Precious Cargo[Ask]

[Gambler]

[OOC: This is a training/ranking thread of sorts and so far only Hakim is allowed in. If you want to join in, PM him, not me. This thread uses the mission for the EDF branch of Phoenix Corporation. And if you want to join, please read the mission dubbed as 'Desert Wind' before PMing Hakim.]

Tatooine, a desert planet by any other name, or so the few tourists who have placed foot on the surface have remarked in passing. The surface was ravaged by fierce winds caused by a lack of grounded soil and other required elements. Thus the weather could changed from a perfect calm to a vicious series of sand storms that could destroy entire settlements if the settlers are not prepared. The planet had one commodity though; metal ore. Not a very good or high quality ore, but it was cheap and easy to mine. Thus some corporations have thought to settle upon the surface. But most of them failed. Now the fierce three suns beat down painfully on the shifting sands, the twisters of debris aimlessly mulling around.

Sicarius Dentath, the son of a whore and raised on the streets of Coruscant, sat in the drop bay of Whiplash, a moderate sized dropship that hosted the team he had been assigned to and little else. He wore a mottled gray and tan helmet with matching cargo gear. Over the desert style cargo gear he wore desert edition M-51 Medium Combat Armor with black and brown plates to blend into the shifting desert sands. A XCar-20 Assault Rifle was splayed across his knees, the power chamber opened up as he placed a fresh battery pack in. Hanging loosely out of his shirt there was a dull durasteel dogtag that showed his name, rank and serial number in engraved numbers/letters. On his left hip rested a heavy pistol with an eagle engraved on the side of the barrel. Next to that there was a small tube like beacon that would send a signal up to Starlight, the main ship on this mission.

Around him sat his squad. Not exactly his squad, but he was part of it. They each wore similar gear with goggles showing a HUD with friend versus foe and place markers. Because of the nature of their mission, there were parachutes strapped to each of their backs for their departure. The parachute had two strings to it; a red one that marked the back up chute and the green that marked the primary one. These chutes were top of the line and had auto disengage locks so that they would automatically unlock as soon as they touched the ground to prevent injury or strangling oneself trying to cut the lines.

As the dropship neared 14,000 kilometers, a voice sounded over the com. "Prepare to drop," The voice said, static creeping through the mike making the words hard to hear. Almost in unison, Sicarius and his squad stood up and the dropgate opened up. Sicarius, the closest one to the edge looked out at the rushing blue sky trailing behind them and back down to the sandy surface. A steady trickle of doubt and fear started to creep into him when he saw that distance and the uncaring sands below. Indeed, it appeared as if the sands themselves wanted to swallow him whole. Before he could object to what he was doing, Sicarius jumped out, arms and legs spread wide. The rest of the squad followed shortly though he didn't notice. He felt the wind rip at the heavy cargo covering his arms and legs, slapping the fabric with such force that it hurt against the skin. He closest his eyes for a moment and opened them, checking his altitude on the HUD. Finally, after what felt like hours, he pulled the green wire and his chute blew out of his pack, sucking him up viciously for a moment. The rest of his decent was smooth after that. His chute disengaged as his feet touched the ground and he rolled to catch his balance in the ever shifting sands.

He looked up and saw the rest of the squad following shortly. One by one they fell to the ground, their chutes disengaging moments before impact. Once they were all there they began rolling up their chute. They buried them under a few inches of sand. They wouldn't be needing them anymore anyway. "So captain, where's our ride?" Sicarius asked.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"It's already here, Dentath." Captain Tyrell replied, gesturing towards a boxy old hover APC with a scuffed and weathered tan paint job. The APC floated along towards them with dust flying up in its wake, before its EDF driver brought it to a stop near the squad. "Everybody aboard!" Tyrell shouted as he clambered into the back of the Personnel Carrier and took a seat near the gunner's station. "Dentath, get on the repeating blaster. Everyone else, find a seat and hold on tight. It's only five kilometers from here to the crash site, and we aren't stopping for anyone or anything."

