Post by Jace on May 1, 2010 1:47:56 GMT -5
It was only a matter of time, they could come for him any day, he just didn't think it was going to be today. Even as the sirens echoed through the night, he sat silently in his seat. Though only difference was that instead of being in his normal uniform, he was in full combat gear. Ever since the assassination attempt only three days before, Izual promised himself that he was going to die, he was going to do so fully prepared. Checking to make sure all the necessary arrangements were made, the colonel finally stood up. Just as he did, one of his soldiers entered the room and saluted smartly.
"Sir!"
"Sergent, Report" He commanded
"Sir. It is still unclear exactly how large the enemy force is but we estimate their strength at atleast two battalions, possibly even a regiment"
"They underestimate us" commented Strauss with a hint of a smile
"Yessir!" was the emphatic response
Izual technically commanded a whole regiment but currently at this base was only a battalion. Over the last couple weeks, the colonel had been quietly moving his troops to different locations over the planet. Bases that he had scouted out since the battles at Mygeeto and Mon Calamari. He would soon be branded a traitor, and renegade if he hadn't already. Luckily for him, his soldiers were loyal, and he had more than a few sympathetic ears among the aristocrats. Thus he had slowly been preparing for this day, for he did not plan to die here. He would fight, but he intended to show the Empire that the direction they were taking was wrong. If they would not listen to his words, then action was the only alternative.
"Have they broken through yet?"
"Not ye-" but the soldier was cut off as another voice crackled through his comm
"Sir!The northeast gate is about to fall!"
"Understood. Sergent, are the men ready?"
"Yessir!" replied the Sergent who was hard pressed to suppress a smile.
"Move out!"
The Sergent saluted once more, turned and then headed out the door with Izual in tow. They passed through multiple hallways, and many rooms, though most were empty. He had kept only the necessary personnel on base, he would need the others later. Thus most the intelligence and communications specialists had already vacated the HQ. They finally reached the entrance to the HQ, and in the lobby stood twenty of the finest soldiers he had ever commanded, ready to go. They each stood at attention, and then executed one final salute. Izual knew that it was their way of saying that they were with him until the end. Each of them knew that they would be fighting their fellow soldiers but had resolved to do so. Strauss had made himself clear weeks before, those that were not willing to make such a sacrifice could leave at anytime, so far, none of them had.
"To the northeast gate, lets move" was all he needed to say as he gave one final nod to his troops.
Though they planned to eventually retreat and fall back to their new headquarters, it didn't mean they were going to abandon the base without a fight. There was also the fact that he was still moving personnel out of the base, and they needed to buy time. He would hold the base until they had been evacuated, then a small group of soldiers led by Izual himself would execute some hit and run tactics to stall any pursuit. That was the plan at least, war didn't always go as planned. Izual held no illusions, he was essentially declaring war on the nation he fought for, for so long. There was no more time for thought as they closed in on the northeast gate.
It was chaos, but such situations is where Izual thrived. A flurry of hand signals sent two squads to go reinforce the right, and the rest were to follow him. The colonel soon found himself ducking blaster fire behind a barrier, as a lieutenant ran up to him.
"Status report, Grosk"
"Sir, they have managed to break through, but have paid heavily to do so with minimal casualties to our side. Orders?"
"Lets show them what the Special Forces can do" replied Strauss with a sly grin.
The word was passed and then just as it seemed that the SF were being pushed back, everything suddenly changed. A volley of blaster fire shot out from behind the barriers, taking out a good chunk of the attacking forces. Detonators were thrown, explosions rocked the ground, men dropped to the ground dead. The Special Forces were relentless in their attack, timing their fire so there was never a quiet moment. Things were looking good, just a little too good for Izual to feel comfortable. Just as the thought crossed his mind, a gunship soared right over the wall, and began to pepper the ground with laser fire.
He waited for the Anti-air system to kick in, but nothing happened. There should have been people there, he made sure of that before he left. If they had no AA, the enemy would just destroy them from above. Izual watched as a soldier tried to aim a launcher at the gunship, but it was too quick and was soon lit up with blaster fire.
"Oyer!Get me AA control at HQ now!"
His communications man attempted to contact them, but the colonel quickly realized something was wrong.
"I can't raise em sir!"
Strauss swore under his breath. He had been careless, they somehow must have gotten into the base. They needed to get that AA system back online or they were as good as done for, that included those who were evacuating.
"Rock!Carver!Lee! On me!"
