Silence Is Golden (Clan Solus Mission)

[Raz Solus]

While Kovin Tark is being hunted, additional Mandalorian forces have been sent to storm Iziz to ensure the Sith can’t call for backup. This is why two Mandalorians have been assigned to destroy a communications building located near the heart of the city. The Mandalorians are to place demolition charges all around the building and destroy it completely. This will throw the city into disarray and also disrupt communication attempts authorities may make to warn reinforcements about the attack.

This operation needs to be done quickly and efficiently. The Mandalorians are to escape as soon as the objective is completed and before any authorities can act. This strike will be broadcasted in media and a big blow to the city.

@Rimrald @Black Noise

 

[Rami Solus]

Boots on the ground, repeater in hand, and charges on his back, Rami felt so kriffing alive in this moment. In the chaos of the moment, no one seemed to process the presence of the Mandalorian as an actual enemy combatant yet. Visor down and armor on, Rami dashed towards the communications tower. Unfortunately, in this situation, he did not have his spice on him. Being high while placing explosive charges however, possibly, wasn't the wisest idea. So he decided to forgo the drugs at this time, but after he was done he planned on getting wasted as kriff.

Stopping outside the backdoor of the communications tower, Rami started placing the first charge. His repeater, slung across his shoulder with a strap, was within six inches of his hands at all times. If anyone attempted to get the drop on him, he'd riddle them with more holes than swiss cheese in an orgy.

 

[Devrim Wolfe]

A blur of movement passed by Devrim's peripheral as he trudged along the Onderonian streets. Having their leash tightened by the Alliance Commander, Devrim along with the Dxun rebel cell were held back from launching any more major strikes against the Imperial installations on the nearby planet. However, that did not him from scouting the streets and gathering supplies for the base. Wearing his generic garb like anyone else would, Devrim was quite simply a nobody — but security through obscurity was a good thing in these trying times. The man's eyes drifted to see the heavily armoured individual rush to the back of what looked like a city-owned communications building of some sort. An eyebrow raised in interest as he continued to watch. This could be interesting; he had been waiting for a good dose of action for months.

Seeing the man stop at the back door of the tower, Devrim watched further as he protruded charges and began laying one along the base. The rebel smiled — what an opportunity! Pulling on his helmet, Devrim cautiously approached the Mandalorian from the side to not illicit hostility from him. Unfortunately, the rebel had nothing as strong as the charges the armoured man was laying down, though he certainly wasn't unarmed, as his pistol and rifle were concealed by the black cloak he wore overtop his armour. Motioning to the man, Devrim gestured for him to toss over a charge to place down. If someone wanted to bring down the Empire, then they were a friend of the rebels.

@Black Noise​

 

[Wyatt Kebiin-Solus]

♪♪♪​

Snuffing the butt of his cigarette on the duracrete half wall of the third floor balcony Wyatt quickly put his helmet on and unfolded the stock of his carbine. Kneeling only to reveal his shoulders up, shifting slightly before looking into the scope and activating his helmet comm.

"I'm 50 meters South East of you. Three stories up, rose dust tenement. (@Black Noise)"

His voice is calm but the disdain was palpable in his words. Leaning forward and beginning to scan the area as his partner in this operation moved forward to the base of this communications array Wyatt couldn't help but let his mind drift back to Medriaas as the scene played out before his eyes again. Quickly blinking it away as an unsuspecting figure began taking notice of Rami and his movement, causing Wyatt to snap his reticle to the mans back as he watched the helmet slide on to the mans head (@Vosrik).

"You have company, approaching from your right side."

The warning came as the figure approached and began gesturing... For one of the charges? To help? It all seemed rather weird that a friendly face would show itself even on the fringes of Imperial space, especially in such a populated area. Tightening his finger on the trigger guard Wyatt made sure to keep his senses alert in case any company decided to follow him to the top of this abandoned tenement.

 

[Diocletian Solus]

Diocletian Solus crouched in the shadow of the air recycler on top of a building roughly a block away from the target. He watched the situation through a pair of binoculars, noting his two clan mates and their actions on target. Having scouted the building on arrival he knew there was only one access point to the roof, a door approximately in the center of the building fed to by a lone stairwell. Using a handy mop he had been able to wedge the door so that it would not open unless a significant amount of force was used, enough force to alert him to anyone approaching the roof from below.


He listened to the chatter on the clan comms channel and took note of the “unexpected” helper, marveling as much as Wyatt at the strange offer of assistance. A quick activation of his own helmet comm added his two credits to the conversation.


