Tanus crouched down behind a rock wall as a group of pirates went by overhead; this was going to be one hell of a fight. He slammed a fresh clip into his rifle and readied a grenade as he turned to the rest of his squad. Garryll was with Orobos, Tank, and Jelly, as they were the ones with the heavy weapons. Tanus nodded towards them as he looked to Rixit, Slag and Alh, who were shaking; Tanus couldn’t tell if it was nervousness or anticipation. He hoped that it was the latter, because he couldn’t afford any screw ups right now. He opened the comm. up to the four heavy weapons users.
“Okay, here’s the plan. Garryll, spray and pray – lay down a lot of fire to get them to hide; we can spare the ammo. Orobos and Tank, lay fire into the rock walls the pirates are using as cover so they have fewer places to duck. Jelly, your job is to take down the speeders going around and any other armor the pirates may have; given that they already brought in a tank, I am taking no chances here. When we get to the entrance, the three of us and whatever marines I can grab will provide covering fire.”
A bolt of blaster fire struck the rock he was using as cover; apparently the Katarn armor
did stick out like a sore thumb. AT this point, none of that mattered. Tanus snuck a glance at what pirates had: he saw five speeders, three of them relatively older models that appeared to be Nubian in design; the other two were Arrow-23s – something the Blackjacks could handle, but could prove to be an immense annoyance. Beyond that, the remainder of the pirate force seemed to be here, and if it wasn’t, Tanus supposed it was back at the pirates’ ship. Tanus looked back to his man; Garryll was almost ready to jump up and take them all on himself. Tanus continued on with his orders.
“As I was saying before I was shot at, when we get over to the
Seraph, we’ll provide covering fire and you can come over. Garryll, I want you over first seeing as you have the anti-infantry weapon and can help us out when you come over. Next, depending on how many speeders are left, I want Jelly over with the Hydra. Lastly, Orobos and Tank can come over as a pair. We’ll make our stand in the ship. We’ll make murder holes and gun slits if there aren’t already. After we establish a base of fire, I’ll call in the air support and it should all be smooth sailing from there on out.”
Tanus turned and made his way slowly to the edge and held up his hand as a sign to wait. He had to wait for the right moment to move, or else Blackjack would be down an SL and two rookies. As the Flash Speeders circled made their way up a hill, Tanus saw the pirates drop behind a wall to change ammo; it was now or never. Tanus dropped his hand and waved them forward, Tanus surging out first followed by Rixit, Slag and Alh. Tanus heard Garryll yell in the background, then all he heard was the thundering of the Tyrant’s barrel shooting hot lead at the exposed pirates. Despite all the screaming, Tanus never turned his head once. The distance to the shuttle couldn’t have been more than 150 meters, but to Tanus it felt like a lifetime. Blaster and laser bolts were flying all around him; some hit his armor, but the shields took most of the punishment; once Slag fell down, and Tanusr ripped him off the ground and threw him into a run, pulling out his DT-57 and firing three quick shots; he didn’t see if they connected.
Behind him, Tanus heard the sound of a rocket being fired and out of the corner of his eye was an Arrow go up in a massive fireball.
Strike one for the pirates, Tanus thought. With one speeder gone, the pirates would be scrambling for something to fill in the gap, and Tanus severely doubted they had the capability. As Tanus snuck a quick glance up at the rock wall, he spied some rather large holes, and pirates trying their damndest to not get hit by the marines in the ship. Tanus was now able to see a little more clearly into the ship: They had established a few murder holes and gun slits already, and for their part, the marines were doing a fair job of keeping the pirates at bay for what they had.
They reached the ship just as one of the Flash Speeders went up, raining down metal and limbs on the ship’s hull. He grabbed Sergeant Cant, who was issuing orders in a voice he had never heard before: the sergeant sounded confident. When he caught sight of the heavily armored soldier, Cant ran over to Tanus and saluted; Tanus returned it with earnest.
“Sergeant Solvona, I’m happy you made it back. We have some cover here, but I’m sure how much longer we can hold out. We’re running low on ammo and don’t have much anti-armor to speaking of, save a mounted proton cannon that we’re having trouble getting out because of the snipers on the ridges.”
Tanus nodded; it was time to turn up the heat on the pirates and send them all straight to hell.
“Don’t worry, sergeant, my boys can give you cover while you roll out the proton cannon, just get the ordnance ready and give me three soldiers. You’ll thank me later.”
Cant nodded and ran off to grab three troopers, who came up to him battle scarred and weary. The each carried a standard E-11, but for the purposes of which they were to be used, the weapons would serve their purpose. He looked at each of them in turn then gave them orders:
“Establish covering fire on my mark. When the first of my men come over, fall back to that murder hole and lay out whoever you can,” then Tanus turned to Alh. “Alh, attend to the wounded and shoot only when you need to. I’ll call you back if anything gets hectic here.”
Alh nodded and jogged off, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and attending to a trooper with a blaster wound to the arm. Tanus turned back and back up against the wall, Slag and Rixit against the opposite wall. The other three troopers were checking weapons and probably offering up prayers in the time before the attack; Tanus might have done that too if her were a religious man. He looked at the five troopers with him and issued his orders.
