Talon Intelligence Squad

ummmm. just one little question before we start. what am i supposed to do???

 

in other words, what Talon # am I? last time i checked i was #10.

 

<<In the excercise, I chose numbers according to the list Kit came up with in Team 2. So if your the third person down in Team 2, your Talon 3 in Team 2. Nomi, your Talon 7 in Team 2. Team 1 has the Hawk, Team 2 has the Eagle. I am on Team 2. Maybe that is not the best way to do things, so if someone wants to make any concrete roster/plot setting please do so. Sorry for any inconvenience.>>

[This message has been edited by Talon Squad Leader (edited 02-02-2000).]

 

<<<Sorry if this is a bit wordy. I'm not good at descibing gadgetry.>>>

Ken laughed quietly to himself. Ah, he would love to see the look on the General's face when he pulled his little surprise. He would probably end up with kitchen duty for the rest of his military career, but he had already decided to live in the moment. Just thinking about the possible punishments made him shudder. Like taste-testing Bullwinkle's new concoctions.

He turned as Mara Jade tapped him on the shoulder. "Sir, I thought I saw one of the A-wings missing back at base," she said softly. "Do you think Team Two..."

"Probably." Ken smiled. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about? Having a fighter on hand could give them a huge advantage over us. They could locate our position in minutes."

"Just because they've taken it doesn't mean they've got it all to themselves."

Mara was looking at him like he had lost his mind. Ken bent close, like he was divulging a precious secret. Which he was.

"I've been working on modifying that missing A-wing - the Fledgling - throughout our training, and I've added a few features the General doesn't know about. He may crack the initial security codes, but there are some things that he has no control over. Like the onboard slave-circuit built into the main computer. They can't remove it or deactivate it without completely grounding the fighter for at least a week - time that they can't afford, assuming that they detect anything's wrong at all. And the circuit's keyed to only one remote."

Ken fiddled with the chronometer on his wrist. He twisted the cover to right, then flipped it up, revealing a tiny panel with three active data-readouts. "Right here."

Mara peered at the read-outs and he explained. "See? This tells me where the Fledgling is at all times, its proximity to us, and how fast its going."

He snapped shut the cover, gave it another turn. When he opened it again, there was a different panel there. "Now this is the ship's caller. If I push it, then wherever the Fledgling is, it'll come strait to our location. Doesn't matter whether anyone's piloting it or not. Once it receives the caller's signal, the A-wing will ignore any manual commands."

Ken dropped his pack to the ground, sifted through it until he produced a small remote. He showed her the various buttons on one side. In the middle of everything was blank pad, like the ones attached to the computers back at base. "This is the best feature," he said with a grin. "If I activate this remote and plug it into my chronometer, then all control of the Fledgling is transferred directly to me. Weapons, engines, manuevering, everything.

"I spent a long time working on this system. At first it was to repel anyone who might want to steal the baby-bird." He shrugged and put away the remote. "Who knew that would include our own commanding officer?"

He looked down as his chronometer beeped. "Well well, looks like the Fledgling's on the move." He flipped to the caller and pushed the button. "Too bad it's not going where Team Two wants it."

 

Team 1 followed Ty-Gon through the terrain, the Jedi hardly slowed by inclines, fallen branches or other obstacles. Quis had a hard time keeping up. She desperately wanted to talk to him.

"So!" She said excitedly. "You're a Jedi Knight huh?"

"That's correct."

"Boy am I glad we've got you on our team. I was getting a bit worried there. I mean, it's not like I'm the greatest asset to the team is it now? What good am I in a combat situation anyway? I'm slow, uncoordinated..."

Great Quis. Why don't you impress the Jedi with your impressive skills in babbling and self denegration.

The Jedi didn't reply.

"Anyway, I'm Quis Heartilly, everyone calls me 'Q'."

Ty-Gon shook her hand. "A pleasure."

Quis couldn't keep up with the Jedi any longer and fell behind him. That went well... She cursed herself silently.

Today she wouldn't be useless. Today she'd win the day. Her stealth device would bring victory to the home side. This was going to be fun.

Quis strugled over a fallen branch, catching her cammo gear on it. The others, not noticing, continued.

"Ummm, hey! Guys? Can I have a hand here?"

 

The General smiled. The A-wing rose and flew to Team 1's location. The bomb on the fighter would blow up as soon as it approached their location. He smiled again.

 

Ken suddenly frowned, something occurring to him. "Hey, that A-wing will make so much noise coming this way, it will alert the other team to our location. Better keep it at a fair distance until we actually need it."

He turned off the caller and took the remote from his pack, pulling a long antennae out of the top and activating the manual controls. He kept an eye on the coordinates of the ship as he plugged it into his chronometer.