“I have your exit and extraction, one block South of your current location. No current opposition.” (@Rimrald)


The quick and to the point message took less than two heartbeats, textbook procedure to keep the message from being pinpointed should their comms be compromised. Dio kept his vigil, both above and below the target, watching his clan’s six and ensuring their exit remained open.

 

[Rami Solus]

Rami laughed heartily as the voice came in over his comlink. A quick acknowledgement of the man watching his back with a wave of his hand as he set a charge ever so carefully on the building. One set, move, set another, move. Target primary support beams and corners. Most of the stone and steel pillars that you could see outside of buildings these days were completely decorative, Rami knew that. Having a background in engineering, he had designed a few comms buildings himself when he dabbled in architecture. He wouldn't have built this building if he was in charge, it didn't have nearly enough guns!

Looking to the side, Rami observed a new man approaching. Having been alerted to his location and presence by his eyes in the sky, Rami almost drew his repeater and open fired. However, it was the man motioning to be tossed a charge that illicited further laughter from the Mandalorian. "What? You want one of these?! I don't even know you!" And at that, he tossed the man a charge. "Rangri! Go place it dinii!"

At that, he kept moving and placing the charges. It wouldn't take him too long, and he decided to focus a bit more on placing the explosives. He had enough people watching his back at this point that, if any di'kut decided to charge him, he'd be given warning and be able to take them down without trouble.

 

[Wyatt Kebiin-Solus]

Raising up a few millimeters to adjust his knee-pad before setting back into his kneeling stance, Wyatt listened as the third man on the team chimed in over the squad net. Nodding slightly even though he knew the man couldn't see it, things were going to plan and that was always for the best.

"Good, i'll be sure to take a route to the west and cut back over if we get compromised. (@Critas)"

Wyatt replied, still dialed in with his scope watching the brief interaction in disbelief as Rami passed the stranger a charge without even a second thought. Wyatt was happy to be here, dealing a solid blow to the Imperials and turning what they probably felt was their best defended planet and city that sits on the fringe of their borders; in to a hot spot. Although they were here to accomplish their own goals and get some skin in the game, Wyatt was hopeful it would bring some hope to the oppressed people living in the tenements that surrounded this massive piece of infrastructure.

"This things really an eyesore, how long do you think it'll take them to rebuild it?(@Black Noise)"

Wyatt asked, as he wasn't a very talkative person as of lately with the events on Medriaas. But boredom has its way of bringing out even the most reserved peoples.

 

[Devrim Wolfe]

The rebel snatched the charge out of the air as the Mandalorian tossed one over heartily. Having made hits like these on other structures with his Dxun buddies many times before, Devrim got straight to work carefully setting and placing a charge on a structural beam of the tower. In response to the Mandalorian’s exclamation, the helmeted rebel chuckled aloud himself, ”No, you don’t know me, and I like it that way. What’s important is our interests are clearly aligned.” Protruding some of his own grenades, which although vastly weaker could still do some damage, and placed them on another structural beam. They’d go off along with the rest of the charges in a chain reaction.

Devrim was quite surprised that so far, their work had gone quite unnoticed. Perhaps it was a slow day for the Imperials, or they never expected such precise action from the Mandalorian and seemingly random citizen. Though the rebel had sort of helped out, he had other plans for today — the ensuing explosion from this communications array would create an excellent diversion for Devrim. He happened to know there was a supply depot nearby with resources and possibly credits the Alliance could use. Once the Mandalorians had finished laying the charges, then Devrim would be taking his leave before the Imperials showed up.

@Critas @Rimrald @Black Noise​

 

[Diocletian Solus]

Diocletian maintained his crouch on the roof of the building he had chosen for his vantage point. Slowly he stretched out one leg and then the other, keeping the circulation flowing was vital to quick reactions. He rolled his neck and heard it crack to his satisfaction before turning and scanning the road to his left.

Eyes trained to hunt in the city evaluated potential threats and discarded them as quickly and efficiently as a chef cuts onion. The small group of children playing in the street with a pet. The old man pushing a cart of moldy vegetables down the street. Noted for surveillance, eyes move on. Two privately owned speeders and one swoop parked on the curb. Locations noted as well as lack of occupants. Doors to all residences closed, shops and businesses still working and open. No sign of threat.

Dio turned to his left and observed the street on that side. Slightly busier due to the public transit station on that side. Good evac route should they need to blend into the populace. Currently no local defense force or law enforcement presence noted. They were living on the edge of amazing luck and frighteningly dangerous trap potential.

