Bravo Team Mission

[Vex]

(Once again, apologize for any suckiness attached with this post. First part leading up to this can be found here: swrponline2.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=shogun&thread=5547)

It wasn’t long until they neared the second target. Looping wide around the facility in order to stay out of the radar and anti-aircraft surveillance. Coming in from above the cliffs and at the prescribed altitude, he keyed the comms again. “Drop-Off Point two: ETA is five minutes. Bravo team on deck.”

“One minute until drop off.”
“Thirty seconds.” He keyed the ramp controls again and adjusted speed for the final approach.


“Ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one...Green Light, Green LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT.”

Once again, he’d wait until House gave him a green status…that it was just the droid and himself on the ship. Closing up the hatch, he’d beeline away from the area before drawing up on the nose to break through atmosphere. As they broke back out into space, he sighed slightly, running his fingers through his hair. Gazing out into the black, he absently keyed in the coordinates for the fleet. He took one last look through the aft vidscreen at the shrinking form of the planet Shogun. “Be safe, Lia…come back in one piece.” He spoke the sentiment to himself, softly, and then hooked around to the far side of the moon. Thus protected from most spying eyes, he engaged the hyperdrive and shot out, heading back to the staging area for the fleet. For now, all he could do was wait.

He hated waiting.

[projectsunfire]

((For now, post as you will, when we get moveing I think it might be best if we go in order. We'll establish that order with the first smattering of posts.))

Solus'ad gave Bane a salute with a thump to his breastplate just before he watched Bane leap off of the exit ramp of the ghost star. It slowly closed behind him and the strong pull of air subsided. With a sigh he switched on coms, and gave the hand signal to let them know to switch to Bravo's encrypted channel.

"Coms check! Sound off Bravo." Solus'ad said almost as casually as if he'd said it a thousand times. There wasn't too much power to his voice as he knew it was transmitting, and he focussed on annunciation. When they had all sounded off, He responded, "Bravo Leader standing by. Repulosor check, and altimeter check."

Solus'ad waited for all of them to respond, and he checked his own. His repulsor had power, and he could feel the weight decrease as he turned it on. He quickly turned it off to preserve power, for the drop. His Altimeter read Zero. Not a good sign considering they were several thousand feet above sea level. He brought up his multi gaunt and attempted an onsight calibration. It read 11,000 meters, and he relaxed a little. Thats odd, I could have sworn I'd calibrated this thing. He thought, before hesitantly responding. "Bravo Leader Standing by. Switch huds to night vision." The loading ramp turned from red to a vividly lit shading of green and black.

"Drop-Off point two:ETA five minutes. Bravo team on deck." Daryns voice cut across their coms system.

Solus'ad brought his hands up, and motioned for them to stand. "Stand- up!" He said in unison with his hand motions. "Equipment check!" He said into his coms, his casual air becomeing more purposefull. He tapped his repulsor belt with his four fingers as motion recognition. He watched as his squad checked one anothers equipment to be sure it was all attached in the right way. He had to be doubly sure. When they all responded he checked his own. Everything was where it was supposed to be. "Bravo Leader standing by."

"One minute until drop off." Daryn's voice crackled again.

"Step- up!" Mandalore said, all casualness gone from his voice. He motionned for them to join him at the end of the Ramp.

"Thirty seconds" Solus'ad heard over the com. He didn't even hear the last 10 second count, the blood was already rushing to his ears from all the adrenaline in his system. The Ramp lowered and the air seemed to want to rush out of the drop bay. The light switched color, and Solus'ad waved frantically for his team to go. Off they leapt, two by two, away from the relative safety of the Ghost star, into the darkness of oblivion.

When the last two were out he leapt out of the loading ramp and shouted into his coms, "All away!" to Daryn, as the G-force hit him. He steadied his breathing as he free fell. His gut wanted to do summer saults, his stomache was in his throat. Solus'ad was in heaven. He could feel every cell in his body, sparkling like he was on Rill. He could taste colors, and see sound. Oh he missed the euphoria, of risking his life.

Below them there was some slight cloud cover. Rain over the drop zone, but that wouldn't have mattered. Topographic mapping pointed out the hazards, and there were none. it was a clean drop zone. the euphoria began to fade and Solus'ad began to relax. It was like drinking icey cold. Like you were the mountain spring.

He brought his arms in and let his body spiral slowly in space. He flattenned out slowly and stretched, slowing his fall. Then something caught his eye. Something bad. His Alti-meter wasn't going down.

O-Sik! Solus'ad saw his body splash against the rocks of the surface of Shogun, in a dazzling display of so much mancake. He pushed the images to the back of his head with the professional knowledge that such a death would be painless. He accepted it coldly, swallowing his fear, and digesting it like a bad MRE.

The wind resistance from falling made it difficult to make nimble movements with his hands. He fumbled for the jack of his multi gaunt and searched for his repulsor lifts manual deployment hub. When he thought he had both in hand he attempted to jack into his repulsors manual controls. After several tries, he realized he just couldn't do it without seeing it. He was in an awkward positoin. He flipped himself over, and curled up. looking at the manual release through the T visor on his helmet.

With a first failed attempt he curled his fist into a ball and slowly adjusted, until he felt the jack connect. With a hard shove he stabbed it into position. Clouds flew past him and he swallowed hard, in his helmet sweat had begun to pool in odd places. His cheeks, his ears, and his mouth. He realized he was breathing like he was in labor. He gasped for a moment and caught his breath. He swallowed and flipped back over.

With a focussed effort he brought his multi gaunt up in front of his visor and frantically tapped the keys. He'd have to do this the old fashioned way. His eyes narrowed into slits and he focussed on the ground. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears again and he wished it would just explode or shut the hell up. He routed the manual release through the fire control switch in his glove, and prayed.

badoom... badaboom... badoom... badaboom... Solus'ad's breath caught and he deployed his repulsor. He felt himself get lighter, and lighter, and lighter. Whump! Solus'ad landed hard on his belly. It felt like he'd just fallen out of bed onto a cold and wet floor. For a moment he pondered that and rolled onto his back. Blood or sweat? He felt a little winded, in fact he groaned as he took the belt off and switched it off. No not blood. He cracked the seal on his suit and let the rain hit his face. Steam poored off him as if he'd just gotten out of the refresher on a cold day.

He cackled softly to himself. He sniffed away a tear or two of emotion as he realized he was still alive.

((Posters in this thread- "In Beta Team, Captain Kra'Nelen, Lieutenant Colonel Phelan, Lieutenant Firians, Colonel Cazuun, Sergeant Barris, Lieutenant Colonel Kor, and Staff Sergeant Callahan'Rika"))

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

“Attention, everyone, this is your Captain speaking. We are approaching the target coordinates. You have five minutes to prepare before we exit hyperspace. Please store your meal trays and seats in the upright, locked position and please, take all your blasters, explosives, and other weapons of mass destruction. I hope you have enjoyed traveling with Destrell Starlines and will consider us for all of your future planetary domination trips. Italia Firians, please report to the cockpit.”

Yes, she was going to kill him. Most of it was funny, funny was good, but in her current mood, with the current mission, in the current place and time….it just irritated her. Luckily her helm was already on, the HUD allowing her to see easily in the, now crowded, cargo bay without her irritation showing. Grumbling about idiotic smugglers in Mando’a, she slipped through the 11 people (and cyborg) that were waiting there, Alpha Team members in front, Beta team behind them. Her slug thrower rifle was slung across her back easily, the strap wrapping around and over one shoulder to cross her body diagonally. She’d stashed flashbangs and smoke grenades (along with a few regular grenades) along her belt, several throwing daggers glinting along it as well, her blaster holstered and strapped comfortably to her hip, two vicious looking daggers crossed behind her back. Even as she reached the cockpit, she felt her irritation melting away slightly.

You beckoned?

Her voice was distorted, and slightly mechanical sounding, through the audio of her helm. It was strange even for her. She could tell already that he was just putting on a good face, and she knew he was far from happy with her decision. No doubt piloting this mission made it all the more real for him.

“Be safe out there…we’ve still got a deal, remember?”

