posted November 07, 2000 09:55 PM               

Daybreak . . .

�Great day for some reconnaissance,� said TJ when he stepped out of his tent located at the forward base the five squads assembled the day before.

�I agree,� replied Exar Kun.

�Awake the rest of the squads, we�ve got work to do,� commanded TJ.

�Sir, incoming transmission from base Bravo, it�s Athran,� said Exar Kun.

�TJ, how�s the construction of our forward base going?� questioned Athran.

�Good, we�ve got everything you instructed to build up, and even set up some extra security measures,� replied TJ confidently.

�Good, I�m sending up 4 more squads of troopers along with Anakin. He will be running base Tengo, all orders from him are to be obeyed,� commanded Athran.

�I want the security on that base doubled, and I want it done before the additional squads arrive. Their estimated time of arrival is approximately 2 hours from now, so make use of what time you can. After they arrive the Elite Iron Horse and Squad 3, lead by Fury, are to scout out the coordinates I�m sending you. We think that is where Syths and his forces are hiding. As soon as you find anything, I want to know about it, so make sure I do!� commanded Athran.

�Don�t worry about the security here, we have got quite a few squads still here, and enough fire power to take out this entire planet. If things get hairy, we�ll recall a couple squads. Beware though, I�m expecting Syths to attack at night, have your best people on guard then, and be ready for anything. Who knows what Syths has up his sleeve,� added Athran. �The rest of my orders, and some information on the area, I�ve sent with Anakin. The climate of this planet could either work to our advantage or to our disadvantage, keep that in mind.�

�Yes, Sir,� replied TJ.

2 hours later . .

�Sir I can see 3 troop transports in the distance,� said Exar Kun.

�Ok, how are we doing on security?� questioned TJ.

�Good Sir, we have assembled 4 additional guard towers each with medium repeating blasters. And also we�ve established a patrol area of 3 clicks, and we�ve put out arrays of Imperial munitions mines up to ten clicks away from our patrol border each direction. We�ve also been sending out droids for reconnaissance, and have discovered one of Syth�s squads patrolling about 25 clicks from here,� replied Exar Kun confidently.

�Good, I�m sure that Anakin will be more than pleased,� replied TJ.

�Now ready the rest of the Iron Horses and squad 3 for the recon mission. We will be departing at twilight to the coordinates Athran sent,� commanded TJ.

posted November 07, 2000 10:57 PM               

"GET DOWN!" Agent whispered as loud as he could to his startled squad. "Stay behind this sand dune!"

The squad had been patroling for some time now, and they had finally found the first sign of Team Red. The droid flew straight toward where the squad was. Another hundred meters and it would be able to see them. A trooper with a sniper rifle came forward, and crouched beside Agent. They were toward the top of the dune.

"Wait a little longer..." Agent said. He didn't want the droid alerted to their presence by careless firing.

The droid was about 50 meters from them, but as far as they could tell it had not been alerted to their presence yet. It flew slowly in their general direction, menacingly. "Ok, get it," Agent told the trooper with the sniper rifle. The trooper started squeexing the trigger, slowly. Just as he fired, the sand began to bubble up, forming a bowl-shape directly beneath the droid. The droid stopped, was hit by the bullet, and just as it exploded, a creature shot up out of the sand and swallowed the exploding mass of metal. The droid had no time to send a message. The squad broke into excited whoops and cheers. Then they realized that the creature had gone back into the sand.

Nobody spoke for a few seconds...finally Cosmic broke the silence. "Sir, permission to run like hell?"

"Good suggestion, Cos." The squad did just that, and they didn't stop until they got back to the base.

------------------
"Sanity is a Full Time Job in a World that's Always Changing."
- Bad Religon
"There's only ONE way of Life and it's Your Own"
- Levellers
"I think i'm Dumb or maybe just Happy..... think i'm just Happy"
- Nirvana
"Don't play stupid with me. I'm much better at it!"
-#63 Polt; Double_Agent

posted November 08, 2000 12:23 AM               

Private First Class Cosmic slung his stormtrooper rifle over his shoulder and ran the opposite direction. Agent and the rest of the Wraith squad followed close behind him.
Cosmic was running like mad. The heat of Ico was pounding down on him like a rock crushing your inner gut.

Cosmic ran about half a mile then stopped.
He watched his squad running towards him.
He pulled his rifle from his back and click off the SAFE button and aimed around, covering his fellow stormtroopers.

Agent leaped over the dune near Cosmic and landed with a thud.
"Thanks for covering us, Cos!" Said Agent.
"No problem, sir...all in the line of duty."

The rest of his squad were right beside him now.
"Man! Did you see the size of the mouth on that biggo monster! He ate that machine in no time! I'd hate to be 'round him!" Said one of the stormtroopers.

Cosmic stared around.
"Looks like a sand storms brewing." Said Cosmic.
Agent looked around also and nodded.
"I agree...Ok troops! Set up tents on the double! We got to have shelter before this darn storm hits...MOVE!"
The squad immediately went to work. Cosmic stood by Agent's side.
"Sir, I sure hope we get these Reddies...I want to have a kick-butt time on Ico...I hated that planet Dargo! I got myself lost...sitting on a rock next to my shuttle, Dorath. Good gosh...How lame can I be?"
Agent chuckled.
"Well, Cos, you're good soldier. I KNOW that we can get these Reddies on this round.
Ico's terrain can actually help us. Since it has dunes and sand storms and since its so ruggid, we can use these dunes as ambush points and destroy the Red squad before they knew what hit 'em!"
Cosmic nodded...hoping that what Agent said was right.

posted November 08, 2000 01:37 AM               

Vix. This was definitely NOT one of the planets that Fury had travelled to. He seriously doubted that there had been a travelogue made of such an unforgiving planet. It appeared to be a site of large ecological ruin. No apparent sentient life...none worth writing home about anyway.

Thus far, it appeared that this planet was chosen by the traitors because there was no native population to conquer. Might have been too much of an effort on their part. Though Ico was a draw, Fury looked down at his new armor and knew that the loyalists hadn't performed at their best there. Vix was where that would change.

Captain TJ wasn't kidding about proper supplies. The main encampment had enough weaponry for a legion. All indications of the traitor's base showed an armed force seriously low in manpower, supplies, and will. Nothing to get overconfident about, but something to consider as good tidings.

SGT Fury turned and looked at the alert members of his squad. They had been on four and fours since planetfall - four awake, four asleep. "Alright, get the other guys awake. Stock up on air canisters, filters, food and water pouches. We've got three hours til sundown and we have to check those forward positions. We've already lost contact with one probe droid - and I seriously doubt that involved an accidental incident. Keep your eye on your sensors at all times. Assume all life forms are the enemy and keep your IR and starlite gear functional. Most of our action will probably come from probing raids at night."

Fury lit his last cigarra for likely the next few days and breathed in tepid, superhot air along with the smoke. "We've knocked these traitors off of two planets and have wounded them more than a little bit. I'd like to finish the job here. You know the drill, you know the job. Now move out!"

posted November 08, 2000 04:29 PM               

A figure dressed in new Royal Guard armor walked out of the Red team's encampment with only his weapons and a survival bag. In the bag was enough rations for two weeks of hunger. The figure sensed another person running up behind him. Without turning the figure said, "What is it Ex?"

Second Lieutenant Exar Kun swallowed hard and said, "Talon, I don't think you should go out there alone... I heard from Radar that there seems to be something big moving under the sand!"

"I'm not going to be scared off by some ant lions on steroids. The Red team needs to win this planet." Talon calmly replied without stopping or turning.

Exar tried to keep pace as he said, "Iron Horse will need your help, Talon. You can't just walk off on some power trip to go take over the enemies on your own."

Talon thought for a while and finally answered, "Iron Horse will have you and I'm sure Anakin will join for the fight as well. And this goes farther than personal... I feel that the Force is leading me off and I must follow it."

Exar Kun planted something in Talon stomach and said, "Here, you might need this."

Talon pulled it away to look at it. "What the frack is this?" he asked.

Exar grabbed Talon by the arm and looked at him face to face and said, "It's a good luck charm from that I've seen lots of elders from my home planet carve for the soldiers. We were invaded by an unknown force and I was in one of those battles. I was given this by my father, who was an elder. It saved my life twice, and it is said to be able to bring good luck up to five times. You have three more."

Talon laughed and said, "You really believe that?" but stopped when he saw the look on Exar Kun's face. He continued his walk into the wilderness and said "Thanks." as he disappeared.

