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Project Mayhem. Revised by Master. SA^Stan stood at his personal TIE Defender, when he was approached by Eucilid, and Macintosh. "Are you sure you have to leave Stan?" asked Eucilid. "Yeah, I need to get some personal things straightened out." Macintosh then chimed in, "Where are you going?" "I'm not sure yet Mac, but don't worry. I'll keep you guys informed." "I'm leaving you two in charge of the IW till I get back. I know you guys will take care of it." "We will." said Eucilid. "The Darkstar's repairs should be completed soon. So we can take her back home." "Excellent Euc. once she's back home begin a series of drills. Our pilots reaction time during the last attack was two slow." "I agree Stan. It was much to slow, and we will improve it." Macintosh said. "I know you guys will Mac. Cause if you don't, when I get back, I'm gonna bust heads. " "I have to go now, take care." "You too Stan." Stan climbed into his T/D, and began the power up sequence. "Control, this is Sector Admiral Stan requesting clearance for take off." "You are cleared for takeoff. Good luck sir." "Thank you control" SA^Stan's T/D launched from the hanger, and after the course calculation was laid in, he pushed the hyperdrive lever, and was gone. Smash request clearance, and was given it almost immediately. He banked (can you bank in space) his heavily modified T/I towards the Darkstar's landing bay. A T/D shot out and Smash jinked to avoid colliding with it, a quick scan of his console consoled him to the fact that the T/D would've sustained more damage than his craft, but immediately dismissed the thought and returned his concentration to the task at hand. Within moments he was standing along side his fighter throwing a smart salute to Euc and Mac who were staring into the void of space. "Where's Stan?" Smash inquired... "Stan jus left" Euc replied "Well, where'd he go?" "We don't know. He had some personal business he had to take care of. Mac and I
are in charge until he returns" "Let's head to the war room," Smasher said, "I've got news." When they arrived, he continued, "Euc, I've just got word of a change in command in the New Republic in our sector. They've called their commander back, and he's been replaced by some new guy. supposed to be very aggressive and headstrong. As soon as he arrived in the sector, the rebel fleet has been sitting back; they're being very passive" "But I thought you said this guy was aggressive," Euc said. "He is, very aggressive. He must be preparing for a massive attack." "As soon as we return home, we're going to run drill after drill to get this crew combat ready. Is that all?" "Yes sir" "Your dismissed" Euc said Smasher saluted, and his salute was returned by Eucilid and Macintosh. Somewhere in UGR space, a lone pilot sat in his custom fighter, sitting safely behind a cloaking device, Force sense spread wide, scanning the area. From the life sense around, there was a moderate size fleet gathering out here. The lone pilot tuned his Force sense to where he knew the bridge of the largest cruise was. He tuned into the mind of the Fleet Commander. What were they up to? After careful probing of the Commander's surface thoughts, he frowned. 'This makes no sense,' he said to himself, 'Why would they be going there?' Flipping the craft, he sped around the fifth planet in the system, a gas giant. Pushing the limits of the craft's Triad Ion Engines, he turned his thoughts inwards, admiring for a moment the swirling beauty of the helium storms raging below his tiny craft. Despite the cloak, the Republic had recently discovered a way to track the ion trail he left. Quite an annoyance, though the cloak still made itself useful enough. They had to know you were there before they could begin tracking, and being effectively invisible in combat, to sensors and eyes both with the matt black material obscuring the fighter in front of the dark of space. As soon as the Fleet was on the opposite side of the planet, he triggered the hyperdrive. Dropping from Hyperspace at a safe distance, he considered his options. The old loyalty began to assert itself, and was ruthlessly quashed. 'I left for a reason,' he growled, 'Not enough has changed for me to return. No, they'll find out soon enough.' Plotting a new course, the old pilot stroked his gray beard thoughtfully. If it gets bad, I may have to. But it must get bad first. And before it can get bad, it must get better... "Lead, this is four. Enemy fighter on five high." "Roger four, got him. Flight one, spread, let's see on whom he will run." "Roger." - "Aye." - "Yes Sir." "Flight one, this is your leader. Loose formation and tactic B-4." Again three times "Roger." "This is three, being targeted by missile radar of enemy fighter 8." "Roger, three. Flight, get on number 8!". The four pilots of flight one switched their targeting computers to search mode and selected enemy number eight, an F-Wing. "Flight one, keep an eye on the other fellows." Piler pressed a button. "This is three, missile launch detected!" "Evade, two. We'll get that missile! Two, trace the missile down. Four, follow me and get this fighter." Piler grinned. As he had expected, the novice pilot in craft number three was flying
