Eclipse Historical Archives
Mission File 492041
Page 1
Entry by: Squad Historian Riqimo Pershaw
This file has been approved by the Vast Empire Army Censorship Commission

Eclipse squad had to perform their first mission without the leadership of Garet Daimun, a first that all of us in the squad wished would never come. Upon our return from Nkllon, Garet was immediately arrested by the Vast Empire's Internal Police Force and placed into a detention cell. His charges were the deaths of the Imperial POWS we were supposed to rescue. His warrant of arrest stated the following:

Through his decision to separate from the squad to investigate a vague lead, Gunnery Sergeant Garet Daimun (Eclipse Squad Leader, Storm Platoon) delayed the mission by critical seconds. This unnecessary risk placed the entire operation at risk of compromise. The squad left the hanger after the optimal time due to his foolish endeavor to rescue one additional POW. The critical seconds lost lead to the deaths of all the other POWS, with the exception of one, named George Stancil, who died earlier from enemy fire in the base. The survival of one POW compared to the survival of five is a prime example of reckless decision making, unbecoming of an Imperial officer...

The warrant continues with more [Censored] charges, but this was the primary charge. Garet was scheduled to appear before the arbiters in four days after his arrest. The day after the arrest I was called to the Army's Administration Building to fill out paper work that would place me in a temporary squad leader position until a verdict was reached by the arbiters.

[Censored]

[Censored]

The charges aside, Eclipse was tired from their mission and had only one day of rest before they received notice of deployment. We were to infiltrate an installation on Aquilaris. The mission would have gone well if we had true intelligence, without that, we would literally be in treacherous waters. [Censored]. We all barely survived the mission, we were fully deserving of our three week leave status that was effective once we touched back down on Tadath, some of us standing and some of us completely unable to stand.

I figured I take the time to tell Eclipse's story for the history archives while I am here in my hospital bed, it's too damned boring with out the boys and gal of Eclipse around here. I might as well find something constructive to do between sleeping and crunching on these bloody pills.

Here is Eclipse's story...

=== Administration Building ~ Day 1 ~ 1030 Hours ===

The last mission was still weighing on Riqimo's mind, Garet was seized on outrageous charges, leaving the medic with the squad leader position until Garet was either released or found guilty. I hate the military bureaucratic system... Garet did everything to the best of his ability.

"Sign here please, Corporal Pershaw," the secretary shook Riqimo from his thoughts as he took the pen and signed his name, he was now officially the temporary SL of Eclipse. Unsure whether to be happy for surviving the mission or heartbroken with the possibility of not being able to work with Garet again, Riqimo decided to get out to the local pub and just drink away the thoughts.

Riqimo forged past Kairo's office, hoping he would make it to the turbolift before...
"RIQQY! GET IN HERE!"
Riqimo sighed, Ah well, there goes those drinks.
Stuffing his hat under his arm, Riqimo smoothed the creases from his uniform and stepped into his platoon leader's office, "Yes, sir?" he asked as he slipped into one of the chairs.

"I am sorry that you and your squad haven't have much time to rest, but we have had an urgent piece of intel that requires a capable recon squad, and Eclipse is the only one available," Kairo pulled out a datapad from a drawer.
"Can't this wait until Garet is cleared of his charges?" Riqimo tried his only justifiable setback.
"No, I am sorry, he might not get off, although I sincerely hope that he does, the final decision rests with the arbiters," Kairo shook his head as he gave the new squad leader the mission's datapad, "Here is the intel we have, I hope everyone knows how to swim in your squad."

"Aquilaris? Isn't that planet completely water?" Riqimo looked up to see Kairo nodding slowly, "And... hmmm, interesting... I'll get ready to brief the squad right now then."

"Oh, Doc," Kairo called out softly as Riqimo was opening the door.
"Yeah?"
"The armor you guys will use is reserved in Garet's name, the computer's roster haven't been updated yet, I am going to wait and see how the trial turns out before changing that."