Italia smiled behind the shielding of her helmet and nodded slightly, the soft hiss of the pure oxygen from the “ditchable” O2 tank also slung across her back annoying her slightly. She understood the need for the pure air, she certainly didn’t want to chance the health risks…blacking out or worse on the way down was just NOT appealing, but the constant and steady hissing of the air wasn’t helping her any either.

I remember very well Daryn. I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep. Be safe getting out of here okay?

One gloved and gauntleted hand came to rest lightly against his shoulder, and she was glad that he couldn’t see the mild anxiety in her eyes. A light squeeze was given to his shoulder as she knelt down there before him and gazed at him.

Don’t worry about me. When you come to pick us up, things will likely be very sticky and we’ll have injured. Load up and fly off no matter what. Bane’s team, Alpha, will be the first ones you pick up. Listen to him no matter what you think, even if that means leaving someone behind. He won’t want to any more than you will, but just in case.

I trust you.

With that she gave his head a light tap with her helmet as she stood, then walked back to take her place with the others, grabbing the repulsor lift she was to use. The lights dimmed, then were cut and the Star shuddered beneath her feet as they all but fell toward the planet below. You’re entering too fast, Daryn, dammit flyboy. Another tense minute and the lights flickered on to their warning red. Daryn’s voice came over the com again. Ten minutes until the first jump. Lia shifted in her place, eyes scanning the visuals in her HUD. Her eyes lingered for a moment on Solus’ad and she took a calming breath and cleared her throat. One minute until drop off, Alpha team. She shifted again, testing the weight of the weapons and ammunition she carried and moving her head to jostle the three strands of beads inside her helmet (hopefully she could get at the blades there if needed). Hopefully they wouldn’t be needed. Armed to the teeth as she was, she felt fairly confident in her abilities to not run into many problems, but she hadn’t ever fought in so much heavy armor before. She hoped the training she’d been doing in it was going to be enough.

The Star banked slightly and she tensed as it leveled out again and the mechanical whine of the loading ramp lowering reached her ears as the ship slowed around her forcing her to brace herself a little better as the rush of pressurized air, and inertia, threatened to unbalance her. Daryn ticked down the time and finally gave the green. In a flurry of motion and vocabulator distorted commands over the roar of the wind, Alpha team was on their way down to the planet below, the ramp rising up behind them as the Star banked again.

Finally they were up.

"Coms check! Sound off Bravo!"

Firians standing by.

"Bravo Leader standing by. Repulosor check, and altimeter check."

She brought up her altimeter: 11,000...right on target. With the press of a button the repulsor flared slightly and she nodded before shutting it down again. All in order, good.

Firians standing by.

"Bravo Leader Standing by. Switch huds to night vision."

That...didn't sound good. He was hesitant about something. She turned her head to look directly at him through her visor. Lia doubted he'd notice the movement except for maybe through her cam, but the way he'd said that had her concerned. She'd be keeping an eye on him now...especially since it had obviously been about the check they had just done, and since it seemed his repulsor had worked...that only left the altimeter. Sighing, she turned her head away again as she switched her HUD over to night vision.

Five minutes and counting.

She began to test her armor’s fastenings and joints. Her hand ran along the two sets of five throwing knives on her belt (and the other ten fastened around her left thigh), the various grenades clipped to it, the daggers at her back. That hand moved to her pistol making sure it was secured, then back to her rifle slung on her shoulder and tapped the various pouches of ammo double checking all of them. One pack against her left hip stored her datapad, a hacking chip, and a multi-use wire for connections. Just in case, the smaller pouch beside it held wire cutters, and about 2 lbs of a very handy little substance dubbed C4 (the detonators for it she had settled into a DIFFERENT pouch, after all, she didn’t feel like dieing today). It was only a precautionary measure since Mal had the regular detonators, but again, things could happen, there could be problems, and one just never knew when you might need a little something to stick in an opportune place and start all kinds of confusion amongst your assailants.

She changed the frequency to the cockpit.

One minute to drop off.

-- Catch ya on the return trip flyboy. --

The ramp lowered and the group moved forward. Her gut clenched as she switched her com back to the team frequency and patched into the other’s cams.

Green light was given and it was out into the starlit sky.

Through the various sounds that came through over her com, some people were loving it, others hating it. Lia was somewhere close to hating it, but was oddly enjoying it at the same time. Lia wasn’t exactly afraid of heights, no…she could do heights, but only if there was something solid beneath her feet. This was most likely the reason she hated being picked up, so now, finding herself suspended in mid-air with absolutely NOTHING holding her up and having to trust a repulsor lift….it just didn’t seem like such a good idea any more. How long had she been in the air now? Couldn’t have been more than 20 seconds. She started counting silently.

Remind me never to jump out of a flying object EVER again unless I’ll die otherwise…and even then it’s debatable!

Despite the gut wrenching fear and anxiety about meeting a very messy death as a pile of gelatinous materials, it was really rather peaceful up here with the stars and the wind. Still counting off the time until she needed to bring up the repulsor belt, the young woman gazed around at her surroundings, her deep blue helm twisting slightly so she could see through her visor rather than through the night vision of the HUD. She almost wanted to take her helmet off just to see the view in all its glory….almost. By now that hissing O2 was welcome enough since it was keeping her blessedly level headed and conscious. Soon enough the altimeter on her HUD blinked at her and she maneuvered herself to where she could use the repulsor to slow herself as much as possible and let her legs absorb the rest of the shock, with a press of her thumb, the repulsors flared to life, slowing her descent.

Good.

So far.

In her peripherals she could see her team members performing the same actions, though, she had NO idea where Ark was right now. He must have fallen like a heavy stone. Either way, as the ground came rushing up to meet her, she cringed slightly and forced her muscles and joints to remain reflexive rather than rigid. Surprisingly, the shock of impact wasn’t as bad as she’d thought it would be. Between the repulsor and her legs, most of the impact was easily absorbed, though she gave a light tumble to her landing to aid in the rest of it, she stood detaching the belt and dropped it. Detaching the oxygen tube from the back of her helmet, she pulled off the small canister and walked a few feet before dropping it as well. Taking a moment to get oriented and used to stable ground again, she watched the cams in her hood searching out Solus’ad’s.

The ground was coming up mighty fast…

That was when it hit her. His breathing was coming in over her com and she looked up into the sky, searching for that streak of silver she’d know to be him. The rain that splashed across her visor did nothing to help her, but finally she caught him in her sights. He was moving around too much…something had just gone wrong…VERY wrong.

No, ohholyhell….no no no….not now Sol…kriffing…screw the stealth!

With that she was off at top speeds. Lucky she was a runner and had been practicing in the armor…but it was still heavy as hell, especially with the weapons and slugs she was hefting around. The cam of her HUD jostled as she ran to catch up to him…hopefully BEFORE he hit the ground. Landing on human, though not MUCH better than falling onto hard ground, WAS, in fact, better. True, it would hurt…..a LOT….but she’d deal with the pain, if and when it came. There was still no certainty she’d make it in time.

Sprinting through the darkness, she paid little attention to anything other than breathing, footing, and him. Italia didn’t dare say anything for fear that her voice over the com would only break his concentration, not to mention she would likely use his name rather than any formalities, but that would be a moot point if anything happened to him. No, she couldn’t risk breaking his concentration. There was a minor flare of light as she drew closer to where she saw his fall carrying him to meet the ground, and she silently thanked Manda as she recognized the light of the repulsor. It was still too low, however, and there was still a chance that…NO! That wouldn’t happen, not here, and not now. She watched in horror as he hit the ground face first and she anxiously watched his came for movement…none…then…there! She saw him flip over through his cam and through her visor. She was so near now, and her breathing minorly labored from the run, but at least she heard him…cackling?

Laughing.

He was LAUGHING!

As Italia reached where he was, skidding to a stop on the wet grass, she wanted to KICK him!!

Glaring down at him through her visor she watched him pull off his helmet. Just to make her agitation more visible to him, she pulled off her own helmet (while cursing rather colorfully in several different languages by the way) and glared at him some more as the rain soaked her hair.

Gorramit Solus’ad! Are you kriffin’ insane?! Nearly gave me a heart attack with that li’l stunt! Are you alright? Are you hurt?

After that statement she gave him a slight smile and held out a hand, helping pick him up off the ground. The rain sparkled against her deep blue armor as it slid down the plates. Pulling him, willingly or unwillingly, into a swift one armed hug, the fiery…and now wet (much to her dismay)…little mando stepped back and chuckled slightly.

