Star Wars OPEN Paradoxical Echoes: An Original Trilogy Game (Always Accepting New Players)

IC: Stormtrooper ARA-2240 "Forty" (nrc), Javin OverSector Command
Location: Javin

Forty had made it inside the massive cloudscraper, and taken a turbolift up into the innards forming part of the military base, as opposed to one of the hotel levels.

He could be wrong, but he got the impression that the military part was sandwiched between the hotel and leisure parts, though he felt that he would not be surprised to learn of any interlacing of the two purposes to complicate attacks.

Although whomever had sent that civilian star cruiser, clearly didn't give a frag.

He paused to stand next to one of the myriad windows, gloved palms pressed onto the transparisteel as he gazed down at the mostly submerged craft outside, the helmet lenses adjusting to compensate for the sun's glare.

I didn't notice any sign that the Empire made an attempt to stop it. He thought, musing as to why it hadn't hit the Command complex, after all.

It's arrival was deliberate, he felt. He frowned under the helmet, as it occurred to him that its' safe arrival might be as well.

Either the Javin OverSector Command suffered from Paper Tiger syndrome, and its' legendary defenses were a sham, or it had been allowed to crash here.

Was it an elaborate smuggling exercise; or a false flag operation, an attack that could be blamed on Rebels, but in fact, nothing to do with them? Were potential observers being distracted from something else?
Like the Darkest Night coming back in, so soon after being deployed.

Reminded of his mission, ARA-2240 turned from the window to regard the heavy traffic of organics and droids, coming and passing in both directions.

Checking lower down, he spotted a likely candidate, and stepped in front of a black torsoed, transparent domed astromech, rolling along on three legs, showing it one of his palms as a signal to stop.

It complied immediately, as the organised chaos continued to one side of them, with the pair too close to the window side for anything fatter than mynock to slip down.

The droid regarded him with its' main photoreceptor, then with a melodic whistle and bloops, noted that he was a little short for a stormtrooper.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Forty shifted position for comfort as he dropped his hands to his groin and adjusted the soggy bodysuit down below, then sank clumsily to one knee. "Okay, that was a mistake; I'm going to need your help to get back up." He warned. Then, "Voice Override: Epsilon Actual."

The trooper felt a moment of panic when nothing happened. That had always worked before on droids.
"Alright then... Voice Override: Original Gangster."

The droids lights dimmed, and it straightened, retracting the central third leg.

The relief was palpable, and he exhaled hard.
"Good, you are working for me now; let's go find a data point."

To be continued...

 

IC: Captain Xavier Kyte, Commander Steven Quell, Commander Firmus Piett
Hanger Bay, Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Aggressor, high orbit above the planet of Entralla


The Lambda-class T-4a Shuttle came in for a landing as its wings folded upwards and its landing gear deployed and touched down on the cold surface of the hanger deck. As the landing ramp deployed down, Captain Xavier Kyte and Commander Steven Quell stood facing the shuttle several yards back, a collection of four Imperial Navy Troopers flanking the set of officers with a naval ensign standing off to the side.

Commander Firmus Piett came down the ramp, his uniform pressed and his boots polished. Behind Captain Kyte, the lonely Ensign and Quell both snapped to attention and saluted, while it was Piett that saluted Kyte as he smartly came to a stop.

"Commander Piett arriving as ordered, sir," Piett said matter-of-factly.

Xavier returned the salute and said, "At ease, commander," and extended a hand, "Captain Xavier Kyte," the two men shook hands before Xavier introduced his second-in-command, "This is Commander Steven Quell, my second-in-command," Piett and Quell shook hands and exchanged greetings.

"You come highly recommended by Grand Moff Tarkin," Kyte said.

Piett replied thinly, "The Grand Moff sees my usefulness."

Kyte directed the group towards the distant turbolift and the four Imperial Navy Troopers followed in a box escort formation as the lonely ensign brought up the rear, "We hear you have experience dealing with Separatist Holdouts?"

"Yes," Piett replied, adding, "Tarkin put me in charge of rounding up the last remnants from the Clone Wars. I hear you have a particularly bad case out here?"

"Yes," Kyte replied, "Unfortunately and rather sudden in its appearance. Either these Separatists migrated from somewhere else in the galaxy or were well hidden. Either way, their appearance has caused several problems. First and foremost, its affecting the New Territories' business interests and shipping lanes, as our available escort ships can't possibly cover all the attack vectors from these ambushes and by the time they arrive at a site where we didn't have escort ships or not enough of them, the raiders are long gone with all the supplies. We suspect local pirates are assisting these Separatists or, even, are the Separatists themselves as well. Secondly, its starting to worry the Velcar Free Commerce Zone, which holds considerable political power out here. With our forces stretched thin already and Imperial Outer Rim High Command unable to send reinforcements, Moff Kaine felt someone of your talents and experience with Separatists could help us relieve the region of its problems more efficiency with our limited resources."

"Ah," Piett replied, adding, "I heard it was you, Captain, that suggested the transfer?"

"I merely suggested you to the Moff," Kyte replied with a thin smile.

"I see. And if this wild adventure becomes unfilled, whose head shall be on the platter?" Piett asked with a smirk of mischief.

"That's why the Navy has ensigns," Quell replied.

As the three higher ranked officers laughed together, the lone ensign rolled his eyes at the front of the turbolift that he shared with two of the Navy Troopers (the other two troopers in the back) as it carried the convoy towards the bridge.



NO TAG

 

IC: Havah Jeth
Maryo


The man was a risk taker who now needed to be shown Lord Visor’s bait.

Looking back he noted a hand sign and motion from Taller, looked like Lord Visor was going to make his move. And of course the obvious droid muscle seemed to be his priority. Only he doubted that would be it. He didn't note any pacification turret mounts hidden or otherwise, but he knew there had to be something else. If this guy cheated others this often and was still alive he had to have other protection besides just measly droids.

"Courage Stack!" Taller barked, gaining the retired businessman's attention as Taller came and all but invited himself to the table, taking out a chair and sitting down.

At that Havah backed up a bit, moving intentionally to where the droids should be coming from. Apparently this was going to be an interesting conversation - one had to have justification after all.

"And who are you?" Courage said back.

"Lord Visor," Taller replied, flashing a smile, "Mining Guild."

"Not interested Visor," Stack said, easily dismissing the man as he turned his face to a group of Twi'lek dancers walking across his vision in the distance.

"I didn't ask if you were," Taller replied, throwing a pair of boots up onto the table with the legs behind them crossed, "And its Lord," Taller corrected, "Lord Visor," Rick looked to a half drank glass near him and grabbed the drink, looking at the besides himself-Courage Stack as the larger businessman stared Rick down. Taller gave a lopsided grin towards Courage, "I get really insulted when people forget the Lord part. I worked hard to get that title," Rick took a sip of the drink and said to Courage, "Wouldn't you agree?"

"My droids will---"

Taller held up a finger, "Now that's a step too far! You may be able to intimidate some yellow shirted fellow wearing a cape flashing more fake promises then a one-night stand with a Wookiee. But I have a Nagai bodyguard behind me who knows more things about torture and suffering then you could ever dream of," Taller allowed Courage to follow his eyes to Winterkill standing behind him, then Taller added, "As for your droids, well," Taller smirked, "Lets just say my Arkanian guard has been looking forward to some sparring practice. His last training---well, lets just say the droids didn't make it past twenty seconds. And there was four of them."

Havah knew this was all part of the show, but for crying out loud! Just because you could do something didn't mean you dared the other guy to up the attack level coming at you. You finished him quickly before they knew to raise their guard up any higher. This - this - was why he hated Lord Visor. Boasting braggarts always made a combat roll more difficult.

"Are you threatening me?" Courage spoke, his anger besides himself.

"Threaten---ing," Taller said, "Would imply I have something to loose," Rick wasted no time and produced a blaster pistol from his holster as he still relaxed with his feet up on the table and a drink in his other hand, "You have been threat---ened."

Courage started laughing, boasting, "You think you can come into my casino and tell me what to do?" His voice was barking so loud that the whole place stopped and turned to the noise at the center table.

"Yes, in fact, I do," Taller replied, adding as he glanced at Winterkill to give Havah a signal, "Instruct our Arkanian friend to disable the droids."

