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 Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:18 am
The HT-74s rushed forward, their blaster cannons barking like mad, and already two more of the missile trucks were burning from their concentrated fire. But they'd rushed forward without mechanized support, and now found themselves as the target for every gun on the field.
The Missile Trucks were first to fight back, their gunners swung to track the oncoming HT-74s as they rushed amongst them. The rapid thuding and hiss of the missiles filled the air as five missiles reached out toward one of the HT-74s, all but one of them missed its target. The one that did connect exploded just between the two forward repulsors, killing the driver and hurling the truck backwards to land on its roof.
The crew on one of the Recoiless rifles slammed the breach on another shell and the gunner hurled it toward the oncoming foes in a panic. With a loud bang the round went downrange as the loader was blown off his feet from the backblast.
The round hit one of the HT-74s on the side of the crew cabin, shrapnel and burning metal buried itself in the driver who panicked, turning his car desperately to avoid another shot. The car tumbled end over end for a few moments before settling with a crash onto the ground.
Around the LAVr Chariot #06 bullets thudded into the ground as sparks and bits of ceramic polymer flew from the LAV. With a jolt one of the repulsors failed dropping the craft onto the ground.
PDF Rifleman began rushing toward the LAV in the middle of their lines, but the Navy Special Missions squad held their ground, and turned the now immobile Chariot into a bunker, were holding the PDF men at bay with accurate bursts of blaster fire from their T-21 and personal weapons, but that situation couldn't last forever.
Then as a heavy clanking sound echoed across the battlefield a whine followed by the sound of ripping metal filled the air as golden tracers flashed over the heads of the advancing imperial HT-74s. High explosive shells began to detonate amongs the PDF formation and two of the missile trucks evaporated from the concentrated fire.
The fire was from the chaingun slugthrower of the AT-ST/a that had just entered the battle, slowly walking its fire left and right across the enemy formation. Behind it seven All Terrain-Advance Raiders fanned out across the battlefield, their heavy blaster cannons pumping high-energy plasma into the assemblage of infantry and hovertrucks. Three more hovertrucks (The two recoilless rifle equipped and the last remaining missile truck) evaporated under their intense fire.
The remaining four PDF hovertrucks, all equipped with anti-infantry weapons began to retreat, moving backwards across the field firing valiantly, but vainly at the reconissance walkers that lumbered toward them. They wouldn't be able to run fast enough.
* * *
Colonel Akaga starred at the images that had just been given to him and felt his stomache knot up. They'd only just identified the corpse, if you could call it that as Major Styr Nord.
He'd expected resistance, maybe even an assasination attemp on the Major, but nothing so cruel and brutal as what had occured. Eleven COMPFORCE Operative dead along with the local detachments leader, all killed apparently by a large caliber blaster rifle... though in the case of the major, that too was impossible to tell from his current state.
"Someone on this planet wanted to send me a message." Colonel Akaga said coldly, "And as soon as this battle is over we'll see if we can find out who."
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:48 am
Ford cursed to himself as the battle nearly ended for worse. He'd been waiting for his mechs to show up, but they lacked the speed of the gravtrucks. By the time they made it to the battle, the fighting had long been under way.
But now it was over.
Rushing over to the bunkered LAV, he made his way over. "Lieutenant?! Where the hell are you?!" He sounded slightly worried. Not really for her own personal safety, but more the way an officer worries about a wayward soldier.
As he rushed over, his comm beeped: the sargeant. "Sir, we've got one confirmed casualty and three MIA. Still waiting on the report from Gravtruck #03."
He acknowledged and walked up to the side of the downed LAV. "Lieutenant?"
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:10 am
As the man approached, He could see that on the side opposite to the PDF, Techie was applying med tape to Colsan's arm and bacta spray to his chest. The man's chestplate lay nearby with a charred streak across it.
The Technical Corporal seemed to have gotten off easy by comparison, but then again HWS drew more fire by comparison.
The two looked up at the man briefly, then went back to their buisness.
"Lieutenant's not here, XO." Techie replied as he patched up his team mate. "Just the two of us. She's still on the field."