Lieutenant Firians reporting, Sir…

She gave him a cheeky little grin to help mask her previous concern.

…and damn glad you’re okay.

With a swift shake out of her hair, that sent her beads swinging and clicking against each other, she put her helmet back on, allowing the beads to remain out for easier access to them and the blades within.

Now, knowing that Solus’ad was safe, it was time for the hunt.

Oya!

[Sait]

Caazun sat rather quietly with the rest of Bravo team as the transport descended into the atmosphere of the planet Shogun. He had only time to partake in conversation with one member of his squad, so they were all unfamiliar to him. He only knew two men, one being Mandalore himself.

The pilot signaled that the drop-off time was approaching quickly. Mandalore commissioned the team for a repulsor and altimeter check. Caazun picked up his two pieces of equipment and checked them without a word. His altimeter gave the proper read-out of 11,000 meters. His repulsor was blinking, indicating a slight problem, but Caazun left it alone. It simply meant the power was less than it should be. Must be a problem with the auto recharge function.

"Colonel Caazun, checking in." he spoke through his intercom.

Now he could sit back and relax. The landing would go smoothly, of course-- it always did. The one minute call was given and Mandalore asked the team to step up for drop-off. Caazun left his seat and stood next to the rest of his team with confidence-- today they would be victorious. They had to be, after all, or many Mandalorian lives would be at risk.

10 seconds... the countdown began, 9, 8, 7... he didn't care for the moment really. He just waited until everyone else jumped and followed suit.

The decent was played in slow motion-- he descended through the air at a regular pace without much worry. He didn't want to ruin his calm attitude reserved for times of war-- if the rest of his team ever went crazy on a mission, Caazun was always calm and strong-minded to restore their morale.

The altimeter read 3,000 meters... it was time to deploy his repulsor. Caazun activated it and began to slow his fall. Everything was still going smoothly. Nothing to worry about.

At about 500 meters, the colonel's repulsor unit began to malfunction. The power reading was low, and his decent began to increase rapidly.

"Don't panic, don't panic." he told himself aloud.

The large man's Altimeter read 100 meters. Impact was coming soon. He sped towards the ground like a missile destined for impact.

50 meters...

Caazun extended his left knee, bracing himself. He hit the ground with his left knee and right leg taking the impact and dispersing it, but the sound was akin to booming thunder. A large plume of dust exploded into the air, covering his battle suit.

"Damn it all... Colonel Caazun reporting in."

[Keilara]

Fable breathed, or tried to. Then she tried not breathing, but that just made her want to hyperventilate. It was hard to decide which was worse. She hated heights, hated flying, hated all of it and now she was flying to go jump out into 11,000 meters of nothing but air... Only good thing was, if she survived, she got to shoot people. Oh, and Kistra wasn’t with her. Though in the long run Fable knew not having the strill around to help would be a bit of an annoyance, Kistra hated flying, shrieked if she fell from any height of more than 3 feet, and tended to not do well with heavy blaster fire. All of which were requirements for this mission, the flight and fall to the greatest of Fable’s displeasure.

She reached a hand back to check that her hair was still tightly bound against her head as she watched Lia make her way to the front. A tiny smirk crossed her lips. The annoyance came off the woman in a wave as she walked by. That was another thing Fable intensely disliked about missions in general but anxiety causing missions the most. Being Vahlan, she had just enough force sensitivity to make some things annoying. One of them was that a heightened personal anxiety raised her awareness of teammates emotions while helping her to focus herself to block everything out. It balanced, but it was frustrating.

The sniper wasn’t given much time to think on it longer. She slid her helmet into place over her head just as the ramp lowered and Alpha group readied to make the jump. A part of her heart went with each. Though some may not return with them, she wished those that fell an honorable death. Her eyes stopped briefly on Kaarmine. In the short time she had known him he had made a favorable impression. As he jumped she sent out a quick hope that he would come back a stronger, prouder, sturdier warrior. He had it in him.

The ramp closed and Mandalore gave them the signal to switch to Bravo’s private com channel. Her anxiety increased ten-fold, her heart fluttering in her throat. And then he spoke and she remembered how her heart had been stirred by his words only two days prior. Filled with cool determination, Fable sounded off and began her equipment check. Her repulsor looked perfect, she let loose a small sigh of relief at that, it would be the only thing that kept her from breaking into brittle little Fable bits. Her altimeter checked out, and she switched her HUD to nightvision. Lastly she switched on her personal O2 tank.

When Mandalore ordered them to stand and run through an arms check, she started to appreciate having him as their team leader. She was set. She had her gun, rounds, extra rounds, her knives. She took a breath and helped out the two people closest to her.

It was when they were commanded to step-up her full appreciation for their leader stepped in. Gone, with that command was her nervousness. She was a soldier and she would fight, for the glory of Mandalore. The ramp opened once again and two by two they dropped out of the Ghost Star. When her turn came, Fable closed her eyes and stepped off the edge of the ramp out into the darkness.

Silent.

Falling.

Deadly.

She felt more alive in the moments as she fell than she ever had in her life. The wind rushed past her, roaring in her ears as she streaked through the sky. And all too soon her free fall was over. Opening her eyes to check her altimeter she saw she had fallen far enough to light her repulsors. The ground seemed to be coming up much faster than she had anticipated it would and she prepared herself for a bit of a bone crunch. She would have to roll when she hit, would be the only way to avoid bad damage, and her legs were gonna ache for a few minutes.

Closer, closer, slower, and slower. Fable pulled herself into a bit of a crouch and hit the ground. And it hurt. Hurt enough for her to take a gasping breath as she rolled off her legs and laid in the dirt a moment.

Owwwww

Still laying on the ground, she detached herself from her O2 tank. Then carefully, checking for lasting damage on her legs as she moved, she rolled onto her stomach and up onto her knees, detaching the repulsor. Cazuun reported in and she opened her mouth to report in as well when something triggered her senses causing her to look left. Lia was running towards something...

“Lia!”

She was running and running fast. Fable could hear it over the com. Something was wrong. She ran a quick equipment check and was about to start off after the other girl when she heard what sounded like a bit of hollering and decided well, maybe it was better to just leave those two be for a bit. Some of Lia’s swearing had made it across the com. Fable nodded to herself. Definitely better to not get in the middle of that. She didn’t know how Mandalore would deal with it but that was between them. Fable doubted he would do anything drastic when they had a mission to handle.

And meh, she had lost one of her knives in the fall. Fable sighed in frustration as she knelt looking for the black blade against the earth. Night vision or regular vision at night, seeing a black blade against brown dirt was a toughy. As she looked for her blade she listened intently for the others of the team to say they had made it safely. She wouldn’t let it affect her fighting, but she also wouldn’t deny she had a bit more concern for Mal than she did just about everyone else on the team.

[Lionheart]

Though Alrond constantly traveled in various starships to his missions, he had never jumped out of one before. His current emotions were mixed feelings of anxiety and excitement. But, he stayed calm and listened over the comm system in his helmet for orders and the jump out time. They were currently 11,000 meters in the atmosphere and Alrond mainly justed wanted to jump out and get the ordeal over with.

First came the comm check for which Alrond replied, "Staff Sergeant Callahan'Rika, checking in."

So, the comm system seemed to be in correct order. Alrond did not want to dissapoint on his first mission as a member of the Special Operations unit. So, he followed his orders closely trying not to find anyway that it could be possible for anything to be over looked.

Alrond stood up when told in uniason with everyone else and was told by Mandalore to go through an equipment check. Alrond knew that this was an extremely important excerise that should not be overlooked, so he checked all of his equipment. His pistols were safely straped on his side, his medical pack was very tightly secured even moreso than he would have them normally, various other important medical were checked, and finally two canteens; one containing shig and the other containing Mandalorian wine. They both could be used to revitalize the body, numb pain, or help death come more pleasantly.

They were now down to the one minute mark before they would all jump. He secured his oxygen tank and breathing appartus so that no problems would occur while going down. He also secured his repulsorlift that would just be thrown away after reaching the ground. Going through one final check of equipment to make sure that he didn't miss anything, Alrond looked around at his fellow Bravo team. He was introduced to Colonel Caazun in the mess hall, but otherwise he did not know anyone. But, by the end of this mission Alrond had a feeling he'd have gotten to know all of these people as if he had known them his whole life.

