Arrival on the Behemoth

[Fal Ket]

Mon Calamari is a strange planet of the outer rim, covered almost entirely by water. It is the home to the amphibious Mon Calamari and Quarren races, both of which emerged to be moving forces in the past. With the Mon Calamari being the major ship builders and some of the finest soldiers in the Rebellion and, after the fall of the Empire, the Galactic Alliance, they would also be a moving force of the future. The Quarrens made their appearance in a less amiable manner, many of them becoming slavers and crime lords interested in mostly self-preservation. Rich with aquatic life and a plethora of good people, it now serves as a stronghold of the Republic on the outer rim.

However, what makes this planet relevant to this story is not the makeup of the planet's surface, nor the people that have come from it, nor those that it would spawn in time. In fact, the planet itself is only significant in this instance because of the empty space that surrounds it. That space, too, matters for little. Just like most other space, it is a near perfect void with little matter in it. In fact, there is only estimated to be one hydrogen atom for ever couple of cubic centimeters in the partial void of space. It is the closest to a truly perfect void that ever occurs in nature, empty and desolate. If not for the ship that was floating in it, there would be no significance to the pure, terrible emptiness that extended to the infinite horizon.

This ship is where we can truly begin our story. It was a Centurion-class Battle Cruiser, a cut above the standard the Republic was using for its capital ships these days. It was an impressive vessel by all standards. There were no letters printed on its side to identify it, but anybody who knew anything about the Republic Navy would recognize it as the ship under the personal command of Rear Admiral Rhyley Stargazer. It was the Behemoth, and with any luck it would soon be the flagship in a campaign to take back the Outer Rim. There were no official Republic reports that even hinted at this possibility, however. They were the simple hopes of one of the soldiers in the area.

Republic Commandos are the elite soldiers of the Republic. Each four-man cell has the deadly capability of much larger infantry divisions that would usually be necessary to complete the kinds of objectives they are sent to clean up. Even by themselves, a Commando is more than capable of destroying dozens of enemy soldiers and making tactical strikes, all without announcing their presence until it's too late. One of these impressive soldiers was on a shuttle streaking toward the impressive Behemoth, where his next assignment would be further revealed to him. It was he who hoped for an impending campaign against the Sith.

Mon Calamari and Dantooine have never exactly been close neighbors. However, they are on the same galactic level - the Outer Rim. That makes either one a legitimate staging point for the other. This particular commando happened to have been raised on Dantooine. Dantooine happened to be under Sith control at the time being. Do the math and it only makes sense that J'Ron Marquess, Republic Commando, wanted more than anything to see the Sith driven off the planet. He was concerned for his father, for his childhood friends, and for the potential staging point it made for an invasion of the remaining Republic outposts in the outer rim.

J'Ron had learned long ago to push personal concerns aside, if it meant the success of the mission. In this case, he figured, it would probably be something just like that. He could wait for a while, though. By following the orders of Republic Control and Command, he would help to see the Sith pushed back into final defeat. That would mean his home world of Dantooine, too. That was how he kept a smile on his face as he felt the shuttle lurch beneath him. Then, all motion stopped, and he heard the hissing of the air-tight seal breaking. He stood up, calling out to everybody on board the shuttle. "Wrap it up, Sierra. We're here."

The squad commander stepped down the exit ramp. He was wearing his formals, a fine military-style jacket, slacks and boots with no rank displayed on the shoulders. He carried a rather large case in his right hand, and had his sidearm holstered on his left hip. The case contained his tactical rifle and his VCM Mark 2 battle armor. He set it down as he came to a halt just off the edge of the ramp to the shuttle, snapping a salute to the officer that had arrived to greet him. "J'Ron Marquess of Sierra Squad, reporting as ordered sir," he called.

[Iota]

Rhyley stood at the front of the bridge of the Behemoth Staring at the stars. The battle cruiser had been sent to mon cal space with two blockade runners to serve as peace keepers aswell as just showing the friendly republic face in the sector as hardly any republic ships had been in the area for some time. The Admiral was rather used to scouting the more dangerous sectors of the outer rim territories when it was his mission to silence the pirate lords in his old Hammer head class capital ship. He some what missed the action, for it had been all too quiet here.

