Saving Sergeant Katarr (Open)

[Ols]

Brendon walked into the hanger to see his men waiting for him. As he walked in they snapped to attention.

"At ease," he said. None of them had on their helmets, yet, and he recognised the private he had ventured to the cantina with, and the loudmouth who was up at the bar. Transfers he sighed to himself. At the end of the line of soldiers was a man in full republic uniform, not wearing the armour that his men were, and bearing the rank insignia of a Major. He had been told about this man, he would be overseeing the recovery of the package. He decided to hold the briefing on the way, and he gestured to the small ship behind him, "get in, lads."

They walked in, followed by Brendon. Inside, the soldiers sat on the seats lining the walls. Brendon stood at one end and pushed a button as the ship took off, "Last night, we recieved this transmission from a squad on mission on Tholatin. They were sent in after Republic Intelligence informed us that a known terrorist group were holding a meeting, discussing future acts of terror against the Republic. They were to attack the terrorists and obtain a certain datachip, proving who was behind their funding and the organization itself. Naturally, it was a complete failure, so the regulars have asked us to bail them out."

The speakers clicked on and a man's voice came out. The voice was breathless and drawn and there was a lot of static.
'My name is Hades Katarr, republic database ID Alpha Omega 3379...If your listening to this...they're all dead, every last man in my platoon was shot down by the religious extremists, bastards near came out of nowhere...I'm losing a lot of blood...one of the bastards got a lucky shot on me. You probably know more about the attack then I do by now...I'm on some planet near the core..I can't remember the name..god they came in so fast...listen it was...shot one of their ships down using Emerson's proton launcher...guess me and the bastard's are even for now...If I don't make it I want this transmission to get to my folks back on Coruscant...dad's a Senator...mom's...my mother is a Doctor in the central sector...God i miss them...I'm going to try and get to one of our drop ships...i messed up my leg but...i can use my sniper rifle as leverige...leg was messed up in a knife fight with two of the bastard's...this is Hades Katarr to all Republic ship's I am on board the Republic Dropship BC-09W...I am in need of medical attention, my platoon are all dead... I'm lucky to be al-...Wait the planet name is-''

The transmission ended in static. A map of a rocky plain flashed up and Brendon began pointing at various parts on it, “This dot here, is the LZ. All teams will be deployed there. Then, blue team, consisting of you two,” he pointed to the two new snipers, “will proceed upon this ridge so you have a position to provide covering fire. Red team, consisting of the rest of us, will move up upon this structure here,” he pointed to a building built into one of the rocks, “we believe that Katarr is hiding in the cave network of these buildings. We have to find him and get that chip, then get out of there, understood?”

He then turned to the Major, “I suggest you come with me, Major, and if you do intend to be seen with my squad you wear one of these,” he gestured to his own suit of specops armour, “There’s a spare suit in the weapon’s locker. You might want to change now, we’re almost there.”

 

[Lavi]

At the LZ, there was already a Republic detachment waiting for them. The comlink upon the ship beeped as a transmission passes through as a Code Red: mandatory hearing. Dressed in military fatigues, is a dark-haired, green-eyed officer. He seems to be in his 20s, and a little shorter than the average adult human. A blaster rifle is slung over his right shoulder.

"This is Mathias Heivel. The entire planet is currently treated as a war zone. I repeat: the entire planet is currently treated as a war zone. Meet me in Bunker Alpha for more information. Heivel out."

The holo-transmission fades.

 

[Kaeb]

In the distance an amber sun crested upon the horizon, rising to meet the new morning. Such a tranquil and peaceful sight, reflected upon the deep pink skies of the world. But upon the surface lay the bodies of many men and women, taken before their time.

Among the massacre was rubble and debrie from the ships that had roamed the skies, and the engine's of war that had roamed the lands. Resting upon the side of one of the ships was a man. A man who had witnessed it all for himself, and lived.

It had been skill, technique and a whole lot of luck that allowed Private Hades Katarr to stand tall above the terrorist's that massacred his platoon. He sat there spinning a knife between his finger's staring at the bodies before him.

