dropped. The last warrior was dispatched in a spray of automatic fire from Rowan's carbine. Two of the civilians were dead.

 

"Move up and take up new positions before the next wave comes out!" Yelled Shanna.

"Leave the dead." Instructed the mercenary. "If we win we can come back for them later."

 

Crashing through the underbrush they soon reached the new line formed by the troopers. Then the enemy came charging out of the main structure. Twelve tall warriors appeared but not alone. Thirty others, a mix of the little troopers and implanted humans raced out ahead of them. Moving erratically, dodging back and forth as they came, all of these targets proved to be much more difficult to put down. The hail of razor and blast bugs that preceded them were just as deadly as the close combat weapons. One Trooper was hit in the face while another lost an arm but kept fighting.

 

Rowan rolled behind cover to the downed trooper and picked up his heavier blaster. Using the E-11 on auto fire while conserving power on the heavier one. Before the charging mass could reach their positions Shanna yelled out. "Grenades then pull back!"

 

Six fragmentation grenades went flying into the patch of forest already filled with enemies. Four seconds later blasts and shrapnel ripped through running bodies, tearing the closer one to pieces or maiming others. The fragments bounced off the armour of those farther away. The troopers pulled halfway back to their first position, dodging or shooting at razor bugs. They set up behind whatever cover was available but the tall warriors had quickened their pace. Some continued to throw razor bugs while those that had used all that they carried ran in.

 

One, which appeared to be better armed than the others, had noticed Shanna giving orders and charged her. The Vong spun his weapon in front of him while he continued to dodge, preventing any solid blaster bolts from landing. Then his weapon went rigid, straightening out like a lance. Vance barely ducked and dodged to the side in time to avoid the slash but her carbine was cut in two. Rolling to the side she came back to her feet with her silver handled weapon at the ready.

 

An overhead cut by the warrior that should have split her from head to navel was deflected by a yellow beam of light springing from the lightsaber handle. Not seeming phased at all by the new development the two started trading lightning fast blows slashes and kicks when the weapons were out of position. In a blinding series of slashes and deflections Vance drew her opponent's weapon out wide allowing her a slash across his chest. The lightsaber couldn't penetrate the strange armour however, only leaving a not so deep looking gash in it's surface.

 

Surprised, she nearly missed seeing the melee weapon arcing in towards her neck from the side. The lightsaber came up in time to stop it but there was enough force behind the blow to knock her back nearly off her feet. A Spray of full automatic fire from a trooper's support weapon caught the warrior in the side throwing him to the ground. Before he could recover Vance was above him and driving her lightsaber into his throat.

 

Two of the warriors had retreated running for help, leaving the remaining smaller ones to fight and die. They were out of range before any of the marksmen could spare attention for them. Most on the team were sporting wounds now and the scout trooper was dead. The one missing an arm was still alive, the stump having been cauterized shut by one of the civilians before they retreated from the first line.

 

"Everyone patch yourselves up for a bit then a few of us try to take a look at that building. Once that's over we call in an air strike."

 

 

043

[Defender_16]

Kyp's Vision:

A piece that I originally wrote seprately from the main NSO Storyline to give the series an equivilant to one of Jacen's visions durring the war. As I found myself writer's blocked on getting the Commando team out of the forest I added it to the end of the originally posted NSO thread. This turned out to be the last thing I would post before the crash as I never broke through the block until a month ago.

 

+ + +

 

Kyp stood on what must have been one of the tallest buildings he had ever seen. In every direction were other towers of equal or lesser height, stretching to the horizon as far as the eye could see. In one direction was what looked to be mountains covered almost to the peaks by the cityscape. In the other direction stood a huge structure that dwarfed the one he was looking out from.

 

Transparisteel and stone had been built up into majestic spires and interconnected towers. Grand promenades and gardens were encased in transparisteel domes. Statues as large as Corvettes could be seen at points around the building's exterior. All of it combining to create a giant pyramid shape that seemed to have an almost greenish hue.