------------------
CoT/CPT Talon/HCA-4/Erewhon/VEA/VE{BC}
CM/DJK Talon/VSD-II Griffen/VEDJ/VE
FL/2LT Claw/Elite Viper 2-1/Wing III/M-SSD Mustang/2ESF/VEN/VE(=A=){LoM}
XO of the Elite Viper squadron

posted November 08, 2000 07:07 PM               

The Transport carrying Anakin and the squads, made its way to Tengo base position. Anakin sat back, deep in though, trying to figure out how he was going to run this operation he was handed.

"We will be arriving at Red Tengo base's location in 10 minutes," the pilot said over the intercom.

Anakin decided he should give a peptalk to the new squads before they landed. "Alright listen up squads. When we land you are to have the up most respect for Elite Iron Horse, they are the best of the best. You are to listen to everything they say and watch everything they do, becasue maybe later you be the one to hold the honorable title of Elite. I want you to set up camp and prepare for the long night ahead of us. There is lots of work to be done and I want everyone helping, Good luck!"

The Transport landed and the squads piled out of the transport greeting EIH and Raiders squads. They quickly remembered what they were supposed to do and ran off to set up their stuff.

"Hello TJ, glad to see you again. I see you've got everything in order here, good job. That takes off some of the stress of the night. Do you have everything you need ready?"

"Yes, the secruity has been doubled and our supplies and weapons are all ready."

"Good, we have lots of things that need to be finished before the suns set. I want a group of probe droids out tonight to scan the area's for enemy activity and check the status on Blue teams navy positions if you can. Lets get these done then I have some good news to report, and lots of orders to give for the days to come. Bye the way, where is Talon I was expecting him here."

"Oh, he ran off on some damn fool idealistic crusade. He should be back soon."

"Good we will need his help in this war."

....

------------------
2nd Lieutenant Anakin
Commander of Wildcard & Storm Platoons
Offical Sidekick of the CoP
PLT-CMDR/CoP:OSK/2LT Anakin/1,2PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE

"I was, I am not, I don't care"

posted November 08, 2000 08:07 PM               

The night sky of Vix was almost a complete black. Only a few stars twinkled through the cloak of darkness that hugged the desert planet.

The Iron Horse Squad slowly crept through the blackness like hunting dogs. Knees bent and blasters pressed firmly against their shoulders -- they were ready for anything.

Anakin had reported that the planet only had four possible sites for com-stations. Team Red had concluded that the Blue team must have set their's up in what was deemed "Blue-sector, area 14." If Red could destroy the enemy's com-station, then Blue would be disorganized and vulnerable.

Exar Kun's body spasmed with violent shaking. The heat of the day had quickly dropped once night had fallen. The sweaty troopers had turned into freezing ones. One by one the automatic heaters inside the troopers dark-red armor activated, and in a few seconds all the troopers were comfortable again.

"About two more kliks, and we are there..." TJ annouced to the squad.

"Let's make this as quick as possible, get in, place the charges, and get out. We will detonate at a safe distance"

"Also, we anticipate a mine feild, so we are going to sweep for mines once we reach one hundred meters."

The Iron Horse Squad became shadows in the night. Moving with swan-like grace through the mine field, they easily avoided the scattered bombs.

In the distant shadows, a square durosteel building with a giant satellite on top became visible to the troopers.

Three members of Iron Horse were given four explosive charges and a section of the station to plant them. The rest of the squad stayed away providing cover for the three rogue troopers. Once the squad was safely through the mine field, they split up to go to the different areas of the very small building.

Exar Kun walked silently around the com-station until he reached a small door. He placed and activated one of the four charges he was carrying. It beeped upon activation, and Exar slid off to his next target.

Anakin took a different route. The trooper's red armor became coverd with the light brown sand of the desert planet. Anakin crawled belly flat on the ground until he reached a small door identical to the one Exar had been to. Anakin placed one charge and activated it.

TJ climbed the outside of the building until he reached the large satellite on the top. He placed his explosive around the base of the dish. TJ took a slow, deep breath after placing his last explosive. He then looked at the top of the dish where Exar and Anakin hung activating their last charges.

The three troopers regrouped next to the large satellite. TJ nodded, "good work, now let's get the hell out of here..." he whispered.

The troopers leapt off the small building, landed smoothly like tiny droplets of water, then started retracing their steps out of the mine field.

Once the Iron Horse Squad reached a safe distance, TJ pulled out from his survival bag, a small remote, and pressed it. The squad all watched as the small building exploded and fell to a heap of ruins.

[This message has been edited by ExarKun (edited November 08, 2000).]

posted November 08, 2000 09:23 PM               

"Sir, the troops are in their tents. Two of them are standing guard." Said Cosmic.
Agent nodded.
"Good. The remaining troops will need their rest for the upcoming battle."
Cosmic hesitated before speaking.
"Sir, do you think we can take this planet?"
Agent snickered.
"Cos, General Crysus is a good man and very good at tactics. I'm sure that we will win Vix......we mustwin Vix."
Cosmic shivered from the cold night wind.
"Get inside your tent, Cos. You need your rest, too."
Cosmic nodded and headed off.
Agent stared at the dark desert in front of him and took a deep breath.

"Sir, the men are up and out of their tents...I suspect that they have a scared feeling inside them...I did. They are ready for any sneak attacks and confident that we can win this war."
Agent put his hand of Cosmic's shoulder.
"I'm sure of it too, Cos. I'm really sure of it."

The morning sun came up and the warmth of the planet changed from a cold 50 degrees to a hard-hitting 105 degrees.

"This darn sun is gettin' on my nerves!" Complained a stormtrooper.
Cosmic nodded.
"Then get a better attitude, soldier! The heat will go away." Snapped Agent.
Cosmic servayed the desert with some binoculars.
"No Reddies in site, Sir, but-"
Cosmic stopped speaking.
"What is it not, Cos?"
"Sir! Jeez! The sand is moving!" Yelled Cosmic, pointing towards the moving sand.
Agent took the binoculars and looked out.
"Good God! It's like a wave!" Exclaimed Agent.
"At least it's not heading towards us...It's heading North...Were right behind it." Said Agent.
Cosmic took a deep breath.
"With luck, these "Sand Worms" will take out more of the Red team's Recon Droids." Said Cosmic.
Agent nodded in agreement.

A stormtrooper walked up.
"Sir, we have about one month's worth of survival rations. I suggest that if we are to look for these Reddies, now would be a good time."
Agent nodded.
"Very well...Tell the troops to pack it up...Were moving out."

posted November 08, 2000 10:48 PM               

"Ok, everybody, this is it for tonight. Set up camp ASAP. We will be departing in exactly six hours. I suggest you all get some sleep." Agent pointed to a tall, skinny trooper. "You--you're out here with me this time," Agent said.

The trooper reluctantly agreed.

Three and a half hours later, the skinny trooper let out a scream that awoke the entire camp.

Agent ran to the trooper's position. "This BETTER be important," Agent said, annoyed.

"L-l-llll-ook!"

Agent looked in the direction the soldier was pointing, but could see nothing.

The trooper let out another scream and started running away. Agent caught him by the sleeve and held him in place. The soldier wound up and hit Agent square in the jaw. The trooper got loose again and started running away. Agent didn't chase him; the man didn't get into the VE by being a wussy hitter. When Agent got over the initial shock of the punch, he looked around. Everyone was staring at him, waiting to see what he would do to the tall trooper. Agent looked around in the direction the man ran, only to see....nothing! The first rays of the morning sun were peeking over the horizon by this time, and they threw enough light on the sand to show a large, circular crater in the sand about twenty meters away. Cosmic went to look at the crater, and came back carrying half of the man's sleeve, complete with a gratuitous splattering of blood...Agent couldn't believe this luck...they were cursed, he decided. "Pack up!" he yelled out. "We're leaving ASAP!"

posted November 08, 2000 11:38 PM               

�What�s the sky look like for you guys?� questioned Apocalypse.

�Nothing here, just a little movement in our home base on the ground,� replied Roundy.

�Let�s hope something happens pretty soon, this recon duty could get really boring,� said Apocalypse.

�Ya, I know what you�re saying,� replied Kaylander gazing out to the vibrant sun radiating down on their Fighters.

�Sir, picking up a some movement 14 clicks behind base Bravo,� said Roundy.

�Radio the communications officer at base Bravo, tell them we�ll check it out,� commanded Apocalypse.

�Finally, we might get to do something other than escort the Army,� said Kaylander sarcastically.

A scoff of laughter could be heard over the channel the pilots were talking on. . .

�Ok, full power to engines and lay low, we don�t want to attract any blue boys,� commanded Apocalypse.

The team of TIE fighters formed up, and blasted toward the object at remarkable speed. They plunged towards the objects so fast that all you could do is hear the hum of their engines, and in a blink they were out of sight.