Mandalore gave the order to jump, and Alrond with hesitation left the ramp and into the night air. It was dark, but with the night vision on, he could see some ground in the distance which he presumed was the designated landing spot. felt invigorated as he was plummeting to the ground, though he knew that the repulsor would not kill him. He was not going as fast as some of the others, mainly because of his small frame, so the strong wind allowed him to glad down.

At one point Alrond's small body did not agree with the winds, as he was blown almost upside down. Even with the repulsor, that was a deadly situation. Thinking quickly, Alrond tucked his head into his lap and straightened his legs, and he started to move back into position.

With a sudden thump, Alrond landed on the ground, directly on his butt. He stood up and threw away the oxygen tank and repulsor as he did so. Rubbing his bottom he listened to the comm link with some report and Alrond replied, "Staff Sergeant Callahan'Rika reporting, if there are any seriously injured please see me for a patch up."

With that out of the way, he walked over to where the rest of the team was around Mandalore and some female Mandalorians he did not know. He was still rubbing his bottom as it would probably be bruised, but Alrond was otherwise unharmed thanks in part to his armor and another part to the repulsor.

As Alrond reached the others, he did a quick check of all of his equipment. First, he checked his medical equipment, all of which seemed unharmed. Next his weapons, the pistols did not seem like that suffered any damage, so that was good. But, there was a crack in the canteen of Shig which was pouring out the containers bottome, so he casually just threw it away. The canteen of Mandalorian wine was alright, though it had a small dent.

[Dire Wolf]

Mal thumped his breastplate to the members of Alpha team as Bane leapt off of the speeding ship. It was the best thing that the ori'mando'ad could think to do, a small sign of good will. The behemoth checked his equipment one final time before being told to stand up, starting with his massive magnetic accelerator rifle. The bullet was bigger and faster than some sniper variants of MA technology, yet it still shot at a solid, but slow, fully automatic pace. He silently thanked its Aphithirian manufacturers for this... they may not have been very civilized, but their war time technology far surpassed anything that the Republic had. Save ships... it was the one area that his former people never had much interest in.

His rifle was fine, everything checked out. So he moved to the ammunition and power cells that it required to spew forth its sixty-caliber death. The power-cell lasted for a good 400 rounds, which meant that it was very likely that he'd only need one or two extra on this mission. He had five. The magazine held 30 fifteen millimeter rounds, he had a good twenty. Ammunition for his rifle was heavy, each magazine weighing a good two to three pounds, so it was safe to say that with his rifle and ammo alone he was carrying ninety pounds. Add in a full suit of Mandalorian Scout Armor, two short swords (muniit'beskad swords for normal sized mando'ade), two knives (short swords for normal folk), and a few bricks of high explosive detonators... you have yourself one heavy Mando'ad.

The massive man sounded off and checked his modified repulsor lift, it had to be so that it could fit with his... enlarged... form, and all was well. Luckily. That still wasn't to say that it wouldn't screw the pooch on him mid drop, by the Force he hated having to rely on technology. Mal switched his visor HUD to night vision, and the loading ramp shifted from the dull shades of gray to vivid hues of green and black. As if on cue, the aruetii's voice flashed across his comm system.

Drop-off point two: ETA five minutes. Bravo team on deck

It honestly took all he had not to march back up to the cockpit and hurl the little man out of the loading ramp, fortunately for the little scum the massive man required his services for the moment. If that weren't the case, though, “Daryn” would have most certainly been the first one to the ground. Mal didn't enjoy loathing people, he really didn't, but when arrogant, yet pitiful, loud mouth's thought it was a good idea to take advantage of his otherwise fine and dandy nature it just irked him to no end. Why the little man was even on the mission escaped the ori'mando'ad.

Stand- up! Equipment Check!

Mal stood up when prompted, and then proceeded to do a triple check of his ammunition, rifle, swords, armor, knives, detonators, and repulsor lift. Everything checked out and would run like a well oiled machine. Or so it said. He didn't trust it, not one bit... one doesn't live in the vu'traat as long as Mal did by relying on technology. He looked about the cabin of the Ghost Star for the precious few moments before the thirty second warning was given. A cocktail of adrenaline and a few other stimulants (all natural, for him) were almost instantly poured into the man's blood, which instantly carried the chemicals to his muscles. The only thing that the massive man heard after that was his own accelerated heartbeat in his ears. Again, one of his old running cadence's struck his mind, “now we stand up, buckle up,shuffle to the door.”

Then it was his turn to jump.

“Jump right out and shout MAN-DA-LORE,” his mind adapted the cadence to the situation. Massive feet spun around on the very edge of the loading ramp, the massive T visor giving one last look at the inhabitants of the speeding ship, then at Mandalor. A little smirk flashed across the man's shielded face as he launched himself off of the ramp, spinning his torso around so that he did a complete backflip just as his head disappeared from their view. He, of course, screamed “Mandalore”at the top of his massive lungs.

The man watched his decent via the altimeter, this was far from his first HALO drop... but it didn't mean that he feared it any less. Fear was the only real sane reaction to jumping out of a perfectly good moving space ship... it (the action) was just not the natural thing to do. “If my chute don't open wide,” the cadence haunted his mind, “I got another one by my side.” Crystalline blue eyes darted towards the rapidly approaching ground through the visor.

6000

He was half way to the activation point. Nearly there. Again, the cadence plagued his mind, “and if that chute don't open round...” He smirked. No. He didn't smirk. Mal laughed. Let it never be said that he didn't have a morbid sense of humor. Blue eyes glanced back at the altimeter.

3500

He thumbed the button on his modified repulsor lift. Nothing. He thumbed the button again... and again, nothing happened. “I'm gonna be the first one to the ground,” his mind finished the little excerpt of the cadence. He glanced back at his altimeter, which was falling rapidly. Cautionary red lights began to appear on his HUD and warning lights began to scroll across the lower right hand of his view. He glanced back at his altimeter, then to the command lines.

2500...

//Warning!
//Warning!
//Approaching bottom line of repulsor efficiency! Activate lift now!
.
..
...
//Reached bottom line of repulsor efficiency.
//Lift auto-activating

His lift sputtered to life as the suit auto-activate command was issued. He silently thanked the force, and cursed the techies that “modified” his lift. He would have a stern “talking” to them after he got back to Concord Dawn... to say the least. The ground wasn't approaching quite as fast now, actually, its ascent towards him seemed to slow to a crawl. For this he again, thanked the Force. The behemoth hit the ground with a roll and did a quick equipment check. Everything was in order, and he didn't lose a single piece of hardware.

Great arms unslung and lifted an equally great rifle up to his shoulder as he held it in the low ready position. Should there be a single enemy in sight he would riddle the hapless hut'uun (coward) with fifteen millimeter holes in the space of a millisecond.

[Mr.Bøbert]

"Comms check! Sound off Bravo."

Zeth awoke with a start, then scolded himself. He'd fallen asleep sitting up. Apparently, he hadn't gotten enough sleep while getting ready for the mission. How could he? It was just too exciting. He was actually participating in one of the greatest things the Mandalorians had done since the Mandalorian Wars.

"Lieutenant Colonel Kor, standing by."

Everybody else sounded off, and then Mandalore spoke again.

"Bravo Leader standing by. Repulosor check, and altimeter check."

Zeth checked his repulsor, making sure it was set to 11,000 meters. He tapped the activator button, and he felt himself nearly being lifted off his seat. He quickly turned it back off. Didn't want to waste power, he'd need all of it for the jump.

"Kor, ready and waiting."

Again, Mandalore waited for everyone to respond before speaking, but this time, it seemed as if he was hesitating.

"Bravo Leader Standing by. Switch huds to night vision."

Zeth did so, and everything was suddenly illuminated in an eerie greenish light.

"Drop-Off point two: ETA five minutes. Bravo team on deck."

"Stand up! Equipment Check!" came Mandalore's voice again.

Zeth checked all his equipment, and everything seemed to be in order.

"Kor, standing by."

"One minute until drop off," came another voice.