 

The skies should have been filled with air traffic by the size of this city but there was almost none. A dull rumbling began to build, permeating everything, and the sky seemed to change colour. The sky's dull bluish purple changed to bloody red and everything seemed to darken. There was thunder and wind that threatened to throw him from his perch but he remained, watching, wanting to know what was happening.

 

Then the rain started to fall from high above. It was not water that fell though, but fire. A hail of burning debris filled the air, larger pieces appearing with each passing moment. A pair of nearly whole Golan platforms pierced the clouds followed by the blasted and ruined hulks of Star Destroyers. Debris was pelting the cityscape, punching holes in ferrocrete and transparisteel. One of the platforms struck the mountains and buildings around it were flattened like wind blowing grass. A Destroyer struck the great building to the west, collapsing the great domes surrounding and built into it.

 

The entire city was swept up in a fiery inferno consuming everything. He tried in vain to climb higher to stay above the rising tide of flames but soon the tower he was on was swept up as well. He tried to jump from the ferrocrete blocks as the building began to collapse but couldn't seemed to gather enough of the force around himself. Then he was falling, surrounded by the scorching blasts and broken transparisteel that would surely crush him if he didn’t die from the fall.

 

+ + +

 

Kyp snapped awake screaming, the feeling of fire scorching his lungs still fresh in his mind. Breathing heavily, drenched in sweat he looked around. He was still in his small cabin on the Lady Luck, no flames surrounded him and he didn't appear to be injured in any way. Rolling out of the bed Kyp shrugged on his robe and went to check on their progress through hyperspace.

 

044

 

Sorry for the slightly late in the day post. Had a morning shift today instead of the evening.

 

EDIT: Dang, this post looked a lot bigger in MS Word.

[Defender_16]

+ + +

 

Lieutenant Commander Kirrek, second officer aboard the Star Destroyer Ardent sat in his quarters contemplating how events had unfolded so far. He had been confined to quarters for days now, a pair of Stormtroopers stood guard outside. It was likely that he was suspected at a traitor but the Admiral didn't have enough evidence at the moment to make a true case. He wouldn't be brought before a trial until Intel had looked through all aspects of his life and determined that he was guilty.

That was normally how things were done. If he had presented any more of an immediate threat he didn't doubt that an accident would have happened to him days ago. Having to sit through a battle or two while unable to man his usual battle station was beginning to wear on him.

 

From outside the door to his quarters there was a metallic tink-tink followed by the deep thud normally associated with a stun grenade. The clattering of Stormtrooper armour hitting the deck was barely audible through the door. After a few second the door opened and a shaved headed man in a tech uniform stepped inside.

"Help me get the Troopers inside." he said without preamble.

 

The two of them grabbed the troopers one at a time and laid them out in the center of the room. After they were both bound and stripped of weapons the Commander turned to the tech.

"Who are you?"

 

"Cedrick Galdent, deep operative. You were mistaken as being the cause of an act of sabotage and have been scheduled to be executed."

 

"I'm not a Rebel agent."

 

"Who turned off the ship's internal security in the space dock then? Everyone else with the clearance to do it has an alibi."

 

"I... I don't remember. I though I'd fallen asleep for a few minutes."

Now that he though about it there were several instances over the past year or so where it had seemed like he'd dozed off for a few minutes.

 

"You're a sleeper agent. Look there's nothing I can do to get you off the ship but there's a Rebel pilot in the brig that you can get out. I can cause a select shut down in the com systems between the bridge, Brig and main landing bay."

The tech pulled a pad out of his front pocket.

 

"Everything you need to know is on that datapad. We have twenty minutes before the Stormtroopers outside have to report in, I'll rig a holo to stand in for them until then."

Kirrek sat looking at the tied up Stormtroopers contemplating this turn of events.

"Go now. Hurry." Prompted the tech. "There's precious little time left and I have work to do."

 

Kirrek stepped out the door and headed down the corridor, paging through the instructions on the data pad as he went.

 

+++

 

The doors to the brig parted and the Commander strode through as if not a thing was wrong. According the data pad the order for his execution hadn't been entered into the Ship's main databank yet so, as far as everyone else knew, he was just under suspicion.