The once warm feature's of a loving caring man, now looked worn and stern. Like a man who had stared death in face, and spat on it. His face had an almost menacing look to it, his eye's faded, seemingly lost inside his own mind.

The scream's and echoes of fire and destruction still echoed through his mind, a constant reminder of what had transpired. Coupled with the smell of burned carrion flesh and blood.

He had taken to recording himself at first, hoping his signal got to someone, but he had given up hope when he realised how far off this planet was. Maybe there was no hope for his rescue, or maybe there was. But he was no longer a man of hope.

The dropship he rested his weary aching body upon, was the only working piece of technology on the planet, aside from weaponry. It had food proccesor's and other thing's but was not capable of hyper space.

He spent a few hour's in space relaying his signal, but had given up over time. Now he just sat there, his eyes like faded jewel's resting upon the spirits of fallen comrade's.

 

[Ols]

"Sir," said one of the pilots, and both Brendon and the Major went to the cockpit, "We're recieving a transmission."

"Patch it through," said Brendon and he listened to the voice on the other end.

"This is Mathias Heivel. The entire planet is currently treated as a war zone. I repeat: the entire planet is currently treated as a war zone. Meet me in Bunker Alpha for more information. Heivel out."

He cursed Republic Intelligence under his breath. There was no record of any ground troops still alive on any of the reports he had been given. And their prescence was classified information.

"Send the following message back," said Brendon and he spoke into the comlink, "This is Lieutenant Hurley, Republic Special Operations. Was unaware of any other living Republic Forces groundside. Our ETA in-system is forty minutes. We'll be groundside within the hour. Negative on your request, Heivel. Bunker Alpha is further from the target than the LZ. If you want to meet us, you can come to the LZ. Hurley over."

He switched the comlink to recieve. He was surprised there were so many terrorists that an entire platoon was wiped out and they had back up. But then again, the planet was a haven for criminals, and every resident hated the Republic.

 

[Lavi]

The transmission beeped a reply.

"Heivel here. That's a negative on the meeting zone. Terrorist activities have been acting up in the area. Transportation is dangerous, groundside. We already lost three commissioned officers to sniper rounds and road-side detonators. As for a lack of previous groundside intel, we have been on-planet for approximately 24 standard hours. Over."

 

[Ols]

"Understood," said Brendon into the comlink, "but if you don't want to risk meeting us there's little we can do. Our mission is top priority. I'll contact you when our ETA is five minutes, but when we land, we're going in. Hurley over and out."

He switched off the comlink. They had a job to do. If the Republic welcoming party did not want to come and meet them that was fine by him. His squad was better without a load of soldiers drawing attention to it. But they sure as hell were not risking the snipers to go and say hello.

 

[Kaeb]

Voices.

Hades shot up a knife appearing in each hand, hee rested his back upon the underside of a rocky clifface, awaiting anyone to crest the top and look down.

The only thing that passed for a population on the planet was that it was a haven for all sort's of galactic scum. But he had though there mission had been out of the way, targeting the terrorist meeting.

Probably scavengers, detecting the energey output's of the battle. He prepared himself, hoping it wasn't many of them. Even after he had tended to his wound's using basic supplies from the dead..it still pained him driving him to actual tear's at first.

But he shed that ...weakness.

He span the blade's preparing to throw them up at any minute. Suddenly a sound could be heared. A series of beep's and odd electronic sound's.

Suddenly a scavenging hoverdroid propped out of the cliff landing right before him. Two knives against it's full body metallic casing just wouldnt do, so he set to making a series of dodge's and turns dodging the droid's every fire.

It was fast...but he was faster.

It had a large eye in the middle, and so he immediately saw it's weakness. He hunkered down a little, took a deep breath. Then launched himself into the air flipping backward's, while in mid-air directly above the droid he threw the serrated modified knife down.