�Anybody even get a look at what that was?� said Apocalypse with a chuckle.

�Uh� no,� replied Roundy.

�That�s a negative here, also,� replied Kaylander.

�Kaylander, radio communications at base bravo and figure out if they have anything in this area,� commanded Apocalypse.

A few minutes later . .

�That�s a negative Sir, there are no reports of any Red units in this area,� replied Kaylander.

�Good, charge up your lasers, I want this thing taken out in one attack run,� commanded Apocalypse.

�Follow my lead,� commanded Apocalypse.

The team quickly formed into a V behind Apocalypse�s fighter, the V of Imperial Fighters swooped down upon the unsuspecting AT-PT of blue�s team. A few bright green bolts erupted from the front fighters of the V and the AT-PT burst into flames.

�Ahhh, I love the adrenaline rush you get from battle,� said Kaylander over the com.

�Well I hope you have plenty of adrenaline left because we have 10 of Blue Team�s TIE Fighters Inbound,� said Roundy hesitantly . .

posted November 09, 2000 12:32 AM               

Somewhere on the desolate wasteland of Vix

Ever since the reports of sub-surface lifeforms, Fury had been looking for a way to nullify that danger while being able to complete Squad 3's mission here. Once again, other squad members had come through.

Just as intel took a risk by forcing in-motion probe droids to operate at a higher altitude, Squad 3 was ready to do the same. Since the change in manuever, no probe droid had been lost. Thus a limitation to the worm-like creatures that could be worked with could also get the loyalist troops an edge.

Fury had walked up on PFC DarkLord sitting under a raised-tarp shelter looking at the supply dump activity. For a moment he thought he had a lazy trooper to deal with, until DarkLord spoke up, "Sarge, if sonics keep the damn worms away from us, and a few meters of air defeat their motion senses, why do we have to hump it all over this rock and probably get eaten up?"

Well, that cut it, a dedicated trooper looking for a free ride. But then Fury looked over at the chaos of droid and machine activity and got what DarkLord was talking about.

Hours later, as the recon/demolition squads were sent to roam the perimeter and take out any small enemy groups, Squad 3 was travelling in quite a unique manner. Gravsleds "appropriated" from Supply were now carrying most of the squad's gear for the night, which meant a lot of arms and explosives. An added bonus, once they entered wookie country, these sleds - equipped with mine detectors and extra starfighter sensor packets - were doing a fine job of forward element duty.

The squad itself were doing quite well, checking sensor screens and using the Mark One eyeball to seek out and find their targets. Thus far, nothing. The enemy was out there, just not showing itself yet.

As usual, comm reports never ceased to amaze Fury. Apparently Captain Talon had gone off head-hunting alone. Iron Horse had already done what they did best, causing death, destruction, and havoc. But up on the horizon was something new and unusual. A storm of sorts.

Fury took his eyes off the blinking sensor array of the MobileMortar3 sled he was driving just to see what the hell that line of glowing movement actually was. Uh oh.

First he brought the repulsorlift sled to a stop. Then he tapped on the helmet of PFC Marko manning to grenade mortar below him. "Hey, button that weapon up. We've got some kind of storm coming." Next, the squad channel. "Anybody got a read on what that is?"

Of course, Yillamien was on top of things. "Yeah, Sarge, it's apparently a mass of those worm things three klicks wide about a quarter that deep - all heading for the main base. I have taken the liberty of calculating some vectors. There is no way for us to get out of the shadow of this thing. But, we can boogey it over to an dense rock grouping half a klick to the east of our present location. These beasts apparently won't be able to see us, and with a firm grounding that deflects their motion sensors we can set up a defensive shield and ride this one out. The storm is about 15 klicks away and should be here in about 20 minutes. It's the only option I can find for us."

"Don't apologize. It's a great plan...you guys made this leadership thing easy. Point the remote sleds east and get ready to deploy some shielding. We're ducking out of this hellstorm."

posted November 09, 2000 03:44 PM               

Talon's eyes stung from the whipping sand, more then once he was knocked over by the powerful wind. For hours he crept along through the storm, until he was bleeding, and blind from the swift moving sand. With a strong force of wind Talon was finally pushed from his feet and fell do the ground. The blood red armor of the Royal Guards that he proudly wore was now stained with real blood and layers of etched sand. Talon covered his head with his arms and gasped for air. "Maybe I should have stayed... maybe Exar was right" The thought echoed through his mind until he could not bare it. He threw his head back into the wind and let out a scream of rage. The titanic winds blew his hair wildly as he let out the long scream from the depths of his belly. Talon forced every bit of air out of his lungs; and kneeled, pressing his face into the violently moving sand on the ground. He had lost hope. He was going to die. Suddenly Talon felt something pulling around his neck. He grabbed at the leather strap that was dancing fluidly in the air. In the center of the leather band was a small carved bone, of some ancient design. Talon held it tightly in his palm and thought back to his last conversation with Exar Kun. "...It's a good luck charm from that I've seen lots of elders from my home planet carve for the soldiers. We were invaded by an unknown force and I was in one of those battles. I was given this by my father, who was an elder. It saved my life twice, and it is said to be able to bring good luck up to five times. You have three more..."

----------

The madly thrown sand from the storm begin to spin around Talon, as the Dark Jedi sat eyes closed with his palms resting on his knees. Faster and faster the sand gracefully flew around the young Jedi forming a wall of protection. No wind entered the tiny bubble that Talon sat in, The horrific wind either flew around or joined to bubble making it stronger. Talon sat inside clearing his mind of everything, feeling the Fore surge through his body.

After what could have been hours, but felt like seconds, the sandstorm stopped. Talon exited his trance, dissolved the bubble, and stood up. Some sand that had settled on the bubble had gotten in his hair, adding to what he had in his hair before. He was a sad site. One of the Vast Empire's elite... the best of the best, now with blood on his face and his armor that had sand etched into it. He looked down at the charm that Exar had given him and said, "One." He adjusted the straps on his bag and continued his wandering.

[I'd like to give thanks to Exar Kun who helped me with this story ]

------------------
CoT/CPT Talon/HCA-4/Erewhon/VEA/VE{BC}
CM/DJK Talon/VSD-II Griffen/VEDJ/VE
FL/2LT Claw/Elite Viper 2-1/Wing III/M-SSD Mustang/2ESF/VEN/VE(=A=){LoM}
XO of the Elite Viper squadron

posted November 09, 2000 06:59 PM               

"Welcome back. I assume those damned communists gave youi some trouble?" asked the guard on duty.

"Never saw 'em," Said Agent. "There was something else...something big. We never even got a good look at it."

"The sandworms, sir? We heard about them. Don't worry, though. You're safe here. The ground underneath us is a solid iron sheet once you get a ways down, we're almost right in the middle of a solid iron 'bowl'. I heard some officers talking about that."

"Good. 'least we might be able to get some sleep tonight," Agent concluded the conversation. The squad walked by, dragging their legs in a tattered parade of newbies. They would all sleep good tonight.

------------------

Agent was just about to sleep when he was approached by a trooper with a message in his hand.

"Gimme that," Agent said, annoyed and tired. He opened the note.

AGENT:

GLAD TO SEE YOU BACK SAFE. YOU WILL BE LEAVING AGAIN FIRST THING THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT NOT SEEING BATTLE AGAIN; YOU WILL.

"Damn."

Too tired to care for too long, Agent went to bed.

posted November 10, 2000 08:54 PM               

"Any news from the Reddies?" Asked Cosmic.
"Nope," replied Agent. "No sign at all. Were are, however, receiving nuetral signals...I suspect that they are the worms."
Cosmic sighed.
"I believe that those worms are gonna be trouble, sir. One of those stinkin' things age a soldier! We can't take anymore loses like those! We'll lose all of the Wraith's men before combat!" Cosmic yelled.
Agent sighed.
"Were heading into battle tomorrow, Cos." Said Agent slowly.
Cosmic froze.
"Battle, sir? Tomorrow?"
Agent nodded.
"Afraid so...But don't worry, Cos. You're a fine soldier...you'll do well." Said Agent.

I hope we all do. Thought Cosmic worriedly.

"Tomorrow." Whispered Cosmic to himself.
"We will know tomorrow who will be the victor of the first battle on Vix."

posted November 11, 2000 01:42 AM               

"The storm is approching Sir, what are we supposed it do?" Exarkun said to Anakin in a panic.

Anakin thought about this for a minute. "We need a plan to get around it and fast. I've got it! Gather up all the troops from both squads, if you can't find Talon oh well, we'll get him later.

