Oh… Please stop the spinning...


Therex had drowned out all the sounds of space combat and whining metal as the ship pulled off maneuvers he was sure were part of the, “NEVER TRY” section of the manuals. While his stomach pulled turns and flips, one word drifted through the haze and punched through to his brain.


Medic


Snapping his eyes open, he saw Mox point towards the cockpit and shout his and Jax’s names. All of the churning in his stomach gone in an adrenaline rush. His bag was over his shoulder and secured in the next instant. As soon as his feet hit the bulkhead, his sense of balance kicked in and he let his knees go loose under him. When the ship lurched and jerked, it slid effortlessly under him, allowing him to take a few steps at a time. But sadly, it only works for so long. One powerful shot sent the whole ship down and everything seemed to slow for a second as Therex felt himself go weightless. Using his height to his advantage, his arm shot out and closed the gap between him and the bulkhead.


As the world came slamming back into full speed and gravity returned, his feet landed solidly and he loosened his grip. However, his comrade had not been so lucky. Jax looked in considerable pain, and the dent in his shoulder told the whole story.


“You hit there, Reaper?” Therex asked, his hand already reaching into his bag and already fumbling for a painkiller to start.


“It’s just my shoulder. I’ll be fine. Let’s go see what that pilot needs us for.,” Jax practically spat at him. It was not something Therex was new too. These Army types thought they were being tough but any first year knew that you never tried to hide the severity of a wound, especially from a medic. Scowling lightly under his helmet, he almost shot back a retort, but when Jax’s face softened, he held off.


“Actually, my shoulder hurts pretty bad. But it can wait. The call for a gunner probably means we have fighters on our asses,” Jax said, trying to sound a little more calm.


Responding with only a quick, “Yeah,” Therex ducked into the cockpit. On the one side their pilot was trying his damndest to keep them in the air and unharmed. To the other was his patient. The man was slumped over his gunner controls, bleeding, scorched, but amazingly still breathing. Using his larger frame, Therex hefted the man out of the seat and onto the floor nearby. Moving him was probably not the best idea, but therex knew that seat needed to be filled, and it would be easier to work on him if he was laying flat. Doing his best to move quickly, but still work precisely, he removed the remains of the man’s helmet and chest plate.


Burns, both 2nd and 3rd degree. Several large open wounds that need immediate care. Textbook case.


He started laying out his tools in front of him. Several bacta patches were applied to his chest to prevent any infection from spreading. Therex had no time to make it pretty, but he ran his hand over the man’s face, checking the larger openings. His hand snagged slightly on something and he sighed.


Shrapnel. Frak.


Pulling out a pair of tweezers, he gently pushed the man’s charred flesh aside, and spotted the two small glints underneath. The location was easy since no real important veins existed along their path. He removed both pieces and flung them aside before applying a quick burn patch and used a laser suture to close up the freshly bleeding shrapnel wounds. His hands shook from the violent tremors the ship felt, but he knew how to handle these situations. The trick was to stay relaxed and not try to overcorrect for the movements.


Checking the man’s vitals, Therex decided he had done what he could. This was a Navy man after all. As soon as they were dropped off, he’d be dumped on the ship with a better stocked infirmary and a medical droid. Turning back to look out the viewport, he saw their LZ getting closer and closer.


Tapping the pilot on the shoulder, he shouted, “Your partner will be okay. Just get him looked at once you’ve dumped us planetside.”


Not waiting for a response, Therex ran back to his chair and strapped in to prepare for the landing, as rough or as gentle as it may be.

Jax watched Therex minister to the fleet types wounds for a few seconds and then his attention was drawn by an imperious gesture from the shuttle pilot pointing towards the gunnery station. Right. Jax turned and eyed the gunnery station with some distaste. There was blood everywhere and there was a bit of battle damage to the consoles. Eh, no guts no glory. He sat down.


“Not that one. It’s fried. The one on the right.” The pilot made another gesture, her eyes still focused on the starfield in front of her. “The rear cannon’s slagged, but the two forwards are still good. Joystick, firing trigger, aim for anything that’s not a TIE.”


“Roger that” Jax replied to her commands, switching seats to the indicated gunnery station. He manipulated the joystick, testing the response time. The consoles were already online and Jax saw his first opportunity coming their way. He swiveled to the left bringing the targeting reticule to bear on the approaching pirate fighter. Squeezing the trigger, he watched as a pair of laser blasts skimmed past the fighter’s shields. Gonna have to do better than that. Jax readjusted his aim and squeezed the trigger again, this time holding it down for a few seconds and dragging the reticule across the opposing fighter.


Unfortunately their pilot decided to take that moment to throw their shuttle into a series of twists and turns he didn’t think a Lamda class shuttle would be capable of. “Fierfek! I didn’t know this ship could do that!” he yelled, holding on for dear life. The sudden flight change in their shuttle path caused his shots to fly wide of their intended target. Fortunately for Jax and unfortunately for the pirates, the fighter he was aiming at had a wingman, and this fighter took the majority of his missed shots directly to the face. It exploded in a shower of debris and a momentary fireball that burned out almost as quickly as it appeared.