funny shapes (you remember: Chlothoides, Lemniscates... He switched to single lasers and waited until craft number one got nearly in range. Then he let loose a few blasts before diving deep and coming up again in a fast roll. As he had expected, enemy one was diving, too, so now Piler had a clear shot at his cockpit. A few blasts later Hippies helmet burst into millions of pieces and his fighter turned into a glowing fireball. "This is four. We've lost one, get on that damn fighter!" "This is two, missile destroyed. Commencing attack run on enemy." "This is three, roger that." Now he had three fighters attacking him, two of them pretty experienced pilots and one rookie. Well then, let's get the rookie first. It took Piler not more than 30 seconds to fix himself to number three's tail and another 20 seconds to blast his engines towards explosion. Ensign TJ's craft exploded in all colors, a part of his wing nearly crashed into Piler's cockpit. Well then, two left. "Three, this is two. It's only the two of us left. Let's show this %&*@#$%~! what we're made of!" "Yeah, I'll let him get on my tail and you try to get him while he's trying to get me. No wait, before he's getting me." "Roger, three." With that the two fighters left their formation and attacked Piler from two sides. He had to chose one, simply took the one which was closer and tried to get on his tail by flying straight to his enemy, turning into a tight loop and roll back to his foe's tail. So far so good, in fact this maneuver worked well, but for Piler it went too well. This guy there in front of him definitely was no rookie, but he behaved as if he wanted Piler on his back... While thinking this he heard the noise of a missile evading its tube very close. Too close. And with this his craft turned into a beautiful explosion. Piler jumped out of the simulator. "Dammit, Narm, that was good." Narm smiled while taking of his VR headset. "Thank you, Sir. Looks like it's sometimes good not to use what we've learnt in academy." Hippie grinned. Although he was one of the pilots who got shot in this training simulation, his flight members had given a great performance. Then the squadron commander wiped the grin out of his face. "Alright fellows. Meeting in the conference room in five minutes for analysis. Remember, we're in heavy training for the next few weeks. And after that I want everyone of you be able to defeat at least a whole wing of Rebels on his own. You understand?" The whole squadron shouted "Yes Sir!" Brit glanced to Piler and mumbled "This is going to be the hardest time of our lives." Piler shrugged. "I wouldn't say that. The hardest time of our lives is going to come when we will use what we learn here." With that they left for the conference room. Somewhere in Hyperspace... As Admiral Boo Wood stood on the command deck of his flagship in his fluorescent pink uniform with yellow insignia all over it, he appeared to be deep in thought awaiting the exit from Hyperspace and the opportunity for a fight. Meanwhile near the Greneth System aboard the Dreadnought Garrindon... "Sir that was the last of them." Captain Greyscuttle announce. "Very good Mr. Greyscuttle, now if you would be so kind as to reflect the new ownership of this vessel and her new name, Death's Nest." General Daishi replied after the first engagement of the POD's forces with the enemy. "IFF changed sir. Wait a second sir, I'm getting something odd over the Comm on the IW's frequencies. It appears Erridanni is under attack." Captain Greyscuttle reported. "Prepare to set course for Eridanni, I know by the time we get there we will be on the offensive, Operation Mine, Mine, Mine, and That One Too is now on hold, I will be in my new ready room making a few calls to see if we can get some reinforcements." General Daishi trailed off as he headed to his ready room. *A now isolated bunker on the fringe of a city on Erridanni* As smoke filled the sky from precision strikes against all military production and base facilities began to rise Admiral Boo Wood marched forward to the last reported hold out of garrison troops. "Surrender if you wish, but I would much rather you put up a fight, it would be much more entertaining. Meahahhahah!" Boo nearly shouted at the bunker's defenders. "WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER!" One of the defenders shouted as he fired a blaster shot right into Boo's rifle. "DAMMED!" Boo replied as he dropped his favorite rifle and switched to his secondary weapon, fragmentary grenades. A loud explosion came from inside the bunker as the two grenades Boo tossed inside the bunker went off. "Get two regiment down here to man a listening post ASAP. We have other worlds to plan to invade and more fun to be had." Boo mumbled as he retrieved his rifle and headed for his personal ATR. *High orbit over the world Varneck* "I greatly appreciate the ships, I promise they will be returned someday. I hope to do business with you again, and thanks for the food, we needed something besides field rations." Daishi thanked a representative of the local government as he headed for the door. "How long will you be in system in case we need your assistance?" The Governor asked as he finished signing over the Nebulon-B and five CR-90's of his planet's defense force. "Until our hyper drive is repaired. Don't worry I promise to take the coordinates for this place to my grave." Daishi replied. "That I already knew Robert, it has been good having you back in our neck of the galaxy again. This washes it between us I'm afraid. Use these ships wisely." The Governor came back. "Actually I am going to let Lieutenant Colonel Ardan Sortek have at them. I promised a Dreadnaught, but this will have to do. I understand Jascom, until the day I can come back." Daishi saluted as he left the office. "Sir, You're leaving now?" Lt. Colonel Sortek shrugged, "This is probably the best time. It's either that or get shot when they figure out who sliced those orders taking us to Eridani." Maj. Lars shuddered at Sortek's casual indifference. "You would abandon your regiment on the eve of battle? What about Eridani?" "You gentlemen have the Darkstar with you. I'm sure YHE will be able to handle whatever you encounter. If I wasn't I wouldn't have forged the orders sending us here." With that Sortek left the