Exarkun ran as fast as he could to gather everyone up. The wind started blowing harder and harder when all the troops where standing waiting for Anakin to give his speach. Anakin was talking with TJ for quite some time before TJ ran off to do something. Anakin turned around and tried to get everyone to listen.

"listen up, now we need to move fast, we don't have much time before the storm hits. There is a clearing to the East of the storm, if we can reach that point it should not harm us. Another thing that has been brought to my attention is that there is a problem with the sand worms. I have come up with a solution that should solve both problems. I have sent TJ to go round up all of EIH's swoops. We will use the swoops to get away from the storm and they should be fast enough to out run any sand worm. I know there are only 10 of them so this is how it's going to work. TJ, Fury, and myself will ride by ourselves. The rest of you will partner up and take one. Load as many blaster and weapons you can on it and get around the storm as quick as possible. If you don't think you can make it before the storm hits, find some rocks to hide by, we don't want to lose any of you. We will all meet on the far side by the edge of the Cliffs once the storm dies, Good luck!"

The troops quickly jumped to thier feet and ran toward thier equipment and started loading as much as they could possible load onto the small swoops.

"TJ, Fury, make sure your squads do not get lost or fall behind, we will not lose anyone. I'll go first you two follow, and please try to keep up," Anakin said with a smile and thrusted his accelorator forward.

The rest of the squads were quick to catch up and they were on their way. Everything was going just as planned, the storm was starting to die down and the troopers were all together. Ahead there was a small hill that poked out of the land right in the middle of the vast desert. As they got closer it appeared to have rocks at the top of it. The squads started to climb the hill when it flew into the air showing a huge mouth of one of the giant worms. The swoops fliped off the sides of it almost crashing into the ground. And quickly made thier way forword with the worm trailing not far behind them under the sand.

"It can feel the vibrations from the engines, we are nearing the edge of the cliff." Anakin said to the squads over the comlink. "We need to fly straight to the edge and at the last minute split and have Iron horse go to the right and Raiders to the left."

The squads split, with a few of the new troopers almost falling off. The worm did just as Anakin planned, it came bursting out of the rock and flying out of the 500 ft cliff landing at the bottom, shaking the ground and having its blood and guts flying all over.

"That was close, to close" TJ said taking off his helmet and wiping the sweat of his forehead.

"I need to go change my armor," one of the troopers said in the background.

The squads all hopped off their swoops and checked to see if everyone was ok.

Anakin grabbed his binoculars and started scanning the area below the cliffs. "TJ, Fury, grab you binoculars and come over here for a minute." Anakin said with worry in his voice. "Look over there about 300 kilometers and tell me what you see.

"Nothing sir, all I see is Iron rock." TJ replied

"No, zoom in, look a little closer."

Through Anakin's, TJ's and Fury's binoculars they could see a little blue flag sticking over the top of the Iron rock, with little white troops walking around the area.

"Gentlemen, I think we have found the Blue headquarters." Anakin said with a grin. "Gather the men, and set up camp here for the night. Send a message to Athran that we have found the base, and give him the coordinates so the navy can start its attack runs. Get plenty of rest, for tomorrow will be a glorious day!"
.....

------------------
2nd Lieutenant Anakin
Commander of Wildcard & Storm Platoons
Offical Sidekick of the CoP
PLT-CMDR/CoP:OSK/2LT Anakin/1,2PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE

"I was, I am not, I don't care"

posted November 11, 2000 03:27 PM              

At about 4:00 am japer finds agent awake.
"should I take my troopers to garrison the area? yes good idea japer. As japer takes his squad to the left side of the headquaters
He say red troopers starting to gather in the distance. "guard the area im going to tell agent . As japer ran he ran into agent. " Agent red troopes distant coming closer"

posted November 12, 2000 01:58 PM               

�Sir, we have an incoming transmission from Anakin, he sounds very eager to speak with you,� said the communications officer.

�Put him through,� replied Athran.

�Immense news Sir, we�ve found blue�s home base. I�m sending you the coordinates now, and I�m sending them up to Destroyer in the Navy,� said Anakin triumphantly.

A smile crept across Athran�s once morose face.

�Great work Anakin, we�ll have the boys in blue running in no time. For now you guys need to lay low, we�ll need that position you are at for our attack later on, and we don�t want to give away our location,� said Athran.

�No problem, I already have the squads diggin in for the long haul. With the rations we have we should be able to stay here for about three weeks if necessary,� replied Anakin.

�Good, if you and the troops need anything I�ll send some transports if absolutely necessary. I�d rather not do that if possible because the transports would be too easy to track,� said Athran. �Set up a defense perimeter and start scouting the area for any thing we can use for our advantage when we make our final strike against Syths� forces.�

�Will do Sir,� replied Anakin.

�Be sure to lay low and keep me informed. If everything goes to plan we should be off this planet in a week and a half,� said Athran.

A blur of static came on his visual on the comlink he held in his hand then Anakin stood up and took a deep breath, he absorbed the air around him and could feel the frosty breeze hitting his face like a thousand pins, and knew that the hardest part of this campaign would be the element they had no control over, mother nature.

�TJ, how are the troops doing?� questioned Anakin.

�They are a little cold, but nothing they can�t handle,� replied TJ.

Anakin looked off into the horizon and saw the sun of Vix slowly being consumed by the pitch-black clouds heading towards them.

�Let�s hope so,� said Anakin with a distant look in his eyes.

�Any word on the location of Talon?� asked Anakin.

�No Sir, the last location we had him at would have put him right in the middle of what we were trying to get away from,� replied TJ. �But something tells me, he�s completely okay.�

posted November 12, 2000 03:56 PM               

heh, oops, forgot a quotation mark in my HTML...here's the full post...

The squad leaders of team blue were assembled in one room. in the center, an old-looking man was talking to them.

"We have recieved information that team red has located our base. Therefore, this base will be evacuated immediately. No doubt, team red will send nearly all of their forces to attack our base, so to draw them back to their base, we will send squads to theirs, drawing them back. The remaining squads will follow them and run them in to an ambush. This will happen at 1300 today, in three hours. Prepare your squads for it."

With that, the meeting ended. Agent knew that this would not be good for either team. He wished the VE was still together, so he didn't have to to what he had to do. he decided to go prepare his squad.

------------------
"Sanity is a Full Time Job in a World that's Always Changing."
- Bad Religon
"There's only ONE way of Life and it's Your Own"
- Levellers
"I think i'm Dumb or maybe just Happy..... think i'm just Happy"
- Nirvana
"Don't play stupid with me. I'm much better at it!"
-#63 Polt; Double_Agent

posted November 13, 2000 01:08 AM               

"Okay boys! We are headin' out! Get yer stuff packed up and move!" Yelled Cosmic over the speaker.
Troops quickly gathered their gear and ran towards the Radar Room.
Agent was giving orders to one of the stormtroopers as Cosmic walked to him.
"The men are assembled, sir." Said Cosmic.
"Very good Cosmic! You have shown to me that you are a good leader. I'm sure you will go far in the VE."
Cosmic shook his head.
"We can't think about those things now, sir. And if the VE itself is fighting each other, heheh, then we have a real problem."
Agent nodded.
Cosmic stared at the radar in front of him.
"Sir!" Yelled Cosmic as he pointed on the screen. "We have some Reddies about 300 kilometers from us! We got to leave...NOW!" Agent dropped his coffee that he was holding and quickly geared up.
"All personel, repeat, all personel, this is Private First Class Cosmic speaking...GET YOUR BUTTS IN ACTION NOW! THOSE REDDIES ARE JUST THREE HUNDRED KILOMETERS AWAY!"
In a few seconds, all of the crew in Blue Base were in fast action.

A storm trooper ran up to Cosmic.
"Cos, we got all of our Stormtroopers assembled. Were just waitin' for the rest of the crew." Cosmic nodded. "Good...Tell Agent this." The trooper nodded and ran off.

The whole Blue Base was evacuated and all of the Blue personel and troopers were all on Hover Bikes heading away.

"Agent sir, I have located a large area full of dead trees and rocks. Apperantly there's supposed to be a lot of caves around there." Said a stormtrooper. Agent nodded.
"Good." Agent looked around.
"Where's Cosmic?" He asked over his Commlink.
The soldier shrugged. Agent stopped about got out his binoculars...

Behind a rock, staring at the cliff 300 kilometers away, Cosmic pulled out a Sniper Rifle and loaded it.
He stared through the scope and searched the cliffside.

Through the binoculars, Agent saw Cosmic on the ground looking through a Sniper Score.
"No." He whispered to himself. The Blue Base crew were about a mile away, heading towards their new destination.
He steered his Hover Bike towards Cosmic and made full throttle.

