[SAGA]: The Empty Throne [IC] II

[Noedig]

Brin
There seems to be a war or a battle going on above. A quick glance around the circular chamber shows numerous ladders, catwalks and metal staircases leading upward some 60 meters to the surface. Daylight filters through several points in the ceiling, though it is hard to tell from this distance if it is like that by design.

[A'den]

Brin

Brin checked around the room one last time before he lowered his gaze and checked the energy cell reading on his armors left gauntlet, it was half charged so he ejected the cell with a touch of a button and the half cooked cell ejected out of an armor panel on his right thigh he popped a fresh cell from his store into the the slot and the cell disappeared under a recessed armor plate.

With a fresh energy cell Brin crouched loosening his knees then jumped into the air at the same blue repulsor jets coughed to life under his feet and he flew the forty meters up to the ceiling.


Standing Jump: Take 20: 29, Hop straight up into the air in armor and activate repulsor flight. 9.25 / 10 rounds of flight left.

[Noedig]

Brin
Your ascension is arrested by the ceiling. It looks as if several access hatches are immediately available to facilitate your egress from the sewers.

[Mando Knight]

Sandez twisted the fighter away from the building, looking for any other vehicles in the area. If she couldn't bring the building down on their heads, at least she could prevent their escape. Meanwhile, she replied to Delire. "Slag their cover, then. We need those VIPs extracted safely."

[Noedig]

Sandez
"Aye, ma'am. Akadi, make me a parking lot at those coordinates, over."

Assault Team
"Ground team, this Akadi Lead. We've got your backs. Standby."

You hear Interceptors howl overhead followed by the sound of a furious, sustained salvo of fire from their cannons. After nearly a minute, they cease.

"Ok, rain should be stopped, over."

[A'den]

Brin cursed as the daylight ended in a smaller hole than he veered at the last second and grabbed hold of a ladder rung leading up to a sewer hatch. He tried the latch to see if it would open.

[RandomLunatic]

While waiting for the flyboys, Rada made sure the detonator was set.

Once the all-clear was given, he darted erratically across the broken ground to the lander, finally making. "Here you go," handing Vecta the comm detonator. "I can play taps if you'd like," he offered, holding up his datapad to show he had the song ready to play.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


The twi'lek reached out and received the detonator, but when Rada made his little joke her glare suggested that she wasn't impressed with his humour.

"I don't find that particularly funny." she said, her expression icy.

Flipping the detonator around in her hand so that it was ready to activate, she held onto it and waited until the transport lifted off so that they'd all be at a safe distance from the ensuing fireball.

"Carver is alive." Sienn stated matter-of-factly, "The air strike has been called off on our destination because she's inside the building. I hope everyone remembers their breaching training because this is going to get nasty. Check if there are any stores of tear gas on this ship for clearing rooms - you might want to wear something over your face, Rada."

With that, Sienn informed the pilot of where they were to go.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

Beckett stayed on the good Doctor's heels, considering it was a major part of his mission to keep the man alive. The infiltration team wasn't far behind. While they thoroughly enjoyed what they could actually see of the interceptor's strafing the Paladin artillery, Beckett listened to Vecta's concise mission briefing.

"Infiltration is what we're here for, ma'am." he said, taking the opportunity to check his weapons and equipment again for any dings or complications due to his second crash landing of the day. "Though we prefer quick and quiet, we can do violent and noisy, too, if that's what you're after." he said, calmly as discussing the weather. "Carver is an Intel asset, if I recall correctly."

[RandomLunatic]

Rada looked apologetic. "It wasn't meant to be. I thought you'd want to send her off with some ceremony."

Then he looked shocked. "No damn way."

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


"That's right, she was C.I.A about 2 hours ago. We believed her dead but...I know she's in there." Sienn nodded to Beckets question, but also in response to Rada's astonishment.

"The paladin is also in there. Eyes in the sky have informed us that externally the building has civilians in it, but I think they could just be rebels out of uniform. We'll need to go from door to door and keep wary of any rebels hiding among the populace ready to jump at us with a live grenade in their hand.

We're landing on the roof and making our way down. There are two ways we can handle this. On each floor, Lieutenant Beckett and his men will secure the hallways and stairwells to both hold off and warn us of any incoming enemy reinforcements while Rada, myself and the Stormtroopers clear the rooms. Once each floor is secure we blow a hole in the floor of a room and go down into the next floor to repeat the process. Remember your breaching training; don't open any door, shoot it open, throw in a grenade and enter spraying automatic fire. Don't enter in all doors, blow a hole in the wall between rooms and use that as well. Keep an eye out for boobytraps and if any explosives are found, mark it and alert Dr Kradu or Rada.

Alternatively, we can let off a few smoke grenades in the halls of each floor and to flood them with smoke to provide cover and deny visual to hostiles and smoke them out, while we turn on our thermo's and use our respirators. Then, all of us, Beckett's men included, move from room to room, clearing out hostiles. But if those civilians turn out to be actual civilians, then they could panic and get in the way.

You know your men better than I do Lieutenant - which are you better at?"

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

"That depends. Do you care about civilian casualties at all or is Carver the only objective?" the Lieutenant asked. He had a few thoughts on each potential plan of attack, but he needed to know the goal before he weighed in. "It's one thing if we're going to go in and just kill everyone between us and the asset, and another entirely if we have to check fire in every new room to make sure we don't blast a citizen." He didn't seem to mind too much about the moral implications. Rather, he was concerned about the added hassle of having to pick out friend from foe on the fly.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn

Blasted civilians. Always complicating things.

Sienn seemed to think for a second or two. For more ruthless individuals the decision might have been made immediately, but the twi'lek seemed to weigh the pro's and cons. On one hand she was prepared to blow the whole building up if it meant crippling the rebel leadership - a move that can be explained away in public by necessity. However, going door to door and gunning down civilians was another - that could generate resentment in the populace when the Empire took over again.

"Set weapons for stun, but if some panicky idiot run into the crossfire it can't be helped." she compromised, "Rada and I will clear rooms on either side of the hallway with two stormtroopers each. The other four stormtroopers will be in two groups of two. One of each will follow us and secure any civilians in binders.

As for yourself and your men, Lieutenant...I trust your tactical judgement, but don't go gunning down huddled families hiding in the corner."

[RandomLunatic]

Rada did his best to hold in his disgust as the conversation became less and less pleasant. They wanted him to go into an apartment building filled with civvies who may not actually be civvies, using stun bolts? Just to rescue a single hostage? How many would get killed in the process? Not to mention this was one snake where cutting off the head seemed to literally kill the body. Where he sat, the math was stupidly easy. And they wonder why we prefer to work alone.

He raised a hand. "Excuse me? I'm not expert, but why are we kriffing around trying to individually kill every single one of these guys when we only need to kill one of them to make the rest keel over nicely?"

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn

"Because we don't know where he is inside the building," Sienn stated, "Carver has changed hands between those we encountered in the sewers and the Paladin leadership. She is a valuable fount of information that we can use to reduce over all casualties, in addition to any command material we may be able to recover from this building."

The twi'lek pursed her lips in as she looked about the cabin of the troop transport. Reaching out, she acquired a commlink from somewhere and got Kradu to re-call Sandez, "There isn't any reason we can't step over some bodies."

To Sandez:

"Lieutenant Sandez," Sienn's soft, lyrical voice came over the intercom.

"How accurate are you with your weapons? We need someone to circle the building, clearing each floor before entry. Is this within your ability?"

[RandomLunatic]

"That other chick didn't seem to have any problem finding you. Can't you do the same to this guy?" Rada asked.

[Noedig]

Reminder to use this thread from now on. :smallsmile:


Dr. Doran Kradu

"That sounds like..." Kradu muttered, then his eyes widened, and he turned and set off at a dead sprint for the transport, his pack bouncing awkwardly against the back of his knees.

"Run you idiots!" he called to whoever wasn't keeping up with him.


Lt Colonel Ran Tobias

Silently fuming at the loss of life and hardware, in that order, Tobias waits for the soldiers to reorganize and prepare to move out again. At the beeping from his communicator, he focuses his attention on it, and Lady Vecta's angry mien.



"Alright, Vecta," he answers, gesturing for a man to come speak to him. "We have had some... issues here ourselves."



Unintimidated, Tobias nods and simply says, "Get in line."



Nodding at her dismissal, Tobias turns to the man he summons and orders a pair of LAAT/i to move to Vecta's position and follow her orders.


Assuming 2 is enough? If not, assume I sent more :smallsmile:

Oh, totally understand. It would be rather funny if the roll didn't reflect the correct level of anger she had :smallamused: Ah, and Tobias' Will Save is 31 :smallbiggrin: Amused at how close that is.

[Mando Knight]

Commander Sandez replies wryly. "I don't know about a Lieutenant Sandez, but Commander Sandez can do it from half a klick away if necessary. How much of each floor do you want standing after I clear it?"

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


The twi'lek smirked in amusement, "Wonderful!" she stated, her mood seemingly lifted almost immediately.

"I'll soon send you which floors exactly that we want cleared. When I do, I'd appreciate it if you could give each floor a quick sweep with laser fire. We want the number of hostiles reduced, but we don't want the building brought down. All clear?"

[Noedig]

Assault Team
Your IDT lifts off and begins to arc toward your target. Meanwhile, two more join you at either flank, as well as the rest of Akadi squadron. Together you speed toward the target. The pilot's voice comes over the PA.

"Thirty seconds out. Where do you want us to drop you?"

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn

Before she could answer their question, Sienn closed her eyes and reached out again with the Force in search of both her quarry and her compatriot.

Ooc:

Sense Force: 1d20+19=39 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4689483/)

Oh yes. Even the Lords of the Dice want us to succeed, you fiendish Noedig :smalltongue:.

[RandomLunatic]

While Vecta reverted to siesta mode, Rada started rooting around the ship, seeing if he could find a good scattergun, or, failing that, a power hammer or vibroax for heavy-duty wall breaching.

Hearing Vecta order an airstrike on the civilians, he piped up, "If you only care about Carver's survival, do everyone a favor and don't go in there. He's picked the place for a reason. Rather than find out the hard way, surround the place, cut the water, and torch it. Make him come to you."

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


"We can't risk that they have tunnels underneath the building that'll take them into the sewers to safety. We don't have the numbers or the local knowledge to set up perimeters for all potential escape routes. The Paladin is a key to their command structure - we need to confirm his death with a corpse. They aren't expecting an immediate attack on one of their command cells. It's going to get nasty, but Carvers retrieval, the Paladins death and acquisition of rebel command equipment is what we're paying for."

[RandomLunatic]

"I recall an attempted sewer escape earlier today that didn't work," Rada pointed out. "Think about it. He's got to know you're coming for him by now. Of all places in the city he could go, he picks that one. Why? Because he thinks it gives him his best chance of survival. How I couldn't say, but rather than find out the hard way, I'd prefer to just force him to come to us. Even if he does slip away through the sewers or something, we can run him down, only without having to traverse his funhouse of horrors first."

[Noedig]

Sienn
The signature is in the same spot as it was a few minutes ago. Carver is also in the same location. You narrow your focus and find that they are both in the building somewhere.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


"And then we're stuck engaged in a siege inside enemy territory," she returned quickly.

Reaching out with the Force, Sienn genntly touched Commander Sandez's mind. As she did this, her first caresses were gentle and soft - an introduction as to what she was going to feel - she didn't want her crashing from the shock of her first telepathic message. When the twi'lek believed Sandez was ready, she mentally relayed the information on the paladins location, along with her role in the plan of attack and that she was to initiate it.

Once this was done the Sith then brought the leaders of the other two transports up on encrypted holo so that she could know who they were. Then, one at a time, she sent them the mental concept of what they job in the assault was to be; disembark onto the floor above/below us and keep the rebels pinned down then withdraw when ordered.

ooc:

Search your feelings:1d20+19=35 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4692347/) I suppose this is still feasible to get a general idea of whether the plan ahead is achievable or 100% disaster from the get-go.


Telepathy rolls: Taking 10 for all of them.

[Noedig]

Sienn
Your feelings indicate that this plan is dangerous, though you get no indication that you are doomed to failure. Perhaps worryingly, you get no indication that you are destined to succeed. You stand on a knife-edge, apparently. As you near the building, you try to narrow your search and are rewarded. It would seem that the two signatures are below street level, likely in a basement or sub-basement.

[Noedig]

Brin
Testing a nearby door reveals it to be unlocked and leading to a short flight of recessed steps leading upward. The sounds of combat here are much louder, and you are finally blessed with full daylight. A quick glance reveals that you have come to the surface in the no man's land between two sides of a conflict, and rounds begin to scorch the ground around the sunken staircase. Both sides are doing a good job at staying in cover, giving you little visual data to go off of.

Perception to figure out which side is friendly. No Take 10s or 20s.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Kradu took a seat at the sensor station. He attempted to use the ship's scanners to locate power sources and life forms in the target building and surrounding structures.

take 10 for DC 33 + ship's int, if possible, otherwise use computer: [roll0] + ship's int.

[Noedig]

Kradu
There are well over a hundred lifeforms in the building, judging from a quick glance at the sensor readouts. However, there could very well be upwards of two to three hundred in the building and the ones next to it. It's hard to tell because a lot of blurring is occurring because of the movement of the signatures. You find three main power source, located on the seventh, fourth and first stories. The sensors indicate that the apartment complex does have lifts or elevators, and that they form the core of the building.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

"Power sources on the first, fourth, and seventh stories, and over a hundred life forms in that building," Kradu relayed to the rest of the team.

He looked up from his instruments at the building.

"What are you up to, in there," he mused.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


Sienn narrowed her eyes into suspicious slits at Dr Kradu's words, "Do you think Sandez's ion weaponry could knock them out?"

The stormtroopers all had night vision in their helmets. Sienn is a twi'lek and could see in the dark. Rada...well she was sure he wouldn't mind borrowing a helmet.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

"Probably, depending on whether the generators are shielded or otherwise fortified," Kradu replied, "the ions will help eliminate any droid resistance, as well."

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


The twi'lek nodded, "Good," she said, patting Dr Kradu gently on the shoulder, "make sure this info is sent to Commander Sandez' computer."

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Kradu relayed the information to Sandez, then scanned the surrounding terrain for enemy equipment or anti-aircraft batteries.

take 10 for DC33, otherwise use computer: [roll0]

"So what exactly is the plan?" he asked.

[A'den]

Brin

The audio feed into his helmet told him the picture he would walk into before Brin fully entered into the sunlight. He crouched low as much as his armor allowed him and unlimbered the large rotary blaster cannon from his back before creeping up the last few steps to take a look around the blasted up area that up the middle of two sides.


Perception: [roll0]
Knowledge Tactics: [roll1]: Assess and predict fire patterns for enemy movement. [DC20 CWCG: Anticipate Enemy Strategy]

[RandomLunatic]

Rada scoffed. "The 'plan' is to play right into his hands, charge into a pre-made killhouse like a flock of decapitated mynocks, and die."

[Noedig]

Tobias
It takes roughly an hour for the wreckage to be cleared and for the landing zone to be put back into order. Meanwhile, scatter dropships are reporting in every few minutes, and after another hour you have the sum total of your forces available to you, sans casualties and those who crash landed in the city. Rescue ships move back and forth to extract downed pilots and crews, and other the cover of Commander Sandez's squadrons, you save a great many of them. So far, for having been in command of the planetary conquest for a little over two hours, things haven't exactly been rosey. Major Dagan reports that they've engaged the enemy at the power stations, and another report from your teams in the sewers, who have engaged both below and above ground. Your artillery is nearly fully deployed, and so indirect fire support, as well as extensive close air support, will be available to them shortly.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn

Though Rada couldn't see it, the twi'leks eyes narrowed as they turned in her skull to peer sideways over her shoulder in his direction. First he mocked losing her favorite starship and now he was mocking her in front of the assembled soldiers for not going with his plan of engaging in a siege in enemy territory against an opponent that had a clear escape route. An unknown ensign would have just bought himself a ticket to Choke Town.

"What's that?" she asked, "You're volunteering to take point during breach entrance? How noble of you," she stated coldly.

"Lieutenant Beckett," Sienn said, her voice louder as to be heard over the engines, "What's your assessment?" she asked, gesturing to the power sources and life-signature dispersion across the building that Dr Kradu had discerned. The man and his team specialised in infiltration, and would prove decisive to the plans running around inside her head.

"Dr Kradu - can you locate any sewers connecting straight to the basement? Perhaps using the power grid that runs through them?" she also asked.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada gritted his teeth. Damnit. You could lead a bantha to water, but you couldn't make it think.

He was promised guerrilla raids, not a full-fledged invasion. He was definitely charging extra for this poodoo.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Kradu attempted to use the ship's scanners to map out any underground tunnels.
DC 33, as usual

"Speak for yourself," Kradu said to Rada, "I don't intend on dying anytime soon. Assuming I can pinpoint the tunnels, I say we collapse them, take out the power sources with a concentrated ion attack, then destroy one wall of the building. The rest of it should stay standing, and we can kill whoever we want from far away, with bigger guns. All things being equal, I prefer having the bigger guns on my side."

[BananaPhone]

ooc:
You're going to hate me Noedig...but Sienn's a Force user...she lets the Force guide her :smalltongue:.

If she takes a weapon stick and aims one of the missile launchers or lasers at the ground, she's letting the Force guide her to her target...

...in other words, I'll roll Use the Force: Search your Feelings a lot until the weapons are pointed at the sewer tunnels surrounding the building. Taking 10, of course.

Do you promise not to hate me? :smalltongue:

[Mando Knight]

After Sandez received the targeting data for the power sources, she leveled off the Defender pointing at the 7th story. Since the building was unlike an airborne vehicle and likely rather well grounded, with the power signatures themselves insulated from direct external ion attacks, she decided to let loose with a hail of laserfire first to blast open any interference.

Attack run with autofire (targeting a 2x2 section of wall, character-scale), point-blank: [roll0], [roll1]x2 = 80 damage (-5 DR), enough to vaporize 15 cm of stone

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


"Can you access the city schematics for this area to locate where the tunnels would be?" Sienn asked over Dr Kradu's shoulder.

Pursing her lips, Sienn narrowed her eyes softly as she recalled one individual who might know the answer to that question if Dr Kradu was unable to deliver. Exhaling softly, the twi'lek stretched her mind out again and touched someone she had not talked to in what seemed like years.

Telepathy Target: Mr Ashe

'The *insert description of Paladin HQ building here* in sector *insert its region in the city* - the surrounding sewer network; where are the tunnels? Respond on frequency *insert holo-communicator number*'

ooc:
Taking 10 on Telepathy check, as usual.