=== Eclipse Meeting Room ~ Day 1 ~ 1300 hours ===

The meeting room had an unusual gloom about it, everything appeared dimmer, even the plaque on the wall for the Illum campaign seemed to have lost some of its luster. The squad members were complementing the room perfectly. They were abnormally quiet, the absence of Garet was affecting all of them, only the return of Phenix to the squad's ranks elevated their spirits a bit. Glancing around at the familiar faces he trusted, he could count all but one... Riq, forget about it, you are doing Garet a disservice by not doing your duty... Damit, why did I not keep that medkit with me? I should be on trial not him.

Promising himself a few drinks later, Riqimo started the holo screen behind him and began the briefing, "I know this may be unusual doing a mission without Garet, but I have high hopes that he will cleared of his charges." Riqimo paused, trying to choose his next words, "I really hate to deploy Eclipse without him, but duty calls, and I know Garet would not want us to shirk from our oaths to the VE."

Riqimo paused once more, giving the squad a few seconds to reflect on Garet, "Now our mission is a simple. The NR is performing genetic experiments on the Outer Rim planet of Aquilaris, somewhere near the floating city called..." Riqimo flipped his note card over, "Demascis. The VE agent there was sending valuable information on the progress of these experiments. Just three days ago, all contact with him was lost and today we received what appears to be an encrypted distress call from him."

"What are these experiments?" Ryan asked, now wearing an ASL insignia which he appeared quite uncomfortable wearing, probably for the same reasons I am...

"Good question, they are genetic experiments to adapt various species to come very close to death, in fact appear dead in every way. But in actuality they are alive and well. With these genes installed in NR soldiers, they will have a virtually invincible army, they can literally fight to the death and then the next day, do the same thing all over again. I know you are probably wondering 'why Aquilaris?' Well according to the last transmission we received, they had a major breakthrough with applying something called ‘Sequential Photoelectrolysis’ with some unique fish of the planet recently discovered, which is near impossible to kill. This research project is headed by a scientist called Gego Denso." Riqimo clicked a button on his remote and the screen behind him displayed the scientist’s photo.

The squad was silent, staring at the screen, almost expecting Riqimo to declare a mistake... Jag broke the silence, "Uh Doc, he is a Gungan?"

Riqimo nodded and glanced at the screen, the a photo of Denso showed him wearing a white lab coat and dissecting a fish, "Well what better choice to do research at an underwater base then a Gungan? Denso is a leading scientist in genetic research and has graduated from the Coruscant University of Sciences just two years ago with high honors and a doctorate. He is rather an unusual specimen for a Gungan, speaking perfect Basic, which probably helped him greatly when trying to become accepted into the mainstream scientific community."

"Underwater base? I thought we were going to be in the floating city?" Brightstar was following every word carefully.

"Yes, underwater. To perform this mission we will be using Sea Trooper armor, which, as you can guess, is meant for underwater operation. Of course we are smuggling ourselves in again much like last mission, only this time we are on a civilian transport," the squad gave a slight sigh of relief at not having to stay in another cargo bay, "We will arrive without weapons or armor, a hired smuggler will be there to give us our equipment. We change into the Sea Trooper suits and enter the water. Luckily we already know the general location of the base, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find. I have reserved some sonic rifles, which will be very useful as standard blasters are virtually ineffective underwater. Since we are on the topic of our equipment, let me share what we will be using." Riqimo pushed a button on the remote and an artist's concept sketch of the seatrooper armor came up on the screen behind him.

"This is the armor we will be using, as you can see the armor is based somewhat on the scout trooper design, you will be wearing a two-piece environmental glove that will protect you from uncomfortable temperatures to a degree and also from some toxic water environments. The armor is considerably more flexible than the armor you are familiar with, due to its underwater use. There is a back-mounted propulsion unit, which is easy to get used to, what you may have difficulty with is the propulsion boots with the snap-down flippers. The suit is equipped with an air supply of five standard hours. As for your primary weapon..." Riqimo clicked the remote yet again and the screen flickered again to show the unusually shaped gun....