He gestured to where Lieutenant Aryss and Corporal Lund were going over the bodies of the PDF troopers and looting the bodies of anything worthwhile, their E-11's at their sides in the event the PDF tried to counter attack against the walkers.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:56 am
Rate nodded and moved back into the store, pacing the isles and looking through things. "So how are you taking to the new imperial rule?"He said after picking up a can of precooked, spiced nerf steak and inspecting it, next he snatched a cup of instant noodles. Looking up at the kid as he made his way to a freezer where drinks were kept he asked."Just march around the galaxy and take what they like, why they would choose a planet like this is beyond me though." He said pulling a water capsule out and making his way to the counter.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:16 am
Lenler looked Rate up and down again, there was always the possibility that he was a spy, looking for dissenters, but again, he caught no whiff of Imperiality.
"Honestly, I think they're the worst thing to happen to this planet for decades." He said, after looking around for any more likely Imperials. "They're rude, they're bad for business, and they have an alarming disdain for the Independence of their... 'subjects'".
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:27 am
C4 reactivated, systems booting up. Just like when organics slept, so too did a droid have to get used to his surroundings. Things didnt' seem right, they didn't seem normal. No outcropping near the main engine relays, where he had originally powered down at. Rather, it looked like a morgue... at least from a droids perspective. Parts and gears and a hundred other things which belonged to any number of his species (if it was prudent to call 'em that) scattered across the floor of the rather bright room.
"Yeah, found 'im in the back near the engines all shut down an everythin'," a scruffy voice from behind C4 said. The dome spun around to look at the organic, which turned out to be a paltry human. It definately wasn't his 'owner', for sure. This one had no scars, cybernetic eyes, prosthetic limbs, and sounded reasonably sane.
"Poor guy. Found some bags of opaque paper. The imp thought it was glitterstim, since the lights were off. Too bad it turned out to be nothign more than simply a bunch of sequins. But, they flipped the switch, and some glass ball came down sprinkling the entire room in light, and some trigger-happy trooper got startled and shot the old coot."
C4 was rather confused by now, as he blurped out some binary.
"Ho-snap! Didn't realize you activated," the man said. Hitting a button, the droid shut down again.
"Sell this little droid off to someone on planet. Port Loka or New Karna or wherever you can find a decent deal. We've got enough droids as it is."
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:37 am
Three quick blasts of weapons fire from the advancing walkers immolated the last of the technicals, and the AT-AR's pulled back, their loadout making them much less effective against the infantry force that remained. Two hundred meters back they would fire an occasional blast at a cluster of soldiers, but beside that they merely stood watch over the HT-74s that were immobilized. The AT-ST/a however kept with the line firing its blasters and chaingun at targets of opportunity while the remaining HT-74 blasted away at the infantry.
The return fire had already dipped considerably by this point as PDF units lost unit cohesion, were destroyed, or began to surrender. Already streams of prisoners were being marched back toward the base, probably just shy of a hundred prisoners were taken from the PDF, those units that escaped ran without survival gear or their weapons and soon would be destroyed by the planet itself.
As the fighting died down the Captain of the Recon Troop sat on the hatch of the AT-ST/a and shook his head, the losses in the repulsorlift element were very severe, and command would not be happy.
* * *
Command was anything but happy as the first reports of the engagement dribbled in, "Damn it... it's a miracle most of the troopers in those HTs weren't killed." Glancing back at the report Colonel Akaga fumed, "I want a full report from all the officers involved... Including the NSMASC Leader, maybe his lack of affiliation with the regiment..."
Captain Riktofen cleared his throat, "Her sir..."
"Her?" Colonel Akaga looked up surprised, "A woman... huh, maybe she'll have a point of view sufficiently seperate from the formation to be unbiased about its performance."
Captain Riktofen nodded his understanding, his CO was pissed and wanted to find out what went wrong. The bloody baggage that showed up earlier wasn't helping either.
"How quickly can we have those losses replaced?" Colonel Akaga asked.
Lieutenant Kimber sighed, "It'll take around a week for a supply shipment to arrive with them, and maybe another day for them to be tuned for recon use. Initial reports suggest that at least the LAVr and one of the HT's can be repaired, I'm not sure how long that'll take."