 

The Stormtrooper officer in charge saluted him as he approached the desk.

"Sir, arn't you supposed to be confined to quarters?"

 

"The Admiral just had me let out. I'm to take the prisoner down to the landing bay now that one of the fighters has been rigged with a remote destruct. I'd like a few troopers to come along for escort in case she tries anything."

 

"Yes sir." The trooper looked over the screen in front of him quickly. "We'd already received Colonel Fel’s consent to using the Rebel pilot before he went down the planet. Are we expecting combat soon sir?"

 

"Not just now. The Commander wants to test if the Rebel will stay on her leash before we get into actual combat."

 

Things went smoothly. A small squad retrieved the prisoner from her cell and followed as Kirrek lead the way to the Turbolifts. The Rebel thankfully didn't show any sign that she recognised the Imperial officer. Not that she should recognise him Kirrek thought. As far as he knew he'd never met a Rebel in his life before today.

 

When they reached the main Hanger bay the Deck Officer was easy to find. He stood directing several dozen techs through vehicle recovery and repair efforts. He noticed the Stormtroopers as they approached and turned to the Commander.

"What can I do for you Commander?"

 

"I understand you have one of the captured A-wings rigged with a self destruct? We're to test out the pilot in it while we're in a non combat situation."

 

"Port side. We loaded it into one of the Tie launch racks. I'll have a tech show you which one."

The Deck officer yelled over to one of the various personnel in the bay and soon they were following him over to the docked fighter.

The launch rack directly next to it was occupied by another A-wing with bright green Imperial markings. The Tie pilot standing next to it waited until the last moment before he saluted.

"Both fighters checked out sir." Said the pilot. "The remote destruct can be triggered either from my fighter or the bridge."

 

"Good. Get your launch clearance from the bridge. Rebel, get in your fighter. If you make any hostile act towards an Imperial craft we'll blow you out of the stars. Understood?"

 

The Rebel nodded and climbed in, the Stormtroopers keeping blasters trained on her the whole time. Kirrek reached into the cockpit and hit the engine start, at the same time slipping the datapad into the side while the troopers couldn't see. After stepping away the officer and troopers waited nearby the few minutes until the fighter received clearance and launched. A pair of Tie craft followed soon after them.

 

045

[Paul]

Well you have got quite a bit posted while I was in the hospital this week Defender, good work. Keep it up. Looks good so far. - Grand Moff Conway

[Defender_16]

I was wondering where you were. Jeez you ok?

 

I hope seeing another Rebel post won't put you back in the hospital.

 

+ + +

 

Booster Terrik, long-time smuggler and part-time Admiral in the Rebel fleet, bellowed at the top of his lungs to be heard over the bridge crew.

"Karrde, if you've been holding back any tricks for a special occasion now would be a good time."

 

Talon Karrde edged closer to Booster so that he wouldn't forced to shout as his partner had. "How long until that Imp taskforce gets here?"

 

"Best time is five minutes I figure." Replied the larger man shrugging.

They'd been pursued for nearly a week now by an Imperial taskforce after hijacking a heavy transport. Eventually the fleet had called for an Interdictor and so, a Dominator class ship had finally cut them off. The Galactic Venture may have been a big ship but even if she'd been a Star Destroyer it wouldn't be able to hold off the small Destroyer force that was after them.

 

Karrde paused with a comlink half raised to his lips. "Can the Venture drive off a Dominator in five minutes?"

 

"It depends on how good the equipment you gave us is. Pilot! Put us nose to nose with that vapin' Imp dragship. Get the fighters out there to cover us."

 

The smuggler built warship started to come about. The second that the main drives cleared the line of sight for the heavy turbolasers the weapons opened up. The topside guns unleashed everything they had. Fire from four Turbolaser and two Ion Cannon turrets lit up the Dominator's shields. The Imperial ship's return fire struck the Venture's re-enforced port shields. Imperial Skiprays launched their Torpedoes nearly overwhelming the Rebel ship's energy defences.