The Fledgling, at first angling strait toward them, abruptly veered in its path, heading instead to the right. It settled in a remote clearing a good kilometer away, but still within easy call distance.

Putting the remote away, Ken shook out his wrist and winced. He'd been using the stupid chronometer device so much his joints were beginning to hurt.

<<<Touché, eh General? >>>

 

A soft breeze rustled the leaves in the tops of the trees and the light from the sun danced on the ground. Jaren Kai began to move again, letting the noise of the leaves cover the soft noises of his movement. He scanned the surroundings with a careful eye, alert for any movement.

Over the past hour he had moved the short distance to his team's base and had begun a systematic recon of the entire area. He had familiarized himself with every fallen tree, stream, and boulder, and was now moving to a spot he had noted earlier that would make a perfect sniping position. It was on a small hill with a fallen tree nearby and covered all the likely avenues of attack the other team might use.

He began by setting up his camo netting in the branches of the downed tree. The camo netting was constructed of a material that would dissapate his heat signature and scatter any sensor beams.

Once the net was in place, Jaren examined his handiwork from several angles to make sure it wasn't visible. Then he settled in to wait for the rest of the team.

 

Telia Aris, waited patiently for just the right time to strike. She knew the regualar signs that Jaren had drilled into her. So instead of waiting for those signs, she was waiting for just the opposite.

She turned to Nomi Jade.

"Tell them to get ready, the enemy is on the move."

 

The General looked around. He knew what was happening. He lost the A-wing and it was NOT going towards the other team's location. So what. He called R2 on the secure line he had.

"R2."

"beep bop deep deooop"

"Be ready for the enemy to be coming your way. I'm goint to take the speeder bike we brought. Did H9 install the jamming and sensor devices on it?"

"dloop deep dop"

"Good. Send it to a heading of 270. I will take it from there."

"deeip" was R2's single answer.

He had heard that his team was moving out. He was going to scout ahead and try to keep the other team guessing where they were.

[This message has been edited by Talon Squad Leader (edited 02-03-2000).]

 

General Kevin Ski, Talon Leader, was thoroughly enjoying the excercise. He jumped on the bike and prepared it immediately. A special comlink on his utility belt buzzed. He answered it.

"Uhhh, sir?" said a tinny voice. It was H9.

"Go ahead H9." He was at the observation post.

"A fleet of ships, mainly Strike Cruisers and Frigates but also a Star Destroyer, has dropped out of hyperspace right outside the planet's atmoshphere. They are unmarked, but it is suspected they are part of the Krayt Dragon Fleet of the Black Fire Mercenary Group."

The General gasped. That was the group his squad was being sent to spy on. "What are they doing?"

"Apparently they are preparing a landing force. We think that this is their new base."

That seemed logical. An abandoned location near Coruscant would allow them to strike the planet and Republic fleet with impunity.

"Signal my squad. End the war games. Have the squad regroup. We need to plan and prepare. I want to sabatoge and destroy these invaders."

"Yes, sir."

He got on the bike and rode off to prep the Eagle. Whoa, he almost forgot. He pressed a small red button on his camo suit. It was linked to the bomb on the Fledgling. They might need the little fighter later on.

 

The soft whine of a starship's repulsorlifts slowly became audible coming in over the trees. Jaren Kai glanced at his chrono and thought, that must be the Hawk coming in. The rest of team one had stayed behind at a temproary LZ to check the shuttle for any tracking deveces while Jaren went ahead to scout out the base. He had spent the last hour planning possible ways a team might attack this area and ways to protect against just such an attack.

Jaren slowly stood up, stretched, and started moving to meet the rest of the team to brief them on what he had learned. He had only moved a few meters from his sniping position when he noticed another sound. Several more ships were approaching at high speed. Starfighters.

He hit the deck as the fighters screamed past just above tree-level. He couldn't make out the type, but they didn't seem like anyting team two could possibly have.

As he started making his way stealthily back to his sniping position among the branches of the fallen tree, a large troop shuttle came into view and landed about 30 meters from the abandoned buildings team one was planning to use as it's base.

Jaren pulled out a pair of macrobinoculars and watched as troops in dark grey armor poured out of the shuttle and began setting up a perimeter. Another shuttle landed and technicians began moving electronic equipment into the buildings.

He was suddenly very aware of the fact that he had left his sniper rifle on the shuttle. It hadn't been needed in the wargames and now he felt a little naked without it.

He had to warn the rest of Talon squad before they were spotted by whoever these troops were. He pulled his communicator out of a pocket in his tac-vest and set it for an encrypted burst transmission.

"This it Jaren Kai calling all Talon squad. I have an emergency. An unknown dropship has landed in grid 64. Starfighter support is present. Repeat they have starfighter support. I am moving to rendezvous with the Hawk. Over"

Jaren returned the communicator to it's pocket, gathered his gear and started making his way quietly back to where the Hawk had landed. He left the camo netting in place just in case he needed it there later.

