Saving Sergeant Katarr (Open)

[Lavi]

Lieutenant Heivel coughed harshly as he got up from his prone position on the ground. Staggering to his feet, he surveyed the damage. The command room was in shambles, fire licking the edges of some of the equipment. Some technicians lay dead on the ground while others were desperately trying to put out the fire.

"Damage report?" he called out.

"Three dead, five wounded. We lost our ground network and our air network has been damaged. Communications is unhurt."

"Get men down here. We could come under fire any-" before Mathias could finish his statement, the technicians scrambled, blaster fire and slug throwers heard from behind the hole in the ceiling, attempting to break down the reinforced durasteel door.

 

[The Balance]

Casper grunted, the man was right on most to all accounts, nobody wanted to be in a room with an angry supreme chancellor. Especially with the one they had currently, but then again what did he know about politics. He had already made up his mind and there was no changing it, there was no doubt that Brendon was a capable leader. But as for the issue of trust it was not entirely there.

Before the lieutenant could get another word in edgewise Casper started off on his own little speech, "If you have ever seen my track record you know I don't take orders from superiors well. And for politics don't even get me started its just a of senators sitting around making decisions about how to best send us to death. I am willing to meet you half-way if you are, comm them and tell them to get the hell over to our ship and I as ordered I will stay"

 

[Ols]

"I'm not ordering you, I'm advising you, sir," he said, his tone calm. The two privates had run off with the comlink about five minutes before, they should almost be there by now, "that comlink has a secure line to the ship," he paused, "I have to move. Now. Time is running out. If you wait with the ship, Mathias will contact you. Tell him to be here asap. I'll be back within two hours," he turned back to his squad, "let's move, com silence as soon as we're in the open."

 

[The Balance]

Of course Casper knew the lieutenant hadn't given him orders, his orders were from HC. Now if the man would wait for a minute, Casper had a little plan. Running over to the commlink he started to punch in the message, "Evac to dropship ASAP." This message was looped into sending toward the bunker. If this Mathias guy was any good he would find a way out.

Making sure it was sending properly he sprinted back to the squad meeting up with them just before they were about to break cover. Panting he steadied to their pace, making sure he wasn't last man for the sheer reason of being able to have a good combat experience. Doing as the lieutenant commanded he kept the radio silence and steadily moved forward.

 

[Ols]

He noticed the Major had come with them, he must know something I don't. Truth be told, Bredon hated leaving others behind, whether they were in his squad or not. But at the moment they had a job to do. They could worry about the others and act hero later. For now they edged toward the buildings, following Katarr's weak tranciever signal. Brendon pinged it, hoping to get a response, but he could not be sure it reached. As they edged closer, he heard voices and the point man held up his hand for them to stop. He flicked whispered into the helmet's internal comlink, "Blue team, have you a visual on enemy contacts?"

 

[Lavi]

The two privates stopped a distance before approaching the command bunker. "Hell, the lieutenant's in a heap of trouble." One said, looking through a pair of electrobinoculars.

"Keep an eye out for snipers. I don't like this..." said the other, readying his sniper rifle.

-----------------

Mathias grabbed his rifle, aiming the muzzle at the durasteel door. When it collapsed, he unleashed a flurry of shots through the semi-automatic weapon, downing the first to try to enter the command center.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

A greenlight would blare on any standard republic battle field technology."I have four contacts in view, they are armed and together be advised. I have good cover, they are about..."She faded out measuring the distance,"Distance indefinite, maybe forty-five meters. You still have the element of surprise. Over." She had her scope on the leader of the small four man squad. He wore a small, very shiny, medal on his chest. She watched him through her scope.

 

[Ols]

Brendon watched as each of the squad acknowledged via the switch. He motioned them forward again, checking is rifle was ready. As they rounded the next corner he saw a the small group of terrorists about thirty meters away. He did not even need to use the sights, let alone the scope, as he raised the rifle and fired at the first man's head. He dropped.

 

[The Balance]

Hearing the conversation through his own commlink, Casper tensed. Though unnecessarily though eight versus four with the eight have the advantage of surprise. It wasn't really a fight at all, especially if the snipers got into it. Checking to make sure his blaster's safety was off, he rounded the corner.

Seeing the lieutenatn fire of a shot, Casper felt no need to be so precise. Letting a round fly he sprayed the enemy squad as they went to check their fallen comrade. Seeing the blue bolts zip through the air and find their mark he felt relieved again. If they weren't killed atleast they would be injured, but now they had to wait for the return fire.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Before the man hit the ground she had jumped on the chance to take out her target. She fired and took down the lead officer, his medal vanished in the head of blaster fire. The other terrorists ran to take cover as Abele reloaded. She was using single use cells that were high powered but went through most armor, she had nothing for tanks though. She searched for the two others and lined up the target. The wind was slight but just enough to be annoying, she fired again the head of a terrorist vanishing in a red mist. "Three down one left, behind a large rock. I don't have sights on him." Her green light went off and she continued watching the rock.

 

[Ols]

The return fire never came. Brendon d had dropped the first, the second fell from the sniper, the Major peppered the third with bullets and the fourth was shot by another in the squad. Brendon looked at his mission clock, counting down the two hours.

Evac. 01:32:41:35

They had an hour to find him and allow half an hour to get back to the LZ. They had to move fast. Kaeb's signal appeared to be coming from a flat area beyond the buildinds. But the only way past those was through the terrorists. They still had their cover though. The point man led them on.

 

[The Balance]

Seeing that the confrontation was over Casper continued to follow the lead man. That was until they reached the bodies of the dead terrorists. Kneeling down he let the rest of the group pass him as examined the bodies. Turning his head away at first he was able to get past their grotesque exterior and start the examination.