bridge. In the hanger bay he found his battered ship, the Lizzy Hazen, waiting for him. "Yup. The time has come to take a hike. I doubt they will miss a spook like me," he said to nobody in particular. "Besides, this is the time for dramatic exits." He boarded the Lizzy Hazen, which at verbal command launched from the hangar bay. He gazed out the viewport at a Corrvette, the Excellence Uninhibited. He still thought of it as the Sweetums. He never understood what Stan found wrong with that name. He spared his last glance for the formidable New Republic Task Force gathered to face the Intruder Wing. Counting six MC-80As, he shrugged as the Lizzy Hazen jumped to lightspeed. Fardreamer flying through space in his severely damaged Dream Interceptor (a modified Tie Interceptor for the newbies) trying to get a hold of some space station or any sign of life checking all his ships communication channels but the only thing he receives is flickering sounds.. "Dammit anyone out there? Dream Squadron has been wiped out I’m the only
survivor" SrrrHHHzzzzkk the radio flickers and then picks up a voice. "This is the MC-120 Darkstar responding to your distress call what is your condition?" "Darkstar? This is General Fardreamer I demand to speak to Dogger" "Dogger speaking 'Fard is that you?'" "Yeah and I need immediate aid life support in my DI is just about to run out. My whole squadron was ambushed near the outer rims by some sort of symbiot vessel.. it just swallowed our lasers and seemed to get stronger from it" "What? no vessel can do that.. you sure it wasn’t really good shield systems?" "Shield systems? BAH this was 1 ship and wasted my 12 ship squadron in less then 3 minutes I just barley made the hyperdrive but I had no time to calculate the jump so I ended up here with no clue of where I was... what a strange coincidence that I find the intruder wing in this sector. By the way what sector is this? Nevermind just take me in now I need some sleep" "Yes my friend. You are cleared to dock" Fardreamer flies his wrecked Dream Interceptor into the hangar when the wings touch the ground the ship breaks down into pieces. Laying in the debris of the ship Fards laughter echo through the whole ship. "All right people we got trouble. While on our way back to Trifid we have been pulled out of Hyperspace by a rebel interdictor, the good news is they don't seem to notice us right now. Bad news is that six MC-80a's have started closing in on the Darkstar, but fortunately we have the Majesty and an interdictor of our own. The plan is to have our own interdictor set up a field to keep the rebels from fleeing and hopefully they won't notice because they have their own interdiction field running. The Majesty and the Death's nest will then attempt to sneak up on the enemy fleet and hopefully take down some enemy cruisers while they are forced to concentrate on the Darkstar. After we have dealt with the rebel fleet in the area we can then consider a counter offensive to retake Erridanni." Daishi briefed his troops. "Sir why do not just go now while we still have suprise." Major second class Argon Viper spoke up. "Well you just gave me an idea but it will make the job of the Majesty and the Darkstar even more difficult. We can halo drop first battalion without much trouble but we will need time for the rest of the troops but we will have some suprise on the enemy troops. Viper have your commandos also suit up for halo drop and leave the scout bikes on the dropers for now, we will bring those down later. If I can get YHE to use his Corvettes for a down load we can take the star port and surrounding areas without much trouble. Black Crab, The Marching Hell Battalion will come down last, if I meet the kind of resistance I expect your troops will be unable to help us anyway, so defend the Starport and stand by as reinforcements incase I'm wrong. All right you all now know the basic situation and plan, I'll have a target list once we can get some recon work done. Dismissed." Daishi rebreifed his troops as he headed for a com panel. "Get me Lieutenant Colonel Sortek now." Daishi said into the comm. "Sorry sir, I cannot, haven't you heard he has transferred back to the navy." Captain Greyscuttle replied. "Very well get me Major second Class YHE then." Daishi replied. "YHE here." YHE's voice came over the com a few seconds later. "YHE I need you to take your troops for a down load near the star port. Oh and congratulations Lieutenant Colonel." Daishi replied. "Uh yes sir." YHE came back. Five corvettes descended quickly into the atmosphere or Eridani. Aboard each a company of troopers prepared to do something that was only marginally sane. The term "download" is a venerable one of uncertain origin. When applied to combat it meant to jump out of a speeding transport directly in the middle of an enemy held position. The theory was that the surprise factor gave the attackers an edge, if the high velocity and pressure wave from the transport carrying the troopers didn't get them all killed... Admiral Davd Quarrel studied the corvettes as they entered the atmosphere. "enjoy yourselves, imperials." He said softly. Everything was proceeding as Admiral Wood had hoped. He turned to the monitor displaying the forces arrayed against tg81.1. The numbers were firmly in the rebel's favor. The imperials would have to send more to save this portion of their fleet. "And their mind will be here, and not on the actual targets." Quarrel nodded, pleased. He turned to his flag captain. "prepare to engage". The soft thud of several troopers landing simultaneously disturbed the silence outside the capital city of Eridani. Motioning to his troops Daishi began collecting his equipment muttering a curse under his breath about landing so far away from the target