Once everyone was aboard the transport, it roared back to life and shot off, heading towards the rocky canyon in which the Corporate Freighter had crashed.

Little did they realize that atop one of the canyon walls, rising high above the surrounding desert, a Tusken Raider scout laid, wielding his trusty Cycler Rifle, which was - curiously enough, for such a technophobic people - equipped with a long-ranged scope. He had spotted the movement of the boxy vehicle and its dust cloud while watching out for the approach of rival tribes, and now that he knew the metal beast was rapidly approaching the canyon that his people claimed as their own, he scurried off the clifftop and back to his tribe, to prepare the warriors to meet the approaching machine in battle.

 

[Gambler]

Sicarius sighed and sized up the tank like vehicle. The armor plating was thick enough that nothing besides high grades explosives would get through that. "I thought we were the special operations team?" He breathed. Briefly he entertained that 'special operations' for Phoenix Corporation meant more than just stealthily run in, kill the target and get out. Apparently it was a tank unit of sorts. The guys you send in to decimate the opposition quickly and efficiently. "Special unit indeed," He laughed under his breath.

Without giving that thought any more merit, Sicarius climbed up a metal ladder and grabbed onto the handles of the heavy repeating gun. He was temped to spin around in the 360 degree chair, firing as he went to 'test' the gun out, but he restrained himself. "Lets get this badboy rollin'!" He shouted through his comlink to Tyrell.

 

[Jiang Winters]

The APC raced along towards the canyon as the soldiers within guessed as to what caused the freighter to go down. The more serious and accepted theory was industrial espionage. The less serious but far more interesting theory involved gremlins, Corellian ale, green gelatin, and a Twi'lek slave girl.

Even Tyrell laughed at the latter theory, before sobering up and stating, "A'ight men, can the chatter. We're professionals, let's act like it."

The rest of the soldiers chorused 'Yes sir!', which was followed shortly by the driver shouting something about having reached the mouth of the canyon. "Right. You men know the drill. Stay alert and expect the unexpected; if this is sabotage, then we may have the security force of a rival corporation to deal with. No matter who we find at the crash site, shoot first and ask questions later if you don't see a Phoenix Corporation uniform."

The moment he finished speaking, he heard the distinctive metallic 'ching'-like impact of a round bouncing off the vehicle's armor. "Sir, Tusken Raiders at a fallen boulder up ahead! They're taking potshots at us with some kind of rifles!" The driver shouted.

"Dentath! Take 'em out so we can go through!" Tyrell shouted, as more impacts were heard against the vehicles frontal armor plating.

 

[Gambler]

Before Tyrell had finished speaking, Sicarius had already began to fire off some shot with the repeater. But at the range they were at, the heavy bullets did next to nothing. The cumbersome gun didn't have accuracy even at close range which made making shots from this distance all but impossible. Still, Sicarius was willing to make the best of the situation and try to hit the Tuskens. Round after round flew out of the repeater, all but deafening Sicarius with the noise. "Keep 'er movin'!" He shouted as he tried to hit one of the Tuskens. Realizing that the site was calibrated a few degrees to the right he adjusted his aim accordingly. The scream of pain and the site of a Tusken falling to the ground with a spasm of pain confirmed his observation.

As he moved the gun a few more degrees to the next Tusken, a sharp, burning pain spiraled through his left shoulder. One of the Tuskens had managed to get a shot in between the plating there. Grunting, Sicarius fired repeatedly even after the raider had fell to the ground. To make up for his lapse in concentration, Sicarius swept the gun around in a line, firing at the rest of them, using the sheer power and number of bullets to aid him instead of accuracy. As the APC neared the canyon, all of the Tuskens lie dead, hundreds of splotches of scorched sand around them.