"This will be your standard weapon on the mission, a stock model sonic carbine. They can be fatal at close range of about three meters, underwater however they become deadly as far as 25 meters. Depending how far outside the fatal range, the rifle has varying effects, first it can deafen or stun the target, then it becomes an annoyance, finally it no longer effective. You will also have the option of choosing a pistol to be a sidearm inside the base. While you are underwater you will keep this pistol in a water-proof pouch on your utility belt. A melee weapon is not required, but suggested, please remember that you will be swimming with it. You will also be provided with a high tension wire, grappling hooks, an ion flare, extra breathing filters, and flash bangs."

"So we are destroying the base?" Phenix asked, clearly excited to be back in action with the squad.

"Not entirely," Riqimo answered, "I wish it was that simple. We need to get into the base and see if the agent still lives, if he lives he is to be extracted. Whether he is dead or alive, our primary objectives are to download any research files we can take off the mainframe and then destroy the base. This will done by placing timed charges at critical points so that the entire base is flooded. Next comes the hard part," Riqimo heard some groans from the squad, but ignored them and continued, "by the time the base destroyed, the NR officials in the city will no doubt be aware of our attack and we will have to be extracted from the planet by swimming to one of five possible extraction coordinates. From one of those we will broadcast our location to a ship in orbit, either as the alpha, beta, gamma, delta, or epsilon extraction point. We will then be literally reeled in by a net. Once safely inside the ship, we will head to a nearby planet from which we then board a ship to take us back to Tadath. Any questions?"

Jelly raised his hand and Riqimo nodded towards him, "Why aren't Raiders doing this? They are the multi-environment squad aren't they?"

"Because we are better trained in operating behind enemy lines, the use of aquatic assault armor will not be possible from inside the base, so we will be unarmored inside the base. Thus stealth is paramount for our survival inside the base."

"Unarmored?" Jelly asked with a confused look.

"Yes unarmored, once we are through an airlock, we will stash the aquatic armor aside. The armor although very flexible in water, will be extremely difficult to use in the corridors of the base. And no, we will not be assaulting the base naked, we will still keep our body gloves on. I do not have to tell you that they offer no protection whatsoever. The base should not give much resistance as it is a scientific base, but there may be a garrison of NR troops there and we must be on our guard. The primary danger we face would be the wildlife of the area, especially the mee..."

"...which has a rotund, black-and-yellow scaled body with a wide mouth and a poison spines protruding from the side. If you get stung by one you have two problems. Firstly the poison, to which I have a limited number of antidotes. Secondly, you will have a suit breach for the water to enter your suit. They cannot be killed by our sonic rifles, but we can repel them easily, so it is essential that we remain on guard for these. In addition there are the..."

"...Opee Sea Killers that average twenty meters in length. If you see one, hide. Our sonic rifles are completely useless against them. As long as we stay away from rocky outcroppings and caverns we should not have a problem with these ugly brutes. Any last questions?"

The room was silent, "Very well, get your bathing suits, we are deploying... err... ‘leaving’ from bay seven as tourists tomorrow at 600 hours. Also be sure to leave your equipment requests for what pistol and if you wish for one, a melee weapon with Kairo, he will arrange our smuggler to have them available for us."

The squad shuffled out slowly, Wicket stayed behind to talk to Riqimo, "I do not have a bathing suit."

Riqimo chuckled at the Sullustan’s remark, "Wicket, it was a joke, don’t worry about it, just wear something ‘touristy’ alright?" There are some members in this squad I would never want to see in a bathing suit... a Sullustan is only one of them...

Riqimo flicked the lights out as he left, Garet you better be back when I return, I don’t think I can manage this squad all on my own right now... if you aren‘t I swear I will not forgive you

Riqimo was sitting in a freezing metal chair threatening to numb his rear of any feeling for several hours, only a dim blue light allowed him to see Garet’s face through the thick glass. This man did not seem to be the confident squad leader Riqimo knew, but the dim light reflecting off his head confirmed it was Garet.