 

Then the T-wings and Tie Clutch craft swept out from behind the Venture. A few concussion missiles struck the blastboats before the approaching wave of Tie Starfighters caught up. Four squadrons of Interceptors and one of Avengers faced off against six squadrons Rebel fighters. Wheeling and darting neither side made themselves easy target. The Rebels had the advantage of shields on every fighter but the Imperials had better training.

 

Fighters that took damaged looped out of the main fight either to recharge shields or limp back to their carriers. All the while the Venture turned to face head on toward the Interdictor. When the maneuver was completed the ship thrust ahead with engines cranked past their safety limits. The Turbolasers on the forward hull were able to more easily open fire now filling space with more light. Quadlasers mounted amidships chased off any more blastboats that tried to make torpedo runs at the ship's flank.

 

"Range to target?" Asked the large Corellian.

"Not close enough." Responded the Secondary Weapons officer.

"Equalise the shields, the bow has enough extra plate to take a few hits."

 

"Booster what did you do with those weapons I traded you from the main stockyard?" Asked Karrde.

 

"Well to be honest I gave most of them to Iblis two years ago."

 

"But not all I assume?"

The bridge shook from Turbolaser impacts that had punched through the shields striking the bow.

 

Booster grinned at Karrde then turned back to his special weapons officer. "Range! How long?!"

 

"Ten...nine.."

"Divert power to the forward conveyors. Prepare to lever open the forward hold."

 

"Two...one...range."

 

"Weapons power to forward shields. Open the bay doors!"

 

The Heavily armoured sections making up the protective doors for the forward cargo hold swung down and out of the way exposing a honeycomb of tube like assemblies.

 

"Fire."

 

Thirty Torpedoes and Ten Heavy missiles flashed out of the forward bay. They struck the shields of the Interdictor like a wave with the slower Heavy missiles lagging only slightly behind. The Gravity Well disappeared and the aft shields dropped from the Imperial ship as her Captain put all defences forward. Some of the Heavy Missiles penetrated before the shields could be brought back up. Explosions were walked up the hull along the midline leaving five large craters. One of the forward gravity projectors was also hit spewing debris into the vacuum.

 

Another twenty Torpedoes flashed out and the remaining shields imploded. The Imperial ship began a hard turn putting all power to engines. The Tie craft rushed back to help cover their carrier as it fled.

 

"That'll do. Helm get us out of here."

 

The Venture turned and headed away in the opposite direction of the Interdictor. Fighters recovery began with the Tie clutch craft landing first. The large bays built out of two scrapped Strike Cruisers allowed the fighter to take off and land faster than most other ships.

 

Not far ahead of the Venture a small flotilla of armed freighters emerged from Hyperspace. At the forefront of them were the Pulsar Skate and an X-wing with green stripes.

"It looks like my no good Son-in-law finally arrived." Frowned Booster

 

"We should get out of here while we still have time." Commented Karrde.

 

"Fine." Booster picked up a comlink. "Venture to Skate, Mirax get us some nav co-ordinates quick. We have an Imperial fleet to lose."

 

"Already have some." Replied Booster's daughter over the com. "Compliments of the Bothan."

 

+++

 

When they were safely in hyperspace Booster turned to Karrde.

"Kre'fey wants us to do something for him or he wouldn't have given Mirax a set of jumps to follow."

 

"The question should be will he be able to afford our services?"

 

Booster laughed. "I hope you can afford another IOU Karrde."

 

046

Edited November 1, 2007 by Defender_16

[Paul]

Defender,

It was a minor rebel scum post, and I actually liked it. Good job. - Grand Moff Conway

[tacoJoemeru]

I like the modifications you made to the Venture.

[Defender_16]

Oh no, I totally didn't finish the picture/design of the Galactic Venture!

 

I was hoping to have Mad or someone model it in 3D for me at some point.

 

(It's totally not a Star Destroyer btw.)

 

It's based arround a 'Modular Star Hauler' or 'Modular Taskforce Cruiser.' Both ships are essentially the same thing and I could really care less which one it starts out as. Booster has been building this thing up for more than a decade now into a sort of Warship/Carrier/Cargo hauler allowing him to go Pirate.