“Take that you frakers!”Jax shouted in triumph. “I totally meant to do that.”


"Shut it, I'm trying to fly." The pilot straightened out the shuttle. "Still, accidental or no, I'll take it."


Jax turned his head as the pilot responded to him and grumbled to himself as he turned his head back to his screen.


“What was that?” the pilot said.


“Nothing!” Jax shouted. He noticed on his monitor that the enemy fighters had suddenly turned tail and were burning hard back towards the main battle. “What the…” he said in confusion. “Come back here you fraking cowards! There’s still more of you I need to kill!” he shouted at the screen.


“Quiet.” The pilot said, her voice unusually free of attitude.


Jax noted the change in tone from their pilot and glanced over. He wasn’t a complete imbecile when it came to shipboard readouts and sensors. He owned a small fleet of starships after all and he knew how to read a radar screen. There was a new, rather large, blip on the screen heading in the direction of their space battle from the far side of the planet.


“What is that?” he said in a subdued tone, dreading the answer.


The pilot replied, her voice tinged with fear. “The New Republic.”


Jax turned back to his gunnery screen, “Oh sh..”

“Your partner will be okay. Just get him looked at once you’ve dumped us planetside.” Juvi didn’t respond to the medic, but internally, she let out a sigh of relief. Darron wasn’t the best co-pilot she could ask for, but the kid didn’t deserve to flatline on his first outing. If he was okay, that was one less voice in the back of her head to deal with.

The other trooper immediately plopped himself down in Darron’s now-vacant seat. The one with the blown-out console. She sighed. “Not that one. It’s fried. The one on the right.” She gestured in the general direction of the dedicated gunnery station. “The rear cannon’s slagged, but the two forwards are still good. Joystick, firing trigger, aim for anything that’s not a TIE.” That should be straightforward enough for a buckethead.

Distracted by the two troopers, she failed to notice the fighter coming right at them. A few blasts hit, bringing down the shields to critical levels. Her new gunner returned fire, but missed.

Yes, Juvi had a shuttle certification-- but almost all of her flight experience was in an Interceptor simulator. When they came under fire again, her dogfighting instincts kicked in.

“Fierfek! I didn’t know this ship could do that!” The gunner shouted to nobody in particular as Juvi flung the Loose Latch into another spin. A moment later, he scored a lucky hit on one of the Warsprites’ wingmen. “Take that you frakers! I meant to do that.”

At least Darron had been fairly quiet. "Shut it, I'm trying to fly." Juvi leveled out, preparing for another maneuver. "Still, accidental or no, I'll take it."

The gunner muttered something that sounded like an insult. “What was that?”

“Nothing!” He shouted back. Juvi rolled her eyes. The sooner she could drop these skeletals and get back to the relative safety of the Koom Valley, the better. The brief argument was interrupted by the appearance of another ship signature on the technical readout. Juvi’s heart skipped a beat.

A Mon Calamari cruiser had just entered the combat zone.

The gunner shouted angrily as the pirate fighters started to peel away, although Juvi barely registered what he was saying. “Quiet.”

The gunner seemed to get that something big had happened. For once, he’d stopped shouting. “What is that?”

In spite of herself, Juvi had no witty reply. “The New Republic.”

“Oh sh…”

Whatever swear the gunner was uttering, Juvi missed it when the comms crackled to life. “Loose Latch... this is…. Uh… Jett Lockhart of the 627th Squadron, here for assistance. Keep a cool head and try not to hit us.” Juvi rolled her eyes. At least she’d managed to graduate before they stuck her in a combat role. This kid sounded like he’d never even sat in a TIE before. Still, she welcomed the assistance.

Or would’ve, if they hadn’t just driven the Warsprites right back towards her.

“Sithspit.”

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

Thankfully, the rest of the squadron seemed competent enough, fending off the pirate fighters well enough for her to escape. With the main opposition out of the way, the Loose Latch was able to reach the planet’s atmosphere. As they approached the intended LZ, Juvi immediately noticed something was wrong.

Three of the shuttles had made it safely, but it looked like the pirates had somehow built a makeshift turbolaser emplacement atop one of the facilities. The burning wreckage of a fourth shuttle occupied the spot where the Loose Latch was supposed to land.

Juvi keyed the comm. “Control, this is Loose Latch. Our LZ is compromised. Requesting...” Her ears were immediately assaulted by a burst of static. Right. Ion storms.

The turbolaser started pivoting towards its next victim.

Juvi turned to the gunner. “Hey, groundpounder, any ideas?”

“Can you set up a micro-burst transmission and target it at the facilities antenna? That should be able to punch through this ion interference.”

Juvi mentally flipped through what she’d learned in her engineering courses. Thankfully, she hadn’t worked her way around that set of classes. She’d need to use the full communications console, though. “I can do it. But… I can’t do it and fly.”

“Alright fleet jocky. Tell me how to do it. I’m not familiar with these Lambda systems.”