The three soldiers quickly made their way over to their commander. They knelt beside him as he laid out the situation. After a quick explanation, they headed off back in the direction of HQ. They made their way as swiftly as they could without abandoning caution completely. Chances were someone got the system, that meant that their could be enemies anywhere within the base. They approached the entrance of the HQ slowly. Normally, entering through a window or the roof would be standard procedure, but they had neither the time nor gear on them for such an approach. They would have to hit the HQ hard and fast. Izual looked at Lee, motioned two fingers to his eyes, and then towards the lobby. Lee nodded, and then quietly approached the entrance and peeked into the lobby. He held up two fingers, indicating that there were two tangos.
Izual nodded and then pointed Carver and then himself. Izual drew his pistol, and screw a silencer on it, Carver did the same but with his rifle. While slugthrowers weren't exactly standard issue, blasters couldn't be silenced, and stealth was key in many situations. The longer it took his enemies to realize he was there, the better. Carver stacked up on the door, followed by Izual,, Lee, and finally Rock. Strauss tapped the back of Carver's shoulder, who then sprung through the door. Izual followed half a second later, his pistol raised. He drew a bead, depressed the trigger twice which sent two bullets silently into the man's face. Izual turned to see that Carver had done much of the same.
The squad quickly moved through the hallways, not encountering any further resistance. Eventually they reached the door to the command center, of which the AA control were located. Pressing his ear to the door, Izual could hear muffled voices. The next motion of hand signals brought Lee to the door, as he began to plant explosives on it. It was almost comical thinking that he had to breach his own control center. The group stacked up once more, two on each side. Izual nodded to Lee, and moments later the door was no more and the four breached the room. It was over in a matter of seconds,three army soldiers lay quite dead on the ground.
"Rock, get my AA system back up and see if you can't get some video up" Ordered Strauss to his tech specialist.
Rock quickly made his way to the console and began typing rapidly with a look of intense concentration. Approximately a minute later he turned to Izual with a rather emotionless expression on his face.
"Sir we got lucky. It looks like they were trying to get some data off the system before I assume they destroyed the center. Good news is that I can get the AA back up and running in a few minutes. The bad news is that we might not have a few minutes" said Rock as he brought up an image on the main screen.
The video showed atleast fifteen to twenty soldiers approaching the HQ, and they were not friendly. Izual wasn't sure how they got in here, but that was a question for later. If he didn't get this AA system back up and running, alot of his men were going to die. He nodded to Carver and Lee, and they moved to the door. They had to make sure that they didn't get to the control center, and the AA controls. In such a dire situation, most people would feel distraught or hopeless. Izual and his men wore big grins on their faces. This was just the type of challenge that the Special Forces relished.
"Sir!"
"Sergent, Report" He commanded
"Sir. It is still unclear exactly how large the enemy force is but we estimate their strength at atleast two battalions, possibly even a regiment"
"They underestimate us" commented Strauss with a hint of a smile
"Yessir!" was the emphatic response
Izual technically commanded a whole regiment but currently at this base was only a battalion. Over the last couple weeks, the colonel had been quietly moving his troops to different locations over the planet. Bases that he had scouted out since the battles at Mygeeto and Mon Calamari. He would soon be branded a traitor, and renegade if he hadn't already. Luckily for him, his soldiers were loyal, and he had more than a few sympathetic ears among the aristocrats. Thus he had slowly been preparing for this day, for he did not plan to die here. He would fight, but he intended to show the Empire that the direction they were taking was wrong. If they would not listen to his words, then action was the only alternative.
"Have they broken through yet?"
"Not ye-" but the soldier was cut off as another voice crackled through his comm
"Sir!The northeast gate is about to fall!"
"Understood. Sergent, are the men ready?"
"Yessir!" replied the Sergent who was hard pressed to suppress a smile.
"Move out!"
The Sergent saluted once more, turned and then headed out the door with Izual in tow. They passed through multiple hallways, and many rooms, though most were empty. He had kept only the necessary personnel on base, he would need the others later. Thus most the intelligence and communications specialists had already vacated the HQ. They finally reached the entrance to the HQ, and in the lobby stood twenty of the finest soldiers he had ever commanded, ready to go. They each stood at attention, and then executed one final salute. Izual knew that it was their way of saying that they were with him until the end. Each of them knew that they would be fighting their fellow soldiers but had resolved to do so. Strauss had made himself clear weeks before, those that were not willing to make such a sacrifice could leave at anytime, so far, none of them had.
"To the northeast gate, lets move" was all he needed to say as he gave one final nod to his troops.