[Noedig]

Assault Team
Dr. Kradu's scan reveals that the building has several levels of sewers below, criss-crossing at odd angles. This would match the other's shared experience in the sewers as well. They are labyrinthine and multi-tiered, with ladders and stairway connecting lower levels with the upper levels. It is highly possible that they could be used to escape the building with a minimal amount of excavation downward. The pilot reports to you.

"Commander's knocked out the power. They're in the dark. We can maintain this holding pattern for a few more minutes. then we're going to have to refuel."

Sienn
Mr. Ashe is not on the planet. In fact, he's nowhere to be found. Curious.

Sandez
Blue lightning arcs all across the building and chunks of masonry and metal blast outward as your salvo tears into the apartment. Your sensors report that the generators are disabled or destroyed. Either way, the building is in the dark now.

Brin
A quick study of the battle indicates that your allies, who are on your left, are attacking a fortified, hardened defensive position and that the rebel defenders on your right have set up a non-interdiction zone of layered arcs of fire with every heavy weapon they can bring to bear. You are in the middle of their killing field, it would seem.

Tobias
Your view from the AT-AT is impressive. Far away and above you, the skyscrapers of the Central district stand tall, the sky marred only by a column of smoke wafting up from the tower. Major Dagan is reporting that the attack on the powerstations is going fairly well, while the teams hitting the sewage treatment plant have run into stiff resistance and a stalemate has emerged. Your tac-grid pings Brin being in the area as well.

Kang
Your communications officer stand from his chair.

"Sir, priority transmission from Teradoc. Shall I put him through?"

Beckett
Your boys are going to need nightvision goggle, which they have. Also, if the building is built around the elevators, you could access them from the roof and fast rope down to the lower levels, bypassing all the other floors. Standard fare for Stormcommandos. It's also got the added bonus of being fun and looking really sexy on video.

[A'den]

Brin

It only took a few seconds of analyzing the field to understand the Imperial forces were in a stalled offensive against Rebel positions on the right. Brin's position was somewhere in the middle of the no-man's land half way to the Rebel positions. He could break through their line and create enough confusion they Imperial troops could advance on a flank but he needed to communicate with them first. He still knew the standard communication frequencies from his time as a Stormtrooper.

"This is TK-2482 from the Infliltration team, any nearby Imperial forces respond." He transmitted from his helmet comlink.

[Holocron Coder]

Lt Colonel Ran Tobias

Seeing that now seemed to be as good a time as any, Tobias begins ordering the troops to move out. Dividing the heavy armors into about five groups, he ordered them to march into the city, spread out evenly to present a moving front digging into the city. Requesting that each have air support, he also orders remaining troops to attend each group, ideally to protect the somewhat-weakpoint of walkers' legs from hidden, ground-based armament. Each group is assigned a commander who would report to him in the case of any trouble, and each had permission to call in artillery support from the far back line.

As for himself, he lead his AT-AT in the group heading towards the central tower. Unknowable "sith-y" bad feelings aside, it needed to be suppressed if they had any hope of eliminating rebel command.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Kradu attempted to remotely access the city's sewage schematics, relaying whatever information he could find to the others.

use computer, DC33

[Noedig]

Assault Team
Beckett leans forward.

"Pilot! Take us to the roof."

He turns to all of you.

"That building is built around its lifts. The shafts go from the top floor to the basement, bypassing the floors in between. Standard entry for a place like this is to pop the ventilation unit off, get to the shaft and drop the lift. Fast rope down, kick in the doors and start sweeping. It'll save us the hassle of clearing every floor, and it requires fewer people be spent on securing the floors themselves. We can go in hard with superior numbers and the element of surprise."


The pilot banks sharply and accelerates.

"Ten seconds!"

There is a collective din of clattering metal and plastic as guns are loaded and checked, grenades are pocketed and rope is clipped to carabiners. The IDT slow precipitously though does not actuall land. The side doors slide open swiftly and you disembark on a gravely duracrete roof. Two massive venting units sit above what Beckett said would be the shafts. He drops into control of his commandos, positioning them carefully around the roof.

"Keep low. We're exposed up here, and there's bound to be more than one sniper out there in the city."

The roof itself a forty meter by forty meter square, with a small alcove leading to what is likely a staircase, several smaller vent pipes and the two giant venting and AC units.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/280x200q90/842/j7ur.jpg Rear Admiral Andan Kang


Your communications officer stand from his chair.

"Sir, priority transmission from Teradoc. Shall I put him through?"

"In my office, Lieutenant." Kang said as he got out of his chair. It wasn't like he had anything better to do until that damned Force sorcery had been dispelled and his fleet could conduct a proper orbital strike. What TIE fighters weren't running sorties on the planet, mainly those from the other two Star Destroyers, were running a CAP in the space around the planet. Kang's fleet had moved to high orbit, ready to pounce on anyone or anything that tried to leave or enter the atmosphere as well as defend it from anything jumping into the system.

The admiral stood on a glossy, black circle of material in the center of the room, activating a very expensive holonet transceiver that would project his image into Teradoc's office. Teradoc, in turn, would appear as a nearly life-size, blue version of himself projected into the space in front of Andan. They could speak as if they were in the same room. "Admiral, what can I do for you?" he greeted.

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

Beckett's men made to secure the elevator shafts if it was possible to access them directly from the roof, popping or cutting off the covers and setting up fast-repel liquid cable equipment that would allow them to basically free-fall all the way to the bottom floor before arresting their descent with hand-activated controls. If one had to go inside first, they immediately covered the staircase instead so that they could do the same thing from the penthouse elevator doors.

Beckett crouched nearby, not wanting to make himself a target for enemy snipers. "I assume, since we knocked out the power, everyone thought to bring night vision equipment?" he asked those that weren't part of his infiltration commando team. "Popping a flare or turning on a glowrod in there will potentially blind us and make you a big, bright blaster target. So don't do it." He looked over at Vecta, specifically at her lightsaber, but didn't say anything. The rules for her were a little different. She was different. So he didn't bother trying to give her advice.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada winced. He hated turbolifts. Stairs were much better for your health-you were not instantly and irrevocably screwed if somebody tossed a hand grenade or thermal detonator down a stairwell the way you were at the bottom of a lift shaft. Plus it was good exercise.

But he held his tongue, seeing his opinion was not popular as of late.

Alighting on the roof, he ducked behind the nearest cover, Anvil in one hand and his heat sensor in the other. First he turned the instrument towards the surrounding buildings to check for snipers, and then turning it to the roof under his feet to get a peek inside.

(([roll0], ignores concealment))

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

Sienn pulled the helmet of her dark armor over her face, the ornate transparisteel faceplate filling her vision with a HUD that blinked and twitched with various feeds of information. One such note was an incoming message across an encrypted frequency often employed by Stormtroopers in the field:

Brinn:
"This is TK-2482 from the Infliltration team, any nearby Imperial forces respond."

"Sergeant?" Sienn's soft, melodic voice returned over the commlink, having recognised Brinns voice. Wasn't that jar-head supposed to be flat on his back in a hospital bed? What was the crazy som'a'ma bitch doing running around in the city? Nevermind - he could be useful. As long as satchels of thermal detonators were kept out of the reach of his over-grown hands...

Sensing where the Stormtrooper sergeant was located didn't take long for the twi'lek. She had spent a day and night with the man evading patrolling rebels and hiding throughout the city.

"I'm sending a transport to pick you up; I know where you are. Hostiles are in the area so be prepared to run."

With that, Sienn informed one of the other transports of Brinn's location, along with a warning to be wary of window and rooftop located rebels. Probably best to drench the face of the building with missiles and lasers just to be sure. They were to bring Brinn and their stormtrooper compliment to the roof-top once the sergeant had been retrieved.

Dr Kradu

Once Kradu had uncovered the network of sewers in the area, Sienn helped relay the message that the transports were to use their weaponry to demolish as many of the tunnels as possible.


oOo

Once on the roof-top, Sienn peered kept herself just out of sight and behind cover. With her lightsabre inactivated but clenched in one hand she seemed to stare at the wall ahead of her while Lieutenant Beckett spoke. In truth she was doing much like Rada - scanning the other two adjacent buildings for hostile rebels in the windows or on the roofs.

If she spotted any potential dangers, she telepathically relayed the information to Commander Sandez. The TIE Defender pilot and her flying contraption were the best defense they had against snipers and heavy weapons team lurking within the other two buildings.

Once everything was in place (including, hopefully, Brinn), Sienn stated "Ready when you are," and silently turned on the audio/visual recorder inside her helmet.


ooc:

Usual taking 10 on telepathy and Sense Force (for detecting Brinn) rolls.

Perception rolls when peering across at the other two buildings, using Sense Surroundings to ignore all cover 1d20+13=17 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4708055/)

Jesus tap dancing christ why does IC hate my perception rolls.

Sienn can spend a swift action to make another attempt if she thinks she failed to spot anything, which she does 1d20+13=27 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4708056/)

Much better.

[Noedig]

Brin
Your commlink burps out a garbled transmission for a few seconds before it resolves into the shouting of a male voice.

"Repeat, TK-2482 we're popping smoke in five. We'll cover you as you come to us."

A few seconds pass and then you hear a few muted thoomps. Canisters spewing dark grey smoke land a few meters away and after a few more seconds, the air is filled with the stuff, effectively cutting off the rebel's sight lines on you.

Assault Team
Neither Rada nor Sienn are able to see any hostiles in the surrounding buildings, though Rada does pick up numerous signatures below him. Whether or not they are hostile is impossible to tell though. Meanwhile, the stormcommandos begin getting the large vents open for your entry. It takes about a minute to cut a hole through the durasteel large enough for you to step through, but once completed, it should easily allow two of you to enter at a time. Ropes are secured to the roof and stormcommandos begin attaching their harnesses. When they are finished, one flashes a ready signal to Beckett.

[Noedig]

Kang
Teradoc does not look the least bit pleased though he is, at the very least, polite

"Rear Admiral Kang. Governor Crail has been regaling me with the tale of how you put his planet under lockdown. I've also learned that the shipyards are also quarantined. He wasn't able to give me a full picture, and I should like to know exactly what has occurred that would shutdown such massively vital planet to our war effort."

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/280x200q90/842/j7ur.jpg Rear Admiral Andan Kang

Kang kept cool as the void and raised an eyebrow in response. "I should think that was perfectly obvious, Admiral." he said. "The Paladins are using biological warfare. It resulted in the death of my executive officer and an entire ship's crew. I placed the shipyards under quarantine to make sure the disease did not spread to them, nor to the planet below. I left a highly trained group of medical professionals to deal with the situation, and the quarantine will be lifted when they feel it is appropriate. I assumed that you would rather not have an entire planet's population infected with a deadly virus, as that would certainly impact the war effort more than a simple quarantine." He smoothed a minute wrinkle out of his shirtsleeve.

"I will review the situation after my current operation, if that is satisfactory?" he suggested.

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

Beckett's head nodded in response. Then he immediately leapt into the chasm. The wire he was tied to began to elicit a high-pitched buzz as the unit began to dispense enough cable to carry him potentially all the way down. He was effectively in free-fall until he chose to slow his own descent using the control unit clutched in one hand. He kept his other hand free, despite the temptation to keep a weapon handy, knowing he might need it to grab onto something.

Unless the elevators were currently locked to the basement, Beckett would no doubt run into one eventually. If the lift shaft was wide enough to accommodate him, he'd simply go around. If not, he'd make a landing on the roof and cut through from there. Despite the wine of the cable dispenser above, once on his way down, Beckett was nearly completely silent. Any rebounding off the wall he had to do was done without the thud of a bootheel or the scuffing of clothes on the wall. If he had to land on the lift car, he did it as lightly as a feather in case there was anyone in it.

[Noedig]

Kang
Teradoc held up a hand, and the corner of his mouth twisted up into a smirk.

"Please, spare me the condescension. As I said, Crail did not have all the information, seeing as he was effectively kept out of the decision making process. Which I can understand perfectly; it was a military decisions. Now, what I would like to know, is how the attack came to pass. If I recall, your former ship was the home of a sizable contingent Imperial Intelligence operatives. Did they manage to sneak someone aboard? Or turn one of Chief Tavik's people? I'd like to be aware of any security holes in the other fleets."

[A'den]

Brin

As the Inquisitor's voice terminated another garbled transmission came over hers. He tapped the side of his helmet twice trying to get the feed cleared up. He flinched as the smoke rounds exploded over his position and instead of responding he vaulted over the low foundation that acted as cover and sprinted toward the Imperial line.

"Moving! Coming to your line!"

Using the Run Action, move speed should be unaffected by his heavy armor because of Juggernaut.

[Noedig]

Brin
There is scattered fire directed at you as you leave the safety of the aclove, and a mass driver round scars a glowing hot line in the permacrete off to your left before bouncing off and spinning into the air with sinister banshee wail of a whine. Then you're free of the smoke, thumping along the ground, cracking it underfoot as your heavily armored form thunders toward the friendly lines. As you near, you see a white armored form, marred by more than one black scorch mark and a bit of blood waving you toward safety; a narrow space between two tall piles of rubble, likely improvised barricades. Your shoulder glances off one of them, taking a chunk of the barricade with it. There's very little room here, and a wall looms suddenly up in front of you out of the relative dark. You impact it, sending a spider web of cracks radiating outward. You bounce off, no worse for wear, your armor absorbing the shock nicely.

You hear a few snorts of laughter and the same voice that called you earlier.

"I'll be goddamned. Didn't know we were getting a tank."

[RandomLunatic]

Rada watched as the commandos rappelled down, until his turn came up. Reluctantly, he holstered his gun, pulled the NVGs down his forehead over his eyes, and then muttered the immortal battlecry, "Chaos take me," as he plunged into the deathtrap shaft.

(([roll0]))

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

When it was her turn, the twi'lek held the belaying device and brought it to her belt while holding her sabre in one hand. Down she went along with everyone else.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Dr. Kradu hooked up a cord and did his best to imitate the others, despite the massive gap in field experience.

stealth: [roll0]

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

The twi'lek was also quiet. 'Time to kill,' she thought as she descended into the elevator shaft.

ooc:
Forgot a stealth roll: 1d20+7=26 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4710170/)

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

Brin took a moment to settle the fear back down after that mass driver round almost splattered him. Kriffing Rebels and ancient kinetic energy weapons the wail of ricochet still echoed in his mind. He blew out the breath he held and pushed off the wall to turn and face the speaker his heart rate finally slowing down.

"Ha guess I've been called worse. Looks like you have a heavy weapon problem." The big trooper toggled his comlink, "Transport this is TK2482 hold off on pick up, LZ is too hot."

The Inquisitor will have to wait a few minutes. He thought and touched the side of his visor to allow it the slide up a moment so the troopers could get a look at his face and know he was one of them and hear his voice instead of the terse tone that came from the power armor's external audio.

"Alright boys my boss wants my ass back with her but that mass driver isn't going to be too friendly to anything landing near here. That means we're going to break this stalemate and get you boys and girls out of this mess. Whose in charge what are we dealing with and what do we have?"

Brin spoke as he kept his head on a swivel not just watching the narrow lip of cover they had but above them and around the shattered husks of buildings that had line of sight into their cover. The Rebels would start making a move soon after that smoke show thinking the troopers might be doing something he needed to act quickly to find a solution.


Perception: [roll0]
Knowledge Tactics: Anticipate Next Likely Rebel Move [roll1]

[Noedig]

Assault Team
Beckett's night vision illuminates his surroundings, the darkness resolving into a grainy green. As he approaches the fifth floor, an elevator looms out of the dark. It is stationary and the brakes have been engaged. There is space around the elevator, but it is a matter of inches, and you see no way to squeeze through.

Perception check for Beckett only

Next down the shaft is Rada, followed by Sienn, who is illuminated by her saber as it casts a purple glow on the walls of the shaft. It is bright enough to cause a white out of your night vision if you look directly at it with the goggles on. Kradu comes next, followed by two members of the commando team. Rada and Sienn land silently, as do the commandos. Kradu scrapes the wall as he descends, but the sound is quiet enough and the walls thick enough that there was likely no way to hear it on the other side. You gather on the elevator and plan your next move.

[RandomLunatic]

Alighting gently at the base of the shaft, Rada unhooked himself, tugged the line to indicate it was clear, and stepped away.

While waiting for the rest to catch up, he referenced the heat sensor again, trying to get a sense of what lay past the door. While it could not tell hostage from combatant from the false color images, one could infer a great deal. Hostages would most likely have their limbs close together in a prone or kneeling position. Soldiers would have a more open stance. And the knucklehead in charge would be a bit larger thanks to his armor, and a couple degrees hotter because he was venting both his own body heat and the waste heat from his armor's on-board systems.

(([roll0]))

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/280x200q90/842/j7ur.jpg Rear Admiral Andan Kang


Teradoc held up a hand, and the corner of his mouth twisted up into a smirk.

"Please, spare me the condescension. As I said, Crail did not have all the information, seeing as he was effectively kept out of the decision making process. Which I can understand perfectly; it was a military decisions. Now, what I would like to know, is how the attack came to pass. If I recall, your former ship was the home of a sizable contingent Imperial Intelligence operatives. Did they manage to sneak someone aboard? Or turn one of Chief Tavik's people? I'd like to be aware of any security holes in the other fleets."

"Quite." the Rear Admiral sat at his desk, steepling his fingers thoughtfully on his desk. "Rather fortuitously, Director Tavik's intelligence staff as well as the majority of my crew had already been transferred to my new flagship." Kang replied. "I left Captain Urdo, my former XO, as commander of the vessel. During the enemy attack on the shipyard, they jumped in a few fighters first that begged us to destroy the rest of the fleet, making it look like they were traitors. They certainly played the part, as they all but shot off flares to mark where the Paladin fleet would come out of hyperspace. They were destroyed utterly." the Admiral reminisced. "Of course, we picked up survivors for interrogation as is standard procedure, but somehow even with quarantine procedures in place they managed to infect Interrogator's crew with some kind of disease. The entire situation was set up to trick us into bringing them aboard." he frowned, as his memories of the easy victory were soured.

"Loss of the Interrogator's crew prompted me to place the entire shipyard under quarantine, as they were docked at the time. It was only prudent. Some of my best medical personnel were left to handle the matter, along with several of the new star destroyers to protect against a followup attack. In summation...it could have been much worse, though losing a colleague of over ten years is loss enough for me. Therefore, I'd advise against taking prisoners if your commanders make contact with the Paladins, Admiral." he finished.

