The Last General

[Metal Gear Seth]

'Never thought Grand admiral Vaxus would let me go on a mission where I can let loose. Sometimes I really do wonder about him.' Hailey turned on her comms.

"We're approaching the end of hyperspace." shortly after, she was disengaged from the jump, the surroundings slowing down at last as she took in the planet now in front of her.

"Wow. It's a good thing I brought a jacket.. Hoth looks colder than I initially thought." she sighed at the pointlessness of her conversation, when she knew all to well she could be blowing up some Republic scum.

"Enough talk. LET'S GO!" she said as she speeded towards the planet.

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Inside her own X-57 'Ziost Hunter' Starfigher, Calpernia had some nice music playing as she piloted through hyperspace with her current partner. Hopefully, the mission wouldn't take too long, and there would be some good action involved. For her own sake, she hoped that at least, otherwise this would be one of the most boring missions to date.

Dropping out of hyperspace, she called out over her comms, "Hoth's always a cold planet. How a planet can have nothing but ice on it is beyond me..." She was used to arid and desert climates, having grown up on such a world where water was an important resource and the hot climate had to be guarded against.

Bundled up in a thick jacket and pants, it felt like she were wearing a ton more weight in clothes then she was used to, her light outfit not being quite enough for her this time. "This is going to be sooooooo boring for a while, you know? Hoth's a big world with nothing on it. It's about as exciting as watching paint dry on most days..." She complained to her partner as she matched their speed.

"Let's hope we find something interesting. My axes have been itching to get some action..." She commented as they broke through the atmosphere and began to sail along the planets surface, staying high in altitude until they leveled out so they could begin making their sweeps for any man-made structures or unlogged constructions.

@Metal Gear Seth

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

Gripping her controls with vigor, Hex smiled like a mad hatter as she leveled out along the high atmosphere of the planet, thankfully her partners comment of the cold didn't make her want to grab her jacket due to having no desire to get to the planets surface. If they did things right, they wouldn't need to exit their ships at all. Rather, they could bomb the base swift, and hard.

"Is it a bad thing that I'm going to enjoy this in a rather particular way..?" she was excited at just the thought of watching soldiers explode, but her question was legitimate too.

 

[Narsi]

The sudden blinking and beeping was like a bomb in the cockpit, breaking Gren out of her stupor and causing her to bolt upright in her seat. In her haste, she smacked her, thankfully helmeted, head on the cockpit roof with a loud crack, another sound that echoed around the cockpit. Groaning and blinking the stupor out of her eyes, Gren fumbled around in the cramped and tiny space of her Antarian Starfigher until she finally saw what was wrong. It was her sensors, registering two other ships nearby in the higher atmosphere above and behind her.

Fully awake now, Gren flicked on the communications and tuned onto the frequency that she and her allies had agreed to use. "This One is Jedi Knight Gren in the upper limits of the atmosphere, she has detected two ships in her vicinity and will be going to investigate, please assist." She'd been sent alone to Hoth on a light recon mission, to scout the area and update their information on the cold world. Her hyper drive ring was still in orbit, hidden within a small cluster of rocks and debris. And while it had started out well enough, she'd quickly gotten bored and had eventually dozed off a bit whilst her astromech took over the flying. Until now at least.

Taking manual control once again, Gren wheeled her Starfighter around and blasted off towards the other signatures, quickly ascending up through the atmosphere as she anxiously awaited a response to her summons. In truth there was no real reason for anxiety, they were probably just explorers or something equally harmless. But Gren wasn't one to depend on "probably," not when there was a war going on and all kinds of scum out and about. That was why she'd come in full gear after all, even though it limited the already tiny space in the cockpit even more than it already had been. Hopefully there was an ally in the area as well as the Council had assured her there would be if she needed one.