with so little equipment, but it had to be done if the Death's Nest was going to get any troops down in time to reinforce YHE's troops. Using a combination of hand signals and a stick Daishi began out laying the plan of attack that would allow his battalion to link up with YHE's troops which would need reinforcements almost as soon as they sat down. Lightyears from Eridani, a middle aged man cradled a sniffer of brandy in one hand as he watched a report from his agent in the eclectic army jacket. He smiled when the agent signed off. This man has once again proved his worth. The situation on Eridani worked cleanly into the plan. Everything proceeded as he had hoped. He raised his glass in salute. "Hail the emperor," he quoted an old saying, "those who are about to die salute you." He drank. First the Intruder Wing will fall. Then the entire New Imperium will follow. Then what will follow will be glorious. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE LOST ALL CONTACT WITH MAJOR SECOND CLASS VIPER'S TROOPS! YHE CAN'T HOLD OUT MUCH LONGER WITHOUT REINFORCEMENTS AND THIS BATTALION WILL NOT BE ENOUGH ON IT'S OWN." Daishi shouted with a look that could kill twenty wookies in Dark Trooper Armor. "Sorry I can't help it sir all contact is non responsive." Sgt. Persicon replied. "All right, we will proceed without them for now. New plan, we have to get to the starport now and help YHE and his troops defend against all counter attacks until the rest of the troops land. Frak we need combat engineers. All right here is what we'll do: All companies will march in the 2 by 2 staggered assault formation until we get withing LOS of the starport then we all switch to the 3 by 2 tandem assault formation while we run for what fortifications we can find after which we hold the line until the rest of our troops have finished landing." Daishi replied as he took out a rebel sniper. Nezumi remembered very little of his past. For reasons that he wasn't quite sure of, those memories had been removed. He remembered the Jedi on Taninil. He remembered Daishi sabotaging his ship. He remembered shooting the emperor through the head, only to discover that it wasn't the emperor. But those memories are immaterial. The boss gave Amon a job to do. He will carry it out. Amon hunched over a computer console and set to work. A comtec on the Darkstar's bridge noticed a slight flickering on his computer screen. "What the hell?" Another comtec leaned over to look at the problem. "Just a minor system glitch", he said, "the ship has been through a lot
with half the rebel fleet pounding on her out there. Its to be expected." At an out of the way computer terminal a protocol droid continued his work. "It would be simpler if the virus didn't need to access every holoprojector and viewscreen on the ship." He told Amon, who relaxed in the corner. "But there is no style if we don't have a peep show." he responded. "I got you past the security system, its up to you to give project mayhem the proper flair." The droid shrugged and continued working. Daishi grunted as his armor stopped a blaster bolt to his chest but was still enough to knock the wind out of him. Now crouched Daishi let the rebel trooper who dared to shoot him know exactly why he his call sign was "great death" by firing a single blaster shot directly between the eyes of the trooper. "That should teach them a thing or two." Daishi said mostly to himself as he used a modified blaster rifle and thermal detonator as a mortar to annihilate a small group of rebels. "Frak. Captain Sorlan find me a communications officer now, I need to contact YHE." Daishi yelled as his Comm was damaged. "Here sir." A lieutenant said as Daishi let loose the full fury of his double barreled blaster rifle at an advancing rebel platoon. "YHE I am authorizing a withdrawal to the spaceport, we need to get off this
planet of we are going to survive." "What about Jingo and the reinforcements he has with him?" YHE's voice crackled over the jamming signals. "Unless he gets down on planet in the next five minutes we will not be able to continue this offensive but if we pull back into a defensive position we can hold out much longer and besides even if we remove the rebel presence currently here we will never be able to hold it." Daishi snapped back as he once again laid down saturation fire. "Understood and agreed." YHE's voice came back over the com. "All troops pull back to the starport and prepare for a defensive once again. I want second battalion to form up and cover us on the port side, if we do this right we can get all that remains of our forces out intact." Daishi communicated to his forces on world. Frak where are the rest of my troops? They should have gotten down here by now as well as those Jingo has with him. I am going to have to have a word with Captain Greyscuttle. Daishi thought to himself as he began the retreat. As Daishi was examining the flanks of his line he came to the ruined remains of a bunker and heard a soft tap as his boot hit something on the ground. "What's this? 