[tacoJoemeru]

Hey, Modular Task Force Cruisers work too.

[Defender_16]

+ + +

 

Shanna Vance lead the way into the darkened interior of the Alien structure.

She held a blaster pistol in one hand and her lightsaber in the other. Two Troopers flanked her using their helmet lights to illuminate the corridor. The walls and ceiling were coated in a faintly glowing lichen but it seemed to grow more dim as they approached.

 

The remaining armed civilians and two Troopers stood guard at the entrance leaving a much reduced fireteam to scout the building. As interested as Jag was to learn more about the alien Yuuzhan Vong, sneaking into a building behind enemy lines wouldn't have been his first choice. He certainly had never expected to be anywhere near someone armed with a lightsaber.

 

Eventually they entered into a cavern like room that must have been near the center of the structure. Suspended from the ceiling were several of what appeared to be a rack like restraint device. Three of them were occuped.

 

"Watch yourselves." Cautioned Vance. "Don't get too close to those things."

 

One of the racks, which again turned out to be living creations, held a Tie pilot and the other two held Stormtroopers minus their armour. "Is there any way we get them out?" asked Jag looking a bit more closely. One or two appendages from the rack were wrapped arround each person's neck, as well as arms and legs.

 

Vance smirked for a second and then frowned in concentration. "These racks that are holding them seem to be keeping them at a set level of pain."

 

"Stormtroopers are trained to brace themselves against pain from wounds." Commented one of the commandoes.

 

Vance checked the racks again. "The ones holding the Stormtroopers look a bit tighter. Like they're inflicting more pain on them. Hard to tell for sure since they're all unconsious."

 

"Permission to wake one the troopers sir?" Asked the same Commando.

"Granted." Nodded Vance.

 

The armoured figure searched his utility belt for a moment until he found a small hypospray. He reached up and pressed it to the back of the trapped man's head before injecting it's contents.

"Used to wake people up from concussions. Not especially good for you but it's better than sitting in a coma."

 

The trapped man began to wake up and the appendages holding his body tightened forcing a grunt of pain from him. "We're trying to get you out of there soldier just hang on."

The other man did his best to nod.

 

"Ideas?" Asked Vance.

One of the Commandoes pulled against one of the restraining arms to loosen it and the others tigntened. "That's not going to work."

 

Jag looked from the prisoner and than to Vance. "Sir, you said it's keeping them in a constant level of pain right? What would happen if we inflicted more pain than the device was causing?"

 

Vance looked to the Commando closest to the rack. "Inflict a minor wound that we have enough medical equipment to deal with."

 

The Commando pulled out a vibroblade, checked that it was turned off, and then stabbed the trapped man in the arm. The prisoner groaned through clenched teeth, but the arms holding him loosened somewhat.

"It works but we'd probably kill him before we get him out of there at this rate."

The man hefted a pistol. "Gutshot or Stun Bolt?" He asked the Intel officer.

 

"Gutshot." The trapped man mannaged to get out.

"Do it." agreed Vance.

 

The commando angled himself so that the shot would angle across the front of his abdomen rather than burning straight into him and possibly hitting organs. The bright red bolt lit the room and the rack dropped somewhat but didn't release it's prisoner.

Vance, annoyance clear on her face, walked over and thumbed on her lightsaber slashing through the weakened strands in one swipe. The prisoner dropped into the waiting arms of the other Commandos who quickily applyed a bacta bandage to the gut wound.

 

There soft noise from one of the other entrances to the room and everyone brough weapons to bear. Nothing had appeared yet but it was getting closer.

 

"Let's get the other ones down quick."

 

The commando shot each of the still trapped prisoners without waking them up. Thankfully it still caused enough pain for the grasping racks to loosen. Two lightsaber slashes later and both men were on the floor.