All clear on this end, sir!" He shouted back through the com, his ear still ringing from the sound of the repeater.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Great work Dentath! But your vitals spiked a couple seconds ago; you hit?" The squad's medic replied, as the vehicle accelerated. "Yeah, he's hit alright, I can see it. Get down from there and I'll take your p..." Another soldier started to speak, before the driver screamed a curse and stomped on the accelerator while strafing left, jerking the APC out of the way of an anti-tank rocket, fired at them from several hundred yards down the canyon, near the tail of what could only be the crashed freighter, which was laying at a slight angle with its nose buried under rocks and dirt, thrown up when it hit.

"Holy shit! Since when did Tuskens use AT rockets!? I thought they were technophobic!" The driver shouted, as he pushed the APC into the furrow left by the crash to avoid another rocket.

"I guess they must have learned to cope with their phobia. Dentath, put suppressing fire on wherever those rockets are coming from and try to eliminate any resistance near the side airlock. Everyone else, get ready to disembark. Driver, after Dentath has punched a hole, you set us down at that airlock, and then you get on that gun and kill anything that isn't EDF." Tyrell ordered over the comms.

 

[Gambler]

[OOC: Ugh... more tank stuff...]

With a brief nod Sicarius turned the mounted gun in the direction that the anti-tank missile was fired from. After a short search he notice a ledge in the canyon slightly hidden by an outcropping of rocks where the Tusken anti-tank gun was set up. He gave a low whistle and was about to fire off to blast a hole through that small group when more of the fiends popped out of the mouth of the scar. There were probably a dozen of them in that little area... easy pickings for the heavy chain gun, but it would be even better if someone could get a rocket down there. "More of them down there as well. The bastards took some of the weaponry off of the downed ship, sir. I'm calling in Starlight to take down that ledge to take them all out at once," He explained, taking out the laser targeting beacon. He fired the shot low onto the outcropping and waited the immanent explosion from above.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"This is the EDNF Starlight. Targeting Coordinates received, firing on target." A male voice crackled over the comms, moments after Dentath fired the targeting laser. Two seconds passed, then a golden streak came screaming down from the heavens and slammed into the ridge, obliterating the Tusken Anti-Tank Gun on it in an orange fireball and a hail of stone fragments. But the Starlight wasn't done yet, because still more burning gold railgun rounds sliced through the air and impacted the ridge, mercilessly bombarding the Tuskens upon it.

After seven rounds had impacted the ridge, the orbital strike ceased, leaving a cloud of smoke and thrown dust and dirt hanging over the ridge. When it cleared, nothing was left, save for blackened craters. The ridge was all but impassable now, thanks to the Corvette in orbit. "This is the Starlight. All thermal signatures on the ridge are gone. You are free to advance. Starlight out."

By now, the APC had come to a halt by the downed freighter's side cargo airlock. The ramp dropped, and the SpecOps team poured out. "C'mon Dentath! The driver will man the gun and keep us covered!" One of the last men out shouted, as the APC settled onto the ground and the driver came back to the gunner's station.

The Special Forces team stacked up at the airlock, which had already been blown open from the inside; likely by the crew attempting to get out. But the question was, what was inside that could make them want to abandon the safety of the downed ship at the risk of being attacked by Tusken Raiders? "I don't like this." Tyrell growled, as one of the men pointed out bloody handprints at the floor of the ship's airlock, the prints seeming to indicate that someone had fallen and been dragged back into the depths of the ship; possibly a crewman wounded by the Tuskens and being rescued by another crewman, or perhaps a crewman being attacked by something and dragged back into the depths of the vessel.

 

[Gambler]

"Yes sir," Sicarius said briefly, flowing like water out of the gunner seat. Or somewhat like water until his motions stretched his wounded shoulder causing blood to gush out of the opened wound, staining his split shoulder plate. He grunted once but otherwise shook it off. It wasn't good, but he would live. Carefully, Sicarius shifted his rifle from his left shoulder to his right shoulder, his hand on barrel as he moved it into a more comfortable position. Hazy eyes clouding momentarily as he blocked out the pain, Sicarius moved forward, strafing to the left of the squad.