She nodded, already preparing to put the shuttle through another evasive maneuver. “Comms console. Opposite the gunnery station. Bring up the ‘manual parameters’ display. Oh, and hold on to something.”

The gunner had managed to plop into the comms seat just as she said that last part, and held on for dear life as his stomach dipped and the shuttle proceeded to dive.

Juvi pitched the shuttle straight downward, diving towards the planet’s surface. A turbolaser blast sliced through the air where the shuttle would have been. She pulled up hard, righting the shuttle, still a few hundred feet above the treeline. “Under ‘frequency’, you’ll need to set it to something in the point-1 to point-2 range,” Juvi continued, ignoring the discomfort of her assistant. “That should do it. After that, yank out the yellow wire from underneath the console. We’ll need to bypass the overflow capacitor.”

The trooper’s fingers flew across the controls as Juvi explained the steps to set up the burst. “That it?” he asked, reaching underneath his console and yanking out the ‘yellow’ wire.

“Should be.” Juvi quickly keyed in the coordinates with a free hand. “If you’ve pulled the wire, you’re good to transmit. Standard operating controls.”

He entered a series of coded commands into his console and beamed the package to the facilities antenna array.

A moment later, a blip vanished from the sensor readout as the turbolaser went offline. “That did it. Looks like we’re clear to land.” Juvi sighed with relief. “Now for the hard part.”

“I sent a coded command to take the power generators offline for the whole facility. It won’t last for long so you’ll probably need to put this bucket down asap.”

“Quickly? Not problem. It’s landing slowly enough that I’m worried about.” Juvi pitched the shuttle down again, giving it a slight roll so it spiraled downward.

He pressed a button on his console and a flashing circle appeared on the map on Juvi’s display. This area is a good place to land. Lots of cover. That generator isn’t going to be offline long enough to get to the main LZ. The turbolaser’ll shred us.” He finally latched his safety harness into place.

“Good to know.” Juvi pushed the throttle even faster, racing downward towards the area he’d indicated. The trees came closer and closer. At the last possible second, she cut the thrust and activated all the repulsorlift generators, angling them down and forward.

She had a moment to shout “Brace for impact!” into the rear compartment before the shuttle made a hard, but survivable, landing.

"You want me to what?" said Zippy in confusion.

"You heard me Zippy! Get the E-web prepped now! You can ask all the questions you want later when this is over! We need a way out of here!"

Zippy didn't even hesitate at that point. Once an order was given, he would follow it to the letter. Even he could sense the situation here. It wasn't pretty. The E-web was such a marvelous weapon to look at. This baby can shoot with minimum range of one hundred and fifty meters and max of seven. Is one of the best weapons in our arsenal. This was a treat and it was happening a lot faster than even he could anticipate. Prepping that cannon as quickly as possible, he noticed the rest of the troopers still recovering from their less than heroic landing. He continued to prep, knowing full well it takes two to operate this damn thing. One person on the cannon, the other for the generators power.

"If Jax thinks for two seconds he's the one that gets to fire this baby, he's got another thing coming."

He looked around at some of his fellow troopers that had landed with him, most still recovering from the landing. Zippy imagined what their faces looked like underneath those helmets at this current moment. The adrenaline pumping, the sweat beading down their faces. This is what they were born for after all. The shear thrill of it all. Even in combat, it was truly a spectacle to behold.

"Where is Jax? he muttered to himself. He better be alright. I could really use him right now on this. E-web is beauty, but this thin is a chore to set up without a second man to help get everything in it's place, especially the main cannon.

"I'll be there in a moment! I'm a little busy right now! Jax exclaimed, being with the pilot.

"For fraks sake, Zippy stated in frustration. Can I please have one trip where I land and don't immediately get shot at by everything on the planet!"

The E-web was almost ready. Just a few minor adjustments needed to be made and they could get out of this tin can they called a ship. Fortunately they were still in one peace, but even so, they couldn't stay in here much longer. They had a job to do.

"Let's just hope nobody blows up the ship before I get to shoot this thing. Better give it a lovely name while I'm at. Something like, Harbinger's kiss. Oh I quite like that," speaking under his own breath with a smirk.

It was just starting to get interesting.

Cathal felt like his bones were being rattled to bits. The shuttle thrust had increased and the descent angle gotten steeper. His teeth gritted against the mounting pressure. The blood began to rush to his legs, making him feel dizzy. The trooper opposite him blacked out, going limp in the restraint harness.


His mind began to fill with those wonderful dark thoughts that presented themselves when dire straits beckoned. He imagined the heat shielding ripping away, the metal hull of the shuttle melting, and those inside being cooked to a crisp.The shuttle began to judder and shake as it entered atmosphere and hit turbulence. Not long now.


“Brace for impact!”