"Not so fast!" two tux suited humans, a Rodian tux suit, and a Bith tux suit emerged from the crowd opposite of Taller across the table, all of them sporting stun batons ripping with blue energy in one hand and DL-18 Blaster Pistols clearly visible and reversed holstered inside their tux coats along the side of their torsos, "Mr Courage doesn't deal with insults."

"I have more of them," Courage said, adding, "Privately well-paid security," the businessman turned his inside wrist to show a luxury comm watch with a red button on the side, "One push and this place will be swarming with armed guards."

Taller stared down the businessman, "You'll need them," Taller directed his next words to Winterkill, although his eyes never left Courage, "Would you please take care of those armed men?"

Taller kept a blaster trained on Courage as the place fell into chaos as innocents started running for cover as the two droids started to approach, which Havah would disable, and the four guards rushed towards Winterkill in blind rage. For Taller and Courage, the two kept staring at each other, one with a blaster, the other with a cigar, and both with fine drinks in their hands as they sipped away, carefree of the chaos that happened all around them.

Moving to the droids he made sure to let them recognize him as a threat and begin to close in in a V formation, with himself as the point at the bottom. As soon as they were two steps away, he dashed forward to the one on his left as it raised it's arm. Empty as it took the lead, apparently they hadn't overheard the boasting, which was good. As the droid tried to grab him in a bear hug he dived to the side, grabbing the droids holstered weapon as he went. Now he doubted the DH-17 was made to be enough to one shot the droid, so he let loose with two sets of double taps to the hips. Which as it tried to pivot saw the torso and upper body breaking away from the lower legs to fall to the ground. Unfortunately this is where having two of the KX models becomes a problem. As you take down one the other is watching and learning your movement style. Also the other had its blaster now equipped.

"Kark." he muttered as he feinted forward before using his hips to jerk right. Which saw a blast from the droid hitting a slot machine behind him a ways. Luckily as the machine smoked and started dispensing chits the droid paused for a moment.

"That was a low probability. Stand down or be terminated." as it finally seemed to shrug it off and turn toward him. He tried to dive only to feel a crushing grasp on his ankle as the droid fired again. This time it looked like it would of been a true kill shot if he hadn't been held up. Firing quickly he hit the blaster hand and the should inside the joint, disabling the droid gun arm as he felt himself being drawn back to the KX stuck on the floor. It was reeling him in to apparently do a fist crush on him by the way it was pushing itself up with it's free arm as he was pulled toward it.

He really missed his armor as he rolled partway up, wincing from the pain it sent shooting up from the droids grip on him. Unloading five shots into the torso and head finally saw the droid collapse. Disabled. Unfortunately still gripping his leg as he turned and saw the other rapidly approaching with long strides and an empty fist rotated back ready for a crushing blow. Unloading a second time he barely was able to roll out of the way before it came toppling down ontop of the first droid. Sitting up he shot off the wrist joint and gingerly but proudly stood over his victory. One droid hand still grasping his leg in a vise grip. The other droid was still holding its blaster in a death grip as well in it's disabled arm. Probably the only reason he wasn't dead.

With a minor limp he stepped forward. Blaster ready to aid Winterkill if the man needed it, or if some nasty trick finally showed itself for him to take down now that he had a blaster.

TAG @Bravo , & @greyjedi125 (for the armed guards)

 

IC: Winterkill
Casino, Maryo

He had been listening attentively, his dark eyes unflinchingly watching as the scene between the two ‘Masters’ unfolded, as ‘Lord Visor’ ever so cunningly manipulated the manipulator. It was a skill he admired and partly envied, though he had no talent in that regard- neither did he desire it. He had witnessed how it had been used for evil time and time again. Captain Taller was the only living being he personally knew, who did not allow himself to cross the line.

The stage was set, and then, the magic words were spoken by Lord Visor.

“Would you please take care of those armed men?”

Two humans. A Rodian and a Bith. They all had stun batons in hand, and their DL-18 Blaster Pistols visibly holstered inside their tux coats.

Winterkill turned to face them, calmly standing his ground, gauging, already sensing the flow of combat, even as the four rushed him in a blind rage, confident that he was at a disadvantage due to their numbers.

They could not have known that he was a survivor of a prison camp fighting pit, where he was forced to fight to the death, over and over again. They could not have known that later, he’d receive special training form Elite Mandalorian Liberators who refined his skills to even greater heights.

They couldn’t know- and would not. They were on a timed mission and he could not afford to ‘play’ with them. Not only that, their ‘target’ also mentioned there might be more.

Pity.

After allowing them to gain momentum, just a split second before his opponents reached striking range, Winterkill suddenly vaulted over their advancing front, specifically over the Bith, even as he screeched in a loud and horrifyingly jarring manner right into his hearing. He landed right behind the alien who had been taken by surprise and had paused long enough for the nagai to deliver a devastating blow to the back of his large cranium.

Winterkill never ceased moving as he tumbled, catching the crumpling Bith’s electrified stun baton as he flipped and cleared the over-eager rodian’s, baton swing.

One of the humans cursed aloud and began to back pedal, disengaging his baton and going for his blaster pistol. Winterkill rolled, staying low, making himself harder to hit with his unexpected movements. He cracked the rodian on one knee, causing him to wobble. He caught him with a rolling uppercut to the jaw, lighting his head with arcs of electricity and drove his quivering body into the nearest human, who tried to side step. The one who had drawn his weapon couldn’t get a clear shot on him.

In his annoyance, the side-stepping human smacked the rodian out of his way with his own baton, only to find Winterkill already firing the rodian’s blaster pistol into his forehead and moving evasively from the spot.

The blaster toting human fired his weapon and almost missed- his shot grazed the evading nagai’s ear, however, the one that was now dead had been swinging and his falling baton partially caught Winterkill on his left pec. The electrical shock caused a painful spasm on his left side, which in turn spoiled his throwing aim.

Winterkill had thrown the Bith’s baton at the firing human, but the weapon sailed harmlessly over the man’s head, hitting a fleeing patron instead.

The human ducked the crude missile, then smiled before aiming for a second shot- which never came.

Movement is life. To hesitate is death.

Winterkill was simply too seasoned and his reflexes were exceedingly hard to match. Without missing a beat, the nagai performed a kick that sent the same falling stun baton at the human as a distraction while nigh-simultaneously firing the rodian’s blaster at the human’s eye- instantly killing him.

And in short order, the four tuxedoed guards had been ‘taken care’ of.

The two humans had been terminated, the Bith had been crippled. Only the Rodian had been rendered unconscious and was still ‘technically’ alive- which was not an accident.

In his earlier days, a rodian mercenary had played ‘mentor’ of sorts to the nagai. Granted, not all creatures were made equal; perhaps Winterkill understood that better than others, so it was left to be seen if this one had enough wit to live to the end of the day.

Rolling the stiffness out of his left shoulder, Winterkill was not surprised to see Havah standing over a pile of droid parts. He then regarded ‘Lord Visor’ for a moment, then looked to see if there were anymore guards that needed to be ‘taken care’ of.

Much depended on the completion of this mission.


Tag: @Bravo, @Mitth_Fisto

 

IC: Sergeant First Class Adrias Stark
A Shady Motel, Downtown, Javin

Adrias tried not to smile at the man’s reaction to the mention of his father. It never gets old. He stirred his coffee buying time to think about the answer. The question was a reasonable one. He had never really thought about his reasoning. Being a military brat he had always been dipped in the military culture.

He used to play soldiers with the other kids. He used to watch military flicks. His childhood heroes were Old Republic soldiers who fought against the Sith Empire, like Jace Malcom. During the Clone Wars he was fascinated by the Clones, especially the ARCs. Later that shaped his desire to become a Death Trooper.

“To be honest I never thought about it.” he shrugged “Maybe a bit of both. I like it in the military. I tried the civilian life back on Coruscant when I was studying history, but I did not like it that much.” he chuckled “Maybe reading all those accounts about the ancient battles factored in making that decision.”