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

Beckett, perhaps redundantly, put a finger to his mask over where his lips in the universally accepted gesture to shut up, just in case anyone started getting chatty. Then he examined the top of the lift car for a hatch of some kind. He couldn't immediately hear anyone moving around in there, but he needed to be careful nonetheless. If there was a guard or guards, they probably hadn't heard him, either. The hatch could also be booby-trapped, so for a multitude of reasons he acted slowly and deliberately as he went about getting it open. He didn't want to cut it unless he absolutely had to. The plasma sparks from the cutting tool would be very bright and obvious and he wanted to remain undetected until they were out of the blasted turbolift shaft.

Mechanics?: [roll0]
If there's a trap of some kind, Kradu will likely want to help disarm it if this isn't enough.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

The twi'lek watched as the others descended quietly onto the ceiling of the lift, before Lieutenant brought his hearing close to ensure that no one was inside.

The Sith did likewise - but her instrument of survelience were her instincts in the Force.

Should she be confident that no one was within, Sienn simply seemed to merge with the ceiling of the elevator and disappear inside.

ooc:

Sense Surroundings - Take 10;
Perception Check: 1d20+13=15 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4717269/)

Omfg, again with the perception check.

Swift Action retry: 1d20+13=27 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4717272/)

If no one is in there then Sienn is using Phases to enter: 1d20+19=29 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4717274/)

Then once inside, she is linking her autorecording feed to a datapad that Dr Kradu would have in order for him to see what she's seeing so that he can tell whether the elevator on the inside is rigged with anything (boobytrap, alarm etc)

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Dr. Kradu tapped Beckett on the shoulder, then motioned him to move to one side. He examined the roof of the elevator, looking for a way to open the top hatch.

take 10 for DC33 mechanics check if possible, otherwise: [roll0]

[Noedig]

Sienn
The elevator is empty, but is filled with several large metal barrels, an inordinate amount of wires, and what looks to be about six blocks of detonite, all wired to the door. You phase in atop one of these barrels, and sloshes and shifts as you stand on it.

Assault Team
Lady Vecta disappears into the elevator. Kradu and Beckett notice that there has been obvious tampering with the brakes of the elevator. If they were to become disengaged, they would not re-engage, causing the elevator to plummet. There appear to be more than a few wires leading into the cab of the elevator itself. The hatch itself is also wired to something, but Dr. Kradu feels confident he could undo whatever nasty surprise might be in store for someone who opened it. Rada notices numerous signatures, all conforming to a pattern. They would appear to be huddling down, away from the exterior walls and windows, more than likely attempting to avoid a stray shot or shattered glass.

Kang
Teradoc frowns.

"I see. That is...troubling. Your advice will heeded. I will forward a new protocol to the rest of my fleets. Extraordinarily devious of the rebels. They're not behaving normally. Quite odd. Any thoughts on that point?"

Brin
Tactical knowledge, as well as a fair bit of common sense, would indicate that the rebels would be content to sit in their heavily fortified position and let you waltz into the killing fields they've set up. A sortie forth is highly unlikely from them, as they have numerous heavy weapons, including an anti-armor mass driver of some kind, waiting for you to advance. They will likely resume token fire on you from units of trooper, rather than open up with heavy weapons. They don't appear to be wasting ammo, only shooting at targets when they reveal themselves. No indication of snipers, but to assume there aren't any would be a mistake. Your allies are in something of a pickle, it seems.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


The twi'lek sighed to herself as she peered over the clusters of explosives. Carver or not, Sienn was getting tired of these synthetics and the never-ending stream of bitch-work she had to go through just to be in the same room as these *******s. Those transports better have started destroying the escape tunnels they discovered, because so help her Dark Side Sienn would have the pilots flayed alive if she had to jump through this many hoops only to have their targets escape, again.

'Dr Kradu - there's a whole lot of explosives in this elevator rigged to the hatch; think you can rig it so we send them down to the basement to greet the Paladins?' she sent telepathically to Dr Kradu.

The Sith then activated her sabre and moved to a section of the elevator that didn't have wires and bombs implanted for destruction. Trusting her feelings, she jabbed it up through the roof and started to cut a man-hole opening for the rest of the group.


ooc:

Sense Surroundings and Search Your Feelings roll to cut a hole in the roof of the elevator in a way that won't result in the elevator crashing down to our deaths, trigger one of the explosives or stab/cut a team-members leg off.

[Noedig]

Sienn
The force indicates that would be an extraordinarily bad idea.

[BananaPhone]

ooc:
Search your Feelings: Using Fold Space to teleport the explosives and their connected wires to the outside of the building.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Blowing them up in the bottom of the shaft would kill us almost as surely as blowing them up right next to us...
Dr. Kradu shook his head as the distracting thoughts filled his mind and forced them to one side. He needed to focus on the task at hand.

Carefully, he withdrew his state of the art custom security kit and began disarming the explosives, motioning Beckett to assist him wherever possible.

take 10 for DC33, with Beckett's assist that's DC35

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

A scant inventory of the troopers and the terrain did not reveal any sudden kernels of wisdom to Brin but if fresh troopers like these were on the ground then perhaps some of the heavier equipment was already deployed in support. Lowering his helmet visor he used the range finder to identify the rebels positions on his mini-map. He switched his comlink network to the standard Imperial fire support net and spoke.

"Ground Command this is Shadowhand 4-3, immediate fire support request to follow, over." Brin spoke clearly into the comlink waited for a reply acknowledgement then transmitted his request. He used a call sign he thought he remembered from the original mission brief that should of identified as part of Chief Tavik's commando team.

"Target location: CV 4123 1232, Elevation 0-30 meters, break."

Brin paused a moment then began again, "Target description, entrenched Rebel infantry and heavy weapon emplacements, request immediate suppression, target designated by laser designator, over."

Brin completed the request for fire support and waited for a response.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada's jaw practically hit the floor (or the car roof, as it were) as Vecta melted into the car's interior, and stared dumbfounded as the others worked around him.

[Noedig]

Brin
"Shadowhand this is Command, we read you. We're transferring you over to artillery, standby."

There is a few seconds pause on the channel, after which a new, distinctly feminine voice comes over the comm.

"Shadowhand this is mobile artillery platform Thumper. I hear you need some arty. Verify target at Charlie-Victor-4-1-2-3-dash-1-2-3-2. Requested flavor of the day, over?"

Sienn
The force indicates that would be bad. As to why, you aren't sure.

Kradu, Beckett, Rada
Dr. Kradu expertly disables the charges wired to the top hatch. The level of expertise used in placing them would suggest someone intimately familiar with explosives. A single error would have seen you all plastered against the duracrete walls of the shaft. The person who set up these explosives is good. Very good.

Sandez
Your comm chimes.

"Lead, this is command. We have reports of fighter craft attacking friendlies. Reports match no known fighter profile. Requesting eyes on target, location is Zero-Six power plants, over.

Tobias
Reports are coming in by the second. Your assault is going surprisingly well; you heavy mechanized units and armor are smashing a hole in the rebel fronts, though you note that this is not unexpected. The Rebels have always been a guerrilla force. They will likely not put up as stiff a resistance as could be mustered. They will favor hit and run tactics, sabotage and terror attacks to hurt your forces and morale.

Casualty reports are within acceptable bounds. The air cover has done a wonderful job at clearing out heavy weapon emplacements, and so your vehicles and walkers are only being hit with small arms at the moment. Your infantry though are meeting rather unpleasant resistance. The rebels seem to be booby-trapping all manner of buildings, even ones they dont hold. Civilian casualties are high.

All this aside, you would appear to be winning.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/280x200q90/842/j7ur.jpg Rear Admiral Andan Kang


Teradoc frowns.

"I see. That is...troubling. Your advice will heeded. I will forward a new protocol to the rest of my fleets. Extraordinarily devious of the rebels. They're not behaving normally. Quite odd. Any thoughts on that point?"

"My associates tell me that it has something to do with Force witchcraft. Though I was never one to pay much heed to such things, they've become irritatingly frequent lately. The Force tends to produce a surplus of psychopaths and histrionics, doesn't it? Perhaps the simple act of becoming familiar with this sorcerous energy is enough to drive a sentient mad, no matter the nonsense about light and dark." Kang grumbled in the most refined and dignified way possible. "Suffice to say, they are not your normal rebels. I do not believe that they have much, if any, contact with the rebel leadership. They are a different animal entirely."

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

Beckett assisted wordlessly, holding unneeded tools or pinching wires together while the Doctor worked. He knew his way around traps and munitions, but Kradu was the genius, so he didn't try to butt in. Once the trap was disarmed he stuck his head through, seeing all the explosive barrels crowding the lift car. He looked around for a clear spot of floor that they could cut through, and started running through alternative options in case they couldn't. If they couldn't move the lift car enough to slip underneath it they might have to head down to the next floor and re-attach the repel lines...

Knowledge (tactics): [roll0]
Perception: [roll1]

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

"Thumper, this is Shadowhand, roger on vector. Flavor of the of the Day is Delta Papa India Charlie Mike (Dual Purpose Improved Cluster Munitions), four second delay self destruct." Brin called into his headset as he hunkered down in cover. With is other hand he tapped the top of his helmet with a closed fist signaling for the rest of the team to hunker down behind whatever they had. "Target is danger close, transmitting targeting data."

Brin leaned against the farside of the cover and used a detachable range finger to paint a tiny red dot on the far side of the emplacements he traced the dot in a line across the front of the rebel line in a quick swipe then transmitted the targeting telemetry digitally to Thumper piggy backing the data on the comlink frequency.


Perception: Correctly target the Rebels positions. [roll0]
Use Computer: Transmit targeting data. [roll1]

[Noedig]

Brin
"Shadowhand, hail storm is on it's way. Repeat, splash in eight seconds. Bunker down."

The lead trooper comms his squads.

"Get small boys and girls. Bad weather in five!"

Heads are covered and kept well away from openings, and more than one trooper hunkers against the rubble and broken duracrete walls. Several seconds later you hear a high screeching whistle followed by a quick series of three thunderous booms, followed almost immediately afterward by a cacophony of explosions that sound like fire-cracker pops in comparison. The silence that follows is deafening.

"Shadowhand, Thumper. How'd we do, over?"

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

Brin could feel the explosions in his helmet through his teeth as the auditory sensors dampened the roar that thundered down to smaller. The explosives kicked up a massive cloud of smoke that rushed over the tops of their heads turning the immediately area* (damn iPhone) into a small sandstorm of pulverized duracrete dust and darkened the immediate area.

"Stand by Thumper."

Brin unlimbered the rotary blaster cannon slung across his back spun the six barrels into action sending a stream of red bolts across a broad front through the smoke as probing fire.

[Noedig]

Beckett
It would appear that there are vents spaced at regular intervals connecting the two shafts together. The doors on the floors above are also points of egress, though you haven't checked either the vents or the doors for traps.

Brin
In answer to your salvo of probing fire, a thunderous bang echoes from the smoke, followed by the scream of a mass driver slug as it careens towards you. It impacts scant meters away from your position, blasting a large hole in the rubble your troopers are hiding in. You hear the tell-tale thump of a walkers legs approaching and after a few moments of tension, something (http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060930103401/starwars/images/7/7e/Atap.jpg) out of a history holo lumbers out of the smoke. It's turret begins to track back and forth across the rubble, searching for targets.

You hear a tentative whisper in your helmet comm.
"The kark is that?"

[Noedig]

Rada
A curious thing has shown itself on several occasions during your scans. You have consistently picked up more than a hundred lifesigns in the building, all spread through various levels, and concentrated in what you would assume to be apartment rooms.

The curious thing is that while all ping as being alive, none of them are moving.

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

"Kark!" Brin rolled back into cover as the air tugged against him from the passage of the solid slug. The heavy footfall that reverberated through the ground as an ancient walker churned forward was even more ominous.

"Spread out stay in cover who has the fething blaster cannon?!" Brin shouted on the squad's internal net. He dialed back over to the fire net.

"Thumper this is Shadowhand flavor of the day ineffective, new target identification armored walker same coordinates bring down the thunder!"



Initiative? [roll0]

[RandomLunatic]

Rada studied the display a moment, then looked up to see Beckett seemed to be free for a moment. He sidled over and tapped his shoulder. He said is hushed voice, "Looks like there aren't any troops up here, just hostages," showing him the display of unmoving bodies for proof.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

"Hm. Alive." Beckett nodded in his terse way, speaking only barely above a whisper as he looked over the readout that the merc was showing him. "They may have used gas. Masks may be a good precaution in case they decide to use it again." he reasoned. Through silent hand signals, he indicated to his men that they should pull theirs on.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Dr. Kradu motioned for Beckett to assist him once again, this time disabling the explosives from the triggers inside the car.

take 10 plus beckett's assist = DC35 again. I sincerely hope we're not aiming for DCs higher than that.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

Beckett bent to assist the doctor with the task at hand once again, bowing to Kradu's expertise with munitions.

Assist (Mechanics): [roll0]

[RandomLunatic]

Rada arched an eyebrow at them-he had donned his breath mask well before entering the Death House.

"Huddled like that? Not unless they posed 'em first and used a paralytic. Unconscious beings are... limper. More likely the Pallys just locked them in the room with a bomb and told them it'd blow if they moved or tried the windows or door or something like that. They're conscious and afraid, but not doing the sensible thing like trying to get the blazes out. "

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


"The paladins have a vicissitudal talent for mental engineering; every one of those hosts could just be waiting for some form of trigger for activation." through her helmet, the twi'leks voice sounded more alien and ethereal than usual.

[RandomLunatic]

"You're suggesting brainwashed sleeper agents?" Rada asked, trying to follow the Twi'Lek's train of thought to the logical conclusion. And we're not torching this place because... we enjoy pain?

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

"They may be. They may be participating in some ritual. Perhaps they are little more than mindless conduits amplifying the power of a particular sorcerer or providing a biological pool from which to siphon power. The possibilities are multitudinous. What is clear is that this branch of the rebel alliance has displayed the willingness to enchain and enslave the minds of those beneath their authority, and this characteristic is most likely central to the inertia you are witnessing."

[RandomLunatic]

"Fantastic." Rada checked his chrono. "Yannow, if this," he almost said "abortion", but checked his commentary at the last minute, "Invasion hadn't loused everything up, I could've had this knucklehead signed, sealed, and delivered already."

[Noedig]

Assault team
This trap proves harder to disable, and Dr. Kradu nearly slips up more than once as he disables the bricks of detonite. He's forced to pop the seal of one of the metal drums, and the overpowering chemical scent of some sort of engine fuel reaches your noses. A quick mental calculation from Kradu implies that if these had gone off anywhere in the building, not only would you all be vaporized, but the building would have likely collapsed. Fortunately he is able to keep this from happening, but if this is a sign of what to expect in the building as a whole, he has his work cut out for him.

Brin
The entire squad of stormtroopers and Brin's rotary cannon begin to pepper the walker's front, scorching and pockmarking the hull of the walker. In response, its third leg slams downward, stabilizing its frame as it unleashes a blistering salvo of red plasma from its top mounted heavy blaster cannon. The permacrete around you cracks and hisses as the fury of the assault begin to turn the stone molten. Two of the troopers to your left are blow messily apart as the immense thermal energy slams into them. A howl of terror and pain can be heard off to your right, but your foe demands your full attention.

Right, so the map I had made got deleted. Gonna re-build it, but in the meantime, you went, the squad went, then the walker went. Go ahead and roll attack and damage, and I'll add it to the running total. It managed to not hit you (somehow), so you take no damage.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

"This is rigged to take out the entire building," Kradu whispered, the implication being that people who rig explosives to destroy buildings usually do not stick around in them.

"It's disarmed," he added, picking up the block of detonite and placing it into his pack, "let's go."

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

With Dr Kradu's blessing to proceed, a snap-hiss saturated the interior of the elevator with purple as Sienn drew her lightsabre into a cutting position, directing it at the elevator floor to cut through. She was prepared, of course, to telekinetically grab the section that would be excised so that it would not plummet down the shaft.

ooc:
Now that Kradu has deactivated the explosides, Sienn will use both Sense Surroundings and Search your Feelings to cut a hole in the bottom of the elevator.

[Mando Knight]

"Roger, I'll check it out, over."

The ground team was mostly beyond her reach anyway. Turning the Defender and gunning the engines, Sandez made her way toward power station 0-6.

[RandomLunatic]

"What about the basement?" Rada asked.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

"That's where we're going," Sienn answered calmly while carving away, "If the transport have done their job and blown up all of the tunnels I designated except one, then they'll have only one escape route that we can bring down on their heads."

[RandomLunatic]

"I meant, 'Would the blast have destroyed the basement?' I was talking to him," indicating Kradu.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Dr. Kradu considered the question for a moment.

Need a GM pointer on this, does Kradu know one way or the other?

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

While Kradu and Vecta finished up, Beckett and the stormcommandos readied the repelling gear again, making sure everything was set to reach the basement floor.

[Noedig]

Assault team
The hole is swiftly cut, though it can only fit one person at a time. To cut further would risk toppling the barrels into the shaft, and that would be disastrous. Indeed, Kradu is led to believe by his mental math that the basement would have been thou roughly destroyed along with the rest of the building had this elevator bomb gone off as intended.

Who is going first?

Sandez
You are over the new battlefield in a matter of moments, and a low visual sweep of the station reveals a grisly scene. Scores of white armored bodies lay in neatly cut pieces, some bisected across the middle, others cut in diagonal sweeps, but all bearing the signs of some sort of energy cutting device having killed them. Numerous thin gouges of black in the streets and buildings below are also present, and suggest that some sort of projected energy weapon, likely in the form of a beam of some kind, was used to kill these troopers. Friendly IFF signals are being broadcast from the buildings well away from the power station itself.

Tobias
The streets, while plenty wide enough for smaller ground vehicles, are quite cramped for your might AT-ATs. Fortunately, the buildings are not as sturdy as the legs of your walkers, and corridors are easily made. The wake of crushed and broken buildings though, is no doubt going to be a nightmare to clean up. You receive a static filled comm from Dagan, who sounds very distressed.

"Sir...gan here! Comms are...ked in the tun...s...Rebels all...down here....rigged to....pse...ove..."

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Kradu nodded.

"There'd be nothing left but a rubble filled crater," he whispered.

[Mando Knight]

"Command, the troopers have been... cut. Like with a laser sword. I don't know any vehicle weapons that could do this, over."

Refining her sensors, Sandez tries to get a reading on what the IFF transponders claim they are. [roll0]

[RandomLunatic]

"This ain't right," Rada hissed, shaking his head. "Either he's not here, or there's a third guy we don't know about. If not more."

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

"You don't remember the other one?" Sienn asked as she stepped away from the hole, "Mari, I believed those troopers called her. The ones that abducted Carver, before Carver ended up here? She wielded two lightsabres, so carving away at soldiers seems exactly her style."