"Aah! A Reddie!" Said Cosmic softly and quietly.
He aimed his sniper towards the Red Stormtrooper.
His index finger was on the trigger....ready to pull...
He aimed one more time.......BOOOOOOOM!
Agent arrived just in time to see Cosmic's Sniper Rifle jolt back from the shot.
Cosmic stared through his binoculars and watched the Red Team Stormtrooper fall to his death.
"C-Cosmic...are you OK?" Asked Agent.
Cosmic nodded.
"Ya.....Got one."
Agent quickly jumped off and grabbed Cosmic.
"Get on your bike now and follow me! They've probably seen that guy fall they've already seen us! Let's get outta here now! They won't find us where were going!"
Cosmic nodded and jumped on his Hover Bike. Agent and Cosmic rode side-by-side...going at a speed of 100 miles per hour...racing towards their new base.

posted November 13, 2000 03:45 AM               

He sat in his bunker, his eyes fixed on a holo-projection of a young woman. "Mandi... I wish this wasn't the case. I'll see you again soon... once this state of Civil War is over, and we are victorious..."

He heared orders being barked over the CommLinks. A sigh escaped him, his mind wandering on things prior. They had been driven off of Dargo, came to a standstill on Ico... and now this. They had suffered a semi heavy blow when their entire Comm center was destroyed by the red scum. He shook it off, his mind coming back to the present. They were once again being driven out, anger rose from his gut as he suited up, his short cropped brown hair being closed off by the helmet, his turquoise eyes seeing a darker hue through the viewports of his helmet. A heavy breathed sigh burst from him as the final order had been barked. Complete evacuation.

He groaned as he burst to his feet, running through the corridors of the base faster than a kitonak in mating season. Groping a blaster firmly at his side, he trudged on, and out the base only to see a few remaining troops. He jerked his attention to see Agent grab Cosmic and see them speed off on the hover bike.

"Move it Trooper!" He turned to see the remaining troopers take off on Hover bikes, he quickly got to one and sped off.

"Blasted red..." No sooner had he gotten into the ranks of the Vast Empire, than it had been torn down the middle. He sighed as he steered to the new destination. Life can be cruel at times... he thought to himself. But soon... soon he would be able to fight, and put an end to the civil war... at all costs.

((Hope I haven't stepped on any toes. I doubt I have though. I'll keep up, and keep posting... I didn't come in at the best time though.))

------------------
PFC Timber Saden
Ore wa kisama taosu mono da yo!
Ore wa kono youji de kisama o korosu
Kore wa bata no hocho watakushi no mono desu yo
Mandi utsukushii totemo desu
Anata wa zeri no donattsu desu yo

posted November 13, 2000 11:29 AM               

The base was evacuated. Not a blue soul within 10 miles of it. It just sat there like it didn't notice that anything was different. Team blue had "left the lights on" to make a better decoy for the dirty reds.

Agent and Cosmic didn't see any of this; they were racing as fast as they could to find the rest of their group. When they finally reached the rocky cliffs, they saw a single soldier there. Agent was confused. This wasn't the right cave...

"Where were you guys?! The rest of 'em have been in there for 10 minutes!" yelled the soldier. "Hurry up! there's a sandstorm coning!"

Thinking maybe his radio wasn't working, or that his positioning system was going bad, Agent followed the man into a cave. From the torch-light, he could see on the arm of the trooper the symbol of team red. He hoped he could get out of here without the reds figuring them out.

Cosmic obviously hadn't caught on quite yet; he was on the other side of the young trooper. "I can't wait until we finally see combat," Cosmic said, "so I can get my hands on one of those dirty-"

"Cosmic!" Agent cut him off with a whisper. Agent had to think fast. "We...have to stay quiet or they... might hear us outside."

Behind the youing trooper's back, Agent leaned over by cosmic and whispered, "he's a red."

Cosmic looked at Agent like he was crazy. Agent pointed to the man's sleeve.

Agent knew that they would be found out if they got to all the other reds. He snuck up behind the trooper, covered his mouth, and knocked him out. He and Cosmic dragged the man back to the cave's opening. The trooper had said that a storm was coming, and he doubted that they would leave the trooper out there for long. They had to act fast.

"I'll take him on my bike," said Agent, "The cave we're going to is about 2 kilometers that way!"

Agent and Cosmic sped toward team blue's new base.

posted November 13, 2000 12:03 PM               

Time and again, the reliance of otherwise intelligent beings on simple visual stimuli challenged Fury's view of their worth.

"Look at this LT," said the acting squad leader of the Raiders as he patched 2LT Anakin in to his sensor feed. The enemy had the same equipment, did they not know how to use it? "They must have left at first dark. See the trail of lifeforms leaving the base? It appears that they are setting a trap for us somehow. Or they will be rushing this base soon."

"How old is this information? We could use this to our advantage."

"Oh..." Fury stalled as he waited for Yillamien's response, "about one hour. Seems they left a lot of their materiel there though. It is my belief that we should still call in an airstrike. Even if they dispersed into small group elements, they won't survive long with just small arms and meal packs. I suspect if they lose their primary cache, we'll be seeing dead troopers in armor in a few days.

"In any case, I would really like to dig in tighter and get some air support, sir. I think we're gonna need it."

"I'll submit the call. Just hang in there. LT Anakin out."

The communication line cut, Fury got on the squad channel. "OK, here's how this goes. Three lines of static defenses. Heavy weps at the second line to cover all the way to the outer marker. Seed anything out of our footpaths with mines...magnetos especially since they'll probably be vehicular. This planet assures the advantage to the defender. They were stupid to leave a fortified base. Let's not do the same.

"Keep an eye on sensors at all times. If it's organic, it's probably the enemy. Iron Horse is restricted to their turf just as we are...either way we have matching IFF codes. Make sure your's is updated...CPT Talon's position changed a while back so the old ones may be compromised.

"Do not be afraid to gun these guys down. They are desperate and that means they are more dangerous than usual. They will not be taking prisoners should they reach the inner perimeter. This sounds like a winner take all, last ditch effort. Let's be on top when it's over. Shoot to kill."

"You can count on us Sarge," spoke PFC Marc. "None of them are getting through this line. Count on it." Fury looked over to the permacrete pillbox that Marc had some utility droids constructing. Sure enough, he had his repeating blaster, and flame carbine, and was watching a transport drop off some tarped object that Fury just did not want to know about.

Looking around the encampment, the same level of activity was obvious by all team members. In fact, barring a upper level meeting, he should be doing the same. Grabbing a datacard from the weapons cache, he starting choosing his own hardware needs for the coming fight.

------------------
SGT Fury
TRP/SGT Fury/3SQD/1PLT/IsisCOMP/DragonBAT/OsirisREG/TF Devastator/VEA/VE

posted November 13, 2000 02:29 PM               

Exar Kun slowly crept along the soft sandy ground. He had been sent out to scout looking for any sign of the Blue team.

He moved like a phantom, sprinting from shadow to shadow to stay hiden. His Lightsaber dangled on his hip as he sprinted behind a sand dune and looked off in the distance. It was a very dark night, witch made looking for Blue a difucult task.

Exar rubbed his hands togather then sprinted to another spot. He scaned the distance and saw what he was looking for. A huge cave. Nothing special about it, exept the sand that lay at the base was recently disturbed by a large number of somthing. And it was attempted to be coverd up.

Exar was sure that this was were the Blue had travled to, although he wasnt sure if all of them went to the same spot. Some may have stayed behind, or gone to a diffrent spot.

Exar took a deep breath and sprinted toward the cave, entering and quickly finding cover in a deep black shadow.

He crouched and waited to make sure no one was comming. In the distance Exar could here the gentle drops of water that most large caves had.

Suddenly Exar heard soft foot steps comming toward the mouth of the cave. Exar watched as a trooper in white armor walked past him, and stood at the front of the cave.

The trooper removed his helment and reveled a man's face. Exar imeditly reconized the face. The young Cosmic stood looking out into the darkness.

This could be what Exar needed. He silently crept up behind Cosmic. Cosmic took a deep breath and said to himself, "We will get those dirty Reddies soon enough." Exar smiled as he said, "Doubt-ful!"

Before Cosmic could react Exar had grabed him by his neck a draged him into the shadow of the Cave. Cosmic tryed to yell for help but only coughed. Exar firmly held Cosmic's neck.

"How many people are here?" Exar asked using the force to install fear into Cosmic.

"Ne..ack...Never, I will never...ack...tell you anything!"

"You will tell me!" Exar demanded using the Force to install complete fear into Cosmic.

Cosmic closed his eyes as though he was in the most pain he was ever in, he started to shake violently as he said, "All of...cahh...all of Blue's army"

Exar smiled, he could tell Cosmic was telling the truth.