Feth, even she sounds on edge! Swamprat’s entire body tensed up, gripping the restraints and he cringed, getting ready for the landing. Or crash. There was a roar as the repulsorlifts kicked and everything went black.
__________________________________________


He’d only been out a minute or two but a lot had changed. Troopers were out of their harnesses, sorting their kit. Others were slowly coming to life like him, while others still lay sprawled in their harnesses, still out for the count. His head hurt and he probed his teeth experimentally with his tongue. Still got them. Shaky hands undid his restraints and he steadied himself with a hand as he rose on uncertain legs. His head twisted to try and work a kink out of his neck. “Feth” he swore, just grateful to be on solid soil. Feth being in space and not the master of your own fate. Groundside was where it was at. One trooper turned to look at him, he could almost hear the smile under the helmet as he spoke. “The Emperor protects!”.


There was swearing from the bow and he nudged the trooper ahead of him, there was too many of them to see what was happening so he had to rely on what got passed down the line. “Ramp is stuck” “Oh for the love of-” “Things can always get worse” “Shut your gob Laoch!”. Cathal shut out the bickering voices and checked his E-45, the rifle looked to have survived the landing alright. Doing so kept the nerves at bay, none of the stormtroopers were happy at being trapped in a metal can. 


“Zippy how long would it take to set up the E-Web to fire?” came the call. Swamprat blinked. From where? Inside the shuttle?! The mass began to shuffle to clear a path as two troopers went to retrieve it and bring it forward. “Wonder what’s waiting for us outside” quipped Laoch sarcastically. He was obsessively checking the blaster pack on his rifle. Cathal tried not to imagine pirates gleefully waiting in ambush for the first armoured figure to stumble out of the shuttle.


A good landing is one you can walk away from.

Normally Muulog Morg relished any opportunity he could take to serve the Empire, but when he'd been assigned to one of the Naval Academy's on-station squadrons, he hadn't realized the position was mostly just a stepping stone for recruits moving on to bigger and better things. Many faces came and went, but despite his spotless record, he went nowhere. Surely his skills would be put to better use in a more... engaging role, he thought; and, as luck would have it, today he was finally seeing some action. As executive officer of the 203rd, Muulog Morg finally got to fight at the forefront of a battle.

Well, sort of. He was also babysitting an entire squadron of academy graduates, while they earned their wings defending the Valiant.

"by Triakk's tendrils, Six," Muulog snorted, "stop flying in zig-zags when there's nothing shooting at you! You're wasting fuel for no good reason!"

"Who's Triakk, Chief?" His sheepish young wingmate responded.

"She's the goddess of chaos and-- that's not the point!" Muulog sighed.

"Sorry, Chief."

"Cut the kid some slack, Five," the squadron commander interjected. He was fairly laid-back in his treatment of the recruits, compared to his executive officer. Muulog just hoped it didn't get any of them killed.

"Yes sir," the deflated Muulog replied. He glanced over the tactical readouts again, mentally cross-referencing them with their flight path. "I count two flights of Cresh-Seven-Threes at a point-four deviation from our current trajectory. Interception recommended." Ancient, terribly slow fighters, C-73s. Practically antiques. Unless the pirates have modified them significantly, the recruits should be more than capable of dealing with them.

"Confirmed, Five," the squadron commander replied. "Besh, Cresh, they're all yours."

"Copy that, Lead." Muulog gently tilted his fighter down, going into a wide loop that would allow him to attack the C-73s from a better angle. He trusted that the three former trainees under his command would follow his lead.

Besh flight accelerated as a unit, closing the gap between them and the pirate fighters. Cresh flight did the same, coming at them from 'above' rather than 'below'. A fairly standard pincer maneuver, and pretty easy to see coming. The pirates seemed to think so too, as they broke apart into two groups and took evasive action.

"Besh, target the fighters designated Dorn-5, Dorn-6, and Dorn-7." Muulog quickly keyed in targeting telemetry data, spinning his fighter to keep the lead C-73 in his sights. When the crosshairs on his Interceptor's HUD went green, indicating a soft target lock, he opened fire.

The pirate rolled on his forward axis, narrowly avoiding Muulog's first salvo, but the latter was able to correct for the spin by aiming for the center of mass. Another set of bursts from the laser-tipped cannons and the pirate ship blew apart into a cloud of shrapnel.

Glancing back over at the readouts, he saw that Seven and Eight were spiraling after one of their targets, struggling to maintain a weapons lock, while Six was busy chasing after one of Cresh's targets. He sighed.

It was going to be a long day.

Therex stepped into the cockpit, ducking under hanging wires and trying to not step on anything he might regret. Looking towards the front of the mangled mess, he noticed the pilot and Jax both slumped over their consoles. Praying, Therex reached out and checked their vitals.

Oh thank the maker...

Turning back to make his report to Mox, he wa suddenly hit by an overpowering stench. One that had punched past the crisped wires, and strained metal. It was metallic, and sour. Switching on his air filters, Therex tried not to gag as he looked across the cockpit to where he had laid the wounded Co-pilot. His body had been tossed every which way from the crash. His limbs were shattered and splayed at angles that he had never thought physically possible. The wounds that covered him had been ripped back open and were bleeding fresh, dark red blood. Suppressing the anger he was feeling, he gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and just breathed. For years, his anger had gotten him into trouble, but Therex had learned a few tricks to help calm his urges. When he opened his eyes, he gave the man one last look, and turned back towards the main cabin.