With that, Sienn deactivated her sabre and held onto it. Picking up the section of excised hole, she turned it sideways so it would fit through the new entrance and hovered it several inches below, allowing her to step onto it. Then, using her telekinetic powers, she 'levitated' herself down through the elevator shaft.

[RandomLunatic]

"Oh, I remember Mari all right. I certainly remember she's-" he paused, heeding Mira's earlier admonition. "Not affiliated with the Paladins. She bitched when the one guy stole her kill, remember?

"But that's not the problem. If all had gone according to plan, right now everyone in that basement would be a grease stain. Including the last Paladin, which means they'd be leaderless and possibly have more narcoleptic soldiers like in the sewers. So either he's not there, or there's another one out there, or your assumptions are deeply flawed," he re-iterated.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

"Less whining, more moving." Beckett said to the mercenary as he lowered himself down into the hole after Vecta. He didn't have her talents, so his only option was to continue on with the rope-assisted descent.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Dr. Kradu wordlessly followed the others through the hole in the elevator floor. Every second that passed, he felt more and more like they should simply take off and destroy the entire building, Carver or no Carver.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada shook his head as the others plunged down the shaft. A vibro cluebat couldn't get through to them.

[Noedig]

Assault Team
The team slowly rappels down the shaft, the only noise being the occasional groan of rope or the scrape of a boot on permacrete. You notice more tampering with the mechanisms of the elevator as you descend; more charges on the doors, sabotaged guiding rails and destroyed electronics. A strong chemical scent wafts up from below, very similar to the substance in the barrels, and long before you reach the basement levels, the smell becomes near omnipresent.

Perception from Becket and Rada

Sandez
The transponders in the building come back as definitely friendly. They could be taking cover from whatever was doing the cutting. Other than their IFF's, which are broadcast automatically, they are not transmitting any sort of signal.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

Beckett inverted himself and hung upside-down on the repel line for a moment, letting his senses attune to the relative darkness inside the tunnel and block out any extraneous noise. He signaled for his men to hold for a moment, and they complied noiselessly.

Perception: [roll0]

[RandomLunatic]

Rada froze alongside the others, looking around for whatever had caused the behavior.

(([roll0]))

[Noedig]

Assault team
As he nears the bottoms of the shaft, Beckett's goggles, as well as a lucky bit of disturbed dust, highlight the barely perceptible line of laser, such as might be used in a trigger for an explosive mine or charge. They are not visible to the naked eye, and you count yourself lucky that you rappelled downward first. A quick glance up either end indicates that it is in fact a type of mine. It is affixed to the wall, likely either by adhesives or suction. Fortunately, while dangerous, these types of mines are common among Adjusters and other Imperial special forces. They are not hard to disable, if you know the tricks. What is curious is that it would not have killed all of you. Unless...

A further glance down reveals more barrels of that same fuel, though these are opened. One of your quarry would seem to dearly love fire, traps and explosives.

The disabling of the mine is a routine matter, accomplished in seconds. The basement lift doors now sit closed before you. They do not appear to be trapped, though that would be a first in this little house of horrors.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

As he was the best at this sort of thing, Beckett invited the Doctor to work his magic on the door. He also spared a glance in Vecta's direction, since she seemed to be able to see what was beyond them without the aid of micro-cameras or other equipment. His team he directed to spread out around the door while he put the disarmed mines he'd liberated from the walls in his own pockets perhaps for later use.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


The Sith remained quiet and observant, the orange face-plate of her helmet offering an emotionless image to her other team-mates. Her eyes, however, were closed as she ran her senses along the tapestry of the Force in order to discern what their opponents were doing right below them.


ooc:

I assume we're right above the basement entry via the turbolift shaft, in which case Sienn will use Sense Surroundings + Perception to peer at what their enemies are up to. If their medium-sized targets and aren't actively trying to hide themselves then the DC is 0.


I take 10 to Notice Targets, giving me an immediate roll of 23.

I take 10 after I re-read the Perception entry and realised you're allowed to do this - after I already rolled the skill 4 times because I knew you were allowed to retry if you think you failed to notice something that you believe is there (which is a swift action). Because Invisiblecastle is determiend to make Sienn look like an incompetent loser by giving her nothing above a 6 on a D20 for every ****ing roll I've had since entering this building, it can go die in a ****ing river. Seriously if it was my rolling in place of TC's or Chronics, we'd all be red smears by now.

Sorry Noedig, I know with IRL problems the last thing you want to see is one of your cry-baby players constantly complaining :smalleek:, but damn this is getting to me.


1d20+13=14 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4743583/) - Nope.

1d20+13=16 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4743584/) - **** nope.

1d20+13=14 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4743585/) - **** you IC.

1d20+13=25 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4743586/) - After four goddamn rolls.

[A'den]

"Get a corpsman on the wounded, covering fire!"

Brin rose from cover and laid down a swat of laser blasts at the oncoming walker.


Rolls should be in OOC page 3

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Dr. Kradu shook his head quietly and focused on his task. There were far too many traps in this place for his liking. He would have to have serious words with... whoever was in charge going forward, assuming he made it out alive.

taking 10's with beckett's assists again for DC35 to identify traps on the elevator door and disarm them.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada was currently very, very sorry he had shot that bitch Carver in the chest. If he had taken the time to aim for the head and do the job right, he would not right now be standing in a deathtrap about to follow and an idiot in charging straight into the teeth of a bunch of very heavily armed and totally prepared soldiers backed by more traps.

While Kradu worked over the door, he consulted the heat sensor again, almost dreading the results.

Suddenly he looked up, having hit a upon the way out of this disaster in the making. "Show of hands-who is packing something that isn't a blaster, lightsaber, or slugthrower?"

(([roll0]))

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Kradu raises a hand.

"I have a rocket launcher and a few grenades," he said

[RandomLunatic]

Rada shook his head. "Yeah. Not better. The backblast'll blow us all up for sure."

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

"They're concussion grenades, but I'm a bit busy at the moment, so perhaps if you explained why this is a concern at this particular moment?" Kradu replied, not taking his eyes off the elevator door.

[RandomLunatic]

"I thought you were supposed to be smart. We're standing in a confined space next to some open drums of fuel. Anybody who's ever passed a science class knows it's not the fuel itself that's the hazard, it's the vapors. I'm wearing a breath mask and I can still tell it reeks in here. What do you think happens when you add some blaster bolts to the mix?"

[Mando Knight]

Not seeing anything else she could do with the troops lying slain before her, Sandez moves to get a better view of the things pinging "friendly" on the sensors.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

"Were you thinking of firing some blaster bolts?" Kradu replied, nonchalantly stripping two wires and twining them together, "I'm sure nobody else was either."

[RandomLunatic]

"Well, I sure wasn't planning on going through that door and hi-fiving everybody I saw."

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

"Seeing as how everyone will be blown to smithereens if anyone starts shooting, it seems an opportune time to talk, assuming we actually find someone to talk to," Kradu whispered.

"At least, someone can talk while someone else goes and picks up Carver," Kradu added, "then we can all exit stage right, launch a few torpedoes at the building, and watch the fireworks... if that's your kind of thing."

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

While they waited for the doors to open, Beckett nodded to his squad of stormcommandos. They mirrored him as he pulled a small cylinder from a shin-sheathe. It was about the size and shape of a lightsaber, but when the sniper flicked his wrist, three sections of titanium rod with a round top snapped out from the hilt and locked, forming a light-weight club. Their blasters were secreted back in various back or hip sheathes, ready to be used if it ever became safe to do so.

[RandomLunatic]

"That only applies if they have the same attachment to not being exploded you do. And if they minded getting exploded, they wouldn't have surrounded themselves with enough explosives to create a blast visible from orbit."

[Noedig]

The doors to the elevator slide open smoothly with an audible ding. The lights are off, either by design or by virtue of Commander Sandez's targeting of the generators. Both Sienn and Rada detect a closely grouped collection of forms a short distance ahead, though both the force and the heat read outs indicate that they are dead. They are in the only direction available to you; forward.

The friendly IFF tags number at platoon strength and occupy the central floors of the five story building. A cursory glance at the building itself reveals yet another series of odd, long scorch marks tracing across the outside. They seem to be focused largely around the windows.

Other friendly blasters join the bass staccato of your rotary cannon. Further pockmarks begin to pepper the hull of the walker, and the metal in some parts begins to heat and slough off. In response, the walker unleashes yet another salvo of fire. Another high velocity slug passes less than a meter from your head, blasting out a huge chunk of permacrete. It clangs painfully off of your helmet, causing your ears to ring, but you are luckily not otherwise harmed. To your right, you see a group of troopers struggling with a rather bulky looking rocket launcher. It is clear they are not familiar with it, and likely have no heavy weapons training. The original operator must have been killed or too wounded to fire it.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

Looking up with what might be irritation at whatever went ding, Beckett then directed his troops to come with him down the hallway, keeping an eye out for yet more traps or detection devices. He knew that the others would be right behind him, but his men were what you might refer to as "expendable resources" as opposed to the Sith and the Doc. So if there were any explosions or blaster bolts to be absorbed they were going to be the ones to absorb them. Still, he wasn't taking any chances. The stealth field generator at his belt might not work as well against infared or nightvision, but he activated it anyway in case someone suddenly turned the lights on. The sound of his footsteps suddenly stopped and he was well and truly invisible.

[ChronicLunacy]

Probably should have rolled this just in case. The stealth field generator and his scout talents grant him Total Concealment.

Stealth: [roll0]

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

Brin started cursing in a continuous stream of profanity slipping from Basic into Boccee and back again. The mass-driver round caromed over head again and his profanity was punctuated with a shower of concrete rocks on his armor's head and shoulders. He looked over his shoulder and saw a group of troopers frelling with a tread fether and launched into another stream of profanity.

"You shiny frell brained bantha fethers!" He dropped his cannon and rushed over to the struggling troopers hoping his armor would stop anything short of that driver round.

"This one goes here that one goes there!" Brin knocked the operator away with casual motion of exo powered fist and appropriated the rocket launcher. He flipped the arming stud to FIRE and hefted the heavy box easily onto his shoulder.

"Clear the back blast area!"

Move: Move to Struggling Troopers Move: Pick Up Rocket Launcher: Swift: Switch the Safety off.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


Sienn had a habit of 'storming the breach' first on missions, so to speak. She was in a better position to absorb the retaliation their opponents would offer and enjoyed the exhilaration such a move charged through her nerves.

Lightsabre in hand, her Force senses up, Sienn moved through the opening and into the basement floor. She moves forward slowly, perceptions alert.


ooc:

Putting myself through pain again with a Perception roll: [roll0]

Taking 10 for any Use the Force checks for Sense Force, Sense Surroundings etc.

[Noedig]

Assault Team
The featureless hallway continues into the dark for perhaps twenty meters and then ends. There is a single door on your right, and Sienn's use of the force indicates that there is a collection of humanoid shapes on the other side.

Brin
Your fiddling about with the launcher, as well as your close proximity to other troopers, makes you a tempting target. Blaster fire fills the air around you, killing a nearby trooper and striking you in the abdomen. The launcher chimes; it is ready to fire.

I rolled high, unfortunately. 21 damage to you. If you have shenanigans that reduce or negate that damage, you may use them.

[Holocron Coder]

Lt Colonel Ran Tobias

Tobias frowns, gesturing towards an officer. "See if you can't clean up that transmission."

He ponders over what he was actually able to hear, and comes to only one conclusion: the tunnels are rigged to collapse.

As to his response, Tobias thought for a few moments as the ATT trudged along. Were the tunnels ubiquitous, or would it be possible to avoid tramping around above them? He needed more information. He commed, contacting the appropriate officer. "Someone get me a map of this city, including the underground system. I don't care if it's complete; give me whatever we have."

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg


Brin grunted as the blasterfire stitched a pattern across his line he held firm as a bolt struck a gap in his armor plates it was only a flesh wound. He let out a slow breath and pulled the trigger on the launcher. Fire bloomed around him as the rocket ejected out of the tube and tracked toward the walker he thought it might be an AT-XT. As soon as the missile left the tube Brin quickly move away from the point of origin and took cover in another fighting position.


DR 2 on damage so only 19, my DT is 33 so no affect other than HP loss.
Standard: Ranged Attack with Missile Launcher at Point Blank Range (0-50 Squares) [roll0] Hit: [roll1] Slashing bypass SR
Move Action: Move to Cover 4 squares away.
Free: Knowledge Tactics: What model of walker?: [roll2]

[RandomLunatic]

Rada took up the rearguard, because somebody had to and there were already volunteers for the vanguard. He grimaced as the hallway terminated at a single door-another fixed point, inevitably funneling them towards more danger. Just their luck.

Or was it luck? A 20-meter hallway with a single door to one side was kind of weird. Rada pushed his NVGs up onto his forehead and started playing his glowrod along the right wall, looking for signs of recent construction. Fresh paint, an absence of dust, different textures, that sort thing.

((Take 10 on Perception=20))

[Noedig]

Rada
Rada does indeed discover signs of recent remodeling or construction. Opposite to the visible door, there is a recently covered entryway. It looks to have been filled in entirely with permacrete, rather than just obscured by painted plaster.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada smiled under his breath mask. Keeping the glowrod focused on the brand-new permacrerte wall opposite the door everybody was milling around, "Alright, everybody-about face. We're going this way." He pulled the breath mask off a few centimeters and started sniffing for traces of gas fumes, which would make the cutting a lot more obnoxious.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


The twi'lek watched as Rada removed his mask to get a whiff of the environment. He'd managed to find a 'secret' door so perhaps he was worth bringing along in spite of all of his complaining.

Sienn herself peered at the wall, her senses drifting past the material as always. At one point she gently raised one hand and softly flattened her palm and fingers against the permacrete.

ooc:

Sense Surroundings, Take 10 as usual.

Invisible Castle still isn't available to me for some reason.

Perception: [roll0]

[Noedig]

Assault Team
The force indicates that beyond this new wall, there is another hallway, stretching on some ten or so meter and then taking an abrupt ninety degree turn that parallels it with the hallway you are currently in. Further investigations are interrupted by the sound of voices on the other side of visible door. A peal of childish laughter and a cry of anguish, followed by words you cannot make out. Another cry of anguish, this time carrying a distinctly feminine tone. The force indicates that there may be people on the other side in a series of rooms, but all appear to be either sitting or otherwise immobile.

The door itself appears simple enough; no wires or strange protrusions indicating tampering. It appears to be mechanical in nature, in that a simple lever appears to open, somewhat akin to a meat locker or walk-in refrigerator door.

[Noedig]

Brin
The walker itself is a precursor model to the AT-ST, having a third leg and a rather mean mass driver cannon that third leg helps stabilize when it fires. They were a multi-role walker platform, able to fulfill anti-armor and anti-personnel requirements. They were unfortunately too slow for the new regime and the more agile AT-ST was put into production.

This knowledge comes to the fore as the missile flashes across the very short distance between your lines and the walker, slamming into the nose and making a terrific explosions. The walker stumbles for a moment, lists to the left, and then falls with a calamitous ringing and grinding metal against stone. Black smoke belches out of several holes in the hull.

Tobias
Maps are provided, and to your annoyance you see that the sewers are a messy looking maze at first glance. No doubt planned well enough to provide adequate sewage systems for the entire city, which is very large, but on the surface it appears to be a completely chaotic rats nest of tunnels spanning almost a kilometer downward.

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

Brin felt a pulse of satisfaction spread through his chest watching the walker stumble and fall over as the missile detonated. He rose and looked at the fallen walker, its fall should of silenced the mass driver too. He hefted the boxy rocket launcher back on his shoulder.

"Clear back blast area!" He called to any of the troops standing near him and fired another warhead into the fallen walker. He waited for the detonation to roll over them before climbing out of the cover and advancing into the no man's land. He rose one hand away from the missile launcher and lifted it over his hand pumping his fist up and down. A simple hand and arm signal indicating to the troops to move at double time.

"All troopers advance!!" He transmitted over the company's net as he taped another frequency into his comlink and updated headquarters with the move of the front line of troops closer to Rebel held positions.


Standard Action: Fire Another Rocket into the downed Walker: [roll0] Hit: [roll1] Slashing Ammo Count 2/4 Magazine.
Move Action: Advance 4 squares into no man's land.
Swift Action: Use Comlink

[Noedig]

Brin
The explosion was highly satisfying, and split the walker's hull open, splaying it to the sides like some poorly cooked giant crustacean. The troopers let out a cheer and began advancing along side you.

The rebel positions are a mess; it would seem the artillery did a better job against the soft targets than the armor. Up close, you can see how they had developed a tiered form of defensive position, with infantry sprinkled throughout the various staircases and landings and heavy weapons placed back further in the actual buildings themselves.

Sporadic exchanges of fire occasionally break out but it would appear that the majority of the rebels are now corpses..

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

"Secure the area, get those heavy weapons repositioned to cover the twelve o'clock. You send an update to command and find out what they wanted with this area. Keep an eye out out for duds and civilians, funnel of the later back toward the rear under guard and send up for a security detail to get them processed for medical treatment. Then get that power plant secure they were defending this place for a reason." Brin stopped on top of a small pile of debris and watched the rest of the troopers clean out the pockets of resistance.

The faceplate of his helmet rolled back as he stuck a hastily rolled death stick between his lips and used the flickering flames of a piece of rubble from the walker to light it. Loosing the walker seemed to break the backs of the resistance. He nodded gratefully to another trooper who brought over his rotary cannon and stowed it on his back.

"Transport this is Shadowhand pick up zone is secure, ready for extraction." With the immediate area secure Brin called up for the transport he had waved off earlier. He didn't feel like getting Force choked for forgetting something Sienn told him to do.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


The read-out on the inside of Sienn's helmet told her that the air in here was cleaner. Or at least, the chance of exploding from a stray blaster bolt was significantly reduced.

Approaching and looking a the wall, Sienn narrowed her eyes inside her helmet. "The door behind us has cowering civilians. This one however just goes on before a sharp turn. Kradu, can you get it open? Use this if necessary." the Sith finished her sentence by holding her lightsabre up for the tech specialist to take.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Dr. Kradu gingerly accepted the lightsaber, then inspected the covered over doorway.
check for traps mechanics take 10 DC 33
Assuming he finds nothing of interest:

Kradu then ignited the lightsaber, illuminating the hallway, and began cutting through the wall, creating an entry large enough for anyone in the party to pass through. Kradu's cuts are surgical and precise, and the wall is cut in such a way so that it is narrower near the top, allowing him to step out of the way and allow another to easily hold the top of the sliced wall, and lower it gently to the ground.
Kradu does double damage to unattended vehicles and objects. In this case, he cuts through faster.
He then deactivates the lightsaber and hands it back to Sienn.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


Sienn held up her hand and received her weapon back, deactivating it and keeping it clasped for now.