 

Telia Aris ran to Commander Kevin Ski.

"Sir, I just heard, what is going on?"

He turned from his observation post to talk to her.

"Looks like we have some unexpected visitors that want to crash our party."

Telias' eyes flashed with excitment.

Well, what is going to be our next move General Ski?"

 

<<Let me ask one question. Everybody is all right with this change in plot and speed, right? If not, I have a plot written out in the event you want to resume the war games, and a plot also written if you want to go immediately to "war" against the mercenaries. I like both scenarios, so in the words of Saturday Night Live's Coffee Talk Lady: Talk amongst yourselves...I'll give you a topic, the two plots...Discuss.
Please inform me of your decision at a later time. Thanks. >>


[This message has been edited by Talon Squad Leader (edited 02-03-2000).]

 

Commander- I vote for not fighting against each other- that gets confusing. Nice Linda Richmond reference.
"The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. Discuss."

[This message has been edited by Ty-gon Jinn (edited 02-03-2000).]

 

Ty-gon Jinn looked up. The starfighters touched down on the hill ahead of him. Someone stepped out. He motioned to the small team following him. They all pulled their blasters out, and he grabbed his lightsaber. He signalled Mekial. She pulled out her commlink. "Team Two? This is Mekial. The starfighters have touched down approximately..." she consulted he direction computer, "50 degrees north of our base."
Jinn nodded to Jaren Kai. He began directing the small troop into a strike force. Jinn then looked at Quis. "You impressed me earlier. That is, if you don't count attention to details."
"Details?"
"Specifically, branches." He laughed. Then, he regained his seriousness. "Would you like to lead the charge over the hill?"

[This message has been edited by Ty-gon Jinn (edited 02-03-2000).]

 

oops!

[This message has been edited by Talon Squad Leader (edited 02-04-2000).]

 

opps! again

[This message has been edited by Talon Squad Leader (edited 02-04-2000).]

 

oops! again A quadruple post....new record

[This message has been edited by Talon Squad Leader (edited 02-04-2000).]

 

"Roger that, Team One. We're currently planning a strategy."

"Aris, lead the group to the Team One's location. I'll head out to the A-wing. We need starfighter cover and that is the only source we have.

"Yes, sir. Team Two, move out."

He got on the speeder bike and sped away to the A-wing. He saw it and skidded to a halt. He opened the cockpit and got in. The power was already on and every sensor was recording. It was time to draw some attention away from his team.

He put his helmet on and the comlink crackled. The fighter rose from the ground.

"General?" That was Ty-gonn and Team One.

"Here. I'm in the air. I'll provide air cover. Take out the landing shuttle near your postion. According to my scopes seems awfully close."

"Already on that, sir."

 

Mara Jade crept amid the trees, a palm-sized computer in one hand. She was on a bit of a reconnaisance mission, trying to figure out what surprises the surrounding terrain held, and how to use them to her team's advantage.

Presently, her commlink beeped. She flicked it off, annoyed. The sound carried far in these parts, and she didn't want anyone finding out where she was...

Suddenly, she heard a noise from the direction of her team's base. She turned just in time to see a ship drop below the treeline. Mara stared at it a moment, eyes wide with shock. Then she let fly a couple of rather shocking Corellian phrases she'd learned to freak out her parents. Fumbling with her commlink, the young hacker managed to get through to General Ski.

"General, this is Lieutenant Jade, unidentified dropship--"

"I'm aware of that, Lieutenant," replied the general rather dryly. "I was trying to get through to you, but you turned off your commlink."

Mara blushed. Talk about bad timing... "What should I do, sir?" she asked, trying not to lose her cool completely.

"Regroup with the rest of the squadron. On the double." He terminated the communication.

Closing her eyes momentarily, Mara tried to get ahold of herself. She was vividly aware of the blaster strapped to her waist, and prayed that she wouldn't find reason to use it while she was without comrades.

Then she stood up and headed towards the rendezvous point, silently cursing with each step. Trouble always seems to strike when I'm in a crummy position...

 

Jaren Kai made his way back to the Hawk and found Kendrick studying a map of the area.

"We got your message Lieutneant," Ken said without looking up. "I'm in the process of gathering the entire squad here so we can attack their base."

"Sir," Jaren began, "we need to take it quickly. If they get a message off to their ships and let them know we are here, they can have a company of troops on the ground in 20 minutes with starfighters to back them up. And that's assuming they don't just bomb us into atoms from space. As for the ships in orbit..." he shrugged.

"As for the ships in orbit," Ken began with a wicked grin, "we steal one of their shuttles, sneak on board and blow it up from the inside. I'll need to get this plan authorized by General Ski of course."