"Good, you will live, but you will live with no honer. You have sided with the trators. Have you so quickly forgotten where you came from?" With that Exar let go of Cosmic and ran out of the cave into the blackness of the night.

posted November 13, 2000 04:53 PM               

Athran sat as his desk in a deep parallel of thought; he knew that this must be the final location for the battle. They had to take Syths� forces out and not let them escape like they had on Dargo and Ico. They had to make a decisive blow to Blue�s forces and make it before they could escape again. The battle in the air, he knew was a stalemate, so Red team had to gain the advantage on the ground and regain control of the Vast Empire�s forces, and somehow unify them once again. . . But how? Unless a definite winner is shown to be prevalent, there would always be distrust in the ranks. Somehow Red team had to win this and win it with out any resistance.

A knock abrubtly ended Athran�s train of thought. . .

�May I enter sir?� asked the communications officer.

�Go ahead,� replied Athran.

�Sir, Anakin is on the com, it seems that we have quite a predicament arising with blue,� said the communications officer briefly.

�Just great,� replied Athran with obvious disgust in his voice. �Put him through.�

�Sir, Anakin here, we have blue team up to something,� said Anakin.

�Well what is it?� questioned Athran.

�They have evacuated their base, and are heading north,� said Anakin.

�Do you have anyone following them?� questioned Athran obviously annoyed at being bothered with such an insignificant thing as them moving from their base.

�Yes but none have returned yet,� replied Anakin. �Should we pursue?�

�It�s your call, but I want results,� replied Athran getting up to get a shot glass full of liquor. The weights of trying to run a division obviously taking there toll upon him.

�Sir yes sir,� replied Anakin quickly and sharply.

Anakin sat back in his chair; he knew that Athran was relying on him, and he knew blue team was up to something. . . just what was it?

�Sir we have Exar returning from his scouting mission, he seems to be in a dash to get back here,� radioed a private first class on patrol.

�Finally, maybe something will go right for once,� said Anakin to himself.

posted November 13, 2000 06:10 PM               

Anakin, Fury and TJ ran outside to greet Exarkun when he arrives. "Everyone gather your thing, I am confident Exarkun has brought us some good news."

Exarkun came crashing in the red encampment. "Sir... I found them!" he said trying to catch his breath. "In a cave... on the North end. PFC Cosmic told me all of the blue team troops were hiding there, so I came back as fast as I could."

"Good job Exar!" Anakin said with a grin. "We must go after them now. We will then trap them and force them to surrender or they will die. If the cowards run from us again they will pay dearly. Fury get a connection to Athran and tell him the news and give him the new coordinates. Everyone, get your stuff ready, we leave immediately."

The troops quickly rounded up their things and began to set up their formations. In no time they were on their way to the caves to show the blue boys who is boss......

------------------
2nd Lieutenant Anakin
Commander of Wildcard & Storm Platoons
Offical Sidekick of the CoP
PLT-CMDR/CoP:OSK/2LT Anakin/1,2PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE

posted November 13, 2000 09:16 PM               

Cosmic smiled...he knew that Agent had clearly written that *half* the blue force was going to attack the red base...besides, it was a setup, naturally...they had already planned for this and set up heating systems that would look like troopers in the cave to the enemy's heat detectors. Agent and Cosmic had been too late to make it to the cave, and the rest of blue had already finished there. They set off with their captive...

posted November 13, 2000 09:24 PM               

"Agent! AGENT!" Yelled Cosmic.
Agent came running.
"What is it, Cos?" He asked worridly.
"They found us! ExarKun came up behind me and choked me out...He ordered me to tell him where are base was or he'd kill me...I told him...." Cosmic stared down.
Agent patted him on the back.
"It's ok, son...Everyone gets scared and tells....but we must evacuate once again and fast...I know Exar and he's sure fast about telling his superior leaders. Lets go!"
Cosmic nodded and ran towards the others.
"IMMEDIATE EVAC! IMMEDIATE EVAC!" Yelled Cosmic.
Everyone quickly rushed towards their Hover Bikes.
Cosmic ran towards Agent.
"Agent, I've got a plan."
"Let's hear it."
Cosmic brought out a map of the area.
"Were are here...Our previous base is here...I have an idea....Let's head over to there a little but keep out of site and lets stay about 10 miles away.....Get out our binoc's and watch...we'll see which way those reddies are coming from and then when they're done, follow them back to their base..we should bring stormtrooper rifles, sniper rifles, rocket launchers...the works.."
Agent nodded.
"Good man! Get everyone assembled."
Cosmic nodded and ran off to tell the plan.
Agent nodded.
"He's a good lad...He's sure to live..."

posted November 14, 2000 12:15 AM               

He sighed... evacuation was being screamed yet again. He charged out of his makeshift bunker and trudged on, a lot of the troops had started gathering their things already to evacuate. He marched forward until he ran into PFC Cosmic. He stopped in front of him, and slowly slid off his helmet.

Sweat glistened his brow, his turquoise eyes piercing to the heart, he stared at Cosmic for a moment. "Sir, I will not evacuate again. I'm sorry. I understand that this is directly disobeying orders, but I wont do it again. Look at what has happened, we have been driven off of Dargo, barely left Ico with a stalemate, and now are evacuating for a second time on Vix? I'm sorry, but I was not trained to run. I was trained to fight until the end, no matter what the cost."

He sighed and shook his head; "This civil war has gained us nothing but the deaths of those we care about, and hold dear. And it has made us resort to tactics that we would never wish upon an enemy, let alone one we used to fight alongside. I am going to stay here and fight. A few of the other troopers agree, they went through sever training, not to lose everything without a fight. We can come up with a battle tactic, but we will not back down again. If they are going to take this base, they will take it by force."

He stared at PFC Cosmic for a long while... their eyes locked. "I have a plan if you and Agent are willing to hear me out..."

------------------
PFC Timber Saden
Ore wa kisama taosu mono da yo!
Ore wa kono youji de kisama o korosu
Kore wa bata no hocho watakushi no mono desu yo
Mandi utsukushii totemo desu
Anata wa zeri no donattsu desu yo

posted November 14, 2000 01:00 AM               

"Sir, over there." Exar pointed to the cave as they went across the land on their swoops.

"Good, I don't see anyone out side so, either they have left or they are still hiding." Anakin replied " get as close as you can. When we get there I want EIH to move around the cave and place bombs on the tops and on the sides of the cave, just in case they try to escape we will collapse the cave in. Raider Squad I want you to put sensors from end to end of the enterance of the cave, and to keep watch on the front enterance. When this is completed we will start the negotiations."

When they arrived, EIH hurried as fast as they could to get the bombs in their place without making any noise. Raiders squad stood watch on the front enterance, after they placed the sensors. Anakin was talking to Athran on the Comlink telling him that they have the blue team surrounded, and Anakin asked Athran if he would come and join them to discuss the negotiations.

"I will be there shortly," said Athran. "If they decline on any of our requests then have them captured or killed. And watch your backs, for we still don't know if all of them are inside. Good luck!"

"The bombs and sensors are in place, if they come 20 feet to the enterace of the cave the alarms will sound." TJ said to Anakin

"Ok good, red team form up on the sides of the cave, so blue can not see you until they are about to leave the cave," said Anakin. "You might want to get in a comfortable position, for we might be here all night."

------------------
2nd Lieutenant Anakin
Commander of Wildcard & Storm Platoons
Offical Sidekick of the CoP
PLT-CMDR/CoP:OSK/2LT Anakin/1,2PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE

"Rest Ani. You have a big day tomorrow"

posted November 14, 2000 02:09 AM               

He nodded to Cosmic and Agent; "Thank you sirs. I will rally the men... but... first should we not come up with a strategic counterstrike? We can't just wait for them to come in here. They already know our whereabouts and have begun to move towards us. I highly doubt they will enter and fight a full wave within this cave, for they would suffer just as many losses from misfire's, and even a cave implosion. And so that leaves us very little options. But there is one key thing I've noticed... we have yet to call upon our Navy Aid!"

He stopped for a moment, collected his thoughts, and then rushed along. "A proposition. We send word to our Navy, tell them what exactly is going on, and that we have very little time. Have them set up a delay decoy run on Red's Naval Fleet. Only a few light ships, and one squadron of TIE's. Lead them away, not too far so they don't get wise to us, and then send the rest of our teams Naval Fleet to our location. Have them make Patrol runs, and fire upon anything remotely red."