With the good comes the bad, multiple potential targets and threats. Lack of local authorities could mean shift change or a massing of strength. Silently noting to himself that any local official that wanted to keep his job would hardly allow the saboteurs to actually blow up their target before showing their hand, he felt a little better about the situation. He scanned his eyes over several groups that had stopped to converse on the street, noting a lack of visible weapons he turned his gaze back to his own evac route.

Turning and looking over his shoulder, he noted that the large mop handle was still wedged in the door and he had not acquired any airborne threats as yet. He pivoted on the ball of his foot and pulled his carbine around on its two-point harness to where it would hang in between his legs. Any threat would cause a drop of the binoculars and immediate response from the battle-hardened Shriek Hawk.

Almost as an afterthought, his hand snaked down and loosened his Strill blaster pistol in its holster. Years of battle and survival had made him cautious and the way the hairs were standing on his neck made him sure that the silence was going to be shattered before long. He would be ready to hand out a warm welcome from Clan Solus to any opposition.

” Update, exfil still clear, no opposition noted.”

Less than two heartbeats, he can do it without thinking, combat training takes over and becomes second nature. With his team updated he returns back to his pattern, right side street, confirming vehicle locations, noting changes, updating threats. Left side street, checking pedestrian patterns, noting large groups and unusual vehicles. All the while, free hand travels across his carbine, checking action and ensuring freedom of movement.

@Rimrald
@Black Noise
@Vosrik

 

[Rami Solus]

Rami laughed at the rebel’s response. Nodding and shouting back through the echo of his helmet, “Whatever you say edgelord!” And, at that, he continued placing charges. It would be another two minutes of placing charges before he was done, and the Mandalorian actually found himself consumed with a little boredom. Placing explosives was boring, what a novel fact.

Thankfully, one of his eyes in the sky attempted to make smalltalk, and Rami responded with a little monologue as he worked. “Replacing something like this isn’t really all too difficult. Maybe two weeks? If they work quick. Now if they want it to look nice and they work quick then you’ll be looking at two months at least. If done by the right companies, these things can be built so quickly. Now what’s really going to take time is the rubble removal. See first thing they’ll gotta do is reach for survivors, then bodies. That can take at least a week. After that you’re looking at actually removing the debris and cleaning both this lot and the surrouding buildings from debris. That’ll take at least a month in and of itself.”

Suddenly, Rami stopped speaking. He had finished.

 

[Devrim Wolfe]

Edgelord, now that was a nickname Devrim hadn't heard before — although it was rather fitting upon a moment of self-reflection. Having done his small part against the Empire, he gave the Mandalorian a small salute as he headed off in the direction of the supply depot. The rebel was certain the rest of the charges wouldn't be difficult to place, and so far their work had gone extraordinarily unimpeded. Even if someone were to show up now, there would be little they could do to prevent the tower from being blasted apart. As soon as it was detonated, Devrim knew he had a small window of opportunity to grab what he could from the depot.

Barely a block away, the rebel slid into an empty alleyway with a locked back door into a building. This used to be one of the supply drop locations the Dxun cell established before losing contact with it after they'd been ordered to cease activity. The destruction of the communication building would allow him to get inside and out with whatever resources remained inside. All he had to do was wait for the charges to detonate — something that would certainly draw the undivided attention of all the Imperial agents within six blocks. Patience was key.

@Rimrald @Critas @Black Noise​

 

[Wyatt Kebiin-Solus]

The boredom was getting to him more than he could bare, shifting from his position and relocating to the right side of the banister Wyatt scanned the roads again. Nothing accept for a handful of unconcerned civilians going about their business between the shanty homes, the occasional animal was spotted but beyond that it seemed as if the Imperials were all but absent. A small group of vagrants here or there was nothing to raise concern in Wyatt's eyes as he listened to the very matter of fact response from Rami.

"Why are we even blowing it up then? I mean I know the reason but if they can repair it in a matter of weeks what does that offer us?"

Wyatt asked genuinely curious of the strategic advantage to charging the Imperials a couple million credits and a few weeks. This new direct involvement was all so very odd to him but he wasn't going to start questioning things now. He kept his wits about him as he pulled his eyes from the scope to check his mediate surroundings in case someone ventured onto the nearby rooftops of into the neighboring buildings. Quickly making his way down the three flights and towards the exfil route to the west. (@Critas @Black Noise @Vosrik)

 

[Diocletian Solus]

Dio watched as the last of the charges was set along the main support to the superstructure. Both his clan mate Rami and the unknown “helper” had made it to safe distance. The timer for the explosives was a green digital readout in his helmet as he watched. Most of the civilians were milling around, still blissfully unaware of the mortal danger that was ticking down to zero within the periphery of his vision.