Much to his chagrin, the fears of the HC had come true. These men were not dressed like normal pirates or terrorists, no their clothes were all the same as if they had a uniform. And the uniform was that of a Republic soldier, he sighed. What a shame soldier cut down in their prime because of some stupid and foolish ambition. Standing up he moved at a brisk pace to catch up to the rest of the group. He made a mentally note to himself to check other fallen enemies to see how deep the roots of corruption went.

 

[Ols]

The continued along the path. If Brendon was honest with himself, he felt guilty for not telling his men what this truly was. They knew what a Republic uniform looked like, they must have noticed. But they were professionals. They followed orders from HC to the letter. He was surprised the Major had not tried to save this lot too, but he kept that to himself. The path snaked up the cliff. He paused, seeing a small enemy checkpoint and spoke over the com.

"Blue team, I see 3x enemy at the foot of the Mountain path. Are there other enemy further up? Over."

 

[Lavi]

Evac. 01:25:44:24

Through the firefight, he heard Galactic Basic, mainly "kill him" or "get the bastard". There just seemed to be no way out. The lieutenant has already shot four of the terrorists, all which he was sure were dead, and he was beginning to run low on ammunition. Slapping another round into his rifle, his trigger finger spasming only when he fired upon groups of the attackers. The rest of the technicians were hiding behind cover, some which pulled out slugthrowers to fire back.

Mathias still has not gotten word of the evacuation time.

------

Meanwhile, outside of the command center...

"Hey, Jerry. See that stack of boxes? We could get in from above."

"You sure that's a good idea, Althrim? We could be jumping into the muzzles of those terrorists..."

 

[Ols]

Evac. 01:11:27:46

The sniper's response clicked in. Just one more checkpoint at the top. He gave the sniper permission and heard two quick cracks and then another. He peered around to see the three enemies dropped. He gave the hand signal for his squad to double time it up to the top and cocked his weapon. As they reached the top he almost ran headlong into a terrorist. He saw another drop from the sniper fire. He shot this one in the chest from a few meters away. He fell. Brendon spoke, "No need for com silence. Katarr is less than a Klick away. He is in that junkyward, follow his transponder. Move!"

Evac. 00:53:34:11

Time was running out.

 

[The Balance]

Climbing up the up the trail he saw as the resistance was dealt with even before they got to them. The snipers were doing their job well, maybe a little better than Casper wanted them to do he wanted to have some fun too. Each time they passed a group of bodies he would glance down at them to check their uniforms. Only to find that a majority of them were republic soldiers the rest being a mottle crew of pirates.

Reaching the top he thought to himself, now this is where it really begins, less than an hour to go, the pressure mounting. This was what he was am here for, keeping up with the best of them with surprising endurance for his age, Casper jogged up to the lieutenant and said "What is the status on the clock, Lieutenant?"

 

[Ols]

As they jogged over to the scrapyard, sending some scavengers running scared, the Major spoke to Brendon.

"I'll patch it through on your HUD," he said, and pushed a button on his wrist. The Major should now have seen the clock.

00:47:12:58

"His transponder ID is coming from dead ahead. There should not be any more terrorists in the scrap, but be wary all the same. Fan out in Arrowhead formation."

The squad slowed their pace, looking for any sign of the man.

00:42:43:11

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

[sorry for the absence]

Abele had gotten reload time up. Both snipers moved down the ridge for a better angle, and it was overdue for a new vantage anyway. The rifles fired off. Contacts had their attention on the snipers now. "Sir, I recommend you double time it to The objective. Enemies are closing on our position. No problems but they might notice you soon. No contacts near your position."
Shots went wide over their position and the rifle cracks were fast enough to waste Abeles first barrel. she spent too much time switching the barrels out. Blue team alone now had high kill counts. Ammunition was beginning to get low.

"Lets get to new cover blue. I'm not liking the ammunition levels we're at and they know where we are." She crawled back and moved farther across the ridge. Red team was in view and contacts were being drawn from their positions. Enemies were still shooting at their previous positions. No more than two squads and some stragglers. All in republic uniform she wondered how so many could defect from the republic. Twenty-eight shots left...that was enough.

 

[The Balance]

Nodding to acknowledge seeing the clock he cursed to himself quietly. Taking a point on the arrow, the squad moved forward until they saw the man they were looking for, but Casper could also see the dim outline of a few men near him. Letting fly another curse he held his hand up so that the soldiers would stop. The snipers probably couldn't cover them all the way out there, so making an executive decision he crept forward and then sprinted to the top of a pile of junk.

Getting their attention he started firing on the men as they tried to take him down. Was his move entirely necessary no, but then again nothing he did was necessary. Well at least they were distracted, letting a few more bullets fly he hoped the lieutenant would come to bail him out soon.

 

[Ols]

00:38:12:56

Why the man had gone up there only the maker knew. He was right in the line of fire. Brendon rolled forward and came up on one knee, aiming by instinct at the silhouettes. He heard the sniper's message and knew they had to be quick. He had half of the squad, and the Major had the other half.

"Major, your fireteam is designated Charlie, mine is Delta. Charlie team covering fire, Delta move!" Brendon stood up and ran many meters, seeing only three enemies still standing. He repeated the order, but with reversing the fireteams. Charlie moved up next to them. He gave the order once more and moved up. There was one man still alive and he was on top of him so quickly he drove his fist into his neck, killing him. And there was the Sergeant, on the floor, unconcious.

"Corporal, check him for the chip," he said.

00:25:36:46