"Hey there, I thought I drop by and let you know that I’m taking the squad out on a mission, I would tell you where, but," Riqimo looked at the camera in the corner, "you have your security clearance revoked."

"Yeah I know, how is everyone?" Garet responded softly.

Riqimo swallowed the lump in his throat, "Well everyone is still trying to accept what happened when we landed, you know where you were arrested."

"Don’t remind me, that’s past," Garet mumbled, "So who is the ASL now? You are SL now, right?"

"Yeah I am temporary SL until you are cleared," Garet gave a disbelieving huff, which Riqimo ignored, "and RK is the ASL right now. Oh by the way, Phenix says hi."

"Phenix?" Garet’s eyes lit up for the first time since Riqimo had seen him that night.

"Yup, he’s back with Eclipse, apparently life without us was boring heh..." Oh shoot bad word choice...

"Phenix..." The shadowy figure behind the glass didn’t seem to have heard Riqimo, "You remember on Illum where he got his heat unit removed?"

The two chatted and joked for several hours about their past adventures avoiding the parts that related to Garet’s current situation, the conversation seemed to visibly improve Garet’s attitude, which would greatly help him for his trial scheduled to start in two days, ironically when the squad would touch down on Aquilaris.

=== The Frolic Jawa ~ Day 2 ~ 300 hours ===

The smoke filled air of the bar was beginning to lure Riqimo to sleep. He had somehow found his way here after his talk with Garet. Listening to the band play a slow, mournful tune, Riqimo kept criticizing himself for what was past and present.

Riqqy, your squad depends on you right now why are you here? Don’t you realize that you leave in about two hours and you haven’t slept yet?

"Shut up, I have every right to stay here and have a drink, I don’t need to sleep, I have two days on a transport to sleep."

Several patrons of the bar glanced at Riqimo and decided the man must be drunk and talking to himself. He didn’t notice, nor would he have cared, that the seats next to him became empty.

Riq, what if your squad mates could see you?

"So? If they are here, then it’s the more the merrier!" the medic gave a slurred laugh, he had passed his alcohol limit about twenty-five minutes ago and the barkeep was starting to heavily water down the drinks.

Riqimo, you HAVE to give this up, you are not fit for command in this state

This time the drunken retort did not come, the temporary squad leader had fallen face first asleep into his meal.

=== Alley outside The Frolic Jawa ~ Day 2 ~ 415 hours ===

Where am I? Last thing I remember is some drinks and... oh... Riqimo glanced about his surroundings and quickly realized where he was. Shakily lifting himself up from the trash heap of the Frolic Jawa, he noticed that he had under two hours to get ready for the mission. Using a few lampposts for support every few blocks until he had gain his balance, Riqimo headed for his apartment, which he reached in about an hour.

Finding a small box outside his door, Riqimo picked it up and tossed it on the bed as he headed into his room. Rubbing his eyes he shuffled through his wardrobe for something touristy. Eventually the medic decided upon a green tropical print shirt. Riqimo then opened the box he received and found the passports that Eclipse was using to pose as tourists. He found the one with his picture on it and read the name, "Will Zuback," a business manager from Coruscant. Shrugging at his new identity for the time being, he grabbed the rest of the passports and worked his way through the busy streets of Tadath to Shuttle Bay Seven.

Eclipse Historical Archives
Mission File 492041
Page 6
Entry by: Squad Historian Riqimo Pershaw
This file has been approved by the Vast Empire Army Censorship Commission

The passports and cover stories we were given identified us as Republic civilians, some of us were simply the average civilian going on a vacation Others, such as myself with RK and Brightstar, were on a pleasure business trip together and supposedly scouting possible sites for our restaurant. Jelly and Wicket were acting as recently laid-off dock workers looking for a job. Whoever came up with these identities, I am impressed with how much depth our profiles contained. There were some details that I really felt like [Censored] whoever the person was, especially the booking of my room with another squadmate that either suggested an error or a sick joke by that person, most likely the later.