 

[Nor'baal]

”This is the Boonta Huttaa, trust you won't be any trouble?’’ the Operative hailed over an open commlink. He had taken off from Hoth, collecting some ‘goods’ for his master (@Meckabro) as part of his latest batch of duties as the Hutts Majordomo, and was eager to get out of the system. His ship, a freighter of the Rim-Dancer Class was lightly armoured, but fast, built for smuggling and rapid transit rather than extended and prolonged warfare.


The Majordomo however was not feeling all that confident, especially as two ships dropped out of hyperspace on his starboard bow, making his hyperspace jump considerably more risky. A third starfighter came careening up from the planet below, and the Majordomo was left with a choice to make; either he sided with the Sith, and played his odds, or he sided with the distinctly ‘un sithy’ ship from the surface.


Torn, he made the impulsive decision to side with the ship from the surface - his impulses saying they would be somewhat more hospitable. Opening a communications link to the ship he spoke quickly ”Names….urm….Dave.” he lied ”I’m just looking to jump the system, so I guess we both don’t want these Sith geezers here?” he said, not waiting for an answer ”I stand ready to support you.”

 

[Korvo]

The cockpit was silent. No echo on the air, no humming of the life support system's oxygenation recycler. Just silence... all save for Gegorran Malantur's “Nyenyë en Laithra”, or “Lamentations of the Forgotten”, an excerpt from a famous Onderonian opera, “The Rains of Ash”. While enjoying the tragic theme on its own merit, it had occurred to Praedyth that much of Onderonian music and performance arts had revolved around tragedies, mourning, even calamities.

His eyes opened as he raised his eyebrow, finding mild amusement in the fact, if nothing else. Sorrows and pain can shape and impact the lives of many in a way that good fortune and benevolence simply did not. Contemporary Onderonians had long since considered days of hardship behind them, but even now it was still romanticized. For better or worse, and curiously so, it still defined them.

BEEP//BEEP//BEEP//BEEP//BEEP//BEEP

BEEP//BEEP//BEEP//BEEP//BEEP//BEEP​

The momentary escapism was routed as reality forced Praedyth out of his state of relaxation. Turning the opera excerpt off, the Onderonian brought up his proximity sensors from his vantage point. Having left his vessel in a geosynchronous orbit around Hoth's outer atmosphere, Praedyth immediate sat upright as he initiated a systems check, strapping himself in for preparation of a worst-case scenario. His comm-systems screeched with static as another frequency became aligned with his own, culminating in a transmission.

"Knight Gren, well met. This is Eeron", he said, using his birth name. There was something refreshing about being anonymous, and Praedyth found himself using his birth name as often as he could, supposing he wasn't recognized. "The Jedi Council dispatched me as your auxiliary. Headed toward your position now. My sensors picked something up but I'm too far away to tell what it is, besides metal. You have unidentified crafts on your screen?"

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Alright...we're approaching the area now. Get ready to activate your sensors..." Calpernia called to her partner, referring to the military grade sensors in their ship. Hoth was barren, and leaving the sensors on at all times would burn through their fighters power supply. Using them instead to try and ping on the planets surface once they breached, they could better lock onto any errant signatures on the planets surface.

"Don't forget to scan any frequencies either. There shouldn't really be much of anything on this surface, if you start getting encrypted chatter, you know somethings up." With that, she moved her clawed finger to flick one of the switches, turning on the sensors on her vessel as their first scans brought up what looked like activity. It was only for a few seconds, but she could have sworn something blipped on her scans, like something had tagged them just now, or they had passed something solid. She raised a brow as she got on her comms to her fellow imperial, "Hey. I thought I saw something on my scans. Let's make another pass real fast. Over."

@Metal Gear Seth

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

"Roger that Red 2." going over her systems, Hailey flipped on the military grade sensors equipped in her ship, as she maneuvered her ship for a quick pass over, she could just barely make out a faint little dot, that grew to be a freighter it seemed. Checking her comms, she overheard a transmission on an open line. Contacting the freighter directly, she gave a warning as they enclosed on the ship, all the while, keeping her sensors active in the case of some trickery, as well as her laser cannons, the concussion rockets on standby as well.