'Timbique Edition', hmm interesting." Daishi said as he picked up a very large slug throwing rifle with minor blaster damage in one side. "Major Yatani, do you read me?" General Daishi's voice called over tactical. The air above 2nd Battalion's position seemed to shimmer, and then a sleek craft hung in the air. "What the..?!" cried Jingo, "Not more!" Scarlet flames, headed by the familiar form of advanced missiles lanced downward. "Cover!" yelled the Major, diving under a piece of steelcrete which had fallen on the stump of a statue, but the sudden, fiery death he imagined for himself never came, instead he looked up to see the still forms of three Rebel tanks with fire spewing out of the roof hatches. "Major Yatani," a voice growled in Jingo's ear, "You're clear for another ten minutes until the next squadron reaches this position, anything you like blown up round here before I move on the artillery?" "Yeah, could you take out some buildings to block the street, that should slow them some." "Roger that." Two more scarlet bursts issued from the craft hovering above, seemingly on dumbfire, but then they turned down and struck at the pillars at the base of an office building directly in front of the Infantry position. The building seemed as if it was not going to fall, but then fall it did, and created an impressive pile of rubble in the street. "That do ya?" the voice growled again, seeming familiar. "Yeah, that ought to hold them up a while." Jingo looked up at the craft trying to recognize its specs, just then a bolt of energy lanced into it, hitting the shields. Frowning, Yatani looked at the blast point, it had moved around the ship almost ninety degrees. Strange, he thought. The ship shimmered again, and vanished. "Alright men!" Jingo yelled into his comm. "That thing just bought us some time! Let's move it and use it!" He was still staring at the spot where the strange, silvery craft had made its exit. Must be some sort of cloaking device. When Jingo was COM of the DarkStar, he was privy to some classified information from NI headquarters. Someone in the NI had developed some cloaking prototypes but full manufacture was never put into place because of a couple of fatal accidents during some actual combat. Jingo picked himself up from off the street and looked at the crumpled office complex and nodded thanks to the rather familiar sounding pilot. He wasn't sure how long the rubble would really hold the Rebs at bay, but he wanted to be somewhat better prepared when their engineering teams managed to breach the wreckage. The twisted pile of metal beams and burnt permacrete made him realize how quickly his life could end at any moment. He had been a fighter pilot; and had been a good one. It was different on the ground. Closer. More personal. He shook his head to clear the thoughts. "Alright folks, I want every available soldier's thermal detonators. "Falik," Jingo ordered his demolitions expert. "We need your wizardry; see if you can do something with these." "Well..." he paused and then seemed to shrug and scratch behind one ear. Jingo smiled at the gesture. His men were human... even behind the faceplates and the visors. Even locked behind the powered armor, they were still human. Still people with feelings, with lives, hopes and dreams. Jingo thought of Grisner and his men. What would become of their dreams, he wondered. Jingo had seen combat before. Many times over he had flown in his fighter against hundreds of enemy fighters and had always come blazing through. He had participated in ground combat before. The Chorlas Campaign was his first ground combat and it all went surprisingly well. He lost very few men as he simultaneously fought and destroyed two enemy regiments. And then he hunted the guerrillas in the mountains. Yes, there was battle; but this was the first trap he had walked into. And his Battalion had taken some heavy casualties from it. He hoped Falik could come up with something. Payback would be nice. "Sure." Falik continues, moving towards the pile of spherical detonators. "Give me some time to work with the wiring and I may be able to come up with something." "No problem. Take all the time you need but get it done before they come through that wall of rubble. Get a move on; we're gonna need to move rather soon if we want to catch our own ride out of this joint." "Yes sir!" Falik moved off with two others and started gathering the thermals. "Alright men," Jingo looked at the troopers and was once again proud to be serving with them. "I want the rest of you to come with me." Jingo trotted further down the street, away from the crumpled office building and closer to the landing pads. "Walker take your men and get setup in those control towers there." Jingo pointed to the nearest landing pad. "When Falik's bomb goes boom, I want you and your boys to open up with everything you've got! Hit them hard with the missile launcher and then small arms fire. Keep a concentrated stream of fire on the area for as long as possible. Then when I say, get out; and get out fast!" Company B, headed by Walker moved off at a trot onto the landing pad, towards the tower. There weren't any shuttles on this landing pad-- but there was plenty of wreckage from destroyed rebel craft. Trucks, cars, speeders, and shuttles lay in twisted, blackened heaps on the tarmac, giving the landscape an odd graveyard like feel. This must be from when the 2nd Infantry Regiment had initially hit the starport as they jumped from the low flying corvette well. As usual, Daishi's advance crash squad of commandos were the textbook example of deft precision and speed. They were in and out before the rebels had known. No, Jingo corrected himself. Someone had known yet they wanted us on the ground for the sole purpose of ensuring that we never lived another day. Jingo knew that the rebs would try their hardest to put a stop to their rather mad dash back to their ships. And it was up to all of them, the troopers of the 2nd Heavy Infantry to pull this all off. Jingo ordered his own company to fall in line as the trotted further away from the wall of office building wreckage, past Walker's new position and then a few hundred meters beyond he setup position. His men lay behind wrecked vehicles and crumpled rubble. They blended in like chameleons. Jingo lay behind the twisted front section of a speeder and shoved his rifle out. "Falik, we're all setup here. What's the situation?" "All set sir. Charges are set. There's gonna be a cookout as soon as they