The bridge of this battle cruiser was huge, it was roughly the same size as a town hall, but having a crew of just over 30,000 naval crew it would be expected to have a rather large command center. Rhyley would often casually chat to his crew, afterall he was corellian and preferred socialising rather than being the stereotypical uptight variety of Admiral.

Rhyley had noticed the transport ship dock with the Behemoth and he also knew it was yet another gift from the powers that be from high command. Still he made no rush togo greet them as he had sent one of his Lieutenants on the errand.

"Admiral sir, The commandos are here.." A young officer saluted as he confirmed the arrival for Rhyley. The Admiral returned the salute and nodded "Good... send their squad commander to the Officers mess and his troops to the normal mess cantina.." He smiled before walking along the bridge making way for the turbo lifts.

[Fal Ket]

Sierra Lead stooped a bit lower to grab his case as the lieutenant who had greeted him returned his salute, welcoming him aboard and asking him to please follow. He did so promptly, the other Sierras following close in his wake. J'Ron watched as the Lieutenant stopped before a series of turbolifts, designed to take new arrivals immediately to different levels of the ship. It made it that much quicker getting them to their destinations. What the officer had to say next, though, J'Ron didn't particularly like.

According to him, the men would now be splitting up. J'Ron was to follow him to the officer's mess. Meanwhile, the other three Sierras were to head to Deck E, where they would meet a Ensign that would escort them to the regular mess. Now, the Sierras weren't like most normal troops of soldiers. They didn't operate as a team, but rather as a family. To him, each of these three men were as good as kin, and all of them were brothers in battle as far as he was concerned. Still, if those were his orders, he would follow them, even if he didn't like it.

He stepped into the lift with the Lieutenant as the others stepped into the adjacent lift. He gave them a quick wave and a call of, "I'll see you all after," and then watched as the lift's doors closed and the contraption started moving. He waited rather impatiently for the lift to arrive at its destination, not setting his case down for the entire trip. It was his most precious possession, more important to him than anything other than his brothers downstairs, for many were the times that it had saved his life. He wasn't about to let it out of his sight.

He walked down the halls once the two had arrived, following close after the Lieutenant as he headed toward the officer's mess. During the entire trip, J'Ron had made a point of not engaging in small talk. He stayed pretty quiet and kept to himself, answering any questions the Lieutenant had with the shortest answers he could manage. By the time they arrived, the Lieutenant had given up all together on making any kind of conversation with the Commando. That suited him just fine. He stepped through the door to the officer's mess, leaving the Lieutenant to get back to his other duties on board the ship.

"So," J'Ron muttered mostly to himself, "This is a Centurion? I like it..."

[Iota]

Rhyley spent no time hanging about, he made his way to the officers mess. Instead of engaging in small talk with the crew, Rhyley simply saluted and nodded as he walked, the crew knew not to ask questions when Rhyley was on the move as it was usually important. He removed his beret style head gear, folded it neatly and placed it under his arm under his armpit.

Rhyley wandered up to the scanner outside the officers mess, the scanner scanned the Admiral for authetication, the door slid open horizontally. Rhyley had informed the crew that when he enters the mess not to salute, he like them, is off duty. The Admiral made his way to the commando leader before giving a soft salute followed by extending his hand to shake his.

"Admiral Rhyley Stargazer... pleasure to meet your aquintance... fancy an ale or two?" He said, his corellian nature ever present.

[Fal Ket]

First, he returned the salute, sharp and crisp in his manner. Immediately thereafter, he took the Admiral's hand, giving it a good, firm shake. He introduced himself as well. "J'Ron Marquess, sir, Sierra Squad." With that out of the way, there were other things he wanted to discuss. For instance, why couldn't his boys come up here as well? Anything that he needed to hear, they were also entitled to be in on. Since he would likely tell them everything on his return, it seemed a bit pointless to separate them out.