Colonel Akaga sighed, "Well, then we'll just have one immobilized recon company for the next week." He glanced down at the holographic map inside his LAVr Chariot, "We shouldn't operate under the belief that these events aren't connected. The death of eleven members of COMPFORCE and a massive counterattack by the local militia forces could well signal that the fight for this planet is only going to intensify."
Glancing at the maps he made his decision, "We'll put a mandatory curfew in effect for all population centers, and all movements in and out of the city of New Karna are to be restricted, only people with valid business outside the city will be allowed back and forth. Anyone caught with a weapon of any sort is to be interrogated immediately. We can't allow an insurgency to gain a foothold!"
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 11:11 am
Cursing, Benton went out to where he spotted the Lieutenant. Rushing over, he sighed in relief, seeing that she was okay. "Good, she's alright."
Turning around, he saw the captain on the scene. Walking over, he saluted, as he heard some sporadic blaster fire cleaning up the leftovers.
"Sir. Attacks came from the east and south of the city, PDF crew and equipment. I called for the anti-armor, but the NSMASC had already engaged, practically at point blank. I called the Gravtrucks in for an immediate extraction in an attempt to take most of the fire away from them."
He looked over his shoulder at the carnage behind them. "Heavy resistance, and we've got two scrapped trucks. One's out fighting the leftovers right now, and one needs some signifigant repairs. Estimates near total washout for the PDF, while we've lost 2 and can't account for 5."
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:47 pm
Kara was pretty sure the XO had lost his mind.
He was running across the battlefield in a manner Colsan once described as "A chicken with his head cut off."
As soon as the captain apeared he was at his side in a heartbeat.
Is that what Army officers are like?
She shook her head, her corpse looting done. "I think that aught to be enough to cover a few rounds." She remarked to Lund. "Lets go fetch the tank crew."
The Tank Crew, as she put it, were sitting beside their busted up vehicle. Colsan's injuries weren't severe, not after the medpac was done with them. Already he had his chest plate back on and was packing up the T-21 while Techie was writting up the damages on #06.
"So," Colsan asked, sitting up. "How'd it go?"
"I'm out two grenades, a power pack, and I need a clean pair of pants." Kara said. "Other than that, I think I'll live. Lets call in a tow truck and get #06 off the field. We're done here."
"Permission to scavenge, Miss?" Techie asked. "We're going to need a new forward Repulsor coil among other things. Maybe I can save the quartermaster some hassle and scrounge one off the wrecks."
"Do that. Take Lund with you but make it quick. Otherwise you guys are walking back."
The Technical Corporal snapped a shot salute and with Lund went to scout for quick replacement parts.
Tiredly, Kara leaned against #06 and shook her head.
"You did fine, Lieutenant." Colsan said. "You kept your head and didn't crack. Those are the things men look for in their leaders."
"I almost died, Flight." She replied quietly. "A few of those bullets almost hit me."
"Its alright to be scared, Miss. Just make sure to save it until the fight's over. In battle, you don't have time to be scared."
"I need a drink and a shower."
Colsan shrugged. "If I recall, you're still supposed to be the one getting the beer..."
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:44 pm
Rate gave a chuckle and placed a credit-chip on the counter. "Yuh got a fork I could barrow? Thanks." He said as he ripped the cord from the heater on the bottom up the cup, steam bursting out as the ingredients mixed and prepared his cup-o-noodles. he looked out the door and gave a sigh as two greysuits marched by, E-11s in hand, one glanced in for a second with that 'I-am-almighty-and-armed-so-watch-yourself, Rate held back the impulse to barrel out the door and see just how almighty he could be with a blade through his throat. His right hand tightened into a fist on the counter, his knuckles turning white as a ghost.
"Just wish I could nab my ship, grab Groz, and get off this rock."He said mostly to himself as he turned back to the boy with a look on his face that could only be tacked on as 'port blues'.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 5:54 pm
As the blue white light of the sun slowly dipped low on the horizon and finally disappeared from it plunging the city of New Karna into darkness Colonel Saburo Akaga watched the activity outside the window of the courthouse. Civilian had disappeared from the streets completely, and all that remained were the occasional patrols of fleet soldiers and army tanks and vehicles.