The sith even assists Dr Kradu during his excisions - reaching up with her free hand to direct the Force to clasp at the recently cut section of wall so that she could direct it out of place.

ooc:
Using Move Object on the excised piece of wall to make sure it doesn't drop horribly and so that we can move it where it needs to go to put it out of the way.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada stepped well out of the way of the excavation work, shielding his eyes to protect his night vision. When noise stopped, he slid the NVGs back into place and stepped into the new opening, blaster in one hand and heat sensor in the other.

((Take 10 Perception=22, ignores concealment.))

[Noedig]

Sienn
The force indicates to you that this is not the way to Carver, who is not far from here, through the large cooler door. What sort of danger she is in is unclear, but it does feel as if she is dying. Slowly, but dying all the same.

Assault Team
Radio chatter comes in through the team's shared comm. One of your dropships has broken off to go and acquire Brin, but it will take them some minutes to get to him, and the area is experiencing heavy fighting. Delays will be likely. The other two craft report that they are continuing to shoot at the sewers, but it is unclear what affect they are having, if any. An occasional rumble is felt by you all, but nothing severe, and it is vaguely occurring above you. One of the dropships makes a sudden report about movement on a nearby roof and breaks off to investigate.

The laughter and howls of anguish continue to come mutely through the large durasteel door, which appears to lead to some kind of cooler or refrigeration unit. It doesn't appear to be locked, merely latched shut, and likely environmentally sealed.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

The twi'lek tilted her head as she peered at the refrigeration door that stood before her and the entire team. What was it that they were hiding in there that had to be cooled to such low temperatures? After all this had to be some type of renovation - Sienn couldn't picture a reason why a normal building would have such an expansive, underground cooling area.

Raising a hand, Sienn pointed a finger towards the door in a way that the others could see - her silent gesture indicating whatever it was that they were looking for was lurking on the other side. Taking out her sabre, she spun it around her finger to bring its grip neatly into her palm, thumb near the activation button.

ooc:
Assuming Noedig says "No" to my request for Brinn, Sienn will also telepathically contact him and send him the mental images/concepts and words that will allow him to ascertain where they are and that he should hurry along.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


Sighing and rolling her eyes, Sienn moves forward and pushes the door open.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada drew the concussion pistol as he moved through the door. This had better work.

((I am going to go ahead and roll [roll0]))

[Holocron Coder]

Lt Colonel Ran Tobias

He stares at the map for a few moments, wracking his brain for any tactic that could circumvent the sudden collapse of the entire sewer system. He, of course, did not doubt that the fanatics would be willing to resort to such a tactic; they had done equally horrible things already.

He shakes his head and starts giving out orders for troops tailing the advancing line to work to evacuate the citizenry out of the city as best they could; he would not have the death of innocents on his mind if he could help it. In addition, orders were given to consolidate forces into small groups that could assist each other in the case of the ground giving out in various locations.

That just left the AT-AT, who would be rather vulnerable to this tactic, but were also the heavy arm of the ground forces. He ordered each to be controlled by only a skeleton crew, preferably of volunteers. Half would fall back to support the back lines, and hopefully be out of immediate danger, while a few would continue to advance forward at a quicker pace, each angling for its objective.

[Noedig]

Assault Team
There door unlocks, and there is the sharp sound of air being sucked into the room beyond. Your ears pop ever so slightly as the pressure changes. Frigid air, coalescing as fog rolls out onto the floor and your breathing becomes visible to you. Beyond, the room is completely unlit, though with the night vision goggles, a grainy, unpleasant image is revealed. White tile smeared nearly black with what can only be old blood makes up the floor. Semi transparent polymer curtains partition the room into hallways, making it difficult to see what lies behind them. Shapes hang off of hooks and chains in the dark. In the center of this room is stormtrooper helmet, its bone white finish sullied by what is likely more blood. The laughter and anguish cries are much louder here; you have to raise your voice to be heard by your squadmates.

I need initiatives from everyone else please.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

The mists rolled past Sienn's figure as she stood at the fore of the group when the doors opened to reveal their morose inhabitants: row after row of corpses hanging upon hooks as if this were an abattoir for sentients.

Her helmet still recording, Sienn moved forward as Beckett's team would undoubtedly start to funnel into the room - keeping low and covering all angles of fire as they did so. As she moved, the twi'leks senses rolled over the room and her head turned this way and that on the look-out for some unseen menace.

If she didn't know any better she'd say that this was a facility for prepping corpses to be turned into cyborgs.

ooc:
Perception + Sense Surroundings: 1d20+13=23 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4771491/)
Galactic Lore: 1d20+11=31 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4771494/), sweet a crit.

I believe I've updated Sienn's position on the map.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada pushed into the room, sweeping one side and then other as he passed each set of flaps.

He slid in behind one of the hanging bodies-a bit morbid, to be sure, but if a blaster bolt was going to find meat, it may as well belong to a somebody who couldn't get any deader. A literal meat shield, if you prefer.

He is going to spend a move action moving, and then ready an action to shoot anything nasty that pops up.

[roll0]
[roll1]

And he auto-passes the acrobatics check to ignore difficult terrain.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

Beckett and his stormcommandos filed in after Sienn, splitting up to sweep each side of the room. They tried to keep as much spacing between them as possible just in case. Each had a blaster carbine ready to hose down the room ahead if anything popped up. They moved quietly and efficiently, taking their cues from the bounty hunter as Beckett was still invisible due to his stealth field generator.

The sniper stayed near the back of the group, his sniper rifle at the ready. Anyone firing at them would have their aimed blocked by the tarps, so Beckett assumed that those would probably come down due to one side or the other if anyone attacked them in here.

Initiative: [roll0]
Total Concealment due to Stealth Generator

[Noedig]

Sienn
The corpses are too damaged to look to be of any use. They also appear to have been butchered with some skill, what would be prime cuts of meat having been removed from both the humanoid and the 'normal' meat. It would suggest to you that they are a food source.

Assault Team
The screams of agony and the laughter intensify as Sienn approaches the helmet. It appears to have a blocky object stuffed into it, and light is being emitted in flickers from where the head would normally be. The room is otherwise dark, cold and deathly silent. Beckett's men fan out through the room, checking it thoroughly and finding nothing. Likewise, even Rada's keen sight reveals nothing out of the ordinary. They report that the doors do not appear to be locked or otherwise trapped.

[RandomLunatic]

"Don't touch the helmet," Rada said as he moved up to the door ahead. You would imagine people would not need to be prompted to avoid blatantly obvious schmuck bait, but it did not pay to overestimate the intelligence of anybody that could shoot their own leader down by turbolaser fire. Staying safely off to the side, he unlatched and threw it open.

Move to move, move to open door.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

The helmet was certainly a curiosity, if not for being a grim totem then surely for the decorative role it played as the centre of this room. Perhaps there were explosives within its domed head? Maybe some type of alarm. Or, perhaps it was left here by whatever authority had to enter these rooms and deal with the denizens that feasted off these corpses - wearing the helmet was a way of identifying themselves as an ally. Curious.

Seeing which door the rest of the team was going through, Sienn looked over to the door on their left. If Beckett did not do so then the twi'lek would direct a pair of his squad to stand at each corner to keep that entrance covered while the rest of them prepared their sweep.

Until then, Sienn moved forward, her footfalls quiet and sabre in hand, ready. For now her vacuum sealed armor protected her from both the cool fog of the room and whatever residual odors that existed in the air.

ooc:
Stealth: 1d20+7=23 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4772828/)
Sense Surroundings + Perception: 1d20+13=28 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4772842/)

[Noedig]

Assault Team
Both doors lead to a small hallway that ends with with another closed freezer door. The temperature remains constantly below freezing, and the mist continues to waft and build in the freezer you currently occupy.

Tobias
Your orders are swiftly carried out, though there are a few rumblings of confusion felt over the channels you're overseeing. If nothing else, the civilians seem to be grateful you're not shooting at them and instead helping them get away from the Paladin forces.

Your advance into the city continues almost completely unopposed. It is unclear whether if this is because the rebels are retreating or if it is because they are bidding there time.

Brin
Orders come through to have units split into small squads, begin evacuating civilians and be conscious of tremors and earthquakes. By far one of the strangest orders you've seen.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


Keeping her senses on high alert and moving forward cautiously, Sienn enters the next room.


OOC:

Perception: 1d20+13=30 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4774404/)
+ Take 10 for Sense Suroundings

Stealth: 1d20+7=25 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4774407/)

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

Brin flicked out his death stick and slid the faceshield of his helmet back into place as orders started coming in on the helmet's HUD in red aurbesh letters. He frowned the orders didn't tell him a lot about what was going on give any specifics he would of felt more comfortable with.

"Frell I'm not supposed to be in charge of this." He rotated his comm frequency back to the local troop net and stood up heading over toward base of the Rebel's fortified positions. It seemed the Stormtroopers had cleared out the local resistance.

"Squad leaders on me." At least being the only one in non-standard armor made it easy for the troopers to find him. He lumbered over to the base of a building and met with the remaining Stormtroopers.

Since the Transport had not responded to his hail his hope of returning quickly to rest of his own team seemed low. If he ditched these troopers here they would probably walk into the next ambush.

"Report, how many did we loose? Then get your men ready to move, and check all your troopers grapple hooks and lines, if anyone has Ascension gun attachments they should equip them. Command is telling us to be alert for sudden seismic activity and the sewers honeycomb this area pretty deep. There's a chance of the ground giving out beneath us. Once you're good get everyone ready to move we're going to reinforce some V.I.P.s and direct any civilians out of the immediate environs of the city. So I need three squads between whoever we have left."


Headcount: How many troopers or squads of troopers am I working with?
Assuming since the pilot didn't respond that either their too busy or command sent them somewhere else.
Perception: [roll0]: From your description I'm assuming the immediate area is clear of enemy troopers and civilians.
;) Know you're busy with the other guys. But is it close enough for us to move to Sienn's location by foot?

[Noedig]

The room Sienn enters is much like the first, though the amount of 'meat' has tripled, and these unfortunates seem much newer than the room before. There is barely any sign of the cautious, surgical butchering in the first room, and the bodies here have been haphazardly piled and hung through the room, creating a frustratingly narrow and slick path to the center of the room, where it branches in three other directions. The Stormcommandos of Beckett's team report nothing in their hall and move forward into that room.

By your best guess, it would take at least a half an hour to walk the distance. But since you would be fighting every step of the way, that time is likely to have been quadrupled or worse, given the Paladin's love for traps and other combat-dickery. Losses were relatively light compared to the size of the forces you were facing. Fifteen dead, four wounded and of those four, one can still fight. Your headcount comes in at thirty-eight troopers. Civilian casualties have been high throughout the city, based on what you're hearing. The familiar, annoyed voice of Alexander, the medic who joined you in the sewers wafts over the din of troops moving about.

It would appear the facilities are more or less secure. Specialized teams will have to be dispatched in order to remove any booby traps or other nasty surprises. CASEVAC is being delayed due to high volumes of casualties in other areas. A platoon has gone missing in the city, their last location being reported at about two and a half klicks west by northwest of your position. Commander Sandez is investigating from the air.

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

Brin furrowed his brows at the numbers fifteen dead and but only four wounded. Pretty accurate shooting by the Rebels and deadly weapons, even if the Paladin's troops were an off branch of the Rebellion they seemed to have a number of well equipped and well trained soldiers usually that was the other way around when dealing with fanatics. That and the route to get to the VIPs would take too long to even affect what was probably already happening.

He turned at the sound of a familiar voice, "Oiy! Alexander over here."

With the Resistance medic and the Stormtrooper squad leaders he revised his plan and laid it out to the five them using a few stones on a flat piece of debris.

"Okay here's what were going to do. You four are now squad leaders, Aurek, Besh, Cresh, and Dorn. Each of you is assigned eight stormtroopers. Alexander is a resistance medic I fought with earlier today you can trust him." Brin looked at the local fighter and nodded at him.

"The other two stormtroopers and the one ambulatory will work with Alexander to establish a triage at this location. Aurek squad you're going take you're nine men and come with me to the last know location of a platoon that has lost contact with fortunately some Eyeball jocks are already looking into it so we should have support. Besh squad will be responsible for security for the north sector security while Cresh takes south break down into six three man LP/OP teams and maintain observation and security. Get yourselves up a few floors and take the high ground in the buildings. If you see any Rebel formations larger than a squad call in an artillery strike and lay down suppressive fire. If their smaller than a squad use one of the designated marksman to pick them off. Dorn squad has the meat of the chores, you will be the quartering and clearing party for this facility and the landing zone. Use demolition sensors if we have them otherwise your just going to have to sweep visually and ensure there are no bomblets, booby traps, or mines in the area. We can't setup a proper LZ or triage site until that's complete. Once the sweeps are complete use one of the long range comlinks as an IFF transponder to guide transport in. Dorn squad will also be local quick reaction force if anything breaches the perimeter the squad in contact will suppress while Dorn maneuvers on them."

Brin hefted the rocket launcher and handed it to the Dorn squad leader. "Aim, get tone, fire. Should have two missiles left in it. Another walker shows up. Wait for a clear shot when its distracted and hit it with this."

"If there are no questions Aurek squad leader get your eight ready to move out now. Civilians that wander in need to be searched then given shelter and flown out with the CASEVACs when they come in."

Brin rose from his little diagram of dirt circles and pebbles that outlined what he had just explained, six small rocks indicated the security while a small piece of rebar represented the triage size and a broken piece of glass the LZ inside the circle of security. The triage sheltered in the more stable building and the LZ marked in the cleared area that had formerly been the fire fight's no man's land. A broken piece of metal indicated the missing platoons last known position 2.5 kilometers away.

Then he grunted to himself, "Almost forgot. If I die, Besh SL (squadleader) is in charge then, Aurek, Cresh, and Dorn, after that go by time in the Corps. So anything comes up bring it that guy." Brin pointed at the trooper he had just made in charge of the de facto patrol base that he was coordinating here. "If anything comes up that heavy to handle call me, if you can't raise me on the comlink call command. If you think it stinks it probably does." He grinned at what he imagined might their puzzles faces at that reference under their helmets.


So Knowledge Tactics take 20 to brief the SLs on a simple plan to establish security and an landing zone properly for a 31 Knowledge Tactics. Should allow them to anticipate any enemy attacks before they happen thus negating surprise round in a surprise attack if they fail their Perception checks.

Unless anything is immediately brought to his attention by the NPCs he'll gather up Aurek squad (9 Stormtroopers) and head toward the last known location of that platoon. Probably at a Forced March pace depending on the physical fitness of the weakest trooper.

[RandomLunatic]

Seeing Vecta not dying, Rada moved into the next freezer and sidled up to the door, checking the handle and the edge for traps, and opening it if the coast seemed clear.

Move to move.
[roll0]

[roll1] for booby traps.
Move to open the door if it is clean.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Kradu followed along behind the infiltration team, his keen eyes taking in everything. He pondered the possibilities of what could be going on in this building.

knowledge tech, take 10 for DC29

[Noedig]

Rada
You clearly see...something, shift and move into what appears to be an alcove almost directly opposite of where you're hiding. It looked like it...skittered.

Sienn
Other than corpses and blood, there doesn't appear to be much happening in this room.

Kradu and Beckett
The two of you hear the sound of a latch being thrown and see a few of Beckett's men exit northward. A small few stay in this room with the two of you, while the others proceed with Rada and Lady Vecta. A growing sense of unease begins to creep over you. Something akin to fear begins to cling about you like the cold mist.

Assault Team
All at once, the doors slam shut, separating you from each other. There is noticeable change in pressure as well. Being freezers for food, it is more than likely the rooms are environmentally sealed.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


When the two stormcommandos by the door indicate that they are moving forward Sienn interjects over the comms, "No, hold position. We will sweep around and come to you."

Hopefully they received and obeyed before something -

The doors all slammed shut.

- happened.

Pursing her lips, "Rada, cover me," Sienn stated over the comms.

Figuring that the game was up, Sienn ignited her sabre and extended one hand towards the door that was next to her and pressed her finger against it.

Besides if anyone was going to draw the first attack of this mysterious presence and survive its initial ambush, it was her.

ooc:
Sienns igniting the lightsabre she was already holding.

She's then using Fold Space on the door: 1d20+19=35 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4777675/)

She's teleporting it to the other side of the room and with that roll she can move something that's Gargantuan in size (about the size of an X-wing) 24 spaces.

Originally I was going to have her Move Object the door and rolled damage (here: 13d6=40 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4777683/)) but decided against it before finalising her action because attacking objects without some DR-negating effect is an exercise in futility. Much easier just to teleport it away.

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

"Delta 1, this is Shadowhand, over." Brin started the painful process of establishing a clear line of communication with a fighter probably zipping in and out of his line of sight or circling in high orbit.

[RandomLunatic]

"Hold on," Rada muttered. Pointing to the door across the way, he said, "Something went in there."

Whichever door gets opened, Rada repositions and readies and action to shoot anything bad that appears.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2] Compares to FORT, not REF
[roll3] -5 DT, -5 to attack Rada if DT beaten

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

Beckett slowly and measuredly retreated to a corner of the room, not wanting to give away his position with any sudden movement. When his voice came, it was through Kradu's earpiece on the team's comm channel. Beckett's voice would not travel outside of his facemask. "Doctor, I have a proximity mine that we can set to the door if needed. If you would like to take a look at it first, I will follow your suggestions on how to proceed. My men will protect you." he advised. The three stormcommandos with them in the meat locker formed up on Kradu with their backs to him, presenting blasters in three directions while Beckett covered the entire room with his rifle.

[Mando Knight]

"This is Delta One. I read you, Shadowhand, what do you need, over?"

Knowing the callsign was for one of the Intelligence operatives in the field, Sandez wasn't sure if the call was regarding the Force-witch's operation or the chopped-up platoon beneath her fighter.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Kradu nodded to Beckett, then considered his options before making his way over to the helmet at the center of the room. He carefully inspected it, checking to see if it was rigged in any way with some kind of trap.

Mechanics take 10 for DC33, 35 if someone assists

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

"Delta 1, Shadowhand, I'm enroute to this position," the commando transmitted a set of coordinates over the comlink's frequency. "To relieve a platoon in contact, ETA twelve minutes."

Brin looked over his shoulder at the troopers already breathing hard he was already puffing too running in heavy armor, "Maybe fourteen minutes. What's the situation on the ground, over?"