TAG: @Bravo

 

IC: Trooper DW-418125 (Benjamin Jacob Waynes; "Face")
A Shady Motel, Downtown, Javin


Benjamin nodded in response, "Well, as long as you're in this thing for you and only you, then anyone can respect that. Just make sure it stays that way," Face's eyes caught a trio of off duty military types---looking to be regular Imperial crew from the Darkest Night by their more simplified dress uniforms---with each one having a local girl on their arms as they walked past the wall length window with security bars. It was clear the girls were going to clean the Imps' wallets out by the time the night was done, but neither party cared at the moment, just looking for the fun of it. Face smiled at the once innocent nights of fun when he was a young Imperial serviceman, then his eyes caught an Imperial in the corner. He was clearly having a "joyful" conversation and because his back was turned to Face, the trooper could see that he was having a lively holo conversation with a girlfriend at the least---wife at best---and Face could at least guess the Imperial was proud of himself as he rattled off his adventures to his big eyed giggling romantic crush on the other end. Face looked at Stark, "Just make sure it never develops into staying in for a girl when you know its time to get out. Don't stay in and get wounded for some heart breaker. It won't be worth it. Trust me."

Face looked at his watch and a yawn followed his reading of time, "Looks like its time to catch a few Z's. We better check on Business---we don't want to leave that idiot to his own devices. Then we should find ourselves some sleep. I'll let you take the bed; I'll take the chair and Business can take the floor for all I care."


*************


It had been some time later by the time the night had slowed down. Face was a man of his word and was sideways in the singular over-sized chair by a little circular coffee table near the wall-sized window. His legs were draping over the side of the chair as he stared out the window and across the city. Only a few blocks removed from the entertaining "downtown", but it already seemed like a world away as you could hear & see the emergency sirens & lights throughout the lower income parts of town. The yelling, barking dogs (or other strange alien pets), shattering of glass, and an every now-and-then blaster shot or projectile discharge. Face soaked it all in as he sat there in the chair, quietly sipping on a glass of water. The only thing that broke the peaceful moments of chaos was the irregular snoring of Business from the floor on the far side of the bed.

What Stark was up to, well that was the sergeant's business, not his.....


TAG @TheAdmiral

 

IC: Jim Palso and Jason Lasso
Maryo


He knew that sound from anywhere and he dreaded it.

"Sith!" Palso cursed under his breath as he reflectively scanned the dark skies.

"What?" Lasso replied as naively as possible.

"You don't hear that?" Palso grumbled as he jumped onto a wing of his modified G-400 and then hopped into his cockpit, quickly bringing the "on stand-by" flight systems to life.

"Well, yeah, the sound of TIEs."

"And who," Palso pressed as he brought his sensors to life, "Has TIEs that we don't like?"

Lasso chuckled, "You really think the Corporate Sector is just going to allow the Empire to walk in here and---"

"Direct approach, about forty seconds out. Sensors are bringing up five signals, I'm going to assume one of them is a shuttle."

As the TIE engine noise approached and became clearer, Lasso felt an uneasy knot in his stomach, and he started for his starfighter at a slight jog, "Okay, well, maybe."

Palso activated his starfighter's comm system--his message would go to each Merc's ear bud, "Quagmire to Mother Goose. Quagmire to Mother Goose. The egg has hatched. I repeated, the egg has hatched. Find another way out. I repeat, the nest is broken. The nest is broken. We'll hold them off. See you at the golden farm, call mother. Quagmire out."

The message was simple: trouble had arrived and the nest (shuttle) was a no-go. They would have to find another way out and the group would come together again at another secured location.

"So," Lasso started as he started warming up his fighter's systems, "How do you know they're coming for us?"

"It could be random, but I doubt it. The largest of the four signals is headed this way, right us. Of all the places on this planet, its this very landing area. I'm going to assume our Mr. Courage Stacks is a hot item right now for more people then just us. If I'm wrong," Palso started lifting his fighter off the landing pad as the canopy closed, "Then we just saved the galaxy from some Imperials anyhow."

Palso had just begun rotating the fighter around when he saw two TIEs blast overhead and the Lambda-class Shuttle approached for a landing, the last two TIE's hovering in a flanking escort position. At the moment, the Imperials wouldn't see him as a threat, as they wouldn't know he was here with the other Mercs for Courage. But that wouldn't last forever and Palso had no intention of waiting to find out his luck.

"Lasso, get clear of the landing pad! Get eyes on those two other TIEs!"

"What are you going to do?"

"Give the Imps a gift from Corellia."

"Unidentified fighter, hold your pattern," blasted one of the TIE pilots on loud speaker, "Do not approach. This is an official Imperial escort. Please be patient."

Palso smiled as the Lambda-class Shuttle's ramp lowered and white armored Stormtrooper appeared down the ramp.

"Sure," Jim said as he quickly adjusted his position for the shuttle and opened fired, green blaster bolts raining down upon the shuttle from his wing mounted twin blaster cannons. The rapid-fire blasters ate up the white armored stormtroopers and ran up the open ramp and into the shuttle, forming a fireball from within the shuttle's interior. As the shuttle broke out in debris and flames, Palso was already headed away as the escort TIEs opened fire, their lasers catching mostly the landing pad where his fighter once was.

"Taller is going to kill me for this!" Jim said to himself as the two TIEs reacted to their new attacker and pursued Palso. In the distance, Palso could see Lasso trying to stay in the TIEs' blind spot on sensors as they came around and towards Palso, "This is where the fun begins!" Jim told himself out loud.


*****************************


IC: Commandant Y'mong Zake
Axis, Gladiator Auctorati-class Star Destroyer, Project Zero, Maryo orbit


Zake looked out the Star Destroyer's forward windows as his ship's captain approached him with urgent steps. Even before the starship captain could speak, Zake spoke, "A simple landing didn't go as planned, captain?"

The starship captain forced a lump in his throat down, "No, Commandant...sir. Our shuttle landing at the casino was ambushed."

"Interesting," Zake said with more delighted interest then angry scorn, "That means someone else is after our same goal. The other shuttle?"

"The other shuttle and TIEs are en-route to Courage Stack's residences now. No resistance."

"We'll shall wait and see," Zake replied, finally taking the time to look at his starship captain, "It could be a random group of disenfranchised rebels wanting to make their claim against the Empire. Although, personally, I like the idea of a little challenge."

"Sir, we're not sending in reinforcements?" the captain asked.

Zake barked at the thought, "Reinforcements!? For this?" the Commandant chuckled, "You overestimate your enemy and underestimate our TIE Pilots and Stormtroopers. Are there survivors of the ambush?"

"Yes, Commandant," the captain replied, "Several wounded, several dead. But numbers are still coming in, that could change."

"Instruct the surviving Stormtroopers to carry on their mission to capture Courage Stack, then. We are not a baby sitting service, captain, we are the Empire!"


*********************************


IC: Rick Taller (& company)
Maryo


The fighting was over almost as soon as it had started. And unfortunately for the Mercs, time was up as well. Taller had just received the last bits of Palso's urgent message and he was getting up with blaster in hand, as Courage Stack was standing up smug as evil.

"Now," Taller if you said, "Could you please press the button?"

"Wait---what?" Courage was besides himself.

"Push the red button thing to call your army," Taller said; an explosion outside and screaming could be heard as the pressure waive could be felt as it rippled through the casino, "Because of that! Because if you come with us, you live. But we need your hired muscle to stop the Stormtroopers----"

"Stormtroopers!" Courage said, "There's no---"

"There he is! Stop 'em!" Ordered one of five Stormtroopers that stumbled into the casino, the one talking pointing towards Courage; the stormtroopers' armor looked a bit rough for wear, as if they had survived that explosion, "Stop in the name of the Empire!"

"I hate the Empire!" Courage said angrily as he pressed the button on his watch and looked to Taller, "Follow me!"

Taller nodded for Havah & Winterkill to follow behind quickly and the four-some made their way through the thinning crowd and towards the rear of the building.

"How do I know you won't kill me?" Courage asked.

"We won't kill you until we have what we want?"

"Which is?" Courage asked.

"What the Empire wants too," Taller said, pushing the man out the back door and to his waiting SCS-19 Sentinel.

"And if I'm unwilling to give it up?" Courage asked as Taller pushed him into the waiting door and signaled for Havah and Winterkill to follow.

"Then," Taller said as he pointed the blaster at him, "You die."

"My hired security force will be here----"

A bright explosion lit up the night sky in the distant as two TIE Fighters ran strafing runs along a convoy of armored vehicles.

"You mean that hired force?" Taller asked as he took the watch off the shocked man's wrist and threw it out the sentinel.

"Yeah," Courage said, sounding defeated, "That force."

"Well, snap out of it!" Taller pistol wiped the larger man as the sentinel's door closed, "Instruct the droid pilot where to go?"