The Colonel knew that a 24 hour curfew wasn't something he could maintain, but at the same time, so long as the people or person who had torn into the COMPFORCE personnel and turned their boss into a purse for his own body there was little choice. Any one of his soldiers could be killed by this bloody killer, at any time.
The door to the courthouse office slid open and a pair of army sergeants escorted a man into the room. He wore the light blue and green uniform of a Seya-Qu II policeman, and was one of the few that had surrendered without a fight, him as well as the team he led. They were forensic scientists, and now he had them on a case for the imperial government.
"What can you tell me about the killer?" Colonel Akaga asked as he starred out the window.
The man quivered a moment before speaking, "We found epephilias on the corpse of Major Nord. They're rodian."
Colonel Akaga closed his eyes, he could see where this was going, "Charr Nbarr."
The forensic scientist quivered, "He's the only Rodian on planet with that sort of weaponry. He even registered a DC-15."
The Colonel shook his head, "What all can you tell me about him?"
"He's a clone wars vet. Served with distinction on the seperatist side as a mercenary, apparently even bagged a jedi," The police officer shook his head, "He's no joke. No one heard of him ever having any friends or family. He would drink with the other veterans, apparently both sides get along once they're given a large ale."
"Thank you lieutenant, that'll be all," The Colonel answered as the Chariot LAVr that Lieutenant Kimber had taken to find them a new residence arrived.
A few minutes later the lieutenant opened the door, "Sir we've got a new residence set up for you... It's only a block from 4th Battalion's headquarters."
"Thank you lieutenant," Colonel Akaga answered as he turned away from the window, "Has the repulsortank company been recalled?"
"Yes sir, they got back about fifteen minutes ago." The Lieutenant answered as they walked out of the office to the waiting chariots. The Lieutenant smiled, "The owner of the house even offered to cook us dinner."
Colonel Akaga bit his lip, "The way this day has gone its probably poison."
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:53 pm
The bulk of the day went by without much incident. Bolba made the Twi'lek do everything, letting Diana have nearly the entire day to have to herself. This one another very rare occurance that only Diana could enjoy. Duke came back to his quarters after a few hours of checking wepon cache's and spice shipments waiting to be sent out after Bolba decides to resume the smuggling operations. He heard water running, and found Diana taking a bath.
Duke just stood there for a moment. Normally Diana would cross her arms to cover her exposed chest which was visible, but Duke had seen her naked several times before, so it didn't matter. " Something wrong? " she asked. " Just enjoying the view. " Duke said, his smile unseen through his face-covering helmet, which he had donned some time earlier to protect himself in case some cargo fell on him during his round of checking on them.
" I'm in need of a good cleaning myself. If you don't mind me joining you. " he said. " Well it's your room, and this thing's big enough for 2. " Diana said. Duke got out of his body armor, if you could call it that, and everything he had on underneath and joined the Zeltron. After getting comfortable, he pulled her close, and held her against himself.
After a good scrubbing on themselves... and each other, as well a few other intimate actions... the pair just relaxed together, Duke holding her in a loving embrace. Despite being a merc who only cares about anything if he gets paid to, Duke couldn't fight the feelings he had for the slave girl. His expression turned to that of annoyance and anger slightly. " What's wrong? " Diana asked. His expression quickly changing back to a more pleasant one, Duke replied, " Oh nothing. Just that... I hate the idea of that fat, slimy Hutt always having his way with you. You're too good a prize for that piece of sith. "
Diana could tell what he was really saying, and looked into his eyes with an expression Duke had never seen before. For the 1st ever, she was smiling at him, happy. Duke put a hand to her cheek gently, slowly rubbing down the side, then brought her face close to his and kissed her passionately. " You may a be a slave to that Hutt, but when gives you to me, I want you to see me not as another master, but as a man who loves you. " After a brief pause, he said, " Someday, if there ever comes a time where Bolba's power is challenged and there's a chance to escape servitude, I want you to trust that I will help you out of here. "
Duke got out and started to dress. " I'm gonna tell Bolba you're with me tonight. " " But he'll get angry and- " before Diana could finish, Duke held up a hand to signal her to be quiet. " I had to put up with a lot of crap today checking on the shipments. I've earned it, and I got a skifter up my sleeve if he thinks otherwise. It'll be fine. "
After Duke went out, Diana got up and dried off. She looked around for a bit and noticed just about everything in Duke's room was luxurious, though not quite as much as what Bolba keeps for himself. Then again, Bolba wasn't exactly a humanoid, so he didn't have some of the things Duke did. Before long, Duke came back. " The night's still young, but I'm gonna turn in already. I'm beat. " he said. Diana got into bed with him, not bothering getting dressed. " You don't have to you know. I just wanted you to have the night away from that Hutt as well. " " I know. " Diana said. " This time it's my own choice. "
" Well, I suppose I can muster up the strength to have some more fun a little while longer I guess. " Duke said with a smile, then he turned over, positioning himself over her. Coming down, he kissed her, and then began another round of intimacy.