[Mando Knight]

Double-checking the coordinates against her position, Sandez replies "Sorry, Shadowhand, you'd be relieving a platoon of corpses. Looks like a Paladin with a lightsaber got them. I'm reading some live friendlies nearby, but I'm not picking up an ID, so it could be the same kind of tricks that caused the friendly bombardment earlier. I'm sending you their coordinates, over."

Targeting the location of the friendly transponders she had found before, she transmits those coordinates back to Brin.

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg

"Frell."

Brin really didn't want to keeping pushing forward but if there was a chance any troopers were still alive... Hell he felt pretty justified radioing it up and requesting command to remove the grid square. But imagining himself as one of the poor sods on the other end of the problem hoping that someone would of been looking for him he couldn't suppress a bad feeling of obligation.

"Delta 1, Shadowhand, we'll do a quick sweep on the ground for survivors, requesting that you stay on station for fire support as necessary."

Probably wait for the progression combat so the story timeline doesn't become disjoined.

[Noedig]

Rada
The skittering shape disappears into a pile of corpses, and you hear the faintest sound of chewing from the dark. The commandos have noticed it by this point as well and begin to edge toward the southern alcove.

Sienn
Ooc: perception test please. You may not take 10.

Beckett & Kradu
The screaming continues to in the room and after a moments consideration, it would seem to be coming from the helmet. No word from Lady Vecta or Rada yet. Similarly, the commandos who proceeded to the room north of you have not made further contact.

Beckett only
the commandos in this room with you appear to be behaving strangely. They seem awfully cavalier of their situation, and not all that interested in following orders. One in particular is misbehaving egregiously, shooting at the hanging meat for no apparent reason.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Dr. Kradu attempts to find the source of the screaming coming from within the helmet. Is there a speaker, or perhaps just a comlink inside? Once he finds the source of the screaming, he will turn it off.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

Beckett hefted his weapon and drew a bead on the commando interested in shooting himself some nerf steaks instead of following orders. He saw what the Doctor was doing, and waited for results before he did anything rash like shooting one of his own men. However, if they continued to prove themselves liabilities the sniper wouldn't hesitate.

[Noedig]

Kradu
The screaming is coming from what appears to be a small high quality holoprojector wedged into and wired to the helmet. It appears as if it is wired to display the...whatever it is displaying, through the eyes of the helmet. The helmet would have to be worn to accurately view the contents of the projection, which are likely to be unpleasant. You note that Beckett has drawn a bead on one of his commandos who is studiously searching the room. The commando does not notice this, as he is busy checking the room over.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada glanced through the now-open portal, seeing the door into the last freezer still closed. He wasn't advancing with half the team still cut off, so it was time to secure his flank. Stuffing the concussion pistol into his belt, he shouldered the scattergun, pumping a slug into the chamber as he did. Taking a bead on the pile, he fired two rounds so quickly they sounded like echoes of each other.

Swift to holster pistol. swift to draw shotty, standard to Rapid Shot the meat pile the chewing noises are coming from.

[roll0] included the -5 for target totally concealed
[roll1] If DT beaten, -5 to attack Rada.

[Noedig]

Sienn
Your compatriots begin loosing a fusillade of fire into the piles of corpses to your south, though at what you have no idea. Distracted as you are, you are surprised to feel something extraordinarily hot being thrust violently into your side. A glance down reveals that the blade of a lightsaber is protruding out of your abdomen.

OOC: 25 damage, and you move 2 steps down the condition track, one for exceeding your damage threshold, and the other because of talents. :(

Rada
The shots are deafeningly loud in the relative quiet of the cooler room and the muzzle flash is blindingly bright. The commandos also open fire on the area, peppering the piles pf flesh with bolts. An angry chittering sound responds, though the movement has largely ceased.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

A lightsabre to the guts would have evoked an emotional response within a normal person. But a Sith was made of sterner stuff. Instead of being impaled, however, the twi'leks form shimmered with energy as the Dark Side intervened to guard its own.

Protected by swiftly reacting instinct, Sienn turned on the spot to come face to face with their opponent. Though her expression was hidden behind her faceplate, but for those who knew her it was almost too easy to see her eyes narrow and her lips curl into a silent snarl.

"Ahh - there you are! Recalcitrant insect..." Sienn spoke, her voice mixing through the speakers in her helmet.


ooc:


Well I was originally going to use Negate Energy, but you have to be aware of those attacks for some reason. So I'll use Noedigs old friend: Force Shield as a Reaction : 1d20+19=38 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4788135/)

Spend a Force Point for SR 25 and Sienn takes no damage and is not moved down the condition track. Hooray for one of our heroines!

Well...protagonists.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Kradu switched off the helmet, ending the annoying screaming sounds, then looked up to see Beckett aiming at one of their commandos. He looked at the commando to make sure he wasn't doing anything stupid, then back to Beckett. From his position on the floor, he glanced around beneath the meat to make sure nobody else was with them, then he spoke quietly.

"Beckett, stand down, everyone stand down for a moment," Kradu said without benefit of the radio, so only those in the room could hear him, "come on over here."

The doctor pulled out some of the explosives he recovered earlier, just in case.

[RandomLunatic]

Hearing another lightsaber right behind him, Rada whirled around, letting the scattergun drop onto its sling. "Ah, our elusive host!" he said brightly on seeing who it was. "Go ahead, take a seat," he quipped, pulling the concussion pistol from his belt and blasting away point-blank.

Swift: drop scattergun
Free: Draw Concussion Pistol
Standard: Rapid Shot the assassin.
[roll0] Against FORT + 3 for FP
[roll1]
Move: Box him in. Move for the flank with Vecta if at all possible, but certainly make sure he has no avenue to Withdraw. Auto-pass checks to both tumble and ignore difficult terrain.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


Seized of the moment to act, the twi'lek drew her hands up in the direction of her would-be assassin and sneered beneath the face-plate of her helmet. From her out-stretched fingers screamed to life a web of electricity - a ferocious tempest that enveloped all before her and chewed into the flesh and calcified the cartilage of any unfortunate enough to be seized in its rending talons.

ooc:
Standard Action: Force Lightning: 1d20+19=34 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4791041/) +2 from Dark Armor dark side force power bonus (which I forgot to add because I'm so used to typing "1d20+19" into the die roller), and that's 36. I hope that beats his reflex.

If so: Spending a Force Point: 11d6=44 (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4791043/) damage and moves -2 along the condition track. -3 if that beats his Damage Threshold.

I entered in the wrong damage dice amount, so deduct the first 2 dice from that roll (4 and 5) and the total damage is 35, not 44. Hopefully that still beats his DT.

Damage is: 8d6 base + 1d6 from her Force Talisman.

[Noedig]

Assault Team
Your hitherto unseen assailant collapses in a bloody, smoking heap as blaster bolts, lightning and a concussive shockwave riddle it nearly simultaneously. At once, everything seems to come much better into focus, odd considering your vision was seemingly impaired by nothing but the dark. The sounds and the scuttling forms evaporate. In the rooms beyond, Beckett's own vision abruptly shifts, revealing that what he had been seeing was not actually occurring as he thought it was. A swift exploration of the surrounding rooms reveals Carver, not quite dead, but approaching it rather swiftly.

The call is made to regroup and salvage what data can be had before quickly exiting the building. The hostages can be seen to after your escape is made good. Trained technicians are likely better for that sort of thing anyway. Your dropship offers to take you off-planet, back to the inviting arms of the Revenant.

Brin
Your comm chirps; you're being recalled, as an ImpInt asset is better used elsewhere than groundpounding. The men under your ad-hoc command are seen to, their wounds and ranks replenished and reorganized, and set out on their respective missions.

Tobias
You begin receiving scattered reports from all over the city of Paladin forces collapsing in mid-fight. There is an initial scare over the use of biological or chemical weapons, but the soldiers are still very much alive, just comatose. They're being rounded up in the hundreds.

[RandomLunatic]

The first thing Rada did was crouch and check the attacker for a pulse. It was always embarrassing when beings you shot came back from the dead, and he was not going to have it happen more than once today. The second thing he did was collect his lightsaber for his trophy collection. The third thing he did to go find anything else he could secure before pulling out.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


It was with cold satisfaction that Sienn watched their opponent squeal, writhe and collapse onto the floor in a smoking heap. Tendrils of smoke wisped up from his corpse and dissipated into the air as the scent of ozone and various bits of metal trimmings across his clothing glowed a hot orange.

"I went to all this trouble for you?" she hissed under her breath.

While Sienn spoke, however, a recalcitrant member of their own party darted forward like a carrion and scoured the downed body of their attacker. His nimble, thieving fingers were quick to detect anything of value, and when he withdrew the assassins lightsabre, Sienn perked a brow at the temerity of the mercenary for trying to claim the weapon that the assassin had attacked her with.

"Rada," Sienn spoke while the man was kneeling next to the corpse and digging further through its pockets.

"Grave robbing does not suit you. Be a gentleman and hand over that weapon," she said, her lyrical voice carrying a patient tone, "these are items of great personal value to their owners. I need to see what secrets into the Paladins it yields."

Once all was said and done, Sienn knelt down next to their defeated foe and reached out to grasp his skull with one hand, "Let's see what you know..."

ooc:
Sienn is going to use Drain Knowledge multiple times. She'll spend force points to pluck information out of his head regarding who this guy is, what he was doing, and about the Paladin organisation at large, what all the funky glowing scripture on the walls is and his ability to use the Force at such a far-reaching degree, like when he started to Force choke Sienn when she was on the drop ship after leaving the sewers. I'm assuming we're leveling up after this so she'll be liberal with spending Force points with IC justification that mentally interrogating this guy is a big ****ing deal.

Normally she has to make a Perception roll vs his Willpower, but given that he's dying/freshly dead he's at condition "helpless" she shouldn't need to roll.

Once her work was done, Sienn used the Force to drag the corpse into the previous room where Beckett and Dr Kradu were still situated.

"Doctor," Sienn announced, pushing forward the corpse, "I'd like you to meet the one responsible for all of our recent headaches." she announced.

"We need to conduct an autopsy and analysis. We need to find out who he is, where he's from, what he was doing before falling in league with the Paladins. Everything from where the metal and fabric in his clothes originated to his genetic lineage."


oOo

As the drop-ship took off for the Revenant, Sienn issued a detour: she retrieved her Holocron. The crimson, crystaline pyramid felt precious when back within the twi'lek hands. She took it from its place of storage and brutally murdered anyone that opposed its reclamation.


oOo


On the ride back to the Revenant Sienn remained uncharacteritically quiet. Her face was still obscured behind the orange transperasteel plate of her Dark Armor so little could be gathered as to her disposition...but for the trip she remained silent as she went over in her head the information gleaned from their now deceased opponents.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada gave the lightsaber a curious once-over, as if wondering what secrets a simple metal cylinder could possibly yield. "Will you give it back when you're done?"

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

"If you want to carry around the weapon of a creature known for inscribing the Force into objects and altering his enemies perception of reality, then I am able acquiesce to your request."

[RandomLunatic]

"I'll take my chances," said Rada, handing it over.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn


The twi'lek received the cylinder in a gauntleted, clawed hand and brought it close to her body for her to inspect.

So far the Sith had shown little to no mechanical aptitude and had delegated technical work to her droid. However when she held the lightsabre before her and focused upon it with the Force, its entirety was slowly drawn apart as if at the behest of an adept. The outer casing slid open into various segments to reveal the weapons inner workings and from within this simple design was plucked the two crystals that rested at its centre and drifted over to Sienns waiting palm. The lightsabre was quickly reassembled as the twi'lek tucked the two crystals away inside her Dark Armor.

Her work complete, she reached up and snatched the object out of the air then held it out for Rada to retrieve.

"Better out than in."

[RandomLunatic]

"And when do I get the rest back?" Rada inquired, eying the location the focusing crystals had gone to.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/lk_zps7d54e6bd.jpg Sienn

"As far as the Empire is concerned you are carrying a extremely illegal weapon that identifies you as a member of a terrorist organisation that attempted a coup against the Empire. You're lucky to keep what you have."

Seeing the way Rada was eyeing the tucks in her outfit where she had stashed the two crystals, Sienn made a mental note not to come into physical contact with the mercenary until the two items were safely stored somewhere.

[RandomLunatic]

Basement, Rebel HQ

Rada sure did not look too grateful, holding the stare another moment longer while his free hand flexed just a bit, the fingers curling inwards-as if around the grip of a blaster. Then he sulked off, presumably in search of more stuff that wasn't nailed down. Or that could be pried up, although any self-respecting scoundrel knew anything that could be pried up didn't count as nailed down.

Some time later, he sidled up to Doctor Kradu when he was alone. "Hey, doc, listen. I've got a lady friend I'm going to be celebrating with later, and I want to make it special. You know the ships-is there a way to slip into the flag staff accommodations section unobserved?"

[A'den]

Brin
http://i837.photobucket.com/albums/zz292/Aden2Talyc/power_armor_by_bailknight-d5oro6h.jpg
Aboard the Revenant

And just like that reports started coming in that the rebels were down like meat puppets with their strings cut. No doubt something the rest of the team had been rooting out. Brin wished the rest of the shinnies luck as reinforcements came in with his ride. The trip back to orbit aboard the landing craft was rather quiet after everything had happened.

After a shower and a change of clothes his normal black uniforms of the Corps had been replaced with bright white uniforms of the intelligence directorate. Somebody had applied a bit too much starch to the synthwool. Glancing at his chrono and the to-do list on his datapad he left his quarters for the the Star Destroyers conference room.

Upon entering the room it seemed he was the first one there, it made sense the others still had a slew of responsibilities once the fighting stopped where it became rather tame for him now that he no longer had to stand guard shifts in random corridors for hours on end. He plopped his gloves and cap on the table and spent the next few minutes tapping out a brief mission summary on his datapad while he waited for the others. He had the seaman's mate outside the entrance bring a large pot of kaf and cups.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


There was something about the cold, steel-and-black sterility of the Empire's decor that Sienn had always liked. Perhaps it was the styles distant simile of the cave-system on her native Ryloth that allowed the twi'lek to feel so at home in whatever Imperial dominion she visited.

Unfortunately for her, most of Sienn's personal effects had been onboard the Reaver when she had been forced to destroy it so that it would not fall into rebel hands. Thus, when she stood within the debriefing room, the twi'lek was still mostly dressed in her dark armor. The one saving grace afforded her was that the helmet apparatus of her suit could be detached to allow from her collar-bone upwards both a physical identity and a contrast between her vibrant, azure skin and the steel-black-and-grey surroundings.

Between the clawed fingers of her gauntlet sat a small, thin chip that contained the recording of their teams engagement with the Paladin assassin and the fifteen minutes that built up to it. It would be shown during debriefing only once, then it would be destroyed.

Peering at that tiny data-storage held between her fingertips, Sienn narrowed her eyes and pursed her indigo lips in thought.



oOo

It seems she was not alone, however!


"Sargent Brin," Sienn spoke. With her helmet off, Sienn's voice was deceptively soft and carried that quientessential fluid melody her species was famous for, "I am glad to see you among the living. You'll have to regale me with your tales of heroism on the front lines."

Her smile was clearly one of gentle ribbing.


ooc:
Sienn is going over everything in her head:


a) She talked to Baron Sirahk - the Force ghost that lives in her Sith holocron that she just got back. She pressed him for all the info he could provide, given that he had been among their number for so long and had been in direct contact with the paladin assassin.

b) Sienn will also do any Sense Force or Search your Feelings etc in relation to the crystals she took from Rada. There is no rule for what I'm suggesting, no rule at all. But I am putting forward the idea that seems as Jedi/Sith/Paladins apparently, construct their own lightsabre and such a process requires extensive periods of meditation and personal attunement, Sienn could 'gauge' and learn a little more about the Paladin in general if she were doing the same to his lightsabre crystals. Like i said, there is no rule for this, it's just an opportunity for you to drop GM hints/hooks/plot devices.

c) Sienn had the Paladin assassins body dropped off to science and forensics for a complete autospy. Running his DNA, prints etc, anything and everything, even if it is something like a special fabric in his jacket that's only made on a couple of planets etc.

d) She'll also give thought to any Force aligned religious institutions that practice self-flaying. Invisible castle is down, so I'll take it up my blue butt via the giantitp forum roller: Knowledge (Galactic Lore): [roll0]. And she can't think of anything, as always thanks to the giantitp forum roller. There is a special placed reserved for you in Computer Hell, giantitp forum roller.

[A'den]

Brin
ISD Revenant's Conference Room

Brin stood from his seat and offered a short bow as the Inquisitor entered the room he believed that was what the chief called the the Twi'lek at one point.

"Lady Vecta," he paused meeting the tailhead's eyes it was a little strange to see a face that normally belonged to a maligned cast of people in a position of command but Brin was getting used to it. The Empire was changing the corpulent good old boys club did not have the kravnats to win against the Rebellion it was good to see someone capable in charge.

"Likewise, though I don't think anyone I killed directly lead to victory of a planetary invasion."

He paused and poured another cup of kaf before offering it to the Twi'lek. Heh, pissin' etiquette and protocol officer would've given me full marks for today.

"Milk, sugar, both?"

[RandomLunatic]

Rada made sure to get the medic to treat his wounds on the shuttle trip up. Debriefing-one last nuisance, and then I finally get paid.

If only I'd known the biggest threat would have been from the Imperial side of the field, he thought, smirking and shaking his head.

Upon landing, he made a beeline to his own ship for a shower and a change of clothes, because he still smelled like the damn sewer. He locked away his prize in one of the gun safes in the armory, a temporary measure until he could get it properly displayed.

Hair still wet, Rada strolled into the designated room with a smile and a, "Hello." Then he made himself as comfortable as possible in the Empire's standard utilitarian, which was a fancy way of saying "unergonomic", furniture.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Sienn responded, "if everyone thought that way we wouldn't have a military to get anything done" she said with a wink.

"Yes. Both please. Lot's of sugar. Thank you."

When Brinn handed over the pot of caf, Sienn took it and sipped eagerly. Personally she'd rather a spiced tea...but the type that she liked was not readily available so far from Ryloth.

Looking the towering sargent up and down, "I'm sure many would have been remiss of their duty were your leadership not present," she said sincerely. That the man was even walking was a testimony to his fortitude - not 24 hours ago he had received injuries that would have crippled lesser men. Yet, here he stood, pouring her caf with sugar as if he had suffered little more than a bruised elbow. The Empire would do well to count more like him among their number.

Perhaps there was room in the cloning program...

Watching Rada arrive, Sienn observed the humans discomfort with the minimalist furniture and resisted the urge to smirk, "We meet again," the twi'lek smirked.

[A'den]

Brin
ISD Revenant's Conference Room

"There was a moment with a rocket launcher and an armored walker they must of raided from a Clone Wars museum."