He sighed for a moment, taking a deep breath, and then looking at Agent and Cosmic square in the face, "That leaves us, we can rally the troops. But we cannot take the exit. We will have to make our own exit. Get the two best Snipers, and two troopers with scanners out of our remaining forces. Send the two scanners to the back to check for anything that can explode on us. And make sure this heap of rock is stable, and if it's not, we'll have to go around it. Then send the snipers to the back of the cave and have them begin firing low blast's at the ceiling until we have an escape route, and then, get out from the top. We will be able to storm the enemy by suprise, permitting they are close to us. But... we will also need decoys. Once we have our escape route, send ten troopers to the entrance, that way any of Red's forces are distracted, and then we have an open attack upon them. They wont know what hit them!"

He stopped, and took a few deep breaths, "I know this sort of tactic is nothing near to 'by the book' but that is the beauty of it. They will never see it coming! So now... if you don't disagree, I think it would be best to contact the Navy, and get this plan in motion. Any comments?"

At that, he waited for their response.

------------------
PFC Timber Saden
Ore wa kisama taosu mono da yo!
Ore wa kono youji de kisama o korosu
Kore wa bata no hocho watakushi no mono desu yo
Mandi utsukushii totemo desu
Anata wa zeri no donattsu desu yo

posted November 14, 2000 02:39 AM               

Daishi smilled as everything had been adjusted. If this was going to work it would require precise timing on his part.

The Royal Barkalounger was built as a command ship instead of a troop support ship. Daishi would have to hope that the adjustments he made to his turret guns would be enough to give the support neccessary.

Daishi hit the throttle and was quickly on his way. Instead of joining the decoy assault he was going down personally. The sensor jamming device once again was made to earn it's keep.

The sensor net watching for incoming vessals gave no indication it saw the matte black shillouette of the Royal Barkalounger or it's sensor signature. So far so good.

In a couple of minutes the first phase of his plane would come into operation. He had stealth on his side for now but he'd have to keep his speed up so that the enemy would not hear him coming, but also keep it slow enough to hit anything.

The repulsor lift switch came alive with a flick. A load graon could be heard as the Royal Barkalounger's sub-light engines did not cut out as normal. So far everthing was working as Daishi had planned. The deacceleration from the Repulsor lifts and the throttling down of his engines to minimum slowed him down to not much above the speed of sound for the current conditions.

The position became visible in a quick flash as Daishi fired off an old fashioned magnisium flare. Barely half a second later the now lite night sky became alive with blaster fire as Daishi pulled down on the trigger hard. The turret guns did some damage to the force arrayed outside the cave and some armored units were now disabled due to ion cannon fire. The infantry were largely immpossible to hit and Daishi knew he could do a lot more damage as a ground pounder then a pilot right now. But he would have to wait until the other strike force already went through to begin his attack.

As Daishi had calculated no sooner had he finished his run then did the squadron of TIE's make it's run. It was more successfull at hitting infantry but was quickly chased away by persuing enemy fighters.

Daishi found a nearby clearing where he set down the Royal Barkalounger. A familiar kathunk sounded throughout the ship as the sub-light engines quit on Daishi. It would take a couple of days of work to get the Royal Barkalounger back into space but it would work as a mobile command post for his fellow traitors.

Daishi quickly garnered up his arsenal of anti-personel weaponry. In addition to his normal assortment of weaponry he also grabed a grapple rod so that he could get in the crew compartment of one of the various disabled armor units.

Instead of the field made double barreled blaster rifle Daishi had made himself he grabbed the factory made version. He also did the same with his ion rifle. Daishi made sure that the only way to get into the Royal Barkalounger was by means of high explosives.

Rushing over the hill Daishi saw the fire fight between red team and some of blue team. Daishi quickly hit the ground with his bouble barreled blaster rifle ready and stared through the scope at a particuallry stand out target. The red armor of Elite Iron Horse stood out in the remnatns of the flare Daishi launched like crazy and begged for him to demonstrate his sniper skills, so Daishi did. Daishi counted four clean hits and two possible hits before the light of his flare wore out. Now he wouldn't be able to have as much success eliminating the Elite unit but he could still do some damage.

A snap of a branch nearby alerted Daishi to the preasence of a patrol near him. Daishi layed silently waiting for them to pass but one stood two meters away from him to his right. Daishi silently slid out his Vibro Katana and left it in standard blade mode. With a blitz of speed Daishi quickly jumped up and threw the sword straight into the heart of the trooper. Working quickly Daishi scrambled over to the fallen trooper's previous spot and stood there as the previous trooper had.

Red had just suffered some defeat and all that could be done now was wait for Blue to finish making it's move.

------------------
"Indecent exposure is fun." Sonatina

"If we have all knowladge then we would not wish to seek what we know, but if we had no knowledge how could we even ask a question?" Plato on knowladge.

"There are at the least three sides or choices to any situation." Me

posted November 14, 2000 04:46 AM               

Keep up the good work

posted November 14, 2000 06:41 AM               

"We've found explosives set around the perimiter of the cave and above. We will have to exit at an angle towards the enemy." the two troopers with scanners called out.

"Snipers! Get in place and get us a hole out of this place!" Agent called to the two Snipers. The Snipers got in place, setup, and began firing low blasts at the cave's ceiling to create a makeshift exit, after each fire, 5 troopers would move the debris.

"Timber, get the rest of the troopers rallyed, get their gear and get them ready!" Cosmic called to Timber. Timber nodded and rushed off.

The Troopers were rallyed, all of the equipment and gear had been stocked, blasteres recharged, and everything was underway. "The exit is open! The route has been mapped, and the Navy is overhead!" called the 7 troopers, including the snipers, to Agent and Cosmic.

"Troops are ready sir. We've made a slight change in plans. With how well the Navy has been doing of distracting Red troops, half the troopers are rallyed at the entrance. We had best get most of our troops to a safe distance in case the Red troops resort to detonating the explosives!" Timber called to Agent. "The entrance troops will be safe quickly, but our suprise attack team will have to hussle! I will follow the suprise attack team since I put them in that position."

As Timber finished a large number of the troops were getting out the top of the cave. Timber turned to Agent and Cosmic, and saluted, his emotionless face not uplifting. He quickly slid on his helmet, and headed out the top.

Timber reached the base of the cave... battle scars coated the land. Fallen Red troopers and fallen blue alike. They had reached an even match. Now was the time for the suprise to take place. The suprise squad of blue troopers grouped in formation, and headed towards the Royal Barkalounger, thankful that Daishi had transmitted the entrance codes. Timber quickly gained access into the ship, the entire group getting in, and gearing up with the weaprony Daishi semi-willingly provided.

Timber pointed to a few of the troopers, "Man the Turret Guns and try and get a lock on the heads of the Red team. If you lock on, stay locked, but don't fire unless completely necisarry. You have still fought alongside these men, and been under their command. If you must, then take them out. But let's try and end this with the least amount of casualties!" Timber sighed... if it weren't for the current state of civil war, these men would not have to listen to a single word he said.

Timber noticed the double barreled blaster rifle, and grabbed it. The 'gunners' stayed within the ship, but the rest of the troopers exited, meeting Daishi's requirements of 'no entry without destruction'. A few of the troopers stayed at the ship, guarding it and using it as makeshift cover. But Timber and the rest of the troopers headed into the thick of the battle, keeping an eye open for the blood red Elite Iron Horses... calling them a force to be reckoned with was an understatement.

And so the battle raged on...

posted November 14, 2000 10:32 AM               

SGT Fury grabbed his helmet, tongued the release code, and ripped it off. Damnit, damnit, damnit. The damn traitors now had two things going for them. They had finally found an upstart tactician...probably from losing all the officers with no talent through attrition. And, more importantly, their navy had come through for them. A bombing run from a loyalist squadron and this battle would never have been fought.

He looked around at the chaos of the battlefield. Well, the worms would eat well tonight. Popping a couple stims and pain suppresors, Fury also grabbed a cigarra, lit it, and thought. A couple of members of the Raiders were getting up - slowly at that. The rest? Either dead or seriously injured. That was fine though. It was amazing that any of them were even alive. Just a couple minutes to clear his head.

A thought occurred. "Hey, Yillamien...you alive?"

A grunt. "Yeah, but I really wish I wasn't. Whatcha want Sarge?'

"Simple. Bump General Athran and let him know the coordinates of that ship. Also let him know that the enemy forces have for the time being evacuated the planet. Oh....and let him know..." Fury pointed at PFC Marc, made a few hand motions and made to catch an object, "let him know I have a plan."

"Great...the last one worked so well. I'll do it though."

Fury, now filled with his nicotine fix, could think clearly. A small capital class starship coming into the atmosphere at a high rate of speed, blowing the top off of a heavy, iron-rich rockface. There was no way that ship was in any damn shape to go extra-planetary. Even a VSD II couldn't handle that kind of movement and be spaceworthy...much less functional in atmosphere.