[Censored]

The squad left from the bay barely on time, but on time nonetheless. I'll admit that it was my fault, the reasons though I will keep as my own.

Perhaps it would have been better if I was late and Eclipse had to cancel the mission. Then I would be facing the arbiters right after Garet instead of having three IVs in me while writing this. I am still trying to decide which option I prefer. But what's done is done, so I'll just get a nap before I continue my entry, these blasted painkillers make me so drowsy...

=== Shuttle Bay Seven ~ Day 2 ~ 559 hours ===

Riqimo was running across the bay to the shuttle, praying that he would be on time, he caught sight of Wicket and Jelly Bean and slowed down. The medic walked up casually as if he wasn’t in a hurry, "Here you go, your identities for the next two days, then we go back to our normal callsigns. We are headed to a neutral planet first from which we will then head directly to Aquilaris. So everyone, all aboard it’s gonna be a long ride."

Jelly Bean looked at the passport and then to the ticket inside of it, "Why am I third class?"

Riqimo, still groggy from last night, took a moment to realize what he was asking, "Oh to seem apart we are traveling in different classes, Ryan, Bright and I are first class, while Jag and Phenix ride second, the rest of you are third class... sorry I forgot to mention that."

"Why are you three first class?" came the inevitable question from Jelly.

"Well... command gave Ryan and me the first class seats because we are superiors..."

Jag pointed at Bright, "What about her? I outrank her..."

Riqimo blushed a deep crimson, "Err, the command gave us a similar cover story she’s, umm... my wife..."

The squad just stared blankly at him. Brightstar seemed indifferent to the situation, either she didn’t care or she was trying to remain professional.

On the shuttle, the first class ticket holders were led into their rooms, almost like apartments, only they had a bed and a table with a few chairs, nothing more. Riqimo tossed his stuff into a corner and turned to Brightstar uneasy, "Umm, there’s only one bed here, and so, umm, I’m gonna be sleeping in Ryan’s room, heh."

Riqimo dismissed himself for the moment to discuss the mission with his acting ASL and to see if there would be a spot on the floor for a sleeping bag.

 
-----------------------
Riqimo "Doc" Pershaw
EclipseSquad   Medic

ASL/CPL Riqimo/2SQD/2PLT/1COM/1RGT/1BAT/Tadath/VEA
Imperial Baronet

Eclipse Website

Eclipse Historical Archives
Mission File 492041
Page 10
Entry by: Squad Historian Riqimo Pershaw
This file has been approved by the Vast Empire Army Censorship Commission

Touchdown on the landing platform for Demascis went without problems, our visas checked out easily enough, and everyone seemed optimistic for the mission ahead. There was no sign whatsoever to hint at the compromising of the mission. Finding the smuggler was our only challenge so far; the man was very professional in his approach. He used a method that I wish I had thought of back in my smuggling days, it would have [Censored].

[Censored].

=== Aquilaris ~ Cafe Dumonde ~ Day 4 ~ 1330 Hours ===

The docking bay was in an usual cluster of activity, mostly tourists of all species coming to the planet for some festival that was listed in the briefing file, but Riqimo couldn't quite recall the name at the moment. It was a perfect day to arrive, the Bothan customs official stamped Riqimo's visa without a second glance, only Jag had a slight difficulty from what Riqimo gathered when they regrouped at a classy restaurant; something about the passport having a slightly out of date photo and the official being frustrated with the previous man before him compounding the trivial problem.

"Well we're all here right now so don't worry about it," Riqimo turned the page of the menu. His thoughts drifted to how nice everyone looked in their suits, or in the case of Brightstar, her dress. The waiter came around and addressed the group, "Ah, welcome monsieurs et mademoiselle, today's special is de Ratatouille Niçoise. May I take your drinks now?"