Brin followed Vecta's gaze as she seemed to briefly size him up. He resisted the urge to touch his jacket lest something he missed ruined the newly minted Imperial white by bleeding through. His regenerative implants had been working overclocked since he sat down to rest on the shuttle, there was also probably about two square feet of synthskin plastered around his torso where he had been gored by a lightsaber, shot twice, and peppered with shrapnel, and shot again in the shoulder.

"Implants." Brin commented on the silent question.

Fortunately a hand grenade sized painkiller and being very careful he how moved and spoke seemed to have kept everyone's noses out of asking after his health. He stirred three spoons of sugar in Vecta's kaf with a dollop of nerf milk before setting the mug in front of her. He added two scoops of sugar and milk to his own before taking his own seat.


"Hello."

The mercenary Chief had hired entered Brin regarded the man for a moment with a hawkish gaze before nodding in respect to the pistol wielding scoundrel.

"Heard you swapped that Deathhammer out with something the Good Doctor cooked up?"

Brin attempted to break the ice between the two alpha males, between guns and schuttas he didn't think they had much in common and he thought Vecta might channel her inner Lord Vader if he started any stories of academy strip clubs.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada regarded the Twi'lek, then shrugged. "It's a small galaxy."

Wagging a finger at the commando, he corrected, "Not replaced, supplemented. Had him cut a concussion rifle down to pistol size. At least for generous definitions of 'pistol'. The idea is something that can be issued easier than the rifles and is suitable for close combat to keep the Paladins at bay. Hard to say how well it works, since I got two shots off before the barve died," he said, glaring at Vecta.

"Anybody else notice that, push come to shove, the Paladins themselves tend towards 'pushover'?"

[A'den]

Brin
ISD Revenant's Conference Room

"I was thinking a concussion weapon might be useful for that also, I had some grenades for that purpose but like you said, never got the chance." The big man smiled and spread his hands. His expression sobered significantly at mention of the Paladins.

"Push over or not, he appeared to have turned an entire Rebel army to his own personal will. He must of been expending significant power to control their loyalty. He was probably counting on his army to do more than it did but whatever mastermind put the Paladin into year badly overestimated their power against a full blown Imperial planetary assault. I think they did not count on the Admiral's actions to bring the fleet here and survive plague trap. I think whoever's in control of the Paladins may have some military minds at his or her disposal but cares little for actual conquest everything we have seen so far seems to be geared at just generating as much bloodshed as possible." His gaze briefly slid over to Lady Vecta as he paused a moment.

Knowledge Tactics [roll0] - Galactic Historical Warfare Tactics for 1000 Trebek.

"In fact I would say their stratagems are more characteristic of certain antagonist back during the Clone Wars or even before that perhaps." Brin sipped from kaf cup motioning for the mercenary to pour his own from the set on table.

"Course most of what I know of history is just battle tactics from a few classes back in the Corps."

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn

Sienn remained quiet while Brinn offered his opinion on the matter, absentmindledly sipping her caf.

"Attacking them as we did only a day or two after they initially took this planet intervened in their ability to entrench themselves and fortify the planet.

Besides, the rebels are not known for their ability to endure a stand-up fight. These Paladins have been as elusive and slippery as their mundane counterparts, only they have demonstrated a willingness to utilise tactics and methods that others among the rebel would consider...immoral."

[RandomLunatic]

Rada wisely resisted the urge to comment on how Brin was speaking as if outwitting the Imperial war machine was hard and not, in fact, a minor-league sport. But a smile tugged the corner of his mouth at the thought as he poured himself a cuppa.

"They've still got Togoria, right?

"Before today, I thought of them as an intersection between the Rebel alliance and those freaky religious cults you sometimes see. But after seeing the mass narcolepsy thing, I just don't know anymore..." And he hated that. He prided himself, and leaned heavily on, his ability to think at least one move ahead, but the Paladins were playing a game he didn't even know the rules save for the motes Vecta parceled out. And he hated it.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn

"There are similar incidents that have been recorded, but not exactly alike...and with extreme rarity."

Taking another sip of her caf, Sienn looked at the chrono and wondered where the others were.

"However, I believe that High Admiral Teradoc will wish to receive an update on the situation. Rear Admiral Kang or Colonel Tobias should be the one to deliver such news, as they were the ones who coordinated our success."

[Holocron Coder]

Lt Colonel Ran Tobias

Worries of a collapsing tunnel system assuaged once the enemy troops start dropping like flies, Tobias begins the basics of a cleanup operation. Assuming nothing comes to his attention, he will leave the remainder of the effort to his subordinates, with strict orders to report to him anything out of the ordinary.

[RandomLunatic]

"Really? In humanoids?" Rada asked, his curiosity piqued and hoping his inquiry would get Vecta to expound on it.

"Is Mira supposed to show up?" he asked.

[A'den]

"Ain't like anything I ever saw." Brin commented curiosity also making him look at Vecta askance.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


"There have been recorded incidents of a single Force-imbued being demonstrating the ability to seep their will across millions of soldiers at once, anointing them with an instinctual cooperation, coordination, skill and morale to such a degree that they have won entire wars.

However, enhanced though they are by the supernatural powers of their leader, such recipients still retain their individuality and freedom-of-thought. However they become confused and disorientated should their leaders influence be abruptly recalled. What we witnessed here today is a facimile of such an ability, albeit total domination of a persons mind, the cessation of which means that they can no longer function."

[RandomLunatic]

Rada massaged his temples. So even the expert was flying blind here. "Sithspawn."

Then he looked up. "So if this... controller can subsume free will, where does that leave our defector? Or the two winos I discovered?" The he stiffened, and patted his belt. "Sith, I left my binders on the one guy."

[A'den]

Brin remained quiet. In the Corps only in the darkest senior enlisted poker dens there had been rumors. That a certain amount of polish had been missing from the military since the Battle of Endor. That the snap of a thousand stormboots marching in unison just didn't have the same intimidating rhythm of the old days. Sienn's words sent a slight shiver of memory down his spine.

"Perhaps our Force-user does not have as subtle touch as other more noted masters of the craft?"

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn

"The mystical vicissitudes of the Force are innumerable. They have been studied for thousands of years by countless beings, yet there is always more to learn and discover."

Listening to what Sargent Brinn had to say, Sienn responded, "Perhaps. It may be that they are adept in another manifestation - one emphasising domination and mindless obedience instead of enhanced cooperation."

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Dr. Kradu entered the de-briefing room, his labcoat swishing in time with his steps as the door hissed behind him. Apparently he has washed up, as evidenced by the water still dripping from his hair.

He takes a seat at one of the vacant spots.

"So, did we get all of them?" he asked.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


By the time Dr Kradu had entered, Sienn was standing by one of the windows, one hand behind her back and the other clasping a fresh cup of caf. Sipping at the delicious drink while peering into space, the twi'lek turned her head to peer over her shoulder at the engineer as he made his entrance - her two lekku pressing together between her shoulders as she did so. The last time she had seen the man she was handing over the corpse of the last Paladin for an autopsy and analysis.

"The Paladins, yes." Sienn responded, "The other we encountered in the sewer, 'Mira' as one called her, is still unaccounted for. I doubt we will find her."

Stepping away from the glass, her dark armor-clad figure eeriely blending into the silhouette of space and stars afforded her by the looming windows, Sienn continued, "The Paladins are being characteristically sparse with the clues they are leaving us."

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

"Wonderful," Kradu said, "so what now, well deserved R+R?" he asked hopefully.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada raised a finger. "That was Mari in the sewer. Mira is your friendly local spymaster. And my paymaster, so she'd better show up soon.

"Name nitpicking aside, she's got a lightsaber too. Can't you just do the same thing you did to the Paladin?"

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn

"That would be delightful, wouldn't it? A beach and some sun wouldn't go amiss..." Sienn smirked with a perked brow in Dr Kradu's direction before Rada asked his question.

"Several attempts have been fruitless. Given the nature of her work I imagine that she would not be alive today were not she able to evade detection."

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/280x200q90/842/j7ur.jpg Rear Admiral Andan Kang
http://imageshack.com/a/img904/9388/qq7STi.jpg Lieutenant Nils Beckett

Rear Admiral Kang entered the room, hands clasped behind his back, looking immaculate as usual. With him was Lieutenant Beckett, still fully masked and dressed the same way he'd been during the operation on the planet, though he did seem a little cleaner. Maybe he had a whole closet full of those suits back in his quarters? While the Admiral took a seat at the head of the table, Beckett stayed by the door where he had a full view of the room.

"Acceptable performance, everyone." the Admiral said in his usual tone of bored professionalism. "The planet is currently being pacified and work on installing the orbital defenses we brought with us has begun. All that remains, with your team's neutralization of the Paladins' ground commander, is a mop up. The planet was ours to begin with, and without whatever mind control was affecting the rebels down there, enemy morale has plummeted and the planet's populace is once again strongly in favor of their Imperial rescuers...certain friendly fire incidents notwithstanding..." he frowned slightly.

"We now have the rather favorable position of being able to continue this offensive, which I wish to do at once without slowing by so much as a picosecond. You've all acquitted yourselves well, but there will be no shore leave until this is over. We still have work to do." he said dismissively, as if the thought of a vacation was below his notice. He brought up a sector map on the hologram projector built into the center of the conference table, showing the latest force deployments and the new borders between "Paladin space" and the areas still firmly under Imperial control as a three-dimensional projection in the air above them. "First, however, I want to hear what you all have to tell me about it, and I will entertain suggestions on how best to proceed. We are also waiting on a holocall from High Admiral Teradoc to advise us on the larger situation." he informed them. Then Kang steepled his fingers in front of him, leaning his elbows on the table, and waited for someone to speak.

[A'den]

Brin
http://www.sarna.net/wiki/images/4/4e/Victor_Steiner-Davion_2.jpg

Like the few other military personal in the room Brin snapped to attention though without the usuall Admiral on Deck the current chain of command seemed murky between Chief, the Admiral, and the Sith. He did take a seat and listen and watched the offered holo-projection with interest. After taking a moment to sip on his kaf he lowered the cup and sat forward.

"Admiral, if I may? The Paladins seem to be an off breed from the typical rebel unit, I can't imagine the rebel command supporting them in the execution of these missions it just doesn't fit the average rebel commander profile. So if their not getting supplies from the mainstream rebels they must be getting supplies from inside their own space... If I remember correctly their was a munitions world in this region of space?"

Brin trails off as he looks at the star map trying to remember the name of the world he was thinking of.

Probably stretching it using Tactics so Galactic Lore for a such a world in Paladin Space, i.e. Metalorn...

[roll0]


"...If we hit their supplies we can hit put a choke hold on their ability to conduct further operations."

[RandomLunatic]

Rada was oddly silent, interstellar warfare being a little outside his usual scope.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn

By the time Rear Admiral Kang and Lieutenant Beckett entered the scene, Sienn was finishing off her conversation with Dr Kradu and Rada so she was already standing. Slinking slowly over towards her original seat as she watched Kang speak and propose his direction with the aid of the holographic map, the twi'lek resumed her seated position in sync with Brin offering his thoughts.

"I don't think they expected us to re-take the planet so quickly - if even at all," even from across the table the twi'leks soft, melodic voice was easily heard, "they were not fully entrenched and were still hunting down local resistance when the assault commenced. In my experience the military wing of the rebellion is not known for its stamina. Tenacity and creativity, yes..." Sienn narrowed her eyes as she spoke those last few words as if giving them any credit was painful, "But if they suffer losses on a scale that we saw these Paladins lose today, then they slink back into the shadows for months to resupply, rearm and rush whatever recruits they have through training to replenish their ranks. It'll remain to be seen how much of this can be transferred to this splinter group, but I know that the Paladin military personnel on this planet were recruited directly from within the Rebellion. So if there was a time to detect and intercept their methods of resupply, now would be it."

[RandomLunatic]

"I know you're eager to go open a serious can on the Paladins, but I wouldn't lose sight of your other enemies," Rada cautioned. "Mari and her crew were here to soften the place up for an invasion, and based on the amount of work that somebody went through recruiting them for the job, I wouldn't be so quick to count that someone out. Or Mari and company themselves, for that matter."

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


Yes...that other force user. Sienn had wanted to speak to Mira on the matter but the Intelligence chief had been rather elusive in the wake of the planets recapture.

"I had hoped to speak to Mira on that matter," Sienn openly spoke what she was thinking, "but have not had the opportunity quite yet. The tasks they could have been given are multitudinous, however it is concerning that Carver was last seen in their custody before we located her within the Paladin headquarters."

[A'den]

A few last minute field grade officer file in followed by Commander Sandez, and lastly a junior intelligence adjutant at the rate the Sector Chief was hospitalizing commandos and agents the fleet would likely run low of field operatives by the start of the next operation. The room grows louder for a moment before the lights dim and the intercom chirps.

"Communication from High Admiral Terrodoc arriving over the HoloNet, Admiral." The comms officer must of been slightly nervous to keep the leader of the Greater Maldrood Sector on hold because the briefing room's lights dimmed and a holoprojector plate rose from the middle of the conference table. Instead of the usual massive shoulders and head projection the High Admiral tended to favor the projection split into two 1/2 scale models. One was the aging High Admiral in an immaculate olive uniform a rank tab that slightly larger than the regulatory rank tab, a new addition was a cutlass hanging in a real leather scabbard with enough platinum filigree to buy a squadron of interceptors. His hair was starting to thin a bit on top against all attempts to come it over, the other projection was that of a young perky sixteen year old female with violet eyes and straight black hair cut short at the nape of her neck. She couldn't of stood more than five feet tall.

"Admiral Kang, Lady Vecta, congratulations on the Charros IV campaign as well as the actions you each lead before that. Chief Tavik sent me a brief update of the campaign an hour ago, there are some certain interesting facts that came across. Especially the fact all of the enemy combatants seemed to be under the control of a single Force Sensitive. But I forget myself," He chuckled though it doesn't reach his eyes, bloodshot and his pupils seemed slightly dilated, of course it could of been the resolution of the hologram.

"Admiral Leonia Tavira has recently joined the cause of the Greaer Maldrood in an effort to bring greater unity to the Empire. Especially in the light of recent complications, the head of Imperial State, Sate Pestage has abdicated from his position on Coruscant leaving a vacancy. More than ever before the Empire needs a strong leader to unite us in this time of trial. But on to more immediately pressing matters, local matters to say. Firstly after welcoming Leonia on Centares I have assigned her the Invidious and a portion of my Crismon Command to investigate a supply shortage on Metalorn, General Hunt has been trickling out credits when they should be flooding. Meanwhile a more immediate threat has come up Togoria may be in Rebel Paladin control but we need to resecure the world immediately. I have just learned from my own personal spy in the Rebel High Command the real Rebellion is dispatching a sizeable battle group to Roche, it appears they are intensifying their efforts in order to secure an invasion corridor for the Imperial Center. While distressing I am more concerned about the actual Rebellion gaining a corridor to any of my shipyard worlds or worse Centares itself, the scoundrel rebel Han Solo is supposedly in command of this fleet himself, killing him would be a coup I would not be denied. There is also a problem with Mon Cal and Hutt raiding along the boarder worlds but that is a smaller problem at the moment I have detailed a sizable portion of the Crismon Command to dealing with them. Questions?"

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


The dim interior of the conference room and the large projected hologram drained the rich azure tone from Sienns skin and gave her an almost albino-appearance as she watched, silently, as High Admiral Teradoc updated the group with the occurrences of the greater Maldrood sector.

That the original Rebellion was now on the move was a pique of interest for the twi'lek. Her mind wandered briefly as as to the reactions those who secretly funded the organisation would have were they to learn of the methods the Paladin splinter group employed...

So, Togoria was to be retaken asap from the Paladins in order to deny the rebellion a safe invasion-passage into the core worlds. This Admiral Leonia Tavira was to be dispatched in the Invidious to Metalorn to try and remind General Hunt as to where his loyalty lay so that his efforts to supply the Imperial warmachine were equally motivated. Lastly, the Hutts were growing bold and trying their fat, disgusting hands at raiding along the Mon Calamari borders, no doubt testing an embattled Empire's ability to respond. Throw into this mix a rebel war hero Han Solo helming a battle fleet and the next six months were going to be anything but dull.

Wouldn't that be quite the 30 birthday gift, Sienn mused silently to herself, a dead rebel war hero, piles of dead hutts, pyramids of dead paladins and a river of war material from Metalorn. One could only hope.

For now, however, Sienn remained quiet. She was not the military officer in charge, so talk of reinforcements and movements were not hers to weigh in on. Nor was she in a position to direct any of the Imperial Intelligence operatives in reaction to the aggression of the Hutts and Rebellion - that would already be seen to by Chief Tavik. Indeed, the Inquisitors direct function was nebulous, for now, much like that of the mercenary Rada. It was not out of the realm of reason that she might submit a report to the Grand Inquisitor as to the issue of the Paladins...but that would lead to complications that would meddle with the twi'leks long-term vision, so it was best left aside for now.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/280x200q90/842/j7ur.jpg Rear Admiral Andan Kang

Sate Pestage had abdicated? That power vacuum in Imperial Center was an interesting subject, but one that at the moment was far away. The rather young woman with a Moff's uniform on was another matter entirely, one he'd be discussing with Chief Tavik about at length. Admiral Kang had more local interests in mind. Teradoc went on and on about the many and varied problems facing the Maldrood Sector, from Han Solo and the real Rebellion to overreaching Hutts, yet Andan noticed that the High Admiral left out exactly where he wanted their little fleet in regards to all of it. With the number of star destroyers at Kang's command he could bring devastating pressure to any one of those issues, enough maybe to change the fate of the quadrant forever.

"What of my task force? Will we be left to our own devices, Admiral?" the Admiral asked after a moment in measured silence. "Or should we begin preparing to retake Togoria?" Kang wasn't much for poetry, but there was a certain justice in bringing Revenant back to where this had all started for them. Andan still regretted having to flee the planet in the face of the first Paladin attack. He did not retreat lightly, and never without making the enemy pay for the insult. He had always intended to return, though maybe not so soon...

[A'den]

Teradoc appeared slightly flustered for a moment then spoke, "Andan make an example of these Paladins at Togoria, Intelligence will be forwarded a compiled forces estimate of their strength there after an analyisis of their recent actions. Pacify the Togorians quickly and get the raw materials the mines should be producing flowing again then General Hunt should have no more excuses for delayed production flow.

Leonia laughed heartily it seemed to loud for a woman of such small frame, "Don't worry Treuten dear Hunt will answer to me swiftly."

