________________________ 10:00 Galactic Time ______________________________
A light breeze blew leaves across the green lawns of the main Army compound on Tadath. Small vortexes spun around the sharp corners of the pristine buildings, cleaned to perfection by the Army's strict standards. People ducked their heads against the spring's first breaths of the year as they scurried between buildings. The elements didn't seem to care whether they were commanders, troopers, or technicians. Everyone was equal to nature's whim, and Kairo cursed it, as well as other things, as another gust beat against him. "I should have used the tunnels," Kairo muttered as he finally reached his destination. "Why couldn't they have put the Command building closer to the rest of the complex?"
Stepping inside, Kairo shook himself to remove the cold that had seeped through his clothes and moved down one of the main halls leading from the main corridor. After a few minutes of walking through the familiar halls, Kairo found his office. Stepping inside, he was startled to find an unwelcome guest. "And who might you be?" Kairo asked as he moved his hand closer to his side.
"Oh, I'm so sorry sir. I should have waited outside. I have a message for you from Major Lavoriss. It is apparently quite urgent." The messenger proffered a datapad.
Quickly grabbing, Kairo gave the man a nod and dismissed him. Walking around his desk, Kairo dropped into his chair and opened the single file on the datapad's display. Eye's crisscrossing the screen, Kairo's head snapped to the chronometer on his desk a minute later.
Couldn't he have left me a little more time? Ten fifteen, that gives me about ten minutes. It's a good thing he's in this building. I hope.
________________________ 10:15 Galactic Time ______________________________
____________________ Outside Major Lavoriss' Office __________________________
Stopping at the door, Kairo hurriedly straightened his clothes and tried to force his hair into a more refined appearance. Pressing the signal button, Kairo heard a voice from the inside say, "Come in." Stepping through the now open door, Kairo first took note of the two other people in the room besides the major. Hellen Le Clerique, otherwise known as Evani, sat comfortably in the couch on one side of the room. Leader of the Dark Dragoons, Kairo knew her quite well, if not personally. Even though her position was relatively new, it had been Kairo who chose her to succeed him as the Squad Leader. So far, she hadn't let him down. With short, dark blond hair and a slim physique, Kairo felt he would underestimate her fighting capabilities if he didn't know her. Bright blue eyes caused her to be even more stunning.
Well, hopefully if we are working together, she won't stand out too much in public. I guess I have nothing to worry about. Never been much of a looker.
Opposite her in a plush chair sat Zafo, the current assistant squad leader of the Dark Dragoons. Kairo knew Zafo quite welling, having worked with him for more than a year. Both shared a strong love of vehicles and often used to challenge each other's abilities. Kairo didn't know if Zafo had completed his full training yet. A few inches shorter than Kairo, Zafo had long brown hair. With his old assistant squad leader along, Kairo felt hopeful about the meeting.
"Have a seat," Major Lavoriss motioned to a third chair in the room. "Now that we are all here, I can begin. As I've already informed these two, you have been called here because you are the best vehicle crewman the army has trained in awhile. Evani here has only just begun, but she already shows the aptitude you two have already displayed." Kairo looked sideways at Evani.
VC huh? When did she make that choice? "I better just get right to it with you here Kairo. Your record shows you don't like wasting time in briefings."
"Briefing? I was told this was just a meeting." Kairo stated a little nervously. He knew he couldn't act too brash with a man ranked so high, even if Kairo was the Storm Platoon Leader.
"I believe the messenger I sent you was told to say I requested your presence, not the type of meeting this was. Sorry for the confusion." Feeling foolish, Kairo sat back in his chair and decided to remain quiet for awhile. "Continuing on, as you can already probably guess, you are going to be sent on a mission that requires those vehicular skills. I realize that Kairo and Evani are quite busy and could be shipped out on a mission at any time, but I have already dealt with that. You are going to be given two weeks to complete this mission. Hopefully, you will be finished in one, but I like to have fail safes in place." Kairo nodded.
Maybe now I can just do what I joined the army to do, instead of this whole leading thing. Never liked it, even as a squad leader. "Don't get too happy there Kairo. You will be coming back to your duties shortly. Surprised? I know quite a lot about all of you. Well, as much as can be found that is. You, Kairo, are a very hard person to learn about."
Evani and Zafo shared a puzzled look at Kairo then returned their attention to the major. "So what is this mission anyways?" Zafo enquired.
"Always the facts with you, Zafo. All right, here's the deal. Fifteen very valuable walkers have been stolen. These aren't your run of the mill vehicles though. They are prototypes that the army has been developing for the past few years. These walkers have had a weapons, speed, and armor upgrade. The ones that were stolen weren't the top of the line model we have developed though, thankfully. Their weapons are not fully modifiable, but they do contain the main function that this series of walkers was designed to have, shields."