 

Finally the thing that had been causing the noise entered the room. None of the Troopers fired immediately so that their mission recorders could get a good look at the creature. It was a sort of purplish pink colour and moved about slowly on four stubby legs. On the top of it's body though were appendages obviously intended to reach up to the trapped prisoners. The ends of some looked slightly sharp while other parts were covered in white almost rocklike pustules. It wandered about the room searching the racks for prisoners but generally ignoring the group of standing soldiers.

 

"Kill it." The first word was barely out of Shanna's mouth when four red beams converged on the creatures body. It dropped to the floor writhing for a moment, spilling blood on the floor. Small puffy almost sluglike creatures began to appear from near or possibly in the walls. They began to soak up the small blood spills left by the larger one.

 

"Get a sample of one of those white things then burn it. We need to get out of here."

 

047

Edited November 1, 2007 by Defender_16

[DarthTex]

Excellent post Def. This is new material right?

[Paul]

I concur with Tex , great post dude. - Grand Moff Conway

[tacoJoemeru]

I'm pretty sure this is new Tex. Course, I could be wrong...

[Defender_16]

Tis indeed new, and so was the piece with Booster, and the one before that.

 

+++

 

The scout team now burdened by three wounded and only partially consious men had no choice but to return to the entrance. Rowan glanced over the three new wounded additions to the team. "Find any civillians in there?"

 

Jag shook his head. "There were restraints for more prisoners but these were the only ones there."

 

"Maybe this is where they break them in?" Suggested one of the Commandoes.

 

"Doesn't matter now." Said Vance "Let's drop a beacon and clear out before this place is hit from orbit."

 

Two Commandos took point and Vance brought up the rear while everyone else helped with the wounded. They headed west toward one of the roadways that headed into the city. It may have been closer to the larger troop concentrations of the city but it was the closest landing zone that a shuttle could set down in.

 

Half way there they encountered a group of Yuuzhan Vong and the team started taking Razorbug fire. "Go!" Yelled Vance as she batted one of the flying weapons out of the air with her lightsaber. One of the Commandoes pulled out a larger than normal com set and began broadcasting as they ran.

"This is insertion team Alpha requesting emergency evac. Landing zone will be hot. Co-ordinates..."

 

Those not notally burdened by the freed prisoners fired wildly into the forest all arround them. A Razorbug struck a tree next to Jag at shoulder level and he spared a moment to shoot it before it could free itself.

 

"Whatever happened to good old blasters and grenades?" shouted Rowan over the shooting. As if to make his point one of the Commandos stopped and threw a thermal detonator back the way they'd come. A sharp crack echoed through the forest five seconds later and a tree crashed to the ground. "Take that 'ya Alien bastards!"

 

The sound of heavy cannon fire could be heard from up ahead as the team approached the roadway embankment. As they cleared the tree line they say that two Assault Shuttles and a upgraged Lambda hovered above the roadway spraying the area with their lasers. The Assault shuttles turned to create a defensive wall behind which the other shuttle descended to the ground.

 

Quan Rowan's grin was ear to ear as he turned to Jag "This is what I call extraction under fir-ght!" He was cut off mid sentance as an amphistaff jutted out from the center of his chest. A Yuuzhan Vong warrior stood up, his armour the same colour as the planet's unusual plantlife. He shoved the large man's body off the end of his snake like blade with a kick. Jag swung his carbine arround just in time for the Amphistaff to cut the weapon cleanly in two.

 

As the living blade came back for it's return swing Shanna's yellow lightsaber interposed itself forcing the amphistaff out of the way. The one armed Commando triggered a burst with his Carbine hitting the warrior in the neck and face. Jag fell back just as the Warior began to drop and he pulled out his small pistol. Jag and the Trooper fired a few more times into the warrior while Vance resumed batting Razor bugs out of the air.

 

Rowan was dead, and too large for anyone else to be spared to haul his large body to the shuttle. The survivors clambered up the ramp to the shuttle. Their lightsaber weilding member was the last aboard, jumping up to the ramp even as the shuttle started to lift. The Trio of shuttles flew off to the west as Turbolaser bolts started to rain down from orbit setting the forest ablaze.

 

048

Edited November 1, 2007 by Defender_16