JESTERMax didn't waste anytime. Trying to keep his bad arm from flapping around too much, he was forced to wield his E-11 one handed. Luckily the compact blaster rifle was small enough that Max was still moderately effective with the weapon . . .or at least he appeared moderately effective with the weapon. In the end, that was all it took to cow the one-time governor of Eriadu into submission.
Gesturing with the business end of his rifle, Max kept his speech short and to the point. "Get up. You're hereby under arrest for crimes against the Vast Empire. You will cooperate, or we will use force." Taking a breath, Max had to calm himself in order to keep from lashing out at the man he felt was obviously responsible for the deaths of his squad mates. "Understand?" he inquired after he was sure he had control of himself.
The governor didn't even bother to answer. He simply nodded weakly and let Ripasha haul him to his feet. When the governor was standing, Max poked the Twi'Lek in the chest with his E-11. "And you," he said, "Keep an eye on him, and keep up. Whatever you do, don't loose him. Understand?"
Ripasha simply nodded as well, and for a minute Max seriously doubted that the alien's mental faculties were up to the challenge of escorting the governor out of the building. In the end, there were no other options. Max couldn't do it because of his bad shoulder, and he didn't want Sil doing it because he was the only one who could actually shoot. And as bad as Ripasha was at being a soldier, he was still a battle tested veteran, even if it was only luck that had gotten him this far. The newbie, on the other hand, Max didn't know very well, and so he trusted him even less than he did the rather slow Twi'Lek.
Motioning out the door, Max let Sil take the lead. "Aiight, lets get out of here," he told his squad over the secure channel. "Quickly boys, let's go."
Much of the cold anger that Max had felt earlier had subsided by this time, for which he was grateful. Looking back it was quite obvious that he had been in way over his head. He had let his emotions take control, and that was probably why he had gotten shot. He had been stupid, and had actually accomplished very little in his outpouring of rage. If he could go back and do it again, Max decided that he would have taken a step back and thought a little more about the tactics behind storming a fortified position.
On the other hand, Max also decided that the enemy soldiers still deserved to die for what they had done.
The Banshees retraced their steps with relative ease, the governor easily cowed into obedience. Suddenly, however, out of nowhere, blaster fire poured in. Somehow Max had managed to lead his decimated squad into another crossfire situation, and as he crouched behind what little cover he could find he realized that this was most likely the end. He couldn't see any way of getting out of that mess, especially considering he was injured.
Blaster bolts pinged off the nearby walls, moving closer and closer as the enemy soldiers dialed in on his location. Max could hear the report of the rifles, and began to flinch every time he heard a shot fire. The hail of enemy blaster fire went on for some time, and somehow Max managed to remain unhurt. Then, however, a new sound joined the symphony. This sound was also made by a blaster rifle, but it was noticeably different all the same. Quite suddenly the blaster fire that had been peppering his position ceased, and Maxed cautiously peeked his head around the corner to see what was happening.
There he found the two Bothan troopers he had left behind. They started forward, but Max waved them off. There was no time for small talk. The faster the Banshees got out of there, the better.
Speaking over the secure communications channel, Max informed his squad of the plan. "Extraction on its way, set for the green outside the main doors. Secure the perimeter."
Pain kept his sentences his short and broken up, but his squad understood. They moved to complete their job, while Max did his. Keying his throat mic tuned to a subspace transmitter, Max opened a link with whoever was in charge and relayed the details of their mission. "We have the governor, but we've taken heavy losses. Requesting . . .requesting extractions on grid coordinated Besh niner zero. Over."
There was a moment of static, and then whoever was in charge promptly responded with an affirmative. "Roger that, Banshee squad. Evac is inbound and should be there within a minute."
Max didn't bother to acknowledge the acknowledgment, instead joining the rest of his squad on the green. He looked up, keeping his eyes peeled for the shuttle that was supposed to be picking them up. Sure enough, after only half a minute or so a Sentinel-class shuttle descended rapidly, its ramp opening before it even touched the ground. When it was fully open the Banshee members climbed up inside, dragging the governor along.
Max let out a huge sigh of relief once he was on board. Somehow he had managed to pull the mission off, but he had taken heavy losses in return. Three of his squad mates were dead, and they would be hard to replace. Still, they would be replaced, and the Corps wouldn't notice at all.
After all, soldiers were expendable.
- OOC:
- Jester's done with their 4th objective