He saw the bloody print on the ramp and put a hand up for everyone to stop again. Someone had already pointed it out, but Sicarius noticed something about it that sparked a memory. "During my time as a hired gun on Coruscant I would have to drag back people in positions similar to this. You see the way that the blood is smeared slightly towards the fingertips? Someone dragged this person forcefully away. Since it doesn't go on I would guess that he tried to roll to get away from his captor. My guess is that whatever killed this man is still here," He finished in a rush, not willing to drag this on much longer.

A noise n the hallway to the left brought his rifle up to bear, jostling his shoulder painfully. It sounded like something scraping against metal. Another bang or heavy footstep followed it before going silent. "Holy shit! What the hell was that?" Sicarius asked hypothetically, falling back slightly and motioning for the squad to form up even though he knew that he wasn't in charge.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Dunno. Wreviak, you're with me. Everyone else, form up behind us, and come in after we've moved down this corridor." Tyrell ordered, bringing up his XCAR-20 and flicking on a flashlight mounted on the inside of the right side of his helmet. The bright blue-white beam illuminated the dark corridor as he and a second soldier, clad in the same armor as the captain, walked down the corridor from which the noise had emanated.

They disappeared in the darkness after reaching a junction and hooking a right. The rest of the squad started to move, only to freeze when Wreviak's voice came over the comms. "There's something in here. The captain is trying to hack into the ship's internal sensors so we ca... By Shalharra! Captain, did you see tha... SHIT!"

A long burst of blaster fire was heard, followed by the telltale screech of Tusken Raiders. Screaming followed not long after, and a moment later Tyrell and Wreviak came racing back the corridor. "There's an army of Tuskens in this ship!" Wreviak yelled, just before he tripped over a fallen object in the corridor - the mutilated body of one of the crewman - and fall flat on his face. Tyrell turned about and fired back into the corridor at the surge of Tusken Raiders charging after them, wielding their Gaffi sticks and rifles. "Get up, kid!" The captain bellowed, pumping enough rounds into one Raider to completely shred his torso and send rounds flying through his perforated corpse into the Tusken immediately behind him.

"I'm up, I'm up!" Wrevaik groaned, as he scrambled back to his feet and started to scamper down the corridor, going back several meters before turning and firing back over the captain, so he could fall back. Just as Tyrell turned to run, a Tusken caught up to him and swung his gaffi stick at the soldier, clipping him in the helmet and knocking him off his feet. A second Tusken then got a blow in on the Captain's exposed throat as he fell, slashing right through his windpipe and jugular. He was gurgled once as he hit the floor, then died.

"YOU BASTARDS!" Wrevaik roared, revving his chainsaw bayonet and rushing right at the Tuskens who had dropped the captain, swinging the squealing blade right at the neck of the first Tusken, the heavily-built soldier's raw strength powering the razor-sharp blade right through the Raider's neck, nearly beheading him. He kept his momentum, and drove the blade into the bicep of the second murderous raider, slashing through the being's arm in moments and sawing into his torso. "Not so tough now are yah!?" He growled at the Tusken, who screamed as he was pinned against the wall by the blade cutting the hapless Raider in two.

"C'mon, let's go help Wrevaik!" The team medic shouted, rushing down the corridor and firing past his fellow soldier, ripping into another Raider with a volley of automatic fire. "Kriff! They're coming down the other corridor too! They're tryin' to flank us!" Another EDF soldier shouted, before pumping some rounds into a group of Raiders who had been trying to sneak through the corridor to the right of where they had entered.

 

[Gambler]

Swearing loudly, Sicarius fired off at the Tuskens with no semblance of accuracy. For half a moment he touched a hand to the beacon that would signal Starlight to destroy the ship. Quickly he came to his decision. "Cover me! I'm throwing the beacon in!" He shouted, letting his XCAR-20 sling to the side, the strap digging into his wound. Without taking the time to grunt he set the timer on the beacon to two minutes. Then he threw it into the hallway, not caring where it landed. "Dammit! We need to get out of here! Go, I'll help Wreviak!" He urged, pushing the medic away from their wounded comrade.