“Mox, the pilot and Jax are unconscious… the co-pilot didn’t make it,” he shouted back, trying not to let his voice sound too distressed.

As he stepped out of the cockpit he saw the squad debating setting up a large gun to fire a hole through the cockpit and get the hell out. Heavy weapons was not something Therex studied much of, so he decided his input was not needed. Instead, he found his medical supplies and started checking the troopers man to man for any injuries. For the most part, it seemed like the pilot had done a damn good job keeping them in one piece. Glad for at least some good news, he settled back into his chair while the crew set up an E-WEB gun in the cockpit for their exit. Leaning back, he tried to push the dead man’s face out of his mind.

Death is inevitable. But why does it have to be so ugly?

His random thoughts were cut off when a massive boom followed by a thud shifted the ship.

“Time to go,” he asked, opening his eyes again. “I was just getting comfy.”

Wasn’t expecting things to get this makeshift already…

Mox walked back into the passengers' bay.

“‘Rat, Dusk, get the body out of there. Put it in the back.” Mox ordered, gesturing to the appropriate soldiers.

“Rightey: Laz, Camper, you bring out the lass. And take it easy.” the soldier named dropped earlier as Skidz snickered as he watched the two stand up and make their way, before one of them retorted back.

Fierfek, this is like a bloody school. Mox thought as he made his way over to one of the passenger seats.

“Check your ComLinks people” he called out as he sat down. He could see Jax slowly make his way out of pilot’s cabin, helmet in one hand and massaging his temple with the other “Last thing we want is to end up out of contact.” He had his communication devices fail on him more than he would like, and he didn’t wish for it to happen unexpectedly on the first mission back in the Vast Empire.

The men of both squads reached for their equipment, and and Mox heard them check in. As they did, he brought out his datapad.

“Good.” Mox spoke into the ComLink, having turned off the helmet speakers, once all of his troopers checked in. “I’ve sent the fireteams designations over to you, it should display shortly on your HUD.”

He took a moment for his squad to receive and digest the information

“In addition, when we’re going to be leaving the shuttle, we’ll go in groups of five. Me, Zippy, Jax, Therex and Balac will go last. The rest of you will go in the first wave. We’ll support you from the shuttle. Hopefully the pirates haven’t reached us yet, assuming they even have sent anyone out.” the squad leader turned towards the younger PFC “Swamprat, I want you to go into the pilot’s cabin and keep a lookout from the window. Let me know immediately if you see any movement.”

“Roger that, sergeant.” 2nd Squad’s Stormtroopers also got up, seemingly having received the same orders.

Looking across his squad Mox thought if there was anything that he forgot. I don’t… think so.

The Harbinger Squad Leader was sitting down in a passenger chair as he watched Zippy and Jax work on the turret, with Lightray assisting where he could. The young man seemed eager to help, as if he found this whole endeavour fascinating. How did he pass psych-analysis? Mox thought as he took out his datapad and looked over the plan of attack. He’d heard the back’n’forth between the pilot and Jax, which implied that one of the shuttles was KIA’d mid-flight. 20 buckets down the gutter the resignated thought passed through his mind Bloody AA turrets, who could’ve predicted that?

After a tense several minutes, with the majority of the entrapped troopers spending the time simply watching the E-Web trio, Zippy called out.

“Mox, we’re ready.”

“Full power?”

The Lance Corporal nodded.

“Right guys, get back in here.” Mox ordered. “Did you see anything?”

“No, sergeant.” Swamprat replied. The 2nd’s stormtrooper shook his head in agreement.

Mox nodded and got around to standing behind Zippy and Jax.

“Ready up, first wave!” he called out. The main reason for using waves wasn’t to make the perimeter securing more efficient; that would make no sense. It was a tactic that would prevent the entirety of their force to be wiped out in case of an ambush. They were essentially being used as bait.

The five Harbingers huddled around the doorway, their main weapons in hand. The junior ones looked blatantly anxious, visibly glancing around, and their breathing getting noticeably faster.

“Fire!”

The E-Web let out a deafening sound, compounded by the airtight shuttle’s acoustics, and huge red bolt flew out of its barrel into the pilot’s cabin. An audible glass breaking could be heard, and the front wind-screen exploded outwards in a form of hundreds of shards.

“Go, go, go!” Mox ordered, shouting almost.

“Through the Shattered Glass we go…” Mox thought, praying that the pirates haven’t set up an ambush.

"Fire!"

Zippy heard the word loud and clear. There was no hesitation. Only commitment. As he pulled the trigger, the red bolt darted out of the cannon like a tie fighter at top speed. As it made impact, all you could hear was the deafening sound of the impact. The sound of glass falling to the ground and bits of burnt metal where the glass had been situated. To top that off, the stench was getting worse by the second. Dead co-pilot, rotting vomit, and the now smoking E-web, it was truly starting to shape up and be a real adventure. For a moment, he taken aback. He had heard the stories of the E-web, but he didn't know if it truly held up to it's devastating rumors. He had dabbled in all forms of heavy weapons, but the E-web wasn't something he had gotten his hands on. Rockets, nades, explosive charges, you name it. But this, this was truly a sight to behold.