"Step up!"

Zeth, along with the others, joined Mandalore at the ramp.

The countdown reached the end, and he jumped. Ah, it was a wonderfully strange feeling, falling. Nothing underneath your feet, no rope holding you to the craft you'd just jumped out of.... It was even better then being in space. He'd have to do this more often. He let out a little whoop. He spun around a moment, just for fun, but then went back to business. His helmet made a little beeping noise, indicating it was time to activate his repulsor. He did so, and he instantly felt his descent slowing. He looked down, and saw the ground getting closer... closer.... wait, what was that right below him?

oof!

He looked around, realizing he'd landed... sorta. He was in a tree. A small tree, but a tree nonetheless.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!"

He squirmed out of the grasp of the (thankfully) dull branched tree, and then felt himself falling, again. But this time, it only lasted a split second, and he let out another oof! again as he hit the muddy ground. Only then did he realize it was raining. He stood up, and looked around. It looked like everybody had made it to the ground okay...

"I hate trees.... I mean, um, Lieutenant Colonel Kor, reporting in."




((I'm not even sure if there were trees where they landed... but oh, well. lol))

[Zarkan]

Ark stood in the back of ghost star as it shook and bounced in it's rapid decent through the upper atmosphere. Ark's cold shell matched his cool demeanor rather well as the first team left the ship with ark sparing a nod to itani as he left the ship before he slowly clanked up to the edge of the cargo bay. Ark joined the others in inspecting his equipment as the others did like wise. His axe of course needed little attention and a quick double check of his rifle confirmed that his weapons were indeed in good working order. In his mind as the watched the others go about their own preparations he ran his own check list. First the shield's a palpable hum gathered around him as the light shield generator came online followed by a series of clanks and whirls as nozzles and thrusters of his ion drives swiveled in their test patterns. Ark leaned back against the bulk head next to the door as first mandalore and then itanlia lept into space leading the way for the other soldiers to follow. At last ark stamped down the ramp before leaning slightly to see the emptiness and clouds before with almost no hesitation he let himself fall forwards into the embrace of the free fall.

Whistling had always been the first thing he had noticed when he was in these jumps and now was no exception as the air sang it's song weakly in his "ears" ark steadied himself with his arms as his cape fluttered behind him in the fall before he simple disregarded the glowing orange squares directing him to his planned landing spot in favor of bringing himself down with his own ability. Ark's vision nearly left him as he hit the clouds at over 300k/hr The cyborg actually passed a few of the other mandalorians as he burst from the cloud layers hurtling towards the ground like a silver shooting star. Ark flipped him the air to put his legs under him before his speed abruptly slowed with the ignition of his thrusters. Despite this the cyborg still landed with enough force to make a few trees shudder. Ark stood pinging his surroundings with his radar for IFF's before having the much more blatant clue of lia streaking pas his field. Ark tilted his head before starting after her. He actually made it to mandalore only moments after lia. "Slip pup?" he asked some what mutely just in case a republic patrol happened to be about. "I believe the plan was to use your repulsor to catch you, not you head."

[projectsunfire]

((-Ok, the post listings are in. We post in this order: Solus'ad (Projectsunfire), Italia Firians (Talau), Colonel Cazuun(Sait,) Fable Bariss(Sniper Cookie Bunny) ,Alrond Callahan'Rica(Lionheart), Malak Kra'nelan(Dire), Zeth Kor(Mr. Bobert), Arkanos Phelan(Zarkan)-))

Solus'ad looked up at Italia as she gave him her hand. He took it gratefully, and let he help him up. He returned her hug, and nodded at her enthusiasm. "Thanks." Painfully, he grunted and cracked his back. "Im getting too old for this Osik." He said, as he checked his gear. All was accounted for. At this point more were gathering to him. He was surprised they hadn't all caught him. He chuckled inwardly at the thought.

"I'm fine, just glad Im not dead. I am going to have a serious talk with the techs who made the transfer software for these things." He did a quick review of the drop on his hud, and noticed at least three major software errors that nearly caused deaths. "I see several of you had problems with them as well." His barritone came over their coms, ending in a tinny snap.

With a quick snap he unbuckled his Blaster Carbine and clipped it to his Tactical Sling. Thoughts of the last week ran through his head. Home cooked meals, tender moments that came and went. Who the hell was he really. clawing his way to his mid forties, and still confused like a little boy. He sighed. His head was far too chaotic right now and he needed focus. With an effort he pushed his thoughts to the back of his head.

He nodded to Ark's comment about landing on his head, and chuckled. "Lucky for me its empty eh?" The rest had arrived at this point. He signalled them to make a circle, and he knelt amongst them. He brought up his Multi Gaunt, and tapped into their huds useing his master signal. He brought up the schematic of the Republic base they were about to infiltrate. He looked at the chrono on his hud and nodded. "Ok you all know the plan. We have just over seven hours before our first drop ship breaks Atmo and the bombardment begins." His voice seemed professionally intense, even though the coms cut out some of the high and low frequencies of his voice.

"I want us in, and the demo in place before we even hear the first shell. We'll need to hide on site in case something goes wrong, and we'll sabotage their systems." Solus'ad, switched the master signal off. "We have alot of ground to cover before we even can lay down charges, so lets not waste any more sitting here kissing the dirt." Solus'ad Stood up rather lithely for an older man, and switched the safety on his Carbine and blaster pistol off. If they could see his face, and the excitement on it. oh they would have laughed. He was like a child on lifeday. "Lt. Firians, your on point. I'll be right behind you. Fable, Malak, and Ark, I want you three center. Alrond and Zeth, your in the back, Colonel Cazuun. I want you bringing up the rear. Tactical column." Solus'ad gave them the signal for movement. "Lets move."

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

Not a problem…but maybe I should start callin’ YOU “old man, Sir” instead of Bane?

She chuckled slightly, the vocalization sounding tinny and digitalized through the vocabulator of her helm.

Though…I think it suits him better.

Lia snickered loudly and it wouldn’t be hard to imagine her winking at him playfully behind that beskar mask. Switching off the com system for a moment she allowed the vocabulator to run through the open air for a moment after double checking their surroundings. Ark was on his way, but he wasn’t close enough yet to hear her.

…Besides…I told you already... “I’ll be there if an’ when you need me,” didn’t I? So you don’ need to thank me. I came fast as I could…even if you didn’ call.

With that, she brought her com back up just as Ark arrived and poked fun at Sol. Planting her hands on her hips, she turned to look up at the large cyborg and huffed slightly.

Ba’buir! Really…and you too...

She added, turning her head to look back at Sol, not certain if she wanted to laugh at them or kick them both.

”Lucky for me it’s empty”…hmph…utreekov elek…

The statement was grumbled half-heartedly, a mild hint of humor behind the words that likely only Solus’ad and Ark would be able to catch…perhaps Mal if he were paying any attention. Fable was the next to arrive since she’d followed Lia during part of her run toward Sol, before deciding to leave the two alone for a moment, and with her coming the rest of the team seemed to appear out of the mist and rain like multicolored specters, materializing through her visor and HUD views from all directions through the silvery screen of water. It mattered little to her as she loosened her blaster just enough to get at it easily if she needed to, then pulled her rifle from over her shoulder, holding the strap out of the mud as she searched her belt for her silencer.

She cursed rather creatively when she discovered she didn’t have it.

Growling her displeasure at her own idiocy, the woman focused her mind in another direction to calm herself. Solus’ad just happened to be the first thing to come to mind. Surprise, surprise. Sighing, she allowed her mind to mull over the previous week, and chuckled quietly. It had been a night, not so unlike this one, that she’d really started to get to know Solus’ad as more than just Mandalore, and now, honestly, after that week she found it difficult to call him anything other than his name. Well, to be perfectly honest with herself, Italia wanted to call him something other than his name or the titles and formalities attached to him. Shaking her head slightly, she pushed those thoughts away as well as she caught Mandalore’s signal and stepped closer towards him, her mind slipping easily into her “business mode.” Following his lead, she knelt beside him on the soggy earth beneath them, the butt of her rifle coming to rest against the ground as well as she used it to better balance herself on one knee, her hand resting comfortably along the leather wrap toward the top of the barrel.