Teradoc flushed again, " I have the utmost faith in you Leonia. Kang, a squadron from the Crismon Command under Captain Gaunche is already in the Roche system I would also like you to detail an advanced party to Roche the details I'll leave to you, consider yourself Task Force Iron, your word is backed by mine on matters of the Paladins and the Rebel Fleet when interacting with any of the planetary governors they have been sent orders to back you on anything you need to that end, for now you will have to detail a defense force for Charos until I can free up more assets.

He paused and his eyes took on an ambitious cast, "I want to know how these Paladins are controlling there forces Lady Vecta and if we can find a way to turn there means of control against them. Are there no more questions?"

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

"I have a question, Admiral," Kradu said, stepping forward "Dr. Doran Kradu, I developed the hyperdrive for the TIE Avenger. Do we know anything about the Paladins' origins? Where they are from? Who is their leader? What their ultimate goals are?"

[A'den]

Leonia looked skeptically at Kradu, "I think Doctor if any of us had a good idea about any of those facts we would be in the system bombarding every habitable planet."

Teradoc focused on Kradu for a moment before his face changed as Teradoc recognized him, "Right the engineer, unfortunately you are at the tip of the spear in this regard I believe your best bet might be to capture one of these Paladins alive or somehow data mining a computer core on one of their flagships. You'll have to forgive I am somewhat preoccupied with the governance of an entire sector."

Teradoc's tone grows annoyed toward the end. "A shipment of slave collars for the Togorian invasion should arrive in the next few hours, one thing General Hunt seems to have a surplus of at least, try putting one of those on a Paladin, at least blowing the schutta's head off when it tries to escape would be hilarious. If that is all gentlemen my ship will be making the jump to lightspeed shortly I have a gala to attend on Bimisaari. Leonia, Andan good luck and glory to the Empire!"

The hologram of Leonia echoes Teradoc's sentiment albeit with a slight smirk on the young woman's face then both holograms terminate. The lights brighten and the projector plate receeds into the table instead the tablets in front of everyone's spots at the table light up with technical readouts of Togoria.

The intelligence adjutant a tall dark skinned man with a thin frame stood up from his spot at the far end of the table, "Admiral we recieved the High Admiral's intelligence update, while it is sparse long range reconnaissance has detected a fleet in orbit over Togoria. Probes were unsuccessful in calculating exact specifications and types but based on an analysis of Cronau radiation readings they estimated somewhere betweeen three to five battleship-class or Star Destroyer-class vessels attended by six to eight cruiser class, with ten to twenty frigrates at any given time. Of course this estimate now makes the Paladin fleet larger than initial Intelligence estimates, but some of those frigates may be large transport craft."

He paused and seemed to take a nervous breath then continued in a precise Imperial Center accent.

"On that note I do have something the fleet's own intelligence unit gathered based on monitoring black market price shifts. The analysts noticed a 900% increase in the price of non-perishable food products, a 1000% increase in the price of bulk water, an 800% increase in the price of black market power packs and energy cells, finally fuel and portable power generators seem to have completely disappeared off the market and the prices have risen to preposterous levels. The analysis of the Hutt Raids also show that fourteen attacks were the attempted theft of a bulk transport moving food products and/or water, five raids on light security depots for heavy machinery parts, and two attempted break ins of garrison armories on remote worlds. The analysts cell can make a reasonable prediction the Paladins could have no more than 40,000 troops on the ground at Togoria based on the rate of consumption that would match the amount of Cronau radiation traffic. We did not think the numbers made sense until we expanded the range of ship profiles the Paladin's could be using based on some of the combat data recorded at Chaross. Based on that we estimate the cruisers to be Strike--Medium Class Cruisers, and at least one of the line ships to be a Lucrehulk-Battleship quite a few of them were mothballed in the Mid Rim but never fully decommissioned after the Clone Wars and a small force could turn them to use easily. Unfortunately that is the best we have at the moment sir."

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/280x200q90/842/j7ur.jpg Rear Admiral Andan Kang

"Trust Teradoc to go to a party while his sector is in peril..." the Admiral muttered when the hologram table went to standby mode, raising an eyebrow. "But he does raise an interesting avenue of inquiry we have not as yet pursued." he said, leaning over his steepled fingers so that the blue-green glow from the table underlit him in a rather starkly sinister way.

He let the adjutant make his report, staring almost unblinking at the man until he had finished. "Very good, agent. Be sure that if any new intelligence estimates are made you will update me immediately. I am relying on Chief Tavik to keep the Paladins from surprising us as they seem to have been able to do at every engagement in this conflict."

Kang turned toward the table, giving the adjutant leave to depart. "While I prepare the fleet for a major engagement, I wonder, Lady Vecta, if you might be interested in taking your infiltration team and some of Colonel Tobias' best stormtroopers and assaulting the Paladin command ship? I would very much like to speak with their fleet commander." the Admiral asked. There was one place he knew they would find one of the Paladin leaders. They wouldn't leave a fleet battle of this scale to a mindless subordinate. They'd be on the fleet's flagship, directing the defense personally. This would be their opportunity to put one or two of those slave collars to good use.

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn


Sienn waited quietly as High Admiral Teradoc shared his desires with both Rear Admiral Kang and Dr Kradu. Retake Togoria and capture a paladin alive. Rear Admiral Kang was to have the support of whatever planetary Governor he encountered and was to detail the defense force of the retaken Chaross IV while engaging the Paladins over Togoria...

He was so close. The subjected had been touched upon! Like a leaf upon the wind it had drifted down gently in conversation, sifted close to her open palms - and then skirted out of her grip.

"Leonia, Andan good luck and glory to the Empire!"

When the hologram terminated and the room returned to natural illumination, Sienns face had hardened into a glare at where the High Admirals flickering image had once been. So that's how he wants it, does he? Treacherous swine.

When Rear Admiral Kang started speaking Sienn pushed her secretly violent thoughts out of her mind and listened to what he had to say, her face losing its hardened edge and returning to its normal, angular self.

"I can," she answered, her voice soft, "It would be easier to do as part of a boarding party because if the Paladin fleet is anything like what we have encountered on Chaross, then once we make an attempt at their Fleet Commander every one of them in the solar system will know of our presence. Were we on our own then that might complicate matters."


When there was a lull in conversation, Sienn directly spoke to the Intelligence adjutant, "Should you get the chance," she started, dipping her right index finger and thumb into a pocket and withdrawing a small crystal, "see if you can obtain anything on ship movements on Tatooine. This," she held up the small gem for him to see, "is a Durindfire Crystal. They are only found on Tatooine. I took it from the Paladin we encountered whose termination ended the invasion. I've sent his body in for an autopsy and analysis, but he has been to Tatooine at some point in the recent past. It isn't much, but with this group any scrap is better that what we normally get."

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

"Don't forget Admiral," Kradu said, using Kang's correct rank for the first time, "there is the matter of that... awareness we recovered from the Paladin's rail gun weapon. I think it would be an extraordinarily bad idea to let it anywhere near the ship's computer, but we might be able to glean some intelligence from it."

"Also, is it me, or was Leonia just a kid?" Kradu asked.

[RandomLunatic]

Rada knew he really ought to be paying attention to Teradoc's words, but it was all so boring. A fact he made no effort to conceal, tipping his head back and closing his eyes.

He finally perked up as Kradu started talking about rail guns and artificial intelligences. When did this happen?

"Teradoc must like 'em young," he offered with a laugh.

Taking on a more serious tone he suggested, "Have you tried tracing thier equipment? Fighting these clowns is like acting in a Clone Wars holo. The Empire sold or mothballed a metric kriffton of the stuff in the decade after the war, and they apparently found at least one of them. I captured a full gunship for you, ande I doubt its the only peice of hardware you salvaged. Run the serial numbers, find out where they got it from."

[A'den]

Several of the older field officers avoid looking at Rada, the subject of several women catapulting up the rank structure in several sectors was a taboo topic among the line officers.

The adjutant in his white and black uniform with the rank badge of a lieutenant, nodded his head and accepted the package. Which he tucked quietly into a cargo pocket perhaps a bit flustered to be handed an obscenely rare and expensive gem.

"We'll devote some men to look into it, ma'am." He looks over his shoulder, at the mercenary speaks up with the doctor. He seems to take a mental note of the discussed facts. "We'll have some men help the Doctor with that."

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/280x200q90/842/j7ur.jpg Rear Admiral Andan Kang

Kang narrowed his eyes disapprovingly at the mercenary's crassness, but weighed in on the subject anyway. "Unlike some officers, I do not immediately dismiss the fairer sex out of hand when it comes to leadership potential." he waved one hand dismissively, though cast a short glance at Vecta. "However, her age is an...interesting facet. Obviously, the High Admiral does not simply keep her around to polish his ego. He does not suffer fools lightly. Therefore, I will not prejudge anything until I know more about her."

"I suggest you make a visit to Chief Tavik's office. She no doubt has already tracked down any obvious leads, including serial numbers on captured equipment. I can only assume she is still collecting data or else her report would be in my hands already..." he sniffed, looking bored as per usual. Like the entire discussion was keeping him from something, anything more interesting and fulfilling.

"As for the AI...again, I do not want it within ten light years of any of our networks, but do glean what you can from it, Doctor. I leave the matter in your capable hands." he unsteepled his fingers in order to gesture with both hands at Kradu, palms up, briefly before placing them flat on the table.

"Does anyone else have anything to add? If not, you all no doubt have duties and tasks to attend to. I will be in my office preparing our battle plan if you require a conversation in private."

[A'den]

The gathered field officers rise as one and salute as Admiral Kang dismisses the group. Though a large part of the group breaks into small clusters discussing various topics, Major Dagan and a few of the Imperial Army officers are already discussing large scale ground combat on a forest world, a cluster of pilots discuss the possibility of the largest stafighter battle since the battle of Endor, Lucrehulk's were stocked with over a thousand starfighers and that was a stripped down to accommodate a manned flight crew. The intelligence adjutant already undermanned with a few requested tasks heads out no doubt back to the section of the ship Chief Tavik's people have taken over.

Riding the relative high of victory of Charos IV the sense of the room is relative anticipation to come finally bring the bulk of the Paladin force into real combat instead of the shadow games.

[Thundercracker]

Dr. Doran Kradu

Kradu nodded. After the meet adjourned, he approached the admiral quietly.

"What I meant was, perhaps she's not human. Did you see her eyes?"
He frowned.

"At any rate, I'm putting in a request for a number of pit droids and some...parts. Since I'm frequently off the ship it makes sense to have someone who can look after upgrades and maintenance while I'm away, and I don't trust anyone but myself to do it, so I'm going to build a droid director to handle all of the starfighters upgrades. I trust this will be acceptable to you, I know the pilots will be ecstatic. let me know if credits are an issue."

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn

Sienn did not bring anything up when Rear Admiral Kang offered the chance and instead slipped away from the congregation once it was all over.

With the Reaver destroyed by fellow Imperials, her mentor still confined in his self-imposed "exile" and now Teradoc betraying her for some 2 credit harlot he picked up from the pool of inbred mutants known as the Imperial Aristocracy, the twi'leks mind was not short of topics to chew upon in order to feed her rising anger.

When she entered the dingy little quarters afforded to her - again, the Reaver was gone - Sienn closed the door behind her. Immediately she drew up a cluster of the nearest items into her hands, in this case several paper maps, a data card or two and a cooking utensile. Her face a sneer and her anger boiling through her eyes, the twi'lek snarled and beat the assorted pile against the nearest wall - whack! whack! whack! whack!, again and again until nothing remained grasped in her gloved hands but frayed ruins and cluttered wreckage.

"Filthy! Fat! Cradle! Snatching! Pig!" she hissed in sync with her strikes until throwing the remnants into the air in a shower of debris. "Argh!!" the twi'lek bellowed, forks of lightning arching across her body as her tempestuous outburst drew her forward into a panting hunch, shoulders braced apart, fists curled by her side and lekku hanging down over her shoulders.

Sienns jaundiced eyes darted back and forth across her quarters as her head remained low and her chest heaved with short, hot breathes. Sensing its owners anger, Sparkles had rescinded into a corner, its cycloptean eye reducing itself to the faintest possible glow as it let out a very soft, worried "beooo..." and rolled as far back as it could. The twi'leks shoulders flexed as she momentarily entertained the vindictive thoughts running through her mind, but her compulsions seemed halted when her eyes fell upon the item she was looking for: her holocron. It was perched atop a bench, divided from the gubbins surrounding its ruby form.

Slithering over to its side almost instantaneously, Sienn hulked her form over the small, crimson pyramid as her eyes narrowed into hateful slits and her breathing almost fogged its crystalline surface.

<"I know you can hear me."> she hissed in the guttural tongue of the Sith, <"I know you're tucked away in there, secluded in whatever little sojourn you've taken up this time.">

The twi'lek drew her fingers together into her palms, the draw causing her claws to scrape across the tabletop as she did so, <"I have searched and tried for any mechanism by which to pry you out. But you are not trapped in there. You are not being held hostage. No. You're not coming out because you do not wish to do so. Well allow me to tell you something, Sirhak - >" Sienn drew her face closer to the object, her breathing coming in deep, hot exhales.

<"If you remain in there you will become useless to me. Useless things have a way of being fired into the centre of a star.">

[Mando Knight]

After a moment of running calculations in her head, now-Major Sandez leaves the conference room at a brisk pace to catch up with Admiral Kang. "Sir, if the enemy has an old Lucrehulk, we might not have enough fighters to screen a boarding party during a direct assault, even with reinforcements. The fighters might be able to extract them, if the team sneaks in just before the fleet jumps in to attack, like the 'real' Rebels did at Endor."

[A'den]

Sienn

The holocron obstinately remains silent, even the threat does not seem to affect the Sith Lord's silent. For a flash of a second Sienn received only the smallest flicker of emotion. Fear. Real fear. But not of her. Then the holocron is emotionless again as an other metal scrap in her room. The dark triangular object defies her will. Perhaps in her moment of scorned rage she didn't immediately notice but their were three new messages on her datapad that made it past her usual spam and screening filers.

The first was the coroner's report in the Star Destroyer's morgue, a vivisection of the subject brain had revealed evidence of a foreign cybenectic implant the medical team had not been readly able to identify. The doctor while eager to show her the discovery also slips in his message the laser dissection may of inadvertently broken the device.

The second is a personal message from Mira summarizing agent Carver's status post rescue. The woman had been pretty roughed up and was recovering in a bacta tank. The intelligence chief words are as blunt and emotionless as possible while showing concern. She asked Sienn to visit the medical bay to inspect Carver's mind for signs of Force tampering and if necessary see that any threats to the ship were purged.

The third is a hand receipt from the ship's quarter master reporting a replacement transport had arrived a short time ago with some of the initial supply ships and was awaiting her inspection and signature of receipt in the VIP docking bay in the aft of the ISD's super structure.

[BananaPhone]

Ooc: posting from phone.

Sienn stroked her jaw upon inspection of the three messages, her molten demeanor seemingly melting back below her surface.

Activating a comms switch, Sienn established a channel with Dr Kradu:

Dr Kradu;

"Dr Kradu, if you were not otherwise preoccupied would you lend me the privilege of your presence at the the following medbay..."

Sienn then forwarded the med bay in which Carver was recuperating. The twi'lek assumed the morgue was not far off so the walk to their second destination would not be far.

With that, Sienn rummaged through the wardrobe. Putting together an eclectic mixture of off-doff-duty uniform and mechanics gear, the Sith departed the quarters and headed to the medbay.

[A'den]

<A battle survived is a battle won, fear is the strongest motivator of survival child, a cornerstone of the Darkside, don't forget it. Even I must spend sometime recuperating after being assault by a being an order of magnitude more complicated than my own existence.> Sirhak's voice is tired, and almost injured sounding and quiet. Like the simple effort to speak was taxing him terribly. Even as his telepathy caught you by surprise you sense him fading back in himself as if into a deep slumber or coma.

[ChronicLunacy]

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/280x200q90/842/j7ur.jpg Rear Admiral Andan Kang

"They would need an appropriate ruse, or a cloaking device, to get that close to the enemy flagship without being blown out of the stars." the admiral said, stroking his chin. "Though that is somewhat aligned with my own thinking on the matter. More the better if the team could sabotage the Lucrehulk's capability to launch its fighter squadrons before the battle even begins..." he nodded to Sandez. "Draft up some ideas, Wing Commander. I would be interested in hearing the specifics."

[BananaPhone]

http://i1248.photobucket.com/albums/hh483/tempestII/ki_zps6ebda543.jpg Sienn

Pausing mid-stride and perking a brow, Sienn looked about slowly as her mentors voice drifted into her skull like the strangely familiar. It felt like a life-time since she had conversed with him...to hear the man so unkempt by his experience was out of the ordinary...

Pursing her lips and mentally resigning his words for later consideration, Sienn continued.

When she entered the medbay, whether Dr Kradu was present or not, the Sith approached the doctor who was in charge of Agent Carvers recovery.

Seems as Sienn was dressed like a spacer that had just walked off a refugee ship, it was only naturally that she had to reassure whomever was in charge as to who she was - though her upright composure and air of confidence lending credence to her words. Once formalities were completed, she gestured to recuperating form of Agent Carver with a soft few words,

"Is she well enough to endure very light mental trauma?"

[A'den]

The medbay like the rest of the Star Destroyer is stark and filled with the smell of antiseptics. It is also bulging to capacity with the wounded from Charos IV. Stormtroopers in various state of undress limp around attended by medtechs. A woman in a lab coat over an Imperial naval uniform approaches Sienn. The benefit of being the only Twi'lek on the ship is word got around quite quickly about the ship's only Twi'lek imperial agent. Though there was still quite a bit of scuttle butt as to where the agent stood among the pecking order between Kang, Teradoc, and the various Imperial warlords. Anyone who spent a good amount of time in stylized black armor inspired a reasonable amount of fear. The doctor obviously strained from providing hours of constant care neverless edges on the side of caution as she follows the Twi'lek into the ICU where Carver has been isolated. The doctor runs an eye over Sienn's clothing and decides a Twi'lek freely walking about the ship must mean she is the Imperial agent Twi'lek. She picks up a datapad from the wall and looks over it a minute.

"Ma'am, the subjects vitals are stable but still weak while I would not recommend anything that could inflict further trauma on the subject she is in a stable enough condition a brief period of intense stimulation will not negatively impact permanent physical harm. Ummm... that is to say whatever your thinking of doing I don't believe it will kill her. But please refrain from shooting or removing any limbs. She has suffered quite the ordeal, abrasions, cuts, broken bones, overall roughed up pretty bad but on the mend.... As to her mental condition I've kept her sedated since she arrived, I can only imagine even given her immense training to fortify against such treatment she will have some lasting post traumatic stress disorders."