"Go, go, go!" Zippy heard from his side. The time had finally come to get boots officially on the ground.

"Zippy, we'll be going last. Double check gear asap. This is it, Mox stated with a serious tone. There is no going back. Top off all gear now."

"So, we're bringing this E-Web right? Because I think I'm in love. Harbinger's kiss. Anyone like the name? Zippy stated with excitement."

"I think you may have a few screws loose after shooting this thing, but I'll help carry what I can, he over heard from his shoulder. Let me know what I can carry. Shouldn't be to bad with some of us breaking it up into different pieces, Jax motioned."

"If you're willing to help, I'm certainly not going to object, that's for sure. Would take a few of us to lug around this beast. Base of the turret, cannon, the power generator and the main power cable."

Jax, being the one mentioning this, seemed like he was fairly serious about helping.

"Let's make sure we are all set with the other gear before we start taking this with us boys. We still have a job to do." Mox motioned as they were kneeling down, ready to take the cannon apart.

As the other troopers made their way out of the shuttle, Zippy got a better look at the transport they had arrived in. Burnt wiring, bits and pieces of scrap metal and random assortments of gear laid about on the floor. Not to mention the corpse in the cockpit. He was ready to move and get on with this mission. They needed supplies no matter the cost. This was his chance to shine and Zippy knew mustering all of his strength was going to be key here. Not only for himself, but for everyone around him.

He had a lot of faith in his team, new and veterans alike. There was no time to pick and choose who he wanted to be by his side in a tough fight. Zippy knew he could count on these troopers through this mission. Everyone's moment would come when they truly revealed what they had to offer. And he was no different. Nothing less than his best. Every time.

Each second that passed as they remained in that metal box was one second more he wanted to get out of it. No more questions. No more concerns. It was time to move.

OOC:

566 words. Let's get this show rolling!

Please refer to the Discussion for facility layout and enemies initial maneuvering (you are not in comm range of the other imperials)

Ensign Kerr Grave’s charred body began to smell, the unpleasant mixture of singed hair and burnt flesh ruminating the medical bay.  Raigen had no time to notice, however, backing up toward the door as he made his demands, “Drop your weapons, all of you. . .I’ll slot his neck open without blinking.  Comlinks too.” The marines obeyed, setting their rifles on the ground, then their comlinks.  Raigen reached around to pull the code cylinder off the Captain’s dress uniform.  “You’ll stay in this medical bay until I’m out of sight or I’ll start cutting pieces off of him.”  Raigen pulled a blaster to him with his foot before forcing the captain to his knees and bending to pick it up with his off hand.  He dropped the vibroscalpel and pointed the blaster at the captain’s head before backing out of the medical bay and pulling the Captain with him by his collar.

    “You’ll hang for this, or worse you filthy pirate.” Captain Nakbuls cursed as he was drug down the passageways to the turbolift.  A swipe of the code cylinder would active the mechanism, closing the blast doors and sending them up to another level.  Exiting the turbolift he swiped the code cylinder again and initiated a level-wide lockdown.

    “Computer terminals? Where are they?” Raigen pressed the end of the blaster against Icuss’s skull as if to emphasize his resolve.  The captain coughed as the collar pulled against his neck. He merely pointed toward a hatch labeled hanger control. “Excellent,” Raigen remarked, moving toward the hatch with his ward.  Two surprised but unarmed controllers spun to meet a swift end as Raigen fired into them with little discrimination, an elbow wrapped tightly around the older captain who could merely squirm.  The code cylinder again proved useful as Raigen began issuing a routine.

    “What are you doing?”

    Raigen chuckled, laughed even, “I’m running a calibration program on your tractor beams and hanger turrets.  They’ll be out of service long enough for me to escape.”

    “You won’t make it out of the system.  If our ships don’t get you, the Imperial’s will.”  The captain choked against the pirate’s arm.  Raigen thought for a moment, smirking, then smiling.

“I think I rather like my chances with the Imperials captain.  Sweet dreams.” Raigen swung the butt of the rifle down, crushing into Iccus Nakbul’s skull with a loud thud and sending him limp to the floor.  He finished his final routine and bolted from the control center and into the supply hanger toward the X-Wing, a red, R3 protocol Droid already being loaded as per Raigen’s instructions.  “Here we go again.”


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


    Raigen climbed the boarding ladder into the snub fighter with haste, turning to kick the ladder off the ship before sliding into the seat and initiating the preflight checks, “We’re in this together now, R3. I hope your self preservation programming is well written.  What systems are online. . .(replying to a series of whirs and grinding) no shields, no hyperdrive. . .well, that’s nothing to write home about.” The canopy of the Incom T65B closed with a gasp as the cockpit sealed and life support came on line.  Raigen toggled off the inertial dampeners and engaged the grav lifts, lifting the ship off its skids.  A tug on the stick and a slide of the hand was responded with a roar from the sunlight engines.  Landing gear was retracted and the X-wing banked, shooting toward and out of the hanger with disregard for the damage the engine’s turbines would create.  Raigen was in space now, free from the Mon Cali cruiser; and, for the life of him, couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t over just yet.