If one were to have put a pane of glass between the two (and taken out Lia’s rifle), they would have been a near mirror image of each other. Solus’ad’s broad, silver and black armored frame seeming to tower over her slighter, much more feminine, figure…even kneeling. The way they knelt there, however, one knee planted firmly against the life sustaining earth below them, neither caring about the muck that was slowly beginning to cling to their glistening armor, their bearing one of confidence in their own abilities…was truly what seemed to reflect between the two. Even to Lia, who only noticed it peripherally, the resemblance was striking. Lia had noticed this resemblance many times before, and so she thought little of it. To others, however, the professional, confident, intense aura that radiated outward from Solus’ad was echoed (though to a lesser degree) by the smaller woman, who seemed to add an extra fire and zest to hers. Mandalore looked and ‘felt’ calm and cool, where as Italia…though looking calm enough on the outside…seemed to be reigning herself in with a type of control and restraint learned from necessity rather than choice. To some of the group it may have even looked like Mandalore was holding an invisible leash and keeping the riled up hunting animal that was Italia at bay for the time being.

Lia watched as her HUD went black for a moment before it was replaced with the blueprints for the base they were about to infiltrate. Green eyes scanned the various points marked on the schematics…points of entry, the anti-aircraft defense relay, the munitions storage they were to destroy, the routes they were supposed to take (if all went well), and points of exit. Her head was bowed as she gazed at all of this, listening carefully to what he said. Seven hours…it would be seven hours they had to survive in that hell hole. Seven hours of sneaking around and most likely laying in ventilation shafts to keep out of the way of being detected…if they were lucky enough to get that far without being noticed (ha ha ha). Already she was looking for alternative routes and strategic points of defense and retreat when suddenly her HUD went black again before the various cams flickered back to life. Huffing slightly, she pulled a face at the fact that she’d not gotten to look at it longer. Even before he said not to waste any more time, she was standing, and he was standing as well. One knee of her armor was covered in brown mud, the blue and embroidered soft leather kama she wore dripping and drenched and spattered with mud as well. Lia chuckled happily at the muck she was slowly being covered in and held her head a bit higher. Now, even in this new armor, she felt at home…dirty, wet, armed to the teeth with blades and guns, small chance of survival…sounded like fun to her.

Dirty, wet, an’ packin’ a punch…just like bein’ a merc again. Maybe military life ain’t so bad after all.

She muttered happily to herself as she checked that the safeties on her rifle and blaster were off. Sighing, she slung her rifle back over her shoulders (since she didn’t have her silencer it would be useless to try and use it until their stealth was already compromised) and withdrew two of her throwing knives from the strap around her thigh. Nodding to Sol, she waited for him to finish his orders as she brought up her HUD’s compass. Once the signal was given she was off like a Bha’lir ((link)) searching out the prey for its family, the dark coloring of her armor allowing her to swiftly fade into the darkness.

It wasn’t long until she was out away from the others.

Muting her end of the com, Italia slipped silently through the night, her footfalls light even in the mud and rain that threatened to suck her into the soil and bind her there. She had to get away from the others, if only to escape the distraction of so many being around her while she was trying to scout and keep them from running headlong into a situation they didn’t want. Pausing every now and again, she would scan her surroundings through the 360 night vision of her HUD, a blessing in the low light. Watching the cam feed that was Sol’s helm, she’d allow them to draw nearer, passing a land marker she’d set out for herself before she would move on again. This allowed her to rest in bits and catch her breath, slowing her heart and keeping her lungs from high stress over a long amount of time…all of which would help her later on in this mission. Instead of wearing herself down, she was warming herself up.

Time passed in this way for what seemed like quite a long amount of time, and all of it blessedly free of obstacles and problems. She would run, she would pause and scan her HUD while she rested and caught her breath, she would wait until Sol reached her marker, then she would set off running again. It was a simple enough routine, and it got the job done. Slowly the lights of the base came into her view and she was becoming more wary, moving slower and watching more carefully. It was a good thing she did too.

About two minutes after the first lights of the base started appearing, she paused. It wasn’t one of her typical pauses, but rather a precautionary one as she thought she saw movement in the brush not far ahead of her. Taking no chances, she turned and crept a ‘safe’ distance away before hightailing it back toward their team. As she came into sight of the pack of mandos, she held up a hand for them to halt, slowing to a jog as she melted out of the darkness and rain again, and into easy sight of them. Once they had stopped and she had reached them, she stepped swiftly up to Solus’ad, unmuting her com again.

We’re coming up on the base...maybe ten minutes...

She was panting from the exertion, the weight of the armor and slug rounds plus her gear was getting to her after the almost 30 minutes of constant running (even with her short breaks). Slugs weren’t light to carry around and neither was her slug thrower, but the armor was what topped it off. Either way, she didn’t like the fact that she was breathing so hard after what would normally (for her) be a fairly easy running time.

...Three minute run from here…there was some movement, but I don’t know what it is since I didn’t get a clear look…and I...we...can’t afford to have us all walking into a trap….I’d like to go out and scout the area before you move further.

Extending her spine and muscles upward, almost lazily, Lia brought in a great breath and let it out slowly, hands hooked above her head to keep her lungs stretched out. She coughed a little and shifted her weight, anxious to be gone again as tensed muscles began to relax more than she wanted. She didn’t know what the potential threat was, or even if there really WAS a threat, but she’d be damned if she let it get the chance to know her pack was near by and possibly harm it. Already her breathing was beginning to quiet itself, no longer the great panting breaths she’d been taking when she first arrived.

[Sait]

Caazun's head swayed from side to side as he overlooked his teammates with a silent nod to each. This was the moment they'd been waiting for, preparing for. This wasn't a drill-- they were here to conquer and conquer they would. Each member of the team had their own agendas, skills, families, friends. None of that mattered here. They would have to work together whether they liked it or not and Caazun certainly did not like it. He was more fond of having all the say in a matter and keeping the numbers he commanded to a minimum. Of course, he would be in command of the lower ranking members of the special Ops and each person present now was an officer. The colonel did not like this one bit, but he'd have to bite the bullet for the sake of the rest of the squad.

According to Mandalore, there seemed to be a huge flaw in the equipment they'd been given today. Caazun's mind wandered to thoughts of sabotage within their ranks, but that was quelled almost immediately. Punishing a traitor was one thing, picking one out was something else entirely. At least he wasn't the only one who'd had troubles. It appeared that he had close to the least amount in fact. This only made sense for the Ubese man-- it was his right to have the best equipment at all times.

Mandalore called the team into a circle and showed them various images of the base and gave a basic rundown of their strategy once again. The base looked simple enough, but the time constraints could pose a threat to the success of the mission. He finished quickly; Mandalore knew how valuable their time was at this point as well.

The Bravo Team fell into formation and began their trek towards the base, but it was the beauty of the set-up that Caazun realized a few moments after they'd begun that impressed him. Mandalore had placed a female with similar armor to him and apparent survival instincts judging by the knives she carried with her at front. She could guide them pretty well through the thick brush ahead and she seemed anxious enough. Mandalore himself would take second, to protect the woman if need be. The rest of the team back to himself was perfectly balanced, with the medical worker just ahead of himself. Then, the ranged weapon expert who prided himself on his ability with a blaster in the back to pick off any threats from all around without much worry. It seemed natural to their leader, too. That was the thing that truly left Caazun in awe.

Keeping to his duty, Caazun spoke aside to Lieutenant Colonel Kor and Staff Sergeant Alrond, his voice amplifier turned down to keep the rest of the team from becoming worried.

"I ask one thing of both of you, men. When we're making the journey, I'll need you to be my frontal eyes. If anything happens that requires my attention, alert me. I'll be watching the back more than anything else to ensure we aren't surprised. That is all."

The colonel could hardly contain his budding excitement anymore. Bravo team would soon reach the base. He wasn't sure what they'd have in store for him, but he took out his long-range rifle from his back and checked it over a few times. Satisfied, he cocked it and held it aloft in front of him; he was prepared for anything now.

[Keilara]

Fable kept her senses sharp as the gathered for the quick meeting. Nodding as they were dismissed she took a position on the left side of Ark. It was a bit disconcerting to have the cyborg on her right, he blocked a bit of her vision, but she adjusted quickly throwing her instinctual sense over to the right, finding Mal and then stretching past him as her eyes scanned the left.