The medic nodded and brushed past him going to the rest of the squad. They knew what to do; clear a path for Sicarius and Wreviak. Quickly and efficiently the squad worked their way back, cutting down the resistance towards the mouth of the airlock and back down to the ramp. Once there some of them checked their watches and looked back. The medic did likewise and made a decision. "Get to the APC! Dentath will get Wreviak out here with time to spare!" He ordered though he truly began to doubt that even their newest member could get out there in time before Starlight blew the hell out of the freighter and the surrounding area.

Sicarius had Wreviak against his shoulder as the two elites fired their rifles into the mass of Tuskens. They backed up slowly, spraying out a line of fire from their weapons to keep the Tuskens back. The timer in Sicarius' HUD flashed red alerting them that they only had thirty seconds to get out of there. Wreviak shouted something that Sicarius didn't understand before the man dove forward into the Tusken warriors, chainsaw revved and hacking to the first of a hundred. Wreviak spoke again, this time through the com. "Save yourself! We don't have enough time for you to worry about me!" But Sicarius didn't listen. He grabbed his companion by the waste and turned around, rushing towards the ramp which was only a few feet away. As the two reached the light, a message sounded into their coms:

"Coordinates received; initiating laser strike process in 3... 2... 1..."

Sicarius dove as far as he could, dragging the no longer struggling Wreviak along with him. He rolled roughly as a green tinged beam exploded from the sky. The greenish ray of destruction hit the freighter, immediately disintegrating the area of impact. The explosive force of the strike threw the two squad members through the air like ragdolls. They landed roughly with the sound of bones breaking and consciousness fled from their beings.

 

[Jiang Winters]

The first strike from the Corvette's spinal-mounted Turbolaser was the first of ten. Blast after blast rocked the canyon as the EDNF Starlight rained fire upon the crashed freighter, obliterating it and everything that was once aboard it... Including the four suits of power armor that the team had been sent in to recover.

By the time the barrage was over, naught was left of the freighter but a glassed crater.

Dentath's squad-mates made their way towards him and Wreivak after the strike was over, the Medic kneeling over them both and checking their pulses. "Dentath is alive, so's Wreivak. Comm for a dropship, ASAP! We're getting out of here."

~Some time later, aboard the Starlight~

"How are our patients doing, Doctor?"

"They're going to make a full recovery, Commander. Dentath has several broken bones, minor lacerations, and a gunshot wound to the shoulder, but if we keep up his bacta treatments he'll make a full recovery before we're back on Eriadu. Wreivak has a severe concussion and broken bones as well, but he'll be fine."

"That's good. Dentath is going to have a lot of paperwork to do when we get back home."

"Mind if I ask, why is that, sir? The rest of his squad already filed an exhaustive report on the mission, and we have Captain Tyrell's and Wreviak's gun-cam feeds. We know what happened."

"Because being promoted demands paperwork. Dentath showed remarkable courage by going back for his fellow squad member despite barely knowing him and being injured while fighting against apparently overwhelming odds. Not to mention the fact that he kept his head throughout the whole mission. And his squad-mates speak rather highly of him. Seems they like him."

"Well, they're all younger than him, and less experienced. They probably look up to him."

"That's exactly why we're promoting him to Lieutenant and putting him in charge of that squad. He'll make Captain inside a month if he keeps this up."

"Heh, he's lucky. I've never heard of a man being promoted for failing a mission before."

"And you'll probably never hear of it again, Doctor."

The two talking men outside the thin fabric shroud surrounding Dentath's bed in the med bay of the ship chuckled, and then parted ways, each going back to their posts. Slung over a chair just inside the 'quarters' Dentath had been placed in was the top of the EDF Elite Soldier's dress uniform, the collar of which was decorated with golden Lieutenant's bars.