"Where to, sir?" the droid asked. "Home?"

Courage shook his head, "No, no. They would expect that," the man said, adding, "Take me to my secret hanger on the other side of town."

"A course, sir," the droid replied and as the sentinel maneuvered out of the way, Taller watched as more of the tuxedo armed guards and several more of the KX-series security droids started after the hover vehicle in distress to catch it, only to be surprised by the Stormtroopers (and they by them) and the two groups to get into nearly point-blank firing at each other in the back of the casino.

"Just a word of advice," Taller said as they left the casino behind, "You need better security."

"You get what you pay for," Courage replied, adding, "Even for a million credits a year."

"You got scammed," Taller replied.


**************

By the time the sentinel rolled into the "secret hanger," Taller should have guessed what was about to happen. But, yet again, there was a reason why he brought Havah and Winterkill around.

It was now Courage smiling all smug as he took Taller's blaster pistol from him and forced the starship captain out into the underground hanger with Winterkill and Havah by his side.

Surrounding them on all sides were twenty tuxedo guards with stun batons on and blaster pistols holstered, but showing, and 4 KX-series security droids with their DH-17 blaster pistols.

"Now," Courage said in a boosting tone, "Who has the upper hand?"

Taller shrugged, "Still us," the captain smirked. "You'll need about ten more goons to make it a even fight."

"I'm not in fair fights," Courage replied, chuckling, "As you can tell," the businessman turned crime lord quickly added, "Who are you and what are you here for?"

"Well, since you won't be living much longer," Rick said, "I'll just tell you. We're The Mercs and we're here for your Fragments of the Lost Kingdom. As is the Empire---apparently."

Courage laughed, "You or the Empire will never get to it! It's sealed in my mansion behind more security then you can imagine!"

Taller rolled his eyes, "You know, you bad guys always give up the secrets at the end!"

Courage stopped laughing, realizing he had just A, given the fact away that he had it and B, where it was, "It doesn't matter! You'll all be dead."

"At least watch and make sure its done right?" Taller asked, adding, "Because the last time someone did this, they didn't watch and we all escaped and killed him later."

"I'm going to watch you all suffer!" Courage barked.

"Oh, good, an audience," Rick replied.

"KILL THEM!" Courage ordered and the circle closed in.....



TAG @Mitth_Fisto and @greyjedi125

 

IC: Commodore Valentino Mazzanti
Ready Room (Commanding Officer), Darkest Night, orbiting planet of Javin for light repairs, restocking, and refueling


Valentino sat back in his chair, in his ready room, at his command. Yes, now it all felt right. The former and late commanding officer's affects had been removed several hours ago and labeled to be shipped off to family, while his own collection of affects brought it. The nuts & bolts and general feel of the ready room remained the same, however, as he could appreciate the late commodore's style.

Unlike the late commodore, however, Valentino enjoyed darkness in the room. The only natural glow came from the night side of Javin's city lights---commonly known as "Downtown"---and the natural occurrence of stars in the deepness of space. The passing worker droid's lights or another starship too close would, now and then, share their unnatural light into the room, but other then that, the room was dark. The lights and flickers of various controls at his desk gave some faint light off, but even when added with the glow of his viewscreen attached to the desk, the room reminded of Valentino of calm. In the background, the faint trickle of raining in a forest playing on a loop over the audio system could be heard, adding to the relaxing feeling. Most men of a lesser constitution might have fallen sleep, but for Valentino, his warm cup of coffee in his hand kept him awake.

For now, he scrolled through the endless files Investigator Hilick Soal had given him. Much more then coordinates, but he would expect no less from his trust comrade---if trust was a double edge sword in their relationship both literally and figuratively---which also meant Hilick had entrusted him to easily break the one-and-done master code that would of burned the data disk to the ground. Which, oddly enough it did, but not before Valentino had a backdoor already put in place within moments of the timed activation that not only downloaded the files, but copied them to an encrypted untraceable drive that couldn't be tracked that the original files were ever copied. Call it an ace in his back pocket and one that Hilick depended on Valentino to use. Not only that, Valentino had to use a rarely used encryption method that most modern slicers would never think of to use to find the hidden extra data package that Hilick wasn't supposed to give him---which, once again, only Hilick wanted Valentino to find. In fact, once the encryption took place, the original data files---both the copied and encrypted copies---were immediately corrupted and destroyed, leaving no trace of anything being transferred or given and leaving Valentino with a data package only he was meant to see.

Which made this whole situation a bit more troubling.

What was Hilick trying to tell him? Or what was Hilick hiding?

No matter, something was afoot and Valentino knew Hilick was no traitor. If anything, he was trying to prevent something from happening.

Taking another sip of his now lukewarm coffee, Valentino pressed on the first interface button and a hologram projected itself to the communication holo projection built into the desk. The new commodore turned to view it and his eyes squinted at the words and date hovering before him.

"What in the Force is this......" he muttered.


4 ABY....Day 4 post Battle of Endor

A man appeared in center of the holo, as was trying to adjust it with his hands partly covering the lens, and his form bent over. In the background, what appeared to be the main hanger and the clear signs of a battle gone horribly wrong could be seen---ceiling piping was hanging and smoking in areas in both the corridors near and the hanger distance, exposed wires and internal systems were either dangling or exposed in side walls. A clutter of crates could be seen along one end of the wall behind the half bent over cameraman, while what looked to be a body along the wall with a white sheet over it, with dry red blood stains on it where it covered the body. Various Imperials were rushing to and from around the man (all of them looking ragged & battle worn), some uttering colorful language to the man adjusting the camera. In the background, a squad of 9 white armored stormtroopers and an Imperial officer were rounding up a group of roughly twenty Rebels whose hands were over their heads, the Rebels being of various ranks and branches (from army to navy to starfighter corps). Then the Stormtroopers lined them up along the wall and after two of them fought back briefly, the stormtroopers forced them back and then an officer barely visible ordered the troops to open fire. The bodies dropped to the floor at the sound of blaster fire and Imperials moving around the camera moved about their business as if this was an everyday thing. A group of Imperial navy crew with masks over their faces came along and started moving the bodies away and towards the hanger, some of them dragging the bodies and leaving a blood trail. A moment later, the bodies could be seen being flown out by the crewmen into the vacuum of space through the main hanger opening.

"Ah, there I go," the voice said off camera then the man took a step back and came into focus, his duty uniform torn and burned in places, his face showing days old dry blood, dirt, and burn marks on it, "Admiral's log Two-dash-Three-dash-Five. Day," the man looked off to the ceiling as he had to think, then looked back to the camera, "Day Four post Battle of Endor," the man paused, then added after thought, "I think," the man rubbed his tired eyes as if to highlight his exhausted point of view, "Vice Admiral..."

Valentino dropped his coffee mug to the floor in shock at who he saw on the other end of the holo camera.


TBC

 

IC: Elena Shan
Galactic Seas motel, Downtown, Javin

Rosemary was very protective of her and Erik. More; Elena realised, then a Commander should have been. It was Rosemary that Elena went to at all hours when something was on her mind she didn't dare bring up to Erik for fear of worrying him. Like the special tests she was supposed to take that the Officer's at the Academy had suggested.

Maybe it was because Rosemary treated her like an adult and not the fifteen year old teenager that she was. But Elena would be graduating soon. Moving on to Officer's school; like Rosemary. And maybe that was why she was sitting on the edge of her bed; Rosemary sitting against it looking both worried and frustrated that made Elena want to reconsider her decision.

"Rosie." Elena leaned over and plucked the datapad from her hands. "Are you still mad because I started that fight over those cadets making fun of Erik?"

"No." Rosemary looks at Elena and lets out a sigh; grabbing her datapad back. "I was just thinking Lena, about what it's going to be like after you leave."

"Miss me already?" Elena laughs; and stares up at the ceiling.

"You wish." Rosemary replied sarcastically. "But there's something you should know. That Lasat family you and Erik liked; The Empire...took them. They took all the non-humans off Ureter. You're Twi'lek friend too. "

Elena looks at Rosemary, feeling her heart swell with fear. "What? But Amias is...Why would they-"

There is a sudden alarm and Elena jumps out of bed.

"Attack. Imminent Attack at Sector-"

Elena slams her hand over the alarm clock and stumbles out of bed. And then realises that it wasn't her alarm clock but a message from the front desk saying her uniform was freshly cleaned and pressed for pick-up. She stretched, and realising it was very early in the morning, walked to the fresher to get cleaned up; brushing her hair and putting it back up in a bun, before pulling on a robe and making her way downstairs.