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Darkened Angel Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:40 pm
It had been a day since Charr had gotten his revenge on the Compforce thugs.
The Colonel was probably having a fit about it. But that was his problem.
New Karna wasnt safe for the time being.
That meant he had to lay low, an easy enough trick for a canny hunter.
He had plenty of places he could hole up, especially across the rolling hills of the Golden Savanna and the desert to the south.
Places such as the Sod hunting lodge he was in now.
From the Approach from New Karna, the place looked like just another Hill, a carefully cultivated disguise to prevent wildlife and tresspassers from stumbling across it.
From the south it was a bit easier to tell otherwise. Close observation would reveal a camoflaged tarp concealing a door wide enough for a small repulsortruck to fit through.
Hatches covered with sod and grass concealed the two windows of the structure, and at the moment these were close.
Within the glowlamp lit lodge, Charr was sitting upon a folding chair, his beloved DC-15, Dee sitting across his lap while he rubbed down it's parts with an oiled rag.
Sitting on a table made from an old crate was an AM radio, softly playing music picked up from New Karna and feeding him news on an occasional basis.
It would be an easy sit here for Charr. A month or two of hiding out, then a quick sneak back into town to see if things had calmed down.
Maybe by then the Imps will have given up on that ridiculous COMPNOR thing.
"Human High culture. What a laugh." He muttered.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:13 pm
The day after the battle, Kara Aryss woke groggily from her bunk.
The acursed sun was somewhere over head and the incessant sound of native birds was getting on her nerves.
It wasnt like on a spaceship.
The only noise there was the comforting hum and whirr of the ship's systems keeping you and everyone onboard alive.
And "fresh air" was overrated. Especially near the docks.
She thought she could smell someone's catch of the day.
The Lieutenant gave a yawn and rolled out of bed.
Clad in a top and her shorts, she staggered out in search of caf.
After a brief amount of stumbling about in her caffine deprived Zombie state, she managed to find a mug and the cafpot.
Slowly, carefully, she poured the steaming beverage into the mug and replaced the pot.
She leaned against the counter and slurped the liquid cautiously, lest she burn her mouth on the hot stuff
The opening of a door drew her dull gaze to the sight of Corporal Technician Voka Erantes-do-Nascimento, clad in a mechanic's overalls and covered in oil stains.
Voka looked his superior up and down and then opened his mouth.
"Morning, Lieutenant." He said cheerfully. "I like the new uniform. Very fetching."
"Techie, choose your next words very carefully, or I'll PT you until you puke." She took a sip of her caf, the foggy feeling in her head lifting already. "What time is it?"
"1100 hours, Miss."
"Why wasnt I woken up earlier?"
"Flight thought you should rest, Miss. You were up half the night writting your report to the Colonel."
"I don't need a babysitter, Corporal. I survived the Academy. Why are you covered in oil stains?"
"We were fixing #06, Miss."
"Fine. As you were. I'll join you shortly."
She ignored the Corporal and returned to her drink. While she could have let the Army repair crews work on #06, the LAV was at the moment Navy Property. There was no telling when they would be called in to service again, and this division of labor meant that the work crews had less on their plates. Working on and repairing their own vehicle also built familiarity with the machine. If the team saw something as theirs, they would be more inclined to take care of it.
"Stupid reports." She muttered as she took a large swig of Caf.
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Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:22 pm
Lenler was about to ask who Groz was, until another, more important to his eyes, detail made it to his brain.
"You have a ship?" He asked, eyes sparkling with wonder. "What kind? Where is it?"
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