Alright, surprises were allowed in battle. The enemy just had theirs. Fury started popping in figures into the relay pad that PFC Marc had been carrying all this way. No one was sure when or if help would arrive...or if Iron Horse was in as good (if that could be said) a shape as Squad 3, but this was a time when technology could take over for man.

"Hey, DarkLord." Looking over at a prostrate form trying to bandage a nasty looking arm wound, Fury wished he had picked someone else. "I'll be over in a minute to help you out with that. Try to set up a diagnostic read on that ship. Marko?"

"Polo."

"Knock that off. We still have a supply sled?"

"That is an affirmative Sarge."

"Alright. I'm setting the backup stuff to confront our new enemy. Grab the Apex Incisors and a Plex 4 and move it. If anyone else is moving, get them to help. Fight the pain people. We can do this."

A mere twenty minutes later. We're well-trained you know.

"Strategy has never taken the place of overwhelming firepower." Fury pressed a button. "Wait for it team."

As the Royal Barkalounger had been patrolling the area, sadistically gunning down troopers as they saw them, Fury took his remote and painted the ship. It has taken a lot of gravsleds and some nifty controlling by PFC Marc to get this hardware out here, but since droids didn't show up on bioscans, Fury was glad he'd gotten approval for the trooper's plan. The thirty X85 Tank Droids that had served them so well on Dargo were now actively pinging and actively targeting the Barkalounger. Thirty particle cannon blasts, sixty turbolasers, and a six score heavy repeating blasters hit the ship with a physical whoomph that started eating at the already-damaged shields. That is not to say that the Barkalounger was without means to fight back. Already, three tanks had fallen to return fire...fire that was no longer falling on the remainder of Iron Horse.

"Keep alert. Ground forces may hit us at any time. Get your damn squad weapons ready."

A moment and two tank droids later, Fury saw the satisfying blue flash of a shield faltering, then falling. "Marc. DarkLord. You're not gonna get another chance. Both troopers ran from there hastily build launch platform and dove behind the rubble of a ruined gravsled. PFC Marc checked his remote against DarkLord's computations of the Barkalounger, and fired.

The Golog Bertum Apex Incisor missile platform was slow but accurate. A missile would fire every 30 seconds from it's ten missile payload and guide it's way to a pre-recorded spot...in this case the engine compartment of the Barkalounger.

It also made a huge frakking target. "Alright people. Granted that rocket candle is half a klick away, but that's too close in view of a turbolaser." A boom echoed forth from the ship. That was most likely the hyperdrive. "And that means that they are not gonna be able to leave. That means we should."

Squad 3 mounted gravsleds, swoops and anything else that the mobile members of the unit could scavenge and headed for the cave mouth entrance. To their right, they could see Iron Horse putting up a fight with renewed vigor after the Barkalounger had found reason to leave them alone. Behind them, twenty-two tank droids and one missile launcher were ripping apart a very bothersome starship. How?

The advantage was in size. As a squadron of fighters could rip apart a Mon Cali cruiser, the Barkalounger was ill-equipped to combat, much less hit, small quick targets. Oh, it could pack a punch, but all you had to was dodge them. This was all the easier considered the gunners did not have starship turbolaser training. Without a serious fighting force on the ground to back it up, without a concentrated enemy force to hammer away at, it was a child's party toy to be beaten down with a stick. And the loyalist ground forces had many a stick.

Four missiles had already been fired and the ship was on it's way towards the missile site. The port side of the vessel was a mass of blistered metal and fire. Surely there couldn't be manned weapons stations, but somehow there were. The enemy knew the stakes of this fight and weren't going down easily.

For once, they were fighting like the intelligent, resourceful, and brave troopers that Fury had entered the Vast Empire Army with. It was a shame they were finding themselves again at this late hour.

PFC Darklord had stopped to pop a couple missiles at the vessel's bridge area with his MerrSonn PLX-4 missile launcher while PFC Marc covered him with the MobileMortar sled that he had gleefully recovered only 45 minutes previous. Unfortunately for him there was no one close enough to vape.

Once reaching the relative safety of the cave-face, Squad 3 disembarked their swoops and what-not and set up defenses for a ground fight. PFC Marko now took this time to tend to the wounded again, trying to heal rather than merely save as they had done back at the battle site.

Fury's scanners showed eighteen tank droids still functional...then sixteen...then thirteen. He wasn't looking at the fight, the data meant more at this point. DarkLord was prepping the PLX-4 for another go-reound as the Barkalounger erradicated the missile platform, when it's sublight engines finally failed and the ship fell to ground.

No power, no propulsion, the ship was out of the fight. Squad 3 grabbed for whatever solid purchase they could as the vessel rammed home and caused violent waves of motion. As it finished, Fury resettled him helmet on his head and yelled, "Alright! Let's go back there and take..."

"Hell no, Sarge!" It was PFC Marc. He pointed out towards the ruined starboard side. "Look!"

Ah, the sound waves of the crashed ships were nothing more than a dinner bell to the native worm beasts. For now, Squad 3 could go the the aid of their comrades in Iron Horse, as the worms would confine the survivors of the Barkalounger inside the ruined, burning ship.

"OK, keep an eye on them. Yillamien, one more call to General Athran for support. The rest of ya gear up...we're gonna smash these traitors now. Grab everything you can stagger with. First outpost is that small ridge 2000 meters to the left. They don't know we're coming. Today we're just full of surprises. Nobody does it better than us groundpounders, especially that filth fighting the Elite down the embankment. Let's go show them how it's done."

------------------
SGT Fury
TRP/SGT Fury/3SQD/1PLT/IsisCOMP/DragonBAT/OsirisREG/TF Devastator/VEA/VE

posted November 14, 2000 01:53 PM               

Blaster fire ripped through the air, bouncing off rocks, and tanks. The air was clogged with the intence heat of the battle. The Iron Horse Squad were scatterd about the ground just outside the cave.

They were hidden behind any kind of debre they could find, trying to avoid the huge sand worms that circled the grounded ship. Now and then a red Trooper would pop up from behind his hiding spot and shoot three or four Blue members before ducking down again.

Exar Kun sat behind a destroyed tank calling in what was happening to Anakin, Fury, or who ever was listening.

"Iron Horse has three wounded men, and one down that I think is'nt getting up. I count about twenty Blue troops out here that are still standing. This battle is not going anywhere we need to get someone behind them so we can attack from the flank." Exar called into his comm unit.

"Negative LT" called in Fury "I am taking the bulk of the men into the cave. You are gonna have to take care of those guys by your selves. Or just keep 'em busy untill we can nuterlize some of the the guys in the cave."

" err... I copy." Called in Exar. "Damnit.." he said to himself.

Pressing his blaster against his shoulder he looked out past the disabled tank at the enemy. Most of them were fighting from behind another downed Tank.

Exar quickly went over a plan in his head, "It has to work.." Exar Kun thought determendly. He looked around the battle ground untill he saw TJ crouched behind some sort of large metal piller. Exar again activated his Comm unit and singneld TJ.

"Tee..can you cover me I have a plan?"

TJ picked up is Com and looked around untill he saw Exar "Sure,what do you have..I am open for suggestion..."

"The bulk of them are behind a tank about 35 metors east. If I can get over there I might be able to take them out, I need you to handle that e-web." Exar pointed toward an abondond e-web sitting only a few metors away from TJ.

"Sounds good..." TJ said nodding.

"Ready when you are.." Exar replied.

TJ ran toward the E-web and sat down quickly begining to open fire. While TJ fired at the unsuspecting Blue team Exar slowly srept to a swoop that TJ had prevusly used. Exar crawled on board and punched the accelorator. The swoop quickly screamed off toward the tank.

Exar approached the Blue memberswith stunning speed.one of them stood to shoot at TJ. As he did Exar quickly drew his blaster and fired, hitting the trooper in the face mask and knocking his lifless body to the ground behind the tank.

At the perfect moment Exar cut the engines and lept over the tank. His lightsaber activated in his right hand, and his blaster in his left. In a fluid motion that only a Jedi could posess Exar fired at the men from behind them and smoothly slashed at the ones closest to him.

In a matter of seconds the two troopers lay dead and ten wounded. Exar hated killing people in this war, He would leave the ten untill after the battle so they could be captured.

"Okay Teege, contact Anikan the bulk of blue has been taken care of and it looks like from here the rest are giving up."

Exar watched as the rest of the troops on the outside of the cave put there blasters over there heads and rose from the spots.

"Good!" TJ said with a sigh of relif, "Now we wait out here to make sure no more troops decide to show up, or untill we are needed some where else..."