It hit dead centre casuing the droid to explode, the shockwave launching him upward he landed on the clifftop right in front of a band of three scavenger's. There face's where contorted in a blind rage, there musky sunburnt skin reflecting there eagerness to gain shelter or technology that could buy them shelter.

He wove through them like a lightsaber, through a datapad (instead of scissors through paper lol). Weaving in and out of them with remarkable speed, he set to cutting through their clothing avoiding any unnecasary casualties.

Suddenly he stopped, now behind the group of tall scrawny men he smiled. Gracefully the men's clothes began to fall to the ground, leaving them completely nude. The men roared and set off with a run, their equipment left behind.

Hades smiled.

''Survival of the fittest boy's!'' Shouted Hades.

 

[Lavi]

Lieutenant Mathias Heivel bit his lip as the reply faded. The whole mission is crazy: risking two detachments of Republic soldiers to rescue one on a planet whose structural base is in chaos by terrorists? The officer gave a sigh. There is no changing it now. We're already in the middle of the operation.

------

Later that day...

"Heivel, there's something you have to see!" yelled someone from the next room.

Heivel practically ran to the owner of the voice. It was the atmosphere radar technician. "We got trouble: two AA missiles launched at Transport V.I.P. 2, scheduled to make ground-side contact within the hour."

"Contact Transport V.I.P. 2, tell them to take evasive actions. The angle of the AA missiles would make it difficult for the Air defense turrets to fire without hitting V.I.P. 2."

"Wait, we got something else coming on," continued the technician, flipping past the screen. "Oh, shit!"

Explosions rock the command bunker.

 

[Ols]

ETA 00.01.40.32

The ship sped up as soon as it entered the atmosphere, charging towards the LZ. It was designed to be quick and manuverable, and the pilot did it justice. They should be safe from fire once they reached the LZ, it was somewhat sheltered, but Brendon decided to hold on to a handlebar as the ship bucked and rocked from nearby explosions. He saw the pilot, "Get low to the ground," he ordered, "use the mountain passes for cover."

The ship lowered and less fire was directed upon it. Brendon clipped his helmet on. ETA 00.00.36.74. The ship scraped on an overhanging rock and Brendon gritted his teeth. They came out in the open, heading for the LZ.

ETA 00.00.06.02

He counted along the last few seconds and then the firing stopped. The ship was shaded from the enemy by rocks and it gently landed. The pilot was in Brendon's squad too, everyone was useable in the SpecOps department. He switched his helmet comlink on, "Team, check in on this frequency. Acknowledge over."

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Abele stood at attention,"Sir, will you be giving the firing command to fire, is the Lieutenant giving that command, or are we on orders to select targets?" She hadn't been informed about that but she still had a comm and 'green light', a small device that sent over a radio signal telling a computer that a target was acquired.

 

[Ols]

"Private," Brendon said, "I am the Lieutenant. I am the Officer Commanding of the Squad and this mission, consider the Major an unranked guest. He's not above or below us. I'll be giving any emergency orders, but as soon as the attack begins, just provide fire support," he hoped he cleared up any problems. Once he fired the first shot, all other soldiers had clearance to fire, that was standard procedure though.

 

[Lavi]

The LZ was on high alert, a blaring alarm giving the clearest sign of this.

"Be weary for snipers!"
"Make sure the turrets are armed and ready!"

A pair of privates sprinted up to greet the transport's members. "Alpha Bunker has been attacked by terrorist mortar crews. Damage is uncertain, but communications has some setbacks," reported one.

 

[The Balance]

It was all true, Casper was there just as a supervisor, but he intended to do a bit more than supervise. It had been quite a while since he had actually been on a battlefield, and to tell the truth it might still be one of the last places in the galaxy he wanted to be. But he had a job to do and if the Republic called he would answer.

Listening to the lieutenant, Casper walked over to the weapons locker after the man had finished his briefing. The major hated most types of heavy armor and groaned a little to himself as he slipped on each piece. After suiting up he grabbed a blaster rifle and slung it along his back.