Heavy breathing filled her sealed helmet, vision narrowed on the warehouse ahead of her. She could see Fireteam Auresh enter the building, she could also see the tank on the road in the corner of her eye ‘If that thing just glances at us, we’re most likely dead.’ That thought gave her the drive to pump her legs faster for the final stretch to the wall. She slammed her body against it and instantly had her carbine out. Shortly after, the two soldiers under her command joined her, the three of them catching their breath. Slowing her breathing as fast as her body could muster she nodded at the two with her. “Ready?” They each nodded an affirmative as they readied weapons.


A moment after, shouting could be heard from inside the warehouse followed shortly by blaster fire. There was returned fire before Mox called over the comms. “Beta, are you alright?”


Jay’sha called back “Yeah, we made it out of their line of sight just as the private started yelling.”


“Get in here, now, you’re sitting ducks if a tank flanks you.”


The NCO looked at her troopers, “Mox wants us inside; you two go in and support them, I’ll watch our backs.” She gestured with for them to move before taking up a position on the corner of the building.


With a few clicks on her rifle she patched the scope feed through her visor. Holding it around the corner she spotted at least 8 pirates moving towards the rear of the building weapons drawn. “Gamma, we’ve got pirates moving up towards the rear, I’m heading into the warehouse but be aware of hostiles closing on you.”


“Rodger that.” The gruff mando replied curtly. With that, the Sergeant rushed to get inside the warehouse and support the rest of her squad.


The doors were open so the NCO ran straight through and slid behind cover with Lightray, only drawing a slug or two in her direction. She looked at him “How many?” The man took a moment to reply as he leaned out of cover to spray a few bolts in the pirates direction. “Just three of them left, one got taken out as the firefight started.” He pulled back just in time for a slug to imbed itself in the side of the crate they were hid behind. Jay’sha peeked her head overtop the crate to make note of where the pirates were before fully standing out to bring her carbine to bear, snapping of a three round burst into the space one of the pirates heads had just occupied. Satisfied with the current loll in the back in forth, she fully capitalized on this and dashed to better cover and opened up in short bursts to keep the enemies heads down. She barked through comms at her soldiers. “Come on! Advance!”

OOC:

WC: 475

Mox grabbed the shelf rig he took cover behind and shook. Not very sturdy he thought as it wobbled. Can’t climb on this. The occasional slug being thrown his way didn’t worry him: he assumed that the armour would be more than capable of taking a few small-calibre slug shots. Turning around he looked over the row of stacks of crates on his left. He spotted multiple ways up to the top. The only problem was that the shelf serving as his cover was shorter than the top of crate, meaning that shots in his direction would most likely strike him.

Shaking instead he decided to fall back to his fireteam Don’t make the mistakes of your youth, you fool He glanced out to get a rough idea of the remaining pirates’ positions, before firing off a few of shots and running back to the row of crates that was leading towards Swamprat and Therex. A few slugs trailed him along his journey, but they missed.

Another scream. Another pirate down. Mox thought as he reached his fireteam mates, but as he did a sudden thud rang through the warehouse.

Shit... Mox thought as he heard a rang of footsteps and more slug-fire echo through the warehouse More pirates…

“Aurek, with me. Stay low, and hold your fire.” Mox ordered as he passed them, going across to the next piece of cover. Of the first set of pirates only one remained unharmed, and she didn’t seem too emboldened by her reinforcements. At least not yet. “Besh, draw their fire. We’ll try to get a good count of the extras, and maybe even flank them if they don’t notice us in our shiny white armour.” he heard a comm click in reply. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Swamprat still immobile behind his original piece of cover, his helmet pointed in Mox’s direction, as if he was staring. “Get over here, ‘Rat, we have no time to lose.”

The trio moved forward as low as they could while sticking to the northern side of the warehouse, hugging what opaque cover they could. Given his count from the forest, there could be ten or more opponents in the warehouse now, and he didn’t know what weapons they possessed. And while six stormtroopers could easily dispatch ten vagabonds, Mox knew better than to get cocky.

Let’s hope they haven’t brought any heavy weaponry.

Feck.


That was all he could think. A lost battle and hyperspace jump. A shuttle flight through contested space. A crash landing. It had all led up to this. Being curled up behind rapidly degrading cover while trading potshots with pirates. He swore and gripped his rifle tighter, trying to minimise his bulk.


There was a comforting scream in response to his squad leader’s fire and Swamprat nodded. The moment the suppressing fire slackened, he made a dash to the next piece of cover. The trio began to work their way along the northern section of the warehouse, moving from each group of crates to another.


A ragged volley of slug-fire opened up. It was blind and mis aimed but Cathal still cringed. Reinforcements had arrived and they were determined to hunt out the Imperials that they knew were hunkered down somewhere in the warehouse. Both sides were hunting each other warily now.