Lia was on point, that made Fable just a tiny bit nervous. She knew the woman could certainly handle it, but just because someone is capable doesn't mean that they won't get hurt. She liked Lia and she didn't want anything to happen to anyone, but knew it was unrealistic. Mandalore was up there with her, Fables main focus needed to be keeping watch over their leader as they moved along. If the Republic got any idea that he was with them things could get nastier very quickly. She smirked behind her helmet, and truly, she thought sarcastically, it was an enjoyably quiet night.

She could hear the Colonel talking behind her to the other two men of their squad. Fable wasn't quite sure what to think of him or their medic, but, from the way the man was speaking she at least had the relief of knowing he knew what he was doing. She gave her head a slight shake, and a medic was also something good to have though she fervently hoped they wouldn't need him as more than an extra gun.

They moved unmolested across the terrain, Lia scouting out and waiting for them to reach her markers. Fable kept her attention focused on the left. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary... there was little out there but wildlife. But she could tell as they came upon the base. If her eyes could see lifeforce, if she had been trained in knowing how to see through the force, her mental vision would have started to light up with little flames of life. They were close.

[Dire Wolf]

Mal had just linked up with his team when Mandalor called them together in a huddle. He quickly surmised that he was going to give them a little recap of the mission objectives and parameters, while the giant had hardly forgotten the objectives... it was always a good thing to make sure everyone was on the same page. Then the leader of the Mandalorian peoples knelt down and held his multi-gaunt up slightly, and after a few presses of seemingly random buttons a schematic of the base hung in the air above him.

The man was sure to memorize every little detail of information that could be garnered from the map. Tactical positions. Odd Corners. Bottlenecks. Everything. That wasn't to say that he could remember it all... but it would at least look somewhat familiar. Mal barely noticed his leaders words as his eyes scanned the map from behind the T-visor of his helmet.

Malak gave a quick and curt nod to the beskar clad man as he ordered the small group into a tactical column, Mal being in the middle along with Fable and Ark. Good. He could trust Ark. Ark saved his life on Coruscant, nearly getting slain himself in the process, and proved that he was a gallant fighter. While he was most certainly attracted, possibly in the early stages of love, with Fable... he had not seen her fight. And she likely wouldn't gain his full trust as far as martial actions go until he saw how well she fared in combat.

He quickly fell into the middle of the group, taking care to space himself out far enough so that a grenade or artillery shell happened to fall on the group it wouldn't kill everyone, and proceeded towards the facility. His form obviously hunched over as he brought his massive rifle into the low-ready position yet again.

[Mr.Bøbert]

Zeth watched as his HUD showed an image of the base. He half-listened to Mandalore, while studying the image, trying to memorize as much as he could in the brief time it showed, before it blinked out of existence. He was going to have fun there, no matter what happened. He loved sneaking around, sabotaging things here and there, stabbing enemies from behind, and the like. Stealth. Of course, if they were detected before they got there, he wouldn't get the chance to do that.

He took his position in the back, just as Mandalore had ordered, when he heard the man behind him-- what was his name? Colonel...something... Cazuun, was it?-- telling him and Alrond to 'be his frontal eyes', as he'd be watching the back. "Will do, Colonel." he said quietly.

They silently continued forward through the rain and the mud, everybody keeping a sharp eye out. Zeth brought the image of the base Mandalore had shown them all,-- his helmet had automatically saved it-- set the opacity to 50% so he could watch where he was going and memorize as much of it as he could at the same time.

He glanced down, and saw that his legs and the bottom of his torn kama were covered in mud. All the better for the camo... he thought to himself.

After several more minutes of walking, Lt. Firians came running back.

"We’re coming up on the base...maybe ten minutes..." she said in between gasps for air. Her armor and all her other stuff was most likely weighing her down. Alot. Beskar'gam wasn't easy to run long distances in. "...Three minute run from here…there was some movement, but I don’t know what it is since I didn’t get a clear look…and I...we...can’t afford to have us all walking into a trap….I’d like to go out and scout the area before you move further."

Good, they were almost to the base. Zeth could barely contain his excitement...


((much apologizes for the suckieness of this post...))

[Zarkan]

Ark shook his head at their commander mandalore. "Good it is so hard I'd hate to get water on my foot." he said shrugging his shoulders as the others arrived and mandalore began speaking giving them their marching orders. Ark nodded to mandalore and gestured for the others to move past him before steeping into the line as his space came up. ark loomed up over the others including mal who stood so near him. The combination of ark's visual sensors made the area surrounding them brighter than noon on most worlds. Ark had to admit a certain amount of anxiety for lia taking the lead of their patrol not to mention the concern for he grandson eating at his mind. Ark fought to focus himself he had already done all he could for them the men behind him drew his attention as they spoke, but his attention was quickly diverted by lia's return.

Ark could hear her breathing as she arrived. Ark puffed as she asked to scout more completely ahead. Ark stepped forward while shaking his head before hefting his axe. "Allow me to scout mandalore, I'm more than capable of removing anything in our path well before they could send a warning and there is nothing out here that can cause me harm."

[projectsunfire]

“Negative Arkanados.” Sol said, his Baritone voice came coldly, over the Comms. He scanned the direction where Italia had come from. He hesitated, his thoughts chewing on tactical information in his head. He brought his multi-gaunt up and double checked the base plan on his own HUD for a moment before switching it off again.

“Wedge formation. I’m on point. Ark and Mal, I want you holding center at the back of the wedge. Cover our Ass. Everyone else spread out." He gave them the hand signal to form a wedge and waited until they were in position.

With his team ready to move, he gave them the hand signal for a slow advance. He slowly and quietly stepped through the landscape. Rain pattered against his helmet, but his auditory sensors could pick up so much more. He heard a small rustle in the underbrush and observed a small rodent, like a Voorpak, skitter away into the darkened grass. It stood out clearly as it nestled in what it thought was a good hiding place. His grin grew as the little creature gave him a thought.

Solus’ad focused back on what was in front of him, and brought his weapon up. They reached a small dell, and he held his hand up, signaling a stop. He crouched at the lip of the dell a moment and motioned for them all to hug the dirt. “Hold here.” He said quietly as he slid over the lip of the dell and stealthily made his way forward. He found the spot where Italia had halted. From a distance he watched, scanning for anything unusual.

He was about to turn around when he spotted it. There was an oddly box shaped instillation large enough to hold a mounted repeater. He used the binocular function in his visors HUD to magnify it. It looked fuzzy, but it was unmistakably a repeater nest. He thought silently to himself.

“Bravo team, eyes on my Holo-feed.” He said over their closed Comms as he de-magnified the image a little so it wasn’t so difficult to see what he was looking at. “Repeater nest, buried in a Fixed Defensive Position (FDP) 2 meters wide by 2 meters long. Located, 130 meters in front of the dell you’re in. Likely manned, 1-3 enemy units.”

He watched it a moment, to let the idea sink into their heads. He had perfect cover where he was, though he didn’t want to linger. His outline would be noticed eventually. It wasn’t as if he was wearing a Gili suit. The rain was working in their favor to conceal their presence, but it wouldn't forever.

“Hold tight, I’m going to check their perimeter.” He slowly melted into the undergrowth. Silently, he stole a brief moment and updated their HUD maps so they would know where the Repeater Nest was. Moving North he stealthily searched to see if they had any more. The second one was easier to spot, and spaced right where he thought it would be. At least where he would have put it.

“Found another one. It looks like they have them spaced out, up and down the bluff. We’re going to stealth through and take out the nest that Lt. Firians found.” He ghosted his way back to the first FDP and found better cover outside their visual range in the rain. “Ark and Mal, I want you two to hold back until the FDP is neutralized. There isn’t enough space between bunkers to prevent them from spotting either of you.”

He got quiet for a moment while he watched the first FDP. “We’ll need you 100% once we’re inside, so save it for now.”

He stuck his head out and evaluated their situation again.

“Sergeant Barris, Lieutenant Firians, you’re up. Slip in quietly. No Noise. I don’t want them to know where here until we take our first objective.” He whispered his order through the Comms. His voice came through an annunciated icy hiss. “The rest of you, apart from Mal and Ark, move up and take up back up positions. Be sure to stay hidden.” He slowly and silently moved a little closer and leveled his carbine at the bunker. His guts were dancing like Zeltrons at a club.