She grabs her clean uniform and wandered a little before she comes to an abrupt stop when she sees Animal sitting there.

Oh. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Animal us up.

Elena sat down next to animal, looking a little pained. Perhaps more exhausted then she was used to. For a few minutes Elena didn't say anything, looking straight ahead before her gaze flickered down to her freshly cleaned uniform. "The Empire is all I've known. I know deep down, what they do to other species is wrong." Her voice was quiet, because she was thinking about Amias and his family and she hadn't realised why they were just gone.

She realises she is finding some sort of comfort with Animal there and turns to look at him. "If we can win this war and go home; then I know I've done good by these men. But I can't bring them home alone Animal. I know you...probably want to retire." Elena nods at him, "But that might have to be moved a bit. You understand?"

Tag: @Bravo

 

IC: DW-418121 ("Animal"; Craig Anthony Stewart)
Galactic Seas motel, Downtown, Javin


Animal just allowed her to talk. It was times like these that it was a gift to listen, then respond.

Animal looked at her and smiled thinly, "Retire to what?" was all he said and was all he would need to say. He was a slave to the Empire. What future was his, but bloodshed? There were only two ways out of his internal nightmare, the NCO knew, and both ways ended in a black body bag.

He turned back to the viewscreen without another word and after a moment & a sip of his coffee (as he kept his eyes on the viewscreen), he added, "But, yeah, I understand."

He let the words hang in the air for a long moment as he watched the news---something about the Empire pushing this new "inclusion" with this blue skinned alien. Some Grand Admiral looking male with black hair and red eyes. Thrawn was his name? There was even a photo of him and several other Imperial Grand Admirals standing with the Emperor & Darth Vader as the human female commentator went on about the "...Emperor finding highly qualified aliens to work alongside humans in defending peace, justice, and order."

Animal smirked at the irony of the news. Elena's struggles with Imperial reality and Animal's acceptance of the harsher truth already. Yet, here they were watching the state-run media highlighting alien diversity within the leadership ranks of the Imperial military.

"Dreams," the NCO finally spoke after the long silence and looked to the Lieutenant, "You had dreams again? Of someone?" Animal shrugged, "Don't mean to pry, put you were broadcasting your emotions like a communications tower when you sat down."


TAG @TheSilentInfluence

 

IC: Elena Shan
Galactic Seas motel, Downtown, Javin

Elena looked at him and nodded. "I'm sorry...I uh." She swallowed and shook her head. "I shouldn't have reacted the way I did back there." She sighed and looked up at the screen, and at Grand Admiral Thrawn. He's uh...he's attractive. Elena blushed as she looked at the Chiss Admiral on the screen and knew she was making it obvious when she said, "Yeah. I'd love to work for him. That's for sure." Elena had a funny little smile on her face as she said this, and then shook her head as the screen went to another news story.

Elena turned to look at Animal again as he asked her about her dreams. "It was more of a memory then a dream. I was close to my commander, she looked out for me and my brother. But I don't know where Rosie is now. She went MIA the year after I graduated while on a mission to Lothal." Elena felt upset and turned to look at her hands which were now fidgeting in her lap. "And I had a friend...a Twi'lek named Amias, but the Empire took all of the non-humans away a few years after I joined the Academy on Ureter." She shrugged, and looked around. "But I trust you'll keep that to yourself?"

Tag: @Bravo

 

IC: DW-418121 ("Animal"; Craig Anthony Stewart)
Galactic Seas motel, Downtown, Javin


Animal held up his coffee mug, "Hey, if you keep the ISB from putting a pillow over my face in the middle of the night, we've even!" he smiled and chuckled, then added, "Hey, in the grand scheme of things, if Twi'leks can be seen with Imperials in duty ports like this, don't see why not you can't choose who to give time to, whether that's romantic or not."

Animal chuckled at his next thought, "If you want to break the ice on a taboo subject, I had this guy in Joker Platoon," Animal chuckled at the memory again, "Back when I was just a young, two-day old, freshly promoted Sergeant!" Animal put his coffee mug down and extended his hands to make the next point, "The Empire trusted me to handle this whole squad of plastic boys!" the NCO didn't shy away from using Rebel slang, "Well, let me tell you, I had this Lance Corporal," Animal whistled as he laughed some more, "He had a thing for droids," Animal put up his hands in defense with a grin, "Hey, a big galaxy. Everybody has their thing," Animal collected himself and got a more serious tone, "So, the moral of the story, if anyone is going to raise a fuss over a human liking an alien, they should check out some of the more questionable parts of the Outer Rim. Pretty sure my formal Lance Corporal isn't alone in this droid thing. So, hey, alien, droid, other---Lieutenant, it's your life, live it. And if we wanna be honest, I had a thing for a Twi'lek once," the NCO whistled at the memory so sweet it felt like it happened yesterday as he leaned back in his chair and looked up to the ceiling, as if he could see her now, "She was a smoking pistol! Locker door poster bombshell, if there ever was one! Best thing a man could lay his eyes on after a hard day," Animal smiled at the memory, then his face got a bit sour as if something was changing in that memory that danced across the ceiling before him, "But, things change. They always do."


TAG @TheSilentInfluence

 

IC: Investigator Hilick Soal
ISB Central Office, Coruscant


The rain came down hard and despite all the comforts of the secretly military modified jet black window tinted C-B7 Interceptor with light vehicle armor plating & reinforced transparisteel windows, extended sensor range with an encrypted communications system, and counter measures against mines, IED's, and rockets, the rain could still be heard on the roof of the vehicle. Despite that and the passing streets, lights, buildings, other landspeeders, and residents of Coruscant passing by the land speeder's windows quickly on the exterior, Hilick Soal was focused on the data and imagines flashing before his tired eyes on the datapad before him. The landspeeder did, finally, come to a stop.

"Investigator, we are back at your office," the droid and lone occupant (besides the black plated ISB modified FA-4 Pilot Droid driving the land speeder up front) sitting across from him.

Hilick looked up and out the tinted windows, seeing the rain come down so hard that it minus well have been someone taking buckets of water and throwing them from the heavens. Out there, waiting under the protection of a covered walkway extending out from the secure doors of the building was a collection of 3 lower ranking ISB officers and 5 white armored Stormtroopers. The ISB officers wore rain coats over their uniforms and had umbrellas over them, while the 5 Stormtroopers carrying E-11 Blaster Rifles and likewise sported one orange pauldron for a commander, one white pauldron for a sergeant, and three black pauldrons for enlisted troopers. Four of the five Stormtroopers immediately fanned around the landspeeder at critical sentry points of protection, ready for a threat from any direction, while the commander stayed with the 3 ISB officers.

"I see," Hilick rubbed his eyes and suppressed a yawn and turned off the datapad, handing it to the specially modified 3D-4X Administrative Droid to fit his job's sensitive nature & needs.

The droid accepted the datapad, then asked, "Should I inform Mrs. Soal of your arrival on Coruscant?"

"No," Hilick said, collecting his overcoat and putting it on, "Tell her that our flight got redirected at the last minute, but we'll be in first thing in the morning."

"As requested, Investigator," the droid said, adding, "I'll make the necessary adjustments to ensure your story of event matches everyone else's."

"Please do," Hilick said with a tired smirk as he got up, "Last time was too close of a call."

"Yes," the droid agreed, standing up and opening the landspeeder's door, taking a step out first and holding the door open as one of the ISB officers showed up and put his umbrella over Hilick's head as he stepped out, the commander Stormtrooper coming out with the umbrella carrying officer and taking up a position to Hilick's immediate right as the other two ISB officers stayed under the walkway, "The incident was resolved and the ISB agent was terminated for his failure."

"I heard," Hilick said grimly, "Although next time, I wouldn't do the push from the hundredth floor. The aftermath pictures were horrible."

"He failed," the droid replied, indicating the former ISB agent's demise, "The manner of his death is irrelevant."

Hilick smiled as he looked at the droid, "DX, you still have a lot to learn about organics and how they see the world. Even after a year being by my side."

"Incorrect Investigator, organics have a lot to understanding about efficiency."

Hilick chuckled, "Good night, DX."

"Goodnight, Investigator. I'll ensure your transport will be here in the morning," the droid got back into the landspeeder and closed the door.