He peeked round a corner and found himself perfectly perpendicular to an opposing trio of pirates. He had the drop on them and he fired from the hip. He killed one, winged a second, and would have gotten the third if a second fire-team hadn’t spotted him and fired a salvo back.


“Swamprat, I’m pinned” he keyed in on his mic, his voice calm despite his heart threatening to tear out of his chest. “If you work around to flank-feck” he broke off with a curse. A slug-round nearly took a chunk out of his foot but that wasn’t what had caused the outburst. “They’ve got something mechanised near the warehouse door, looks big and-” he was cut off again as a few rounds came perilously close. A snarl forming, he stuck his rifle round the crate and held the trigger down, letting off a stream of blaster bolts.


He wasn’t sure if he’d hit anything but it sure made him feel better. He ejected the spent blaster pack and slammed in a fresh one. For once his hands weren’t shaking.

“CHUBA!  ArrThree, try hailing the Imperial Cruiser, “ Raigen cursed as he set the x foils to flight configuration and powered across the expanse toward the four squadrons of New Republic vessels.  The pirate strapped himself into the flight seat, turning on the targeting computer and pulling back on the stick as he was level and behind the Y-Wings.  “ArrThree, When we’re on their ass, lock on to the rear starboard flight and lock onto the bombers to the right and left of my targets.” Raigen, looking to use this element of surprise, positioned the X-Wing behind the Squadron of Y-Wings and just below, out of their top-mounted turrets’ firing arc. 

    “Yeah, I hear their hails, ignore it. Can you send them a distress ping?” Raigen opened the x foils and scanned the field of bombers with his eyes as an element of X-Wings broke off from their squadron to circle around and tail him. “We’re gonna roll port and split the squadron, ArrThree, divert power to rear shields after I fire.  Give these boys a taste of my version of the Ackbar Slash, lock on now ArrThree,” The ANq 3.6 Tracking computer began blinking and beeping wildly as it locked on to two of the Y-Wing bombers on either side of the one Raigen was tailing. Raigen squeezed down on the laser cannon trigger, four arcs of consecutive red blasts ripping into the ion jet engines of the Y-Wing ahead of him.  Fractions of a second after beginning his attack, an unyielding tone from the flight computer indicated a lock, all three Y wings visible on his screen with the two flanking images encircled and overlapped with a red crosshairs.  A slide of his thumb to the red button on his flight stick would launch proton torpedoes from their respective tubes.

    The torpedoes would jettison themselves out of the tube, turning and stalking their marks before exploding into the deflector shields.  A shaped nuclear blast ripped through the ships’ shields, and both Y-Wings would erupt in a cloud of heat, light, and protons as the shields failed and the blast reached the bomber’s payloads.  Two ships, exploding around Raigen’s main target, forced it to evade the proton blasts, pulling up as the X-Wing’s laser cannons lit up the Chempat Deflector/Ray shields with unyielding fire.  Raigen would follow, the X-Wing more maneuverable than the bomber, by pulling back on his stick and sending the nose of the x-wing toward the Y-wing for another moment.  It’s shields would have been down by now, at least.

    That was enough, he thought, as he jerked the stick right moving into a displacement roll and punched the accelerator throttle forward.  The X-Wing turned belly up, rolling over into the middle of the Y-Wing Squadron’s delta shaped formation. The trailing snub fighters had little time to react as lasers and missiles erupted from a friendly craft into their comrades.  Spheres of proton induced reaction in front of them, they broke left to follow this traitor through the Arrow of Y-Wings that was already accelerating away from them.  Ion turrets would crisscross their path, struggling to react to the chaos ensuing as Raigen split their formation with the faster, more agile snubfighter.  Both X-Wings would take ion blasts to their sides as they toggled their foils to attack position.

    Speeding past the rear flights and weave of ion fire trailing him, Raigen would strafe two of the bomber’s in the lead flight before pushing the stick forward and half looping back for the rear flight.  The squadron would scramble, flanking flights breaking away from the formation.  Raigen rolled his craft to aim his canopy toward the enemy, watching as the pursuing fighters broke to follow.  “ArrThree, reroute power to engines, let’s Boom and Zoom!”  The pirate opened fire on the remaining two Y Wings well before his craft was in range.  The red glow of the quad laser cannons rained on the slower element as he made his approach, X-Wing’s in tow.  Energy blasts splattered on the shields of one ship but tore through the titanium alloy on the other, separating one of its ion jet engines from the fuselage and disabling the craft.

    The rogue fighter pulled up, evading it’s pursuers as Raigen watched their pips on his sensors. “They stay together like that, they won’t catch me,” he remarked with a certain self-satisfaction only a fool or a seasoned pilot could enjoy.  “Keep power on the engines, ArrThree, They can’t follow me through these break loops and keep distance,” and he was right.  Raigen would roll his craft and perform a quarter loop before leveling again, the roll and break the other way.  Each time, the trailing element would readjust to keep their formation and lose a few meters until Raigen was comfortable they couldn’t get off any more accurate shots.  He pointed his fighter toward the battle. “We’ll lose em in there,”