He took note of the exit vector of the unknown male who had appeared so eager to help. He took a moment as the man was just about to disappear out of sight to take a still image of him. Although the man was wearing a helmet, his appearance and what little they might be able to gain from his clothing, should be noted and reported to the Clan. If for no other reason than to see him as friend rather than foe in the future.

003

002

001

“FIRE IN THE HOLE!”, said Dio over the comms channel just before the breath was taken from his lungs in a moment of glory.

The explosion rocked the downtown area like a thunderclap. It started small, but the rapid fire of the charges soon grew into a symphony of destruction. The concerto ended with the detonation of the grenades added to the mix by the rebel assistant, adding to the complete destruction of the supports to the communications building.

A cloud of smoke and building materials billowed out from the base of the building, following the shockwave as it rolled out, setting off speeder alarms and flinging civilians like rag dolls through the air. Following the shockwave was a killing wind filled with a deadly hail of shrapnel of all shapes and sizes. Building materials and glass was mixed with the metal of the explosive’s casings and the grenade pieces.

Those close enough to the blast were torn to shreds before they could catch their breath from the shockwave. Body parts of all shapes, sizes and races joined in the wave of brutality that emanated from the destruction of the tower. The sound of the death of the communications tower was deafening, the roar of its death throws was a sad lament that only those not caught in the blast were able to note.

Slowly the tower structure itself seemed to teeter for a heartbeat, almost as if denying its fate. Then with slow resolution, Newton’s Third Law took over and it made its slow sad decent to smash on the terra firma below, the force of the explosion toppling it away from its epicenter.

A secondary wave of debris and death followed the minor earthquake of devastation as the building hit the ground. The block that Dio had been watching to his right became a dust filled corridor of smoke and screaming. The block to his left that had been filled with the mass of civilians, heading home from working in the city center became a slaughterhouse.

There are those that have been in these moments and they speak of an unearthly calm that follows. Just a moment of shock before the awe.He never looked back at the explosion, never saw its glory, honey badgers never watch explosions as they walk away. Dio used that shock and was over the side of the building, his grapple line facilitating his decent to the next building. Upon landing there, the shock had faded, and the screams started. The screams of metal as the communications center started to implode inward upon itself, its superstructure not built for an impact of that nature allowed it to crumple like a spent beer can.

Dio was through the door on the roof of the second building and hurtling down stairs four at a time. As he passed through the stairwells, he shouldered through onlookers peeking fearfully out of doorways. Most dove back into their doors and slammed them shut at the sight of the feared T-Visor barreling down the stairwell at them. Upon reaching the street he started to hear another sound, one that was expected and planned for, the wailing of sirens had joined in the cacophony of screams, shouts and panic following the death of the tower.

” Exfil route alpha is open.”, Dio said quickly into the comm channel. He was not worried about his comms being intercepted anymore, the destruction of the communications tower had handled that issue. All of the communications on the planet had been disabled for the foreseeable future. However, it never pays to be sloppy or overconfident and besides, old habits die hard.

He threw a leg over the swoop he had jacked for his getaway and barreled out of the path of the waves of first responders arriving to survey the carnage his clan had just created. The small crew of saboteurs had just struck their first blow in what would certainly be a long war.

@Black Noise

@Vosrik

@Rimrald

 

[Rami Solus]

Before the 'countdown' to the explosion, Rami ran like a madman away from the communications tower and away from the satchel charges. There was no way he was going to get caught in that explosion, especially considering he was the one holding the detonator. As he ran, he responded to his eye in the sky, "Di'kut, obviously we're planning an attack later on during which their communications are down! Doesn't matter if they rebuild it quickly, the rebuilding will still take resources away from them and allow us to work without a kriffin' problem!"

Once a safe distance away, Rami waited for Dio's countdown over the radio then he pressed the button. From then on out, it was a simple matter of watching the lightshow and getting the hell off planet. The explosion was nice, but being safe was nicer.

 

[Devrim Wolfe]

The moment the resonating thunderclap of explosions ripped through the district, Devrim leveled his pistol at the lock to the depot's back door. Blasting it to pieces, the door easily slid open, allowing him access inside. Finding little else there than some old equipment and a handful of credits, Devrim wasted no time getting the hell out. Even though he wasn't seen placing the charges by any Imperials, it certainly wasn't safe to be in the area.

Quite certain that the Mandalorians made it out just fine, Devrim made his way out of the city, satisfied that the Imperials on Onderon had been dealt a serious blow.

Fin​

@Black Noise @Rimrald @Critas​