Kairo coughed in his throat and sat up straight. "You mean you were able to find away to place a shield generator on a walker and wouldn't weigh it down. Plus increase its weapons and speed output?"
"Yes. With the latest technological advances, our designers and engineers were finally able to do it. These walkers have been dubbed AT-SE, which stands for All Terrain Shielded Enforcers. Your mission is to get them back, in almost working condition. We realize of course that this puts an extreme damper on what you can do. We also realize you won't be able to bring all fifteen back in one piece, which is why we only ask that you disable eight of them at all costs.. The other seven you can destroy if you have to. We would prefer if you can get them back in one piece as well. We also realize that going up against these walkers would be near suicide in the conventional walker. So, we are giving you three of the last five prototypes we have developed." Lavoriss motioned for the three people to pick up a three datapads lying on the front of his desk. "These three AT-SEs are more advanced than their counter parts. You will be able to fully modify these vehicles. Every weapon system and every component is removable. The walker's legs can be interchanged to deal with multiple environments. Ion cannons, missile launchers, laser turrets, automated weapons, and basically anything you can think of can be put onto these things. You will be able to place a total of two heavy weapons and two medium weapons on the chassis. You can also use the two medium slots to place non-offense tools as well, like boosting your radar, side jump jets, and a few other toys. You will be leaving at eighteen hundred today. So, are you willing to do this?"
Kairo exchanged glances with Zafo. "Hell yeah." Kairo answered for them. Glancing at Evani, he saw she looked a little nervous. "You ok?"
"Uh, yeah, I just don't have the most experience with vehicles. Isn't there someone better for this?" Evani asked Lavoriss.
"No, you are the best up and coming vehicle crewman, and everyone else we may have used in the past is now too important to use for this. Don't doubt your skills Evani." Nodding, Evani grew quiet as Lavoriss finished the briefing. "These walkers also come with their own crewman armor. There is a built in helmet display and comlink. The armor will also take your body heat and adjust the temperature of the suit to accommodate you. You'll find that the walker's controls are similar to the AT-ST's controls. You should also notice that the two walkers are very similar. All you three have to do is show up at the main army hanger bay on the opposite side of base at eighteen hundred later today. A shuttle will be there for one of you to pilot. It will have the walkers and crewman armor already on board, along with three simulators for you to use to become familiar with the walkers before you reach your destination.
"Speaking of, we don't know exactly where the people that stole the walkers are located, but we do know they are highly skilled group of pirates with any type of vehicle. We've found out they like to spend their time on the planet Cepany, but they often leave Imperial controlled space. Find them on Cepany before they decide to leave controlled territory. You may have to track them to another planet from Cepany as well. The last known report of their location was the city Galance. The local officials know nothing of this, and we want it to remain that way. I don't have to remind of that planet's feelings toward the Empire. That is all the information I can give you. I wish you luck. You are dismissed." Standing up, Kairo, Zafo, and Evani saluted and left the room.
Once safely down the hall, Kairo said, "Sounds like fun, eh, Zafo?"
"Sounds like lots of fun. I can't wait to get my hands on those walkers. Dealing with those pirates is going to be easy. Man, fully modifiable, that's like a dream." Zafo's eyes lit up.
"Are you two insane? This is going to be impossible. The three of us against fifteen of them. It's impossible." Evani stopped walking and stared hard at the two men.
Kairo turned to look at her and grinned. "You have to realize already that Zafo and I are insane, but that just gives us our edge. It lets us do stuff no one else dares try, and that's why we're doing this mission. From what Lavoriss said in there, I think you've got our special breed of crazy as well." Turning to Zafo, Kairo said, "I'm going to go quickly pack, and then I'm heading for that hanger bay. I want as much time to study our enemy and these new walkers as I can. See you both at the hanger bay." As he walked away, Kairo could hear Evani asking Zafo if Kairo was always like that.
Yes, yes I am, but I'm even more crazy than those two. They both probably actually care if they live, while I don't. So, we have to go find these pirates in the first place, but then disable eight of those walkers while staying alive long enough to destroy seven others. I hope Evani and Zafo are up to this. This is going to be like riding lighting, fast and furious.
(OOC This is just for me, Zafo, and Evani. No one is to post anything on here but us please. If you have comments about it, just send one of us an e-mail or a commnet message. Thank you.)
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Gunnery Sergeant Kairo
Platoon Commander
PC/GSG Kairo/2PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR][BC][CoV]
Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will be victorious in ten thousand battles.
You may forget the past, but it always haunts your future.
Men can die, but a symbol is eternal.