“On my signal, covering fire. Fire three round bursts from your rifles at anything not hidden. Rixit and Slag, you fire your grenades to send them up and out; I’ll be doing the same.”
Tanus put his hand up, three fingers ready for the countdown.
Boys, I hope you prayed enough. Three… two… one. Tanus spun out with Rixit and Slag at his back; Tanus got to a crouch and pulled the trigger, letting loose the grenade into a trench, while Rixit’s and Slag’s grenades sound some trenches and exposed pirates as well.
“Covering fire!” Tanus shouted.
The other three Stormies spun out, doing just as Tanus said, sending out three round bursts at anything that moved. Pirates dropped, screamed or ran. Some tried to make it up the hill back to the ridge, but were cut down by either Garryll or the marines. Tanus opened up the comm to Blackjack.
“Okay boys, you know the order. Its showtime.”
Garryll collapsed the bipod to the Tyrant and bolted across the open space, diving to the entrance of the ship just as a sniper round hit the ground where his leg had been. Tanus looked to the three marines and nodded; they ran off to a murder hole and began to fire on the pirates once more. Garryll moved over to an empty section of wall and set up the Tyrant; he opened up the comm to Tanus.
“So, did I miss anything exciting? Or was it what I expected?”
“That all depends on what you were expecting.”
“Touché.”
Tanus looked over at Jelly, who had just fired another missile, but hit slightly to the left of his target, the other Arrow. Tanus waved him over as he pumped off another grenade. Jelly ran over as fast as the Hydra would allow him and loaded missiles into the tubes from and ordnance crate behind him. Tanus looked over to see Orobos and Tank firing off concussion bolts, hitting the ridge walls and sending rock into the air. Orobos looked over and nodded at Tanus; seconds later, they were safely in the confines of the ship’s hull.
Tanus opened up the comm to the squad and sat back against the wall as he loaded another clip into his rifle.
“Okay, the marines have a proton grenade cannon that they want to roll out and use on the remaining vehicles so they have a little more elbow room. Of course, the snipers are giving them trouble, so we’re gonna help them out. Garryll, you stay where you are and take care of the ground troops. Everyone else, aim for the ridge wall and any hiding spots you think snipers may be. Heavy ordnance only, with priority given to the concs and the Hydra. Use grenades on hidey holes and exposed troops on the high ground. Go.”
As they fell into their positions, Tanus opened up his comm to Ipiad, who was shouting orders at some gunnery officer.
“Sorry for the swearing, Sergeant. What do you need?”
“We’ve made it to the ship and holding them off for now. The ship’s men have some ordnance to help us out, but the pirates seem to keep coming. The fighters aren’t enough; we’re going to need something with more punch than anything we have.”
Tanus heard a chuckle on the other line; Tanus knew why.
“Well sergeant, I know what you’re thinking. Just need the command.”
Tanus smiled as the words left his lips: “Commander, bring the rain.”
Tanus looked up as the TIEs sped off into the atmosphere, giving the
Savior a clear shot. From where they were to the pirates’ base of operations, it was about five clicks, which meant that Tanus would probably be shaking a little bit soon. And then Tanus got the confirmation.
“Order confirmed, sergeant. You may want to hold on to something.”
Tanus looked back to everyone near him and yelled:
Everyone get down and cover your heads. It’s about to get bumpy!”
Within seconds of that, turbolaser fire rocked the surface of the planet. Tanus shook in his armor as death rained down from above. Several pirates fell as they the shockwaves shook them from the ridge. Tanus looked over at Cant, who was waiting near the proton cannon. He nodded. Cant didn’t need to reply. A door dropped and the cannon’s muzzle exited the door and fired, sending out a proton grenade and lighting up anything it could; the Arrow and the remaining Flash speeders didn’t stand a chance; one of them was left for dead and the pilots were quickly picked off. When it was done, fire was rising towards the sky as pirates were scrambling back for safety; for now it was done. And Tanus did not want to relive any of it. He opened up the comm to Ipiad once more.
“Commander, your use of turbolaser was inspired. But now, if the show is done, my men and I would like off this rock and back to our cozy barracks.”
“Gladly sergeant. Your shuttle will be down in thirty minutes, along with one for the
Seraph. Mission well done, I must say.”
The comm closed out and Tanus sat back; Garryll was still on the Tyrant, waiting for anyone stupid enough to come back over the ridge. Tanus told the others that the shuttle was on its way, and several sighed or swore in relief. As it landed, Tanus went up to Cant and saluted him, saying he did well; Cant thanked him for his life and the lives of his men. As they lifted back off, Tanus sat down and opened up the comm one last time to Ipiad.
“Commander, thank you so much, without you, we’d all be dead men.”
“No need to thank me, sergeant. I was doing my duty, the same as you.”
Tanus sat back and sighed and smile came across his face. “That’s right. Same as me.”
The comm closed and Tanus removed his helmet, watching as the others took their seats and sat down around the shuttle; he knew the marines would be okay. The pirates were broken and the mission a success. The only part that remained now was an easy trip home.
- OOC:
- Story end.