"Attention Freighter. State your business or prepare to be boarded." she armed the lasers.

"This is your only warning."

 

[Narsi]

Well, having received two responses almost immediately, it was gratifying to know that her trust in the council wasn't misplaced. More important however, was the words of the one known as "Dave," identifying the other ships as Sith. Gren felt a snarl build up in her throat, and the old familiar battle lust stirring in her belly, Sith on Hoth again, how fitting.

Still ascending rapidly towards her new "targets" Gren busied herself with readying her cannons and missiles, opening up a line to both who'd responded. "Well met both of you, This One is glad for your help. Dave? This One thinks you should hang back a little, let her and Eeron bear the brunt of the battle whilst you wait for a chance." Just then, her radar map when haywire, everything flipping around with her suddenly heading away from the two targets. It took a moment, but Gren suddenly realized what exactly had occurred, she'd just passed under them.

Yanking on the controls, Gren pulled her fighter up into a very steep dive, until she was flying upside down and back in the direction she'd came. A quick spin and she was right side up again, bursting upwards into the higher atmosphere of the planet. There, a little ways in front of her, bearing down on a freighter that could only be Dave, where two Ziost Hunters, Sith. Full on scowling now, Gren flipped off her sensors and readied her weapons, pressing down on the throttle for more speed. She had to get closer, before they fired upon Dave. She wouldn't, no she couldn't, allow the Sith scum to harm others, especially not a good hearted civilian that was willing to stand against them.

"Eeron, confirmed, they are Sith, two of them, directly in This One's sights"

@Zaphod Norblebrox

 

[Nor'baal]

Hold back, don't get involved...Dran Mardel smirked, no complaints from me.

"Copy that, holding back." he spoke down the comms, dropping back away from the main combat zone, keeping his ships swivel mounted weapon trained on the general direction of combat and monitoring the fight on his screen. With his thumb hovering over the accelerator, he was ready to dive in and support if needed; or to come to the rescue of any stranded pilots should the fight take such a course.

 

[Korvo]

Praedyth's eyebrow cocked a bit as he heard Gren mention the name 'Dave'.

Dave?, he thought to himself. Another pilot, then?

It was peculiar, and Praedyth couldn't help but wonder how many more people were involved in what had the makings of becoming a full-blown skirmish.

Bringing his throttle forward, Praedyth diverted all auxiliary power from the weapons systems to the engines. Shield mitigation was double-front; he'd need every chance for survival until he reached his wingmate. At this point, he still lacked a visual or accurate sensor scans. The pressure hit the Onderonian king, from inducing resonate rippled against his skin to the rattling of his bones. He'd not been overly familiar with starfighter combat in recent years, but he was a fully trained soldier, and some skills never truly die... only slumber. And now was the time for reawakening them.

"Gren, I'm beginning my descent and atmospheric entry now", he said, stilling his guidance controls as the shaking increased. "I have you on sensors now."

Praedyth switched several tabs near the top of his cockpit's circumference, arming several of his weapons systems. His shield mitigation was fine as it was, at least until the engagement, but weapons were hot for the inevitable clash. As the alignment continued and Praedyth could begin to make out the figures in the distance, he twisted his starfighter's approach trajectory until it was skewered into a sideways descent.

"Knight Gren, if I may ask, you familiar with the Slash maneuver?"

 

[Cainhurst Crow]

"You have no chill, I swear..."

Calpernias reply echoed on the channel as she rolled her eyes in her ship. The signals she picked up on her radar we're a secondary concern to the main mission, finding this general and bringing back his head as a trophy. A battle and boarding in the sky would draw a lot of attention, and she didn't want anyone taking off before then.

Or maybe she did. A devious smile crept on her face as she looked down below. "You need to learn to relax a bit more. Not everything is worth killing." She said as she reached over to her comm system.

"Still, you did find a ship. And a few others if the blip on my sensors was any indication..." She set her comms for the an open channel, available for anyone listening to hear.