"Good evening, Investigator," said the ISB Officer holding the umbrella over Hilick's head said.

"Hello Mack," Hilick said as the pair walked towards the walkway with the Stormtrooper commander staying flanked at Hilick's side for protection.

"How was your trip, sir?"

"Oh, the usual, Captain," Hilick said as the umbrella was retracted as they entered the building and the landspeeder sped away in the background.

"That bad, huh?" Mack joked.

Hilick chuckled, "Not that bad."



*****************


The reports had been given, the security had been retracted, and now Hilick was in one of the most less frequented areas of the ISB Central Office at these late hours, where a handful of service droids and the occasional ISB agent or officer could be spotted either at a coffee station grabbing another cup for another later then planned night shift being pulled or packing their things and going home after a longer then expected day. A few hello's here and there to his fellow co-workers later and Hilick was at his own office. Getting past his own security clearances, he entered his own office after the door opened.

"Lights," Hilick said to the automated system and even before the lights had started to come on, he felt a rush of wind over his face and from behind him and a wet cloth over his mouth and a dark bag over his face. Even before the last bits of light disappeared from the bag over his eyes and before a word or sound of struggle came from his mouth, the world went dark.


TBC

 

IC: Elena Shan
Galactic Seas motel, Downtown, Javin

"That sounds like a good deal." Elena smiled at Animal and then laughed before she quieted and listened to his story with a small smile. Droids huh? I think I'll stick to Twi'lek's thanks.

"They have this way about them." Elena added when Animal had finished talking. "I don't know what it is but...maybe when the war is over; things like that won't matter to the Empire anymore." Elena shook her head at that thought and wondered if she would meet Amias again.

Would he hate me though? For what I've become?

Elena looked thoughtful and leaned back into the cushions. "But I guess I cant control how the Empire works." That's grandfathers job. And he's perfect for it.

Tag: @Bravo

 

IC: Winterkill
Stack’s Secret Hangar

Dark eyes grew even darker at the sight of the armored stormtrooper. Winterkill had no love for oppressive regimes, be they Tof or the Empire.
Be that as it may, the 'Emprie' was not the mission.

Lord Visor was doing what he did best, exploiting the situation to their advantage; to that end, the nagai simply nodded and followed along as their mark, Courage Stack, led them away from Imperial entanglement, which was the one thing both groups wished to avoid.

As the group hurriedly made their escape from the casino, Winterkill’s nimble fingers swiped a little ‘something’ from one of the droids Havah defeated, seeing how things were far from over. In short order, the small band boarded Stack's luxury armored speeder and were on their way.

Once they’d reached Stack’s secret location, Winterkill continued to listen as he visually reconnoitered their surroundings. At a glance, he focused on the number and types of vehicles, machinery, weaponry, personnel and any other useful detail he could glean. Anythhing that he could find useful.

The bluster and war of words between Lord Visor and Courage Stack quickly escalated, as expected. Winterkill found it curious that Mr.Stack didn’t seem to know who The Mercs were, once that bit of information was revealed. That lack of knowledge was going to cost him - dearly. Winterkill didn’t quite know anything about this ‘Lost Kingdom’ either, but it if Stack, who was clearly an exceedingly successful crime lord, was unwilling to part with it in the face of certain doom- then it had to be more valuable than he could even imagine; and Lord Visor required it - at any cost.

Then things finally got interesting.

In his unthinking arrogance, Courage stack revealed the location of his greatest treasure. Realizing his mistake, Stack showed his hand, calling on his 20 armed enforcers and 4 droids to stand against Lord Visor’s party. Mr.Stack might be quite the talented gambler at the sabacc table, but he was about to be soundly outplayed.

The odds were not in his favor.

As always, Winterkill ignored all spoken bravado and listened for the keywords.

“KILL THEM!”

Indeed, Taller gave the kill order. He wanted wetworks, but did not say ‘all’- which would imply a ‘clean-up’. No -Lord Visor still wanted to negotiate with Mr.Stack, but first he needed the gambler to realize he was in no position to refuse their kind offer. For that to happen, Winterkill wagered that a literal decimation was in order.

Only two of his twenty men would be ‘technically’ left alive- give or take- maybe.

These hired enforcers were only brave as long as they believed themselves having power and advantage. Even before the Mandalorians came to aid the Nagai, Winterkill already knew what had to be done in such cases. Such beings needed to have their spirits broken, their minds filled with fear and terror. That’s when they made mistakes, when they abandoned their ranks and fled in a vain attempt at self preservation.

And so, Courage let out his twenty hounds against Visor’s two dragons.

This time around, Winterkill was upon the first group in a blink of an eye, forcing close quarter combat. The nagai was instantly in the face of the first combatant, already parrying the stun baton strike and simultaneously striking at the man’s jugular. He repeated the sequence once more, then spun out of the attack of the third enforcer, nimbly evading his attack and counter-striking him in the same area.

The two he had attacked first brought their hands to their throats, which showered blood from their wounds like spigots under high pressure. They probably hadn’t yet realized what exactly killed them.

Winterkill turned the third dying enforcer around, making him face his comrades with his large bulging panicked eyes as he bled out. The nagai kept the now bloodied makeshift ‘shank’ he had swiped from the downed droid at the casino, in one hand. The third enforcer, he propped-up with his back while using him as a meat shield, then let loose with two unerring blaster bolts from his victim’s weapon -effectively taking out two more enforcers.

Five down.

Strike like lightning. It was a lesson he would never, ever forget. And now that his opening gambit had the desired effect, it was time to show Mr.Stack the kind of talent and loyalty that credits could never purchase.



Tag: @Mitth_Fisto, @Bravo

 

IC: Baille Harte, Roy Storm (npc), Ubrikkian 9000 repulsor taxi
Location: Downtown, Javin

The two passengers faced each other across the circular space inside the metal and ceraglase bubble that was the only available taxi when they had reached the taxi rank outside the local spaceport.

Well, Baille faced Roy, anyway.

Roy was facing a holographic display of shoes for femmes, that was being projected up from the centre of the floor, and using a hand to lazily swipe an image sideways, and have a new image materialise.

"I'm expected," the pilot re-iterated to her companion, leaning forwards and bringing her face close to the holo, as the Guardsman swiped a stilleto heeled item out of existence, "I don't have time to go shopping."

"Well, you can't turn up wearing your duty boots." Storm insisted, sitting on the scarlet cape that flowed around him and filled a lot of the space. He kept having to slide his own boot over the floor to kick it aside from blocking the holo projector and disrupted the image.

The diminutive redhead sighed. "What are you, the fashion poli-...-ooh, I like that." Her face lit up as a wedge-heeled, thick-soled cork-looking base, was topped by a mess of black straps to secure her foot and ankle.

"Feet size, and where are they meeting you?"

"At the hotel room that you are booking for me, Roy!"

****
Baille pulled up alone, outside the Droopy place that occupied Voss' coordinates.

She had dropped her Royal Guardsman companion off at the Galactic' hotel, and somehow her new shoes had been waiting for her, and she had been able to clean her feet with a quick-dry perfumed wipe, strap on her new shoes, and leave her boots with Roy.

She stepped out carefully as a segment of the vehicle's hull rose out of her way, and tottered slightly with the unfamiliar height and support.

Bringing up her wrist-communicator as she stepped onto the pavement, Baille called Ole Green Eyes: "Chief, I'm outside the Drooping Stalk now. Please keep an eye out for me as I come inside."

She pushed open the door and went inside.

Tag: @Mitth_Fisto

 

IC: Sergeant First Class Adrias Stark
A Shady Motel, Downtown, Javin

Adrias was lying in the bed. He couldn’t sleep. Back in the restaurant he too noticed a number of people talking to their sweethearts. It got him thinking about Dinah again. He had girlfriends before, but she was special, they knew each other since kids as they both were “army brats”. The Sergeant sighed.