His eyes never left the target, though he was vaguely aware that Fable and Italia were moving. “When they give the all clear we’ll move in one at a time, and then we’ll ghost our way up to the bluff. Oya.”

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

((sorry for the wait all! and sorry for the kinda crappy post....turned out a little better than i first thought it would, so I guess it's not a complete bomb ^_^ ))

Italia huffed loudly once and relaxed herself. Eying Ark as he offered to go scouting, she raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side a bit. He really thought that he could sneak around with as big as he was? Sighing, her attention was caught by Sol giving orders once again. So he was taking the lead then…it didn’t please her, but…well, she wasn’t about to argue. She could use a little rest anyway, and this would give her that chance. Slinking around behind him and finding a decently open spot to cover, she waited for his next signal.

Slowly and quietly they crept through the land. By now she was easily ignoring the soothing patter of the rain against her helmet and armor, green eyes scanning her HUD for signs of movement or life any bigger than a rodent. There were, in fact, a couple of rodents…and a snake that had curled itself up under a rock…but nothing that truly drew her attention. Movement from the side of her visuals caught the woman’s attention and she glanced over to see Sol gazing in the direction that another of these fluffy (though now rather bedraggled) creatures had scampered off in. She turned her head in the same direction, wondering just why it had caught his attention but it was fairly well hidden from her sight where she was walking. Glancing back to him, she wished he could see just how confused she was by his watching the little thing. Mentally shrugging it off, she shook her head slightly and returned to watching the land about them.

Coming up on a dell she had passed through, Solus’ad brought them to a halt and motioned them downward. Grudgingly taking a knee and curling up on herself, she settled there like that, one shin resting along the ground, her other knee upward and her body pressed against her thigh so that her chin rested atop her knee as her arms wrapped about the leg comfortably. His voice crackled across the comms again. Really she didn’t have to look anywhere else, she’d been watching his feed the entire time and trusting the team to watch her back. It really was good to be working with a team again…she’d not worked with a solid one since the crew of the Ghost Star. That was something that Italia had missed, working with a crew…a team…that she could trust to watch her back so she could watch theirs and watch for trouble. As a sniper and scout for the Ghost crew she’d reveled in the ability to keep her family from trouble. She’d been without that for too long, and now…finally…she might have something like that again.

Sure enough, through his cam she could barely see the outline of a small bunker through the rain and brush that surrounded it. It was a kriffing good thing she’d stopped when she had or they’d all have been in a world of trouble. Huffing a bit, she pondered what was to be done about the problem as his voice once again invaded her helmet. Grunting in reply, she shifted herself to a new position with both kneed planted on the soggy ground beneath them and waited for him to scout out what he was looking for, one eye still on his feed just in case she saw something he didn’t. Sol was heard once more as he told them what he wanted to happen. Finally she could get a little dirty…it was too bad she didn’t have her lighter armor on…this would have been a lot easier. Without a word, the blue and black clad woman slunk through the rest of the dell and toward the bunker.

Slipping her throwing daggers back into their slots, she reached behind her and pulled out her vibro-blades. She didn’t need them to be active at the moment, all she needed was something large enough and sturdy enough to grip and rend a few people into fox-hole stew makings. Passing by the area where Solus’ad had hidden himself, she flipped her daggers backward so the rested against her forearms and crouched down for half a moment as she waited for Fable to make her move upward. Gazing intently at her target, Lia’s breaths were short and silent through tensed muscles. As Fable reached an area similar distance to where she was, Lia moved again, slinking her way around brush and making as little noise as possible. It wasn’t easy in so much armor, but the rain was helping cover any extraneous sounds she might make as she padded carefully through the underbrush. The closer to the bunker she got, the closer to the ground she became, slipping through small gaps and keeping in as much cover as she could find.

The biggest problem…how to get in?

There had to be a rearward exit in case they needed to slip in and out quickly and quietly.

A break in the brush had her halting and eyeing the entrance to the repeater nest cautiously. It was likely that they wouldn’t be able to see her from where she was positioned, but she didn’t want to take any chances. Zooming in on the entrance, she watched the face of a man turn to look behind him into the back of the nest and she took the opportunity. It was a lucky break and she wasn’t about to pass it up. Darting out of her cover, she was beside the bunker in half a moment and crouched down out of their sights. There was no way they would see her now being so close beside their little hiding place. Italia didn’t linger, however. Continuing onward through the rain and darkness, she crept around the side of the FDP to the rear of it and paused, peeking around the edge. Sure enough, there was a small door there and no guard that she could see.

Slipping around the side to the keypad at the back, she pulled out her data pad and swiftly jacked into the panel. No doubt Fable would be around soon…but just in case….

Fable, I’m slicing the door panel now, I need you over here in a jiff…should be through in…15 seconds.

She stated quietly through the internal com. Glancing to the side, she caught sight of another rodent moving through the brush and sighed quietly. Bringing her attention back to the data pad, she noticed Fable and nodded.

5 seconds…..3…1

The doors hissed open and she pulled her data pad away from the door, letting Fable get into the bunker first as she stowed the gear once more before slipping into the bunker herself.

[Sait]

Caazun followed the rest of the group with intense focus on the surrounding areas. He didn't notice much in this dense forest, though. Everything seemed to be quiet-- at least quiet for an invasion. A sudden movement caught his attention, but he couldn't tell what it was. He mumbled a few things to himself-- cursing whatever made the movements-- then continued his watch. Everything was clear. Everything was quiet. Too Quiet...

Mandalore's voice interrupted his thought process. The leader of the Mandalorian Army gave new orders to watch his own personal Holo-Feed. Caazun watched and took note of the locations. They were placed strategically, but nothing too serious. Two of the soldiers were being dispatched for this particular job already.

Satisfied that the job would be completed, Caazun's mind drifted to other things. A sinking, nagging feeling in his gut wouldn't go away and became the focus of most of his thoughts. He began to formulate exactly what was bothering him, then moved swiftly to the drop of the bluff and peered down with a pair of binoculars.

"Just as I feared," he thought to himself.

Caazun put himself a few feet from Mandalore, but noticed his leader was intently focused on the current mission. He figured this possibility would be important, so it wouldn't be too much of an interruption.

"Mandalore, sir, my apologies for disturbing you. I've had a sinking feeling since we approached these bunkers and the bluff. I realized that the Republic more than likely has sensors and/or soldiers stationed on the cliff-face. After checking, I noticed several terraces on the side of the cliff above their base that seem to be for a purpose. They don't seem natural, and even if they were... well, my concern is what we should do if they have such protective measures in place."

Caazun pounded his fist against his chest while he waited to either receive punishment for his rudeness or an answer to his question.

[Keilara]

Fable paused with the rest of the group as Mandalore scanned the perimeter. Repeaters... joy... And probably manned which meant no just sniping the stupid things out of existence.

“Sergeant Barris, Lieutenant Firians, you’re up."

A little thrill of excitement rushed through her and a grin broke out on her face. Slipping her rifle back onto her back she made sure her daggers were at the ready as she slunk past him behind Lia.

The added excitement simply heightened her awareness of their surroundings. Little animals and whatnot crept into her awareness long before she saw them in her HUD. There was a thin section of ground they could sneak across between the ranges of the two repeaters. Though she couldn't see them, Fable could sense the drowsy boredom of the men inside the bunkers. It amused her that here they were literally creeping right under their noses while they were nearly falling asleep.

There was one presence outside the bunker Lia was headed towards, but just as Fable was going to mention it to Lia, the presence dimmed as though it had moved back inside. She moved up next to the other woman as she worked on opening the door.

"There are three Lia..."

Fable snuck inside the bunker, her dagger in her hand almost instantly as she slapped her hand over one mans mouth and slit his throat. The gunner appeared to have heard the sound of the man dying and began to turn towards them. Fable thanked the gods that the drowsy boredom had dulled his senses and he wasn't reaching for a com as she leapt forward and twisted his head in her hands.

The cracking sound sent a shudder up her spine and she snatched her hands away from the lifeless body, turning to see if Lia needed any help with the other man.