Though they planned to eventually retreat and fall back to their new headquarters, it didn't mean they were going to abandon the base without a fight. There was also the fact that he was still moving personnel out of the base, and they needed to buy time. He would hold the base until they had been evacuated, then a small group of soldiers led by Izual himself would execute some hit and run tactics to stall any pursuit. That was the plan at least, war didn't always go as planned. Izual held no illusions, he was essentially declaring war on the nation he fought for, for so long. There was no more time for thought as they closed in on the northeast gate.
It was chaos, but such situations is where Izual thrived. A flurry of hand signals sent two squads to go reinforce the right, and the rest were to follow him. The colonel soon found himself ducking blaster fire behind a barrier, as a lieutenant ran up to him.
"Status report, Grosk"
"Sir, they have managed to break through, but have paid heavily to do so with minimal casualties to our side. Orders?"
"Lets show them what the Special Forces can do" replied Strauss with a sly grin.
The word was passed and then just as it seemed that the SF were being pushed back, everything suddenly changed. A volley of blaster fire shot out from behind the barriers, taking out a good chunk of the attacking forces. Detonators were thrown, explosions rocked the ground, men dropped to the ground dead. The Special Forces were relentless in their attack, timing their fire so there was never a quiet moment. Things were looking good, just a little too good for Izual to feel comfortable. Just as the thought crossed his mind, a gunship soared right over the wall, and began to pepper the ground with laser fire.
He waited for the Anti-air system to kick in, but nothing happened. There should have been people there, he made sure of that before he left. If they had no AA, the enemy would just destroy them from above. Izual watched as a soldier tried to aim a launcher at the gunship, but it was too quick and was soon lit up with blaster fire.
"Oyer!Get me AA control at HQ now!"
His communications man attempted to contact them, but the colonel quickly realized something was wrong.
"I can't raise em sir!"
Strauss swore under his breath. He had been careless, they somehow must have gotten into the base. They needed to get that AA system back online or they were as good as done for, that included those who were evacuating.
"Rock!Carver!Lee! On me!"
The three soldiers quickly made their way over to their commander. They knelt beside him as he laid out the situation. After a quick explanation, they headed off back in the direction of HQ. They made their way as swiftly as they could without abandoning caution completely. Chances were someone got the system, that meant that their could be enemies anywhere within the base. They approached the entrance of the HQ slowly. Normally, entering through a window or the roof would be standard procedure, but they had neither the time nor gear on them for such an approach. They would have to hit the HQ hard and fast. Izual looked at Lee, motioned two fingers to his eyes, and then towards the lobby. Lee nodded, and then quietly approached the entrance and peeked into the lobby. He held up two fingers, indicating that there were two tangos.
Izual nodded and then pointed Carver and then himself. Izual drew his pistol, and screw a silencer on it, Carver did the same but with his rifle. While slugthrowers weren't exactly standard issue, blasters couldn't be silenced, and stealth was key in many situations. The longer it took his enemies to realize he was there, the better. Carver stacked up on the door, followed by Izual,, Lee, and finally Rock. Strauss tapped the back of Carver's shoulder, who then sprung through the door. Izual followed half a second later, his pistol raised. He drew a bead, depressed the trigger twice which sent two bullets silently into the man's face. Izual turned to see that Carver had done much of the same.
The squad quickly moved through the hallways, not encountering any further resistance. Eventually they reached the door to the command center, of which the AA control were located. Pressing his ear to the door, Izual could hear muffled voices. The next motion of hand signals brought Lee to the door, as he began to plant explosives on it. It was almost comical thinking that he had to breach his own control center. The group stacked up once more, two on each side. Izual nodded to Lee, and moments later the door was no more and the four breached the room. It was over in a matter of seconds,three army soldiers lay quite dead on the ground.
"Rock, get my AA system back up and see if you can't get some video up" Ordered Strauss to his tech specialist.
Rock quickly made his way to the console and began typing rapidly with a look of intense concentration. Approximately a minute later he turned to Izual with a rather emotionless expression on his face.
"Sir we got lucky. It looks like they were trying to get some data off the system before I assume they destroyed the center. Good news is that I can get the AA back up and running in a few minutes. The bad news is that we might not have a few minutes" said Rock as he brought up an image on the main screen.
The video showed atleast fifteen to twenty soldiers approaching the HQ, and they were not friendly. Izual wasn't sure how they got in here, but that was a question for later. If he didn't get this AA system back up and running, alot of his men were going to die. He nodded to Carver and Lee, and they moved to the door. They had to make sure that they didn't get to the control center, and the AA controls. In such a dire situation, most people would feel distraught or hopeless. Izual and his men wore big grins on their faces. This was just the type of challenge that the Special Forces relished.