He turned his head and saw that Face was awake too “Can’t sleep, huh?” Adrias sat on the edge of the bed trying not to step on the drunk man on the floor. “You know, I have been thinking about what you said back in the restaurant.” he swirled his index finger as it made him concentrate “About, you know… about the heartbreakers...” he sighed again “There used to be one, she was called Dinah… Dinah Lance. She would surely fit in the Squad.” he chuckled “We grew up together, her dad was Military Police and she… she was the exact opposite. Party hard, ride her speeder bike recklessly, dress provocatively, loved black leather and fishnets. Loved to sing and was pretty good at it.” Adrias chuckled again “Anyway she too enlisted and by some freak chance we ended up together in the same class.” he stood up and leaned next to the window frame looking at Face “We spent enough time in the brig so we ended up together.” the Sergeant looked to the floor “Of course Command had other plans and they couldn’t allow this fraternisation to last so we were both sent in the opposite sides of the Galaxy. I hope she is alright...” he chuckled “Unless she blew up the ship she is stationed on. It is easy to underestimate her, she might look innocent and light, but she is an excellent fighter and marksman.” Adrias grinned “Well… I had to get it off my chest, but rest assured I am not here because of her, it is because I want it.”

TAG: @Bravo

 

IC: DW-418121 ("Animal"; Craig Anthony Stewart)
Galactic Seas motel, Downtown, Javin


Elena looked thoughtful and leaned back into the cushions. "But I guess I cant control how the Empire works." That's grandfathers job. And he's perfect for it.

"No," Animal said, bringing his cup of coffee to his lips and took a sip, before adding, "We can't."

There was a moment of silence before Animal asked as he lifelessly watched the government-sponsored news, "Why do you think we're going into the Unknown Regions? They're restocking us to our full 2 year deployment specs, like they plan on us being gone for a while," Animal shrugged as he looked towards Elena, "Nothing official a course, but all the talk is that that's where we're headed. Someone knows someone who knows someone who heard from the higher ups, then filtered it down to their buddy who told their buddy, then who altered it, and told his buddy, who then changed it some more, then told his buddy, who then got to our level," Animal chuckled as he looked back to the viewscreen, "Sometimes I wonder if we're in the military or high school."


TAG @TheSilentInfluence

 

IC: Trooper DW-418125 (Benjamin Jacob Waynes; "Face")
A Shady Motel, Downtown, Javin


“Can’t sleep, huh?”

Face shifted his body to address the NCO, "Nope."

Face listened to the stormtrooper talk about a lost romantic interest and followed the man as he came to lean up against the window, allowing the trooper to adjust back to his more comfortable position. He finished up his story a short time later, “Unless she blew up the ship she is stationed on. It is easy to underestimate her, she might look innocent and light, but she is an excellent fighter and marksman.” Adrias grinned “Well… I had to get it off my chest, but rest assured I am not here because of her, it is because I want it.”

"Well, as long as you want it," Face replied, adding, "I know some guys back in my Army days. They may have some not-some-common ways to see if your friend is still alive or even in the military anymore. And do it so no flags are raised in accessing that information. You want me to call in a favor for you?"

It was clear the NCO had a thing for this girl. While she may not be the reason he joined the military, she may---unconsciously---be a hope he looked forward to meeting up again. The heart, it was a strange and uncertain thing. And if Face could tug on those heart strings for the betterment of his fellow man, then he would give it a shot. Last thing he needed was the NCO getting a hole blown through him next month and the last words on his lips were about this girl and Face had an opportunity to rekindle that youthful fire between the two before an untimely exit.


TAG @TheAdmiral

 

IC: Rick Taller (& company)
Maryo


Taller didn't wait, knowing from years of experience that these thugs would come one at a time, three at a time at best, but that their own numbers would work against them. Unless you were trained to fight alongside your ally, your attacks and their attacks would be ill timed and not effective.

Any good fighter knew this and could exploit a sloppy attack, even if numbers were against them.

Sliding into two on-rushing would-be attackers, Taller went in between them, before coming up and attacking the man behind them. He already had blocked a high stun baton attack with his forearm to the other man's forearm and had hammered him with a solid kick to his exposed gut before taking his stun baton arm, twisting it and him around, and breaking the man's arm. The stun baton came loose from the shock and Taller used it to stun the man's head with more physical impact then stun power and watched the man collapse to the ground.

With a weapon in hand, he adjusted to take on the two attackers he had slid past and parried their stun baton attacks with his own acquired baton. Before long, however, Taller had one man's knee kicked in, an elbow to the other man's face, and then stunned the first in the neck as he crumpled with his knee injury and spun around to stun the other in the back, then the legs, and finished with a head blow as the man never had a chance to fully turn around.

3 down.

That now left an opening and Taller bolted for it, chasing after a now retreating Courage Stack. Rick didn't need to tell Winterkill & Mitth what he was doing---they would keep doping what needed to be done. So confident was Stack in his suprise that he didn't leave any guards to protect him. As the ex-Corellian exec jumped onto a speeder bike and sped away, Taller didn't waste time and jumped on another one an gave pursuit. As the two circled the garage's wall and towards the lone exit,and came upon the group melee ahead, Taller fired ahead with the speeder's blaster, taking out one of the droids and it had the side effect of starting to break up the crowd as Courage blew on through----taking out one of his own men as he ran over him---before using the bike's repulsors and skipping above the group.

Rick followed suit and soon the two were out of the secret garage, Taller taking pot shots at Courage more to slow him down then to take him out. He would still need him alive to get to the Mercs' mission objective.


TAG @greyjedi125 & @Mitth_Fisto

 

IC: Jim Palso and Jason Lasso
Maryo


Palso cringed as he put his modified G-400 on it's wing, decelerated, and allowed the two TIEs to break to either side of him. He quickly gained up speed on the TIE that broke right and although he couldn't catch up, this pilot was looping and slowing down, trying to come back in a circle. Which put him right in Palso's cross-hairs in the inside loop. By the time the TIE Pilot realized his mistake and tried to adjust out by banking the exterior way out, Jim was already pestering the area with rapid-fire blaster fire that soon caught the TIE in one of the wings---which tilted it the opposite direction as the pilot unwisely adjusted to the sudden movement---and then the TIE was a glowing ball of fire and debris as the rapid-fire blaster fire tore into the ball cockpit.

Jim was already decelerating, banking, and noise diving with re-acceleration as the other TIE's green laser bolts flashed past his starboard from behind. Palso kept tabs on Lasso as the newer Merc was still keeping in the blind area of the other two TIEs as they came around to assist their comrades.

"Lasso, now would be a good time before my TIE calls you in."

Lasso was quick to the response, "On it!"

No sooner had the words come out of the ex-firemen's mouth had one of the TIEs exploded and he soon had the other one on the ropes and down & out.

Palso was impressed, "Not bad Hero," adding as he adjusted his craft to shot towards Lasso, "I'm bringing one to you kid!"

"On it!" Lasso replied, "Bank to your left on my command."

"Roger," Palso said, secretly starting to like the new guy a little more.

It was a round of chicken between Jim & Jason as the two pilots raced towards each other, trying to keep hidden from the TIE behind Palso. While the plan wasn't perfect, as Jim had to dance his way around the TIE's angry green blaster bolts, the plan worked for the most part and soon, Jim was banking left at Lasso's command and Lasso was blowing above the TIE's exploding debris field as his blasters had tore into the ball cockpit and sent the crumpled TIE to the ground below.

"Fall back to my wing," Palso said, "We'll loop around the clean up the skies and get eyes on Mother Goose below."

"Negative," Lasso said, "We got new contacts. Six TIE signatures coming down from in between the two moons."

Palso looked up towards the two moons and saw three TIEs foreshadowed against the moons' light suddenly break up into a larger span of six individual TIEs that emerged from behind.

"Where are they coming from?" Palso pressed in disgust.

"A carrier somewhere," Lasso replied.

"Well, duh," Jim said as he floated in to the left rear of Lasso as the two faced upwards towards the descending TIEs, "But what type of carrier? I want to know how many of these things we can expect."

"What's the plan?" Lasso asked.

"I'll follow you," Palso said, "Head for ground. We'll see how good these Imp pilots are."

"Will you be able to keep up?" Lasso said as he banked in front of Jim and downwards, "There's a canyon several miles from here. Oddly enough near the house of that Courage Stack guy."

Palso banked down and followed suit, "Let's bottle them up and take 'em out Hero."

"You got it Quagmire."

The two Mercs put the speed on and raced downwards, the TIEs following suit.