The questions would have to wait, though. For now, there was a rather strange question to be answered. "An... Ale, sir?" he asked. His new Corellian friend had surprised him with that one. Weren't they here to talk business? Whatever, he wasn't overly concerned with the details of that point. "Yes, sir, that sounds nice." With that, he started walking over toward what appeared to be the bar, where the two could sit and talk comfortably. With that little mini-issue resolved, J'Ron moved on to his other questions.

"Sir, I was wondering..." he started. He didn't want to phrase his question in such a way that would be questioning or defiant of the Admiral, but he was still curious enough that he wanted to know. "Is there a specific reason the other Sierras couldn't be up here?" he finished. He'd hoped he hadn't sounded rude, but if he had he was sure the Admiral could forgive him. They were soldiers, not politicians. Minced words were far more common among their type of man.

[Iota]

Rhyley turned to the barmaid, a leggy blonde, soft on the eyes and ears, her voice being a corellian males dream. He nodded to her with a cheeky smile and playful wink "Two Corellian Ales please" he looked back to "J'ron..i insist..call me Rhyley.." he smiled before retrieving his ale and taking a sip.

"Please don't be offended by seperating you from your unit... i am unlike most Admirals.. i am easy going and fun loving.. but unfortunatley there are ettiquetes that even i cannot overwrite and i wish not to stir trouble amongst the more arrogant officers on the ship..your men would only end up killing them and thats far too much paper work for me to sort out" He chuckled in jest "Don't worry though, your quarters are shared with you and your men.." He took a swig from his ale.

"I understand that you were born on Dantooine? it too aggrevated me when news arose about the sith military invading the planet, but unfortunatley i cannot go there with out authority... High command answers directly to the senate and unfortunatley the senate are reluctant to engage in a warwith the sith at this point in time..." Rhyley looked to a group of young officers playing a game of dejarik before looing back to J'ron.

"If the sith admirals are educated aswell as us republic admirals... their next logical target would indeed be mon calamari... hence the real reason a battleship and two blockade runners frequant this part of space." he finished his mini speach before necking half the glass of ale and looking back to the commando.

[Fal Ket]

The news wasn't taken as hard as one might have thought. J'Ron was expecting that an invasion of Dantooine would be little more than wishful thinking at this point. Still, he was more than a little aggravated about the entire situation. It wasn't his place to voice such complaints, and he knew that all too well, but that wouldn't stop him from doing just that anyway. Besides, he was a citizen of the Republic. Unlike the citizens of Dantooine, he still had the right to call his leaders idiots, if he so desired, without getting a lightsaber stuck through his gut for it.

"They're being stupid," J'Ron stated plainly. "Whether the pencil pushers in the Senate want to risk it or not, the Republic is at war. We've already lost territory to the Sith as it is. If the Senate wants to sit around in the council chambers all day and just talk about this problem for the rest of their lives, then that's their prerogative. When their decisions start getting everybody else blow up, though, it starts to become our problem." He took a long drink from his own glass at that point. He was starting to get into quite an unpleasant mood.

"I mean, think about it. I've got a father down there. At least, I had a father... I haven't heard anything since the Sith took over. I don't even know if he's still alive. I had friends down there, I had the memories of my entire childhood right down there. The place is my back yard, s - Rhyley, and it's in the hands of those dirty apes." He wasn't doing a good job of saying what he meant. How else could he phrase it?

"What if it was you?" he asked, finally figuring out the right way to say it. "What if the Sith had taken Corellia, and the Senate still sat around trying to avoid a war as if it didn't matter? What would you do?" He shook his head and took another big gulp of ale. "I'm not asking you to defy High Command and the Senate, Rhyley, don't get me wrong, and I'm not meaning to pressure you into moving without orders. I just need you to understand how it feels to be put in this situation by the people I'm sworn to protect, that's all."

[Iota]

Rhyley took a long look into his glass in contemplation. He finished his ale before looking to the commando with a slight smile. "I like you J'ron.. you have the balls to say whats on your mind to me.. too many soldiers and officers alike who feign their feelings and emotions when i am about..."