"You people listening right now, my partners a bit gun-ho for combat. Much as that thought interests me as well, we've got bigger game to catch..." She rolled her neck as she looked towards the ground, "We're looking for a criminal hiding out in the planets surface. Nothing more, nothing less. You let us do our business, we can all walk away from this. All we want is a mass murdering criminal hiding out here trying to escape his just deserts."

With that she switched to the private comm between her and her partner, priming her own turbolasers as she spoke. "That aught to put some fire below our targets ass. They'll be trying to evac off this rock, and we can shoot 'em down. Still, next time ask me before you declare your presence. And get ready for a bloody battle in the air if we can't get these guys to leave. Remember our Mission is killing the general, and getting Justice for the mass murdering of sith troops by his soliders."

A twisted way to phrase it, but it wasn't a lie. The type of truth she loved more then anything else.

@Metal Gear Seth

 

[Metal Gear Seth]

"Has anyone ever told you that your a kill-joy?" Hailey sighed as she watched the freighter pull back as two other fighters seemed to be enclosing, her partner making a statement over open comms of their mission in a rather clever way. She opened up private comma.

"Clever. Let the prey come to predator. Personally, I like to go to them because of the scared look on their faces, but this will do quite nicely." She grinned, maneuvering her skip back next to her partner.

 

[Narsi]

The slash? Yes, the title rung a bell, a weak distant bell that hadn't seen use for quite a while, but enough for her to remember what it was. A single glance towards her partner descending from above only confirmed her memories, yep, she knew what the slash was. As for the communications she'd received from the Sith fighters, she hardly listened, only tuning in long enough to confirm that there was no surrender. They were Sith, that was all Gren owed them. Instead she used those precious speaking moments to close the distance, getting close enough to preform the maneuver, raising herself a tad above the two Hunters for her approach, so that it corresponded with Eeron's descent. Even better, as the two ships had simply allowed her to approach so smoothly, she'd gotten a lock.

A single word to Eeron, "Affirmative" and Gren went for it, hitting the thrusters for all they were worth and blasting forward at top acceleration and speed. Coming in from above and the left in a sideways descent, she whipped up and past the two Sith from behind, briefly aligning her the prow of her ship with the enemy craft. In this brief moment, she mashed her cannons for all they were worth, unleashing a spray of shots at the two ships thrusters and back ends. She also fired a missile, locked on to the Hunter on the right. Hopefully, as the two ships hadn't turned to face her in the slightest, they would be slightly unprepared for this high speed attack and volley of bolts. Still moving at high speed, Gren would continue off to the right, using her sudden burst of speed to gain a bit of distance whilst still being positioned behind the Sith Starfighters.

@Korvo

.

 

[Korvo]

A patterned sequence of electronic beeping intensified in its frequency as a reddish hexagon holographically positioned just above the starfighter's interior primary interface.

Checking his systems, the sensor suite picked up another signal; his allied fighter. Their flight paths were aligning over the vertical spectrum of things, but it would only be moments now. The beeping of his targeting computer plateaued as his weapons systems locked onto the fighter with the closest antithetical trajectory to Gren's, the fighter to the right. During the first bout, concentrating fire on a lone target was the most advantageous opening.

As the Onderonian king brought his hands to the weapons triggers, having cycled to the laser cannon, a single, simply word filtered through his com system.

An affirmation.

Shield mitigation, at optimum ratio. Engine power and conversion, at idealized balance. Auxiliary power rerouting and diversion, per programmed specifications, he thought to himself, running through the final checks in his mind. Weapons charged and primed, systems locked...

At once, Praedyth entered into a spiraling barrel roll, unleashed a volley of crimson laserfire, concentrating it on a single enemy starfighter while barreling toward the Sith fighter at full throttler. Bringing his hand up to the payload computer, the Knight-King activated a secondary weapons system, preparing it for the aftermath of whatever action would follow, or precede, the maneuvering stage.