poke their nosy little heads through. I'm on my way back." "That's what I like to hear. Alright men, full engagement as soon as you see all hell erupt!" "Roger that, Yatani!" Walker said. "We've got the area sighted in with our launcher and are ready to rock this joint!" "Let 'em come! It's payback time!" Jingo grimly said and powered up his HUD. He could see the rubble wall off in the distance. There was a small explosion and a large cloud of dust. Then he could hear the engines of enemy armor. The blip showed up on his visor and information on the enemy litup across the screen. Current speed, facing, heading were all clearly visible. Jingo took aim and his targeting reticule moved into place. He could shoot and hit at his discretion. He held death in his hands. Unfortunately, he didn't hold enough death to punch through a hover tank. "Just a little closer." Jingo whispered seeing the first of the tanks whir through the wall and the dust. It was like some war beast. A large turret faced his direction as did some missile-racks. It was worse than he feared. These were heavies. The lions of the battlefield. More tanks came through. He started counting: 2, 3, 4...7, 8... "Falik," Jingo said through is COMM. "On my signal..." 10... 12. Twelve tanks! "Now! Punch it!" Jingo heard a faint click click click sound as Falik pushed the detonator buttons. One second later and all he saw was a wall of fire coming towards him. The explosion was quite unlike anything he had experienced. Oh he had witnessed plenty of explosions before. When a Capital ship tore apart at the seams and sent atmosphere and fire spewing into the blackness of space... but again, on the ground, so close where you could 'feel' the shockwave and 'hear' the blast. The sound was deafening. While his audio dampeners did their best to shut out non-essential noise, he got a good rattling. Chunks of rubble, permacrete, and burning metal flew in all directions. It was spectacular. That many thermal detonators going off at could take out three city blocks without much of a problem. And the contained blast only served to heighten the damage. He doubted much could make it through that. The smoke burned black and thick from the ominous metal husks burning in the street. The rebel tanks had taken a beating. An entire company destroyed by a simple trick. Jingo didn't understand it. The rebel ground commander must be either very inexperienced, or just extremely over confident in his forces. Jingo guessed the latter. The 2nd Heavy Infantry were outnumbered something like five to one in this battle; at least from what he could see from the data on his visor. But the commander didn't seem to care. He only cared about winning, with no thought for the expense on soldiers and tanks. Seemed a little too much like the old Empire for his taste. Vader was much the same way, overpowering the enemy with overwhelming forces and costly frontal assaults. But to an Empire with limitless resources, what was one division of troops? A mere drop in the proverbial bucket. The dust and smoke mingled in the air. And then out of the wall of smoke, at the edge of the tarmac more ponderous shapes swung into view, like specters coming through a wall, they pushed through the smoke, dust and rubble and into the clear. Jingo could hear the whirring sound of their anti-grav pack and the deadly pulse of their engines. Yes, Falik had taken out twelve vehicles, an entire company, yet they still came. Jingo saw a flash from the corner of his eye and in front of him. Then a smoke trail and an exposion as another tank met yet another firely blast. The tank dipped into the ground. There was a grinding sound as the tarmac and the metal generated sparks and the tank wheeled out of formation slamming into another tank before coming to a screeching halt. The top hatch opened, and a pulled himself out, smoke billowed from inside the tank out the hatch. He was followed by five more all sputtering and coughing. And one was holding his bloodied arm with his other hand and he limped. They reached for their side arms and dove behind cover as Walker's small arms fire opened up on them. Three of them were taken apart as accurate shots blew out chest cavities and took of heads. The other two had the good sense to keep their heads down. Immediately blasts erupted from the non-damaged tanks. Missiles flew through the air and Jingo saw a portion of the Control tower's roof collapse in the barrage. More dust. More rubble. More fear that his men didn't make it out. "Walker!" Jingo yelled. "Come in!" "I'm OK. I lost two men though." "Glad to hear you're still OK." "It's getting pretty hot sir. We're pinned down real good!" That was nearly an understatement. Blaster fire lanced from the tarmac from the remaining 11 tanks, taking apart the tower piece by piece. "Fire your remaining three missiles. Aim for their anti-grav sections like you did. Use up your missiles and then move out! That seems to immobilize them somewhat." "We're on it!" Walker affirmed. More explosions erupted in front of Jingo as portions of the tower were blown off. Small arms fire was also making it difficult for Walker to get into position for more shots. Jingo saw the familiar missile trail again, this time from a different location on the tower. Another tank was hit. Except this time, it didn't swing out of position, it merely kept moving. While the other tanks took up a slow advancing saturation fire position, the damaged tank actually sped up and slammed straight into the base of the tower. There was a loud crunching sound. Metal screeched on metal as Jingo lost sight of the vehicle. "Company A," Jingo addressed the men lying hidden in the rubble beyond the tower. "Get ready to give Walker and his men covering fire. They'll be running