Rhyley took a few moments to watch his crew enjoying their time off "Hypothectically.. there is a small light freighter in docking bay B-4.... now if one were to stumble upon the launch codes that might just be kept in a certain admiral's quarters who inturn left his quarters unlocked for lets say...oh... 5 minutes?... one could indeed take the light frieghter that has armanant aswell as being unmarked to a planet in the outer rim...lets take Dantooine for example...then they could do what they want..cause havoc.. maybe shoot a few sith soldiers or just save a civillian or two from the grasp of the empire.... but of course.. this is all hypothetical" he winked to J'ron, hoping he got his meaning.

[Fal Ket]

J'Ron smiled broadly at what the Admiral said. He got exactly what he meant. "Hypothetically speaking, that would be a convenient coincidence," he stated in a sarcastic, joking tone. Already he was going over a mission plan in his head. He knew the geography of the area well, and already he knew exactly where the insertion point would be. Since they couldn't trust anybody outside of their little group to pilot the ship, they would have to leave it on the ground while the operation was underway. That'd leave them a small window of time to get all the people they could manage to grab out of harm's way.

He was getting ahead of himself. First things first, he needed to get those hypothetical launch codes. Once that was taken care of, he could plan the unsanctioned mission however he wanted to. "Hypothetically speaking," he continued on, "When would this five minute window of opportunity be?" he asked. He could access the ship's patrol logs later to figure out if he would be able to get through to the captain's quarters through standard means, or if he'd have to get creative in his execution of this particular mission. Either way, he already knew the course that was set out before him. All that was left was to work out the details.

[Iota]

Rhyley to his shoes which shone so bright you could almost see your reflection, he sighed for a moment before looking back to J'ron deep in thought "You know.....i didn't start out as an officer..no no..." Rhyley nodded to the barmaid "two more please ma'am" he smiled before looking back to J'ron. "I was in fact a pilot for CorSec, one of their best.. and now i am stuck with battleships.. i just yern to fly like i used to...." Rhyley turned back to the barmaid and nodded with a smile and a cheeky wink before taking a sip from his ale.

"heres a counter offer.. i'll fly the ship so your men won't be split up.. hell i used to be able to navigate through a dense asteroid field with out using the navi charts..so flying a freighter to dantooine should be easy" he laughed softly before taking another gulp of his drink "Of course, if anything happens...the republic will no doubt deny everything..so we will be on our own" he nodded to J'ron waiting for his reply.

[Fal Ket]

J'Ron couldn't help but laugh at that little concern. "Sir, I go on a lot of my missions with the express condition that if I am captured and questioned, the Republic is going to deny my very existence. Let's just say I'm used to it." He stopped himself there, his thoughts drifting to the Admiral's future, should the mission be exposed. "I'd suppose the real question is, Rhyley, are you sure you want to risk your career for an old war hog you've just met?" He hoped he wasn't being too offensive with that question. A lot of commanders would do whatever it takes to support their men. J'Ron himself was like that.

Then again, J'Ron's men were more like best friends than co-workers, and more like family than best friends. These commandos were his brothers. And, as a point of fact, they were among the Republic's most elite soldiers. "As far as actually getting caught, sir, you don't have to worry much about that. Sierra is more than capable of infiltration of hostile territory and hostage rescue. Plus, I know the terrain very well, so I'll be able to manage a decent mission plan and several contingency plans. If anything happens, I think I could also manage to hide us on the surface of Dantooine outside the notice of the Sith until we can commandeer a new transport. The only thing we have to worry about is the brass that won't like this idea."

[Iota]

Rheyly looked down to his near empty glass before shaking his head slightly. "Something is telling me ...not just yet... " He looked slightly off colour for a moment "Something big is going to happen..i cannot explain it comrade.. but my feelings are often come to pass despite how ever much i don't want them to"

Rhyley stood up slowly as he tried to figure out the slight tingling sensation he often felt before some major happened, he always put it down to pilots intuition "Comrade... we may have to pospone our little trip for awhile..my many apologies.."