Finding his way back to his seat after his own little equipment test. Casper braced himself for impact, as they entered the atmosphere he could feel the scent of fuel tickle his nose and prepared for a turn for the worse. Lurching forward as the ship took its rough landing he jumped out with the rest of the squad and waited to see what the lieutenant would do next.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

"Thank you sir."She sat back down. Once they were on the ground she wanted the other sniper on their team to be in sync with her. She made sure she had her two spare 'green lights' and planned on giving one to the other sniper. She had a small computer in her scope, it would let her monitor the terrain and keep track of targets acquired. She hoped he had the near ancient but efficient signaling system.

 

[Ols]

"Major, all squad members alive and well. We're ready to ship out," he glanced at the newcomers, looking small in their light combat armour, "Privates, while the problems at Alpha base are unfortunate, our mission is that way," he pointed towards the rocks. He handed one of them a comlink, "give this to your IC. If he needs to contact, that will work and it's a secure channel."

He walked away from them, "Blue team," he pointed to the snipers,"move out and get in postion now. Red team, on me," they stood by him, "As soon as we leave, I want com silence, hand signals only. I'll go second in line, Major, you go second last. That is the order at all times. If we get spearated, we rendevous here. The dropship leaves in two hours. Stragglers proceed to Alpha base. Any questions?"

 

[Lavi]

The LZ was on high alert, a blaring alarm giving the clearest sign of this.

"Be weary for snipers!"
"Make sure the turrets are armed and ready!"

A pair of privates sprinted up to greet the transport's members. "Alpha Bunker has been attacked by terrorist mortar crews. Damage is uncertain, but communications has some setbacks," reported one.

Smoke rose from the distance, where Bunker Alpha was located: the command bunker. It held a clear reminder to the resourcefulness of the terrorist groups, who seem determined to keep the Republic out of the picture.

"Our major has been killed in the latest IED attack," a private continued, "Lieutenant Mathias Heivel has been keeping things in order until now."

The rest is history: Mathias Heivel was in Command Bunker Alpha. The said bunker has come under mortar fire. Heivel's status is unknown.

 

[Ols]

"Take the comlink to him," said Brendon, "the dropship leaves in two hours. If he wants to live, I suggest he's on it."

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Abele leaped out of the drop ship without comment. Sprinting to near the peak but stopped before reaching it. Getting low tot the ground she began to move slow then stopped and turned to face the rest of blue team. "Here, connect this to your sniper. Tap it when you have a target and tap it again when you lose sight of the target. I want to make our first shots after the Lieutenants but they need to be good shots and together." she put emphasis on the last word. "Slow and silent, and remember 'Time spent in recon is seldom wasted...' "

 

[The Balance]

Casper was not one to agree with superiors at times, so when the order came out for him to stay at the back, he decided to just nod, and not comply. But that was all before he saw the smoke in the distance, it was barely visible against the sunset. Casper cursed to himself, as he saw this and heard the comm come through from the bunker. And to him there was no way in hell he was gonna let something like that happen.

Rushing up to lieutenant, but at first all that came out was a jumble of sounds. So many things to do, so little time to do those things. Sighing he tried again, "Lieutenant Brendon, I am going to take leave of this squad for it has come to my attention that our command bunker is in dire need of help. Anyone you can spare is fine, but just make sure to tell them to meet me on the near side of the base."

 

[Ols]

"Major," said Brendon, "if you care to remember it was HC who posted you to my squad, and we were told to look after you, we didn't ask for your help. You were tasked to ensure the chip was revovered. Personally. Recovering the datachip is top priority. And recovery includes getting offworld with it in tact. If you want to explain to the Supremem Commander why you let someone else go after the datachip to save a few soldiers, be my guest," he did not want to be as harsh as he sounded, but orders were orders and he was not sending his men into mortar guns. He only had eight men, not a platoon, they were for special operations, not suicide missions.

"And Major, I won't grass you up, if you do go. But if you do, make sure you are here in two hours," he paused, "because if you're not don't expect me to jeopardise the mission. If you're not there you'll have to hole up until regualr evac arrives."

He waited for the Major to choose.