through our field of fire so watch where your shooting." Two more missiles hit two more tanks and then the tower creaked and groaned and began to fall. It fell straight toward the tanks. "Walker!" Jingo screamed. But it didn't do any good. The tower fell. As it fell, Jingo saw three shapes leap from the tower, jet packs blazing. They touched the ground and then leaped like locusts up and over Jingo's position. Well, three made it out. Dang, at this rate, his battalion wasn't going to have much left. In a terrific display of broken glass, permacrete, and metal the rubble from the fallen tower covered at least two more tanks. Jingo doubted they were dead. But they were probably immobilized. "Open fire!" Another missile from Jingo's own company sped toward the tanks for a direct hit, but it impacted harmlessly off its thick front armor. "The Anti-grav unit! Go for the anti-grav!" Jingo heard someone shout. Jingo started shooting at the approaching tanks, knowing it wouldn't do much good. Too much armor and not enough punch. But it was better than sitting on your behind waiting to die. "Yatani? Where do you want it?" It was the General. "Sir?" Jingo asked. "We got some ground based artillery. Do you want some?" "Do I want some? I'm down to a little over one company and you ask if I want any help? I usually don't accept charity, but in this case give me all the thunder you've got!" Jingo sent the coordinates through is visor and in a few minutes, tanks were getting hit in the blasts, and the explosions were coming dangerously close to their own positions as the enemy continued to advance. "Troopers, controlled retreat!" Jingo yelled as he leaped up, firing as he ran back about twenty yards. He dived behind cover just as the permacrete in front of him exploded sending stars in his eyes. He blinked and shook his head. A crater lay about two meters infront of him. If he wasn't encased in powered armor, he was sure he would be spitting gravel at this point. Sheesh! His own men are going to kill him. "Watch where you're shooting Daishi! I just about took on the head!" Blasts filled the air and missile streaks arched over him and beyond to a target behind Jingo. The tanks even moved past Jingo's location taking him for dead. They past him at full speed their large humming engines, a dirge of death. Jingo could guess what they were going for. "Jingo, they're shooting at the shuttles! You've got to protect them!" "General, I don't have anything left to throw at them! Hit them with artillery." Jingo suggested bitterly. "They're inside our minimum range!" Daishi yelled. Jingo leapt up and saw an escaping shuttle reel as six missiles sped into it. Jingo knew it was a goner. Dead from the start. It sped beyond a small burn and then there was an explosion. What could he do? One man against how many tanks? Jingo looked. There were only two or three. But they knew if the shuttles were gone, so was all hope of escape. Then Jingo decided it. He didn't like to use it very often, because he wasn't sure he could control it. But he didn't have a choice. He dropped his gun, hit his jets, and leaped up and forward, barely landing onto the unsuspecting top of the rear-most tank. He growled and pointed a fist at the hatch. It simply exploded into thousands of shards of metal. 'Crude but effective' a small rational part of his brain reminded him. A small concussion grenade down the hatch decided the issue as he leaped off and heard the small pop through his protected ears. One down two to go. But infront of his eyes there was red. And it wasn't the HUD. He felt a fierce hot anger at those who had killed his friends. And at that moment he wanted to kill. He pointed both hands at the next tank, and simply pushed, something inside of him took hold of energy, of life, of power outside of him. He pushed. Somehow he pushed. And the tank flew end over end, the turret bending at it rolled over and over a good 20 meters. Jingo collapsed to his knees; he tasted the familiar taste of copper inside his mouth. He then fell to his elbows and struggled to life his head up. Such a pounding in his head. Though the dimness of his vision he saw one last tank firing its large blaster cannon at the line of infantry running up the ramp into the shuttle. I didn't get the last one... "I'm sorry General..." Jingo struggled as his head fell to the ground, his breathing thin and ragged. "I did what I could." And then the blackness took him. As Daishi watched his lines starting to crumble under the combined assault of three regiments he knew Eridani was lost, all he could do now was pull out and pray that he got his men out with him. "Battalion 4, get those Juggernaughts back in position, we cannot afford to loose any more evac ships." Daishi spewed over his comm. "Sir, Major Yatani's battalion is no longer responding to communications though we do read them as still active." Captain Grevsom commented. "All right, I'll take a commando unit down there and see what I can do to help him out, but we must hold the line as long as possible, clear out the enemy tanks and then get the heavy vehicles off ground, commandos and troopers should be able to hold the line against what is left." Daishi responded as he starting running toward the tarmac. "Frak, one enemy tank. All right I got it. You two go get Major Yatani, the rest help fill in the line." Daishi ordered as his platoon came to the tarmac and spotted the unconscious form of Jingo Yatani. "All right you big bastard, I've got you now." Daishi muttered to himself. Daishi considering his position used his free hand to rework one of his command detonated explosives into a command detonated mortar shell and attached it to the end of his double barrel blaster rifle. "Open wide 'cause I got a very large package