"You carry purtified water?" Riqimo inquired.
"Ah, yes we do, an excellent choice, monsieur. You know that aquatic planets carry the finest water in the galaxy... And the rest of you? "

...

After Eclipse finished up their appetizers, the squad began shifting from small talk to the mission at hand, "We'll be meeting our man here sometime soon and he will take us to where we will..."

The waiter came by again, "Excuse me monsieur, but would you be expecting  a..." the was a pause as the man searched for a polite word, "transient... by the name of  Zegdo?"

"Oh yes, may he join us?" Riqimo queried.
"Well... I... suppose if you know him..." the waiter resigned, as he motioned to the black haired man standing at the door. Riqimo saw why the waiter was so hesitant to allow the man into the cafe. A perfect sterotypical smuggler sat down between Phenix and Jelly Bean, and then looked around the table to figure out who was in charge while rubbing his unshaven chin.

"May I help you?" Riqimo answered his question.

"Ah, you are the Eclipse? If not then I must be mistaken."

"We are, you must be Zegdo Ymothr."

"That I am, pleasure to be of service to you, it pays rather well."

"I don't know your wage, but where is the... merchandise?"

Zegdo broke into a grin, "Platform Eta, bay six. It will be easy for you to make a drop from there."
Thank you, we will meet you there once we finish our late lunch."

=== Aquilaris ~ Eta Platform ~ Day 4 ~ 1450 hours ===

"What is this place?" Jelly shouted so that he could be heard over the background noise.

You are on the platform where all critters are dealt with, so I bring a shipment of nunas in on my ship and customs doesn't bother with a full sweep of the ship."

"Nunas?" Wicket asked.

"Little critters from Naboo, they are a delicacy of sorts," Riqimo answered, "So, where's the stuff?"

"This way," Zegdo waved his hand, "It's not too far."

After perhaps 25 minutes of weaving through some nerfs and various other creatures, the squad was taken to the edge of the platform where they would be out of sight thanks to how Zegdo's ship was parked, "I'll leave you folks to getting ready then. Everything is in those two crates."

Eclipse Historical Archives
Mission File 492041
Page 14
Entry by: Squad Historian Riqimo Pershaw
This file has been approved by the Vast Empire Army Censorship Commission

Everything that we had brought along was ready and fully charged upon the opening of the crate. We stripped off our dock worker disguises that were used to get ourselves into the hanger. We wore our body gloves underneath them, so all we had to do was get the armor pieces on and secure our weapons. We were to make a fifty meter climb into the water, which would take a while. I attached the rope to a nearby pole and started down first. All along the way, my DT-57 "Annihilator" was banging against my leg in it's water proof pouch... annoying, but I ignored it, a bad decision as it almost fell off the belt halfway to the water due to my not tying it completely. Luckily the sonic rifle on my back caught the strap and I was able to secure it properly. That pistol would get more than its fair share of action, without it, I would not have survived.

=== Aquilaris  ~Day4 ~ 1600 hours ===

It was calming under the surface, schools of fish swam every which way and the light reflecting off their movements gave a marvelous spectacle. Waiting for the rest of the squad, Riqimo finished up admiring the scenery and pulled his rifle off his back. Once everyone was in the water, Riqimo gave everyone an half-hour to get used to swimming around.

Wow, this suit is... pretty good under water, I thought that it would be bulky from the climb down. Once he was familiar with some conventional swimming moves in his armor, Riqimo tried to use his motors on his boots and found himself looking at everyone else upside down, he though he heard a laugh on the comms but ignored it. Deciding that he would rather use the back mounted propulsion unit, he tried it out and made a dive straight up (in relation to his current postion) and the had the idea to use his boots to flip himself back towards the surface. When practice time was up, Riqimo opened the comms, "We are headed towards that underwater canyon there, about a two hour swim if our map is right and we maintain a careful pace to avoid being dinner."