"I like that plan sir," Jaren said, duplicating Kendrick's smile.

[This message has been edited by Idiots Array (edited 02-04-2000).]

 

Rinin walked confidently towards the base. There was no one around. Unperturbed he kept on, pushing his way through the door he was accosted by a droid.
? Excuse me sir, but you are trespassing on private property.? It said metallically. Rinin just smiled.
?I?m actually here to sign up for the Talon squad. I?m a healer.?
?Oh, Commander Kevin is away at the moment so I?m afraid you?ll have to speak to Captain Kithera.? The droid beeped. ?This way sir.? It trundled off through the passages and Rinin followed dutifully in it?s foot steps. Finally it stopped just outside a room.
?Sir, I think you will find Captain Kithera inside.? It trundled away. Undaunted Rinin knocked on the door but there was no answer. Rinin pushed the door open. He just opened his mouth and stared.
I had at least expected her to be concious he thought. The girls face was as white as the pillow it lay on. Tubes ran from her arm into a clear bag of fluid. Without thinking Rinin walked over and checked the med-sheets.
"She's overdosed on what? And they just left her here?" He sighed. "What ever it was I'm sure it was important." Rinin turned his smile back on the unconcious girl.
"Lucky for you I always keep and antidote for that stuff." he searched through the bags on his belt and finally held up a blue vial. He dropped the contents into the bag and waited for a few moments.

The girl stirred and opened her eyes. She went to sit up.
"Ahh I wouldn't do that." Rinin said but it was too late. The girl only ended throwing up. Rinin was prepared, bucket in hand. Finally she lent back.
'Who are...?" she asked
"Rinin, I'm a healer. I was going to join the Talon Squadron. But they seem to have left."
"War games."
"I beg your pardon?"
"War games. They have gone on war games. My name is Captain Kithera and I am glad to welcome you aboard."
"Hey yeah well um...." Rinin began but sirens cut him off. Kithera struggled to rise and Rinin placed a firm hand on her shoulder.
"Your not going anywhere." he ordered.
"Did I mention I was second in command? At the moment I over rule you. Let me up." Kithera said annoyance in her voice. Rinin went to reply but gave in. Kithera pushed herself out of bed and stood swaying at the edge for a second before she gained her balance. Using Rinin as a leaning post Kit walked down to the scanning room. The place was ablaze with flashing lights. She sat down at one of the computers and Rinin put a blanket over her shoulders.
"Holy Sith spawn." she cursed. "They've got an entire fleet of imperials down there. That would mean....." she fiddled round at the back of the computer. "Got it. Lets go."
"Go where?" Rinin asked.
"The planet of course. This computer will allow me to track the ships. My plane should be hidden out there somewhere."
"Excuse me your forgetting one thing. It's called hundreads of imperial starships."
"No Rinin. It's called protecting ones team and I have the technology and weapons to do that. We won't be picked up by radar or anything."

Rinin spent the rest of the hour packing the ship with what was deemed essential materials. Weapons and technology were all boarded. Kit looked on her face variating between shades of green and white. Finally they were ready.
"Lets head out." Kit said. Rinin sat down in the pilot's seat and grinned at the look Kit gave him.
"I may be lower then you captain, but your too sick to fly. I however am and excellant pilot." he said softly and then they were off.

 

"Maybe you should lead the charge, sir Jedi. I wasn't really born a fighter," Quis smiled, wonderring if the Jedi was really serious about her leading the charge.

There was an awkward silence as she stood with the Jedi. Jaren had gone to speak with Kendrick. Quis decided that seeing as there was a possibility of a real battle, now would be a good time to let everyone in on her 'secret weapon'. She pulled the stealth device out from under her cammo gear.

"Hey!" She said too loudly to the Jedi. "Look at this!"

Quis activated the device and became almost transparent. Ty-Gon was taken aback.

"Pretty neat, huh? I think this stealth device will come in very useful."

 

"More useful than you might realize," Ty-gon said quietly. Quickly, he dove for the controller, and cranked up the power. The entire platoon was now transparent. The whole group dove to the ground, and was unnoticable as the guards from the starfighter came over to investigate Quis' shout.
Not finding anything, the guards turned back, and suddenly fell over in their tracks. Jinn, still tranparent, was standing there, smoking blaster in hand. He took the setting off "Stun," and proceeded to tie them up. He then sent their team sniper to take them back to the base.
He looked at Quis. "Perhaps I should lead the charge." He stood up, and ignited his lightsaber. Then he heard something. It sounded like a flock of geese. He looked up to see Kevin Ski following him in the Fledgeling.

[This message has been edited by Ty-gon Jinn (edited 02-04-2000).]