TBC

 

IC: Captain Xavier Kyte, Commander Firmus Piett
Imperial Government Complex (IGC), Nexus City, planet of Entralla


"The Moff takes his security a step further than most," Piett observed as he & Kyte walked side by side, in lock step, as their polished military boots echoed off the floor, against the rock walls laced with crawling green vines, holo photos from around the galaxy, and several exotic fish tanks. Several exotic plants dotted the long hall as well; on the end opposite their current direction (where they entered) was the main exterior entrance, while in front of them by still some distance was access to the government building itself. The ceiling was made of transparisteel stained glass, the various artwork of the glass causing various patterns to reflect from the sunlight onto the floor below; two heavy blast shields' ends could be just visible on either side of the long smoother barrel roof on the exterior that could be activated into place for various needs.

As the pair---escorted by a pair of stormtroopers to either flank and a army staff officer to their left front---passed under a large red Imperial flag hanging down from the ceiling high above and halfway along the long corridor, Kyte answered the commander's original question's intention.

"Moff Kaine has had several security concerns over the years," Xavier answered, "As such, all appointments off world are mandated to be screened through the Star Destroyer Aggressor first."

"And on world?" Piett asked.

The captain smiled as he glanced at the commander, his tone carrying every weight of what he meant, "We have other means of vetting the local population."

"Understood," Piett replied.

"No," Kyte responded as the two reached a double door heavy blast door flanked by 4 white armored stormtroopers and a stormtrooper officer in dress uniform (who was in charge of screening individuals for access). The convoy came to a stop as access what checked, then as the blast doors opened to a reveal a miniature city of levels, offices, lobbies, and other fixtures on the backdrop of the classic Imperial gray color scheme, "You really don't."

"Come again?" Piett asked, taken aback by the reply.

As the staff army officer and uniformed stormtrooper officer stepped aside to let the pair gain access, Xavier motioned Piett forward and as the pair stepped forward, the captain said, "There's always more to the enemy than what meets the eye, Commander Piett."


TBC

 

IC: Elena Shan
Galactic Seas motel, Downtown, Javin

Elena laughed. "It seems like everyone knows something about where were going." She paused and looked up at the ceiling for a minute. "I know were going to be gone for at least two years. It makes me feel like I'm off to do something important. But we don't know what out there." Elena knew she was being elusive and looked at Animal. "We should be briefed as soon as we get back from leave, but I can't tell you much more then that."

I should message Erik before we go. And Grandfather. But it makes me wonder how thing will be when we return.

Tag: @Bravo

 

IC: DW-418121 ("Animal"; Craig Anthony Stewart)
Galactic Seas motel, Downtown, Javin


Animal searched his memory for anything that would hint Elena would know more then anyone else. Through all their conversations in the recent days, he couldn't remember something that would point towards her advanced knowledge. Yet again, however, he could be losing his recent memory more & more these days.

Well, come to think of it now, her high-up family connection within the Imperial government. But even then, how would a civilian government official know about military matters? Especially if they were so risky as to put Elena at risk---wouldn't that high up connection help the LT avoid a dangerous assignment?

Lieutenant or not, she wasn't that high up on the food chain to know what was coming. But Animal would play it cool, in the off chance she did tell him something and he honestly forgot. But if she hadn't, well, that made things interesting. Who was Elena Shan then---really?

Animal cracked a smile after he finished the last bits of his coffee, "Must be nice that Lieutenants get to know where we're going and they leave the rest of us grunts in the dark now-a-days," he kept his tone light-hearted, as to avoid any sense of conflict, and stood up, grabbing his uniform, "Lieutenant, have a good rest of your morning."

Things were't formal here, so no need for all the military protocol. With a nod and smile, the Master Sergeant departed for the privacy of his motel room.


TAG @TheSilentInfluence

 

IC: Jyn Erso, Knight Johmer Evanson, Tim Williams, Juggernaut, suspended, Italian Job-style, from Wobani Correctional Facility admin tower.

Standing just inside the open hatch at the rear of the crashed juggernaut, Jyn enjoyed being clear if the cloying mud down below, that was so ubiquitous to being on Wobani, but did wish she was wearing something warmer.

She held onto something with one hand, whilst shielding her eyes with the other, so that she could peer across the vast plains of the prison, to the gate where their erstwhile rescue craft had been.

"They don't seem to have moved!" She called over the howling and buffeting wind, unable to do anything about the hair flipping around her head and into her eyes, but of course used to it, as prisoners did not get elastic bands.

A metre behind her, Johmer had his pressed against his earpiece, listening to his SGIS partner aboard the Bantha-class transport.
"Guys, apparently we have a spider walker incoming. From our left somewhere."

Tim laughed, holding the belly of his jumpsuit with both hands. "Yeah, that is probably the only assault vehicle that they have left, with this thing in our hands, and having run over their AT-ST. Good news is that it doesn't handle this terrain that well, so it might take a while to get here. Bad news-"

"Uh, is that the bad news?" Erso enquired, shrinking back from the opening as a long, metal limb rose up before her, three graspers on the end, opening and closing, dripping reddish-brown muck, and at the first visible joint, what could only be a blaster cannon. It looked like an outsized version of the E-11s that the two ex-captives were toting.

Johmer grabbed Jyn's shoulder and pulled her aside into the darkness, and used the Force to bring Tim with them, just before hot green plasma bolts shot past them, Jyn screaming and pressing the heels of her hands to her ears as the shots peppered the inside of the prisoner compartment, slagging the walls and benches!

The jedi untangled himself from the two, and brought up his lightsabre, stepping cautiously to the open hatchway, trying to ignore the wall of heat that he was pressing his face in to, in order to see what was going on outside, and judge where the walker's arm or leg was.

With his back to the hatch rim, he leaned out enough to give his left shoulder the room it needed, slashed out, and rolled back inside as the gun fell silent, and seconds later, there was a splodgy impact from below, likely from the bit that he had sliced off.

"We can't stay here!"

"Yeah, ya think?" Williams sniped, pointing a thick finger down to the sloping floor, where a slow wash of molten metal, looking like steaming mercury, was creeping towards their end of the compartment.

"Shame our elf isn't here; he could freeze that with some kind of frost spell."

"You want to focus on the matter at hand, instead of telling us fairy stories?" The engineer glowered down at him.

"Yeah, sorry." Johmer shut off his lightsabre, negotiated with his flowing robe to hook it back onto his belt, and pressed his finger to his earbud. "Dev' that building that we jumped over, you need to pick us up from the roof. Over."

The floor shifted down a couple of inches, as if the three of them had gotten heavier. The jedi knew that it likely wasn't them, but the spider walker.
He moved to Erso, clasping both of his palms to just above her bicdps, and moved her with him as he sidestepped to the open hatch.

"Jyn!" He shouted into her frightened-looking face. "I'm going to toss you-"

"You're going to what?"

"-throw you over to the roof back there. You are going to have to tuck and roll when you land."

She nodded, "Yeah I know about tucking and rolling."

Johmer braced himself on the edge of the floor, switching his focus between her, and the barracks roof, maybe forty metres behind them.

The juggernaut dipped again, almost pitching both of them out, but the SGIS agent managed to push himself hard into the hatch corner, the vertical edge slicing into his back through the robe.

He winced, and chucked her out, stopping her descent with the Force, and shutting his eyes to concentrate fully on propelling her safely through the air to the far roof, where she tucked and rolled as ordered, leaving him to turn his attention to whatever was starting to affect the wedged juggernaut's position.

He gingerly leaned out, and looked down.

A vehicle exactly like a metal spider, head, thorax, oversized bulbous abdomen, lots of jointed legs, was down there, rear-most feet pressing three-pointed stars down into the wet muck, front graspers hooking into the juggernaut's wheelbase, either to pull itself up to them, or them down to it.

Tim obviously knew what he was looking at, intoning from the darkness, "It's called an M-T-A-T. Multi, sorry, Mountain Terrain Armoured Transport. I helped them fix it."

Johmer signalled for Tim to join him, and sent him across to the roof, the same way, where Erso looked like she was tending to a scraped knee.

He looked up to see if the Fluffy was coming for them yet, and breathed a sigh of relief to see that it was halfway here, though grey smoke was still visible, billowing from the open cargo area, billowing up past the windows, and off to the side.

That large black droid that had come with the Rebels, could be briefly seen, expelling another fiery crate down onto the ground.

Evanson looked into the compartment, wanting a bit of a run-up before leaping out himself, but finding the molten metal swarming and bubbling towards him, gave him little more than five feet of safe floor, and each time the MTAT pulled them down, the angle got less and less optimum for the jump.