for you." Daishi said as an evil grin came across his face. Firing the explosive charge Daishi with the speed almost impossible by humans switched to his ion rifle and detonated the shell right underneath the hover tank knocking out it's shields. Firing several quick shots from his rifle Daishi nodded with satisfaction as the tank came to a grinding halt. Capitalizing on the now disabled tank Daishi switched from his ion rifle to a light saber and a old fashioned fragmentary grenade. "Avon calling!" Daishi said as he knocked on the hatch. With a single swing of his light saber the hatch was off and in short order the fragmentary grenade was armed and dropped down the hole. Laughing maniacally Daishi stood there holding the hatch closed as he heard the familiar bang and splatter sound of a detonating fragmentary grenade hitting flesh. Sprinting back over to Jingo Daishi noticed how the rebel armor finally seemed to all be destroyed. "Dai, it must be the blood loss or the drugs but I could have sworn I saw you use a lightsaber to open that sardine can." Jingo muttered as the field medics worked on his injuries. "You did, I have two." Daishi said as he began scanning for the next rebel advance. "But I thought you aren't force sensitive." Jingo replied as he began to waver. "I am, but I can still use them, my training in the use of a vibro katana is very similar to training to use a lightsaber." Daishi replied as he noted the sedative finally won the battle against Jingo's desire to stay awake. "Get him on the next shuttle, my self and YHE will be the last to pull out and we'll take the Royal Barkalounger. Now why aren't the rebels pressing the attack." Daishi barked as the evac was finally going something resembling smooth. General Lossen studied the vicious battle through his Binocs. Direct assault was not the method he would have chosen, and the "special auxiliaries" that the admiral had gathered were not the forces he would have used, but it seemed to be working. He had to admit that the imperials were too preoccupied to notice his regular army troops forming up for their own assault. "Colonel Simmons, you may get the division moving. Keep in mind that our goal is the capture of General Daishi." His aid acknowledged the order. Soon after nearly five thousand soldiers began their
march into the starport. A handful of stormtroopers left behind on the fringes of the starport were the first to notice the approaching horde. A young corporal began screaming into his comlink. "Many enemy forces now entering the starport! They have heavy armor in support! Repeat, Many enemy forces entering the starport, estimate a division level military force! We need support now!" Far above in the Darkstar, a man lounging in the corner of some out of the way corridor heard the message on his own comlink. "Mr. Kameron," He said into his marvelous little comlink, "Gather up as many agents as you can and give the New Republic a proper welcome. Concentrate on disabling the armor units." "Problems?" Asked the protocol droid rapidly typing at the computer terminal. "Not a one. Project Mayhem continues without a hitch." Now Daishi saw why they held back, they had gained reinforcements and were waiting for Daishi to blunder as he just did. "Frak, we no longer have the ability to hold off that kind of assault, full retreat. We got to get out of here now. Get me Captain Greyscuttle." Daishi yelled over the comm. "Got him sir." The Comm tech replied. "Captain we need immediate Evac, meet us on the farside of the landing platform a.s.a.p., YHE will be joining us." Diashi shouted as he heard the blaster shot that killed the Comm tech. The furious roar of blasters and missiles were enough to make even Daishi cringe. With the last bit of his courage Daishi looked straight down at the tanks and laughed maniacally as he now noticed the Achilles heal of the new assault. "All commandos switch to your ion rifles and concentrate attack on the tanks, we may be able to hold them off after all." Daishi shouted over the Comm as he started firing on the tanks disabling them one by one. "Now only if we can hold out against the infantry as well we may get out of this alive." Daishi muttered to himself. "Time for you to get out of here sir, we can hold the line without you." Captain Grevson pleaded with Daishi. "Very well, I'll grab YHE and make sure he gets to the Royal Barkalounger and get the hell out of here. Now I am trusting you to get as many men out alive as possible captain." Daishi replied as he began laying down suppression fire with his double barreled blaster rifle for his retreat. "Yes sir." Captain Grevson replied. Daishi noticed the wiring on his double barrel blaster rifle was coming undone as was the space tape. "Frak I don't have time for this. Might as well use this new 'Timbique Edition' for my main weapon, hell it's got to be better than my blaster pistols." Dashi mumbled mostly to himself as he entered YHE's command area. "Sir, what can I do for you?" YHE spoke up as he saw General Daishi enter his tent. "Time for you and me to go, we hold too much valuable information to be captured. We are leaving via the Royal Barkalounger." General Daishi replied as he started back out the 'door.' "Yes sir." YHE replied as he grabbed his gear. The job's done." The droid said. "Can we go home now?" "No." Nezumi responded. "Now we go down to the planet and see if there is anything to pull out of the system." "Why are we helping these people? The plan was..." "Project Mayhem is a deep game, I will play it as I have to." Kameron studied the approaching tanks. He lay in an open field, confident in his
mimetic armor to conceal him. It was almost time. Kameron liked those odds. "In range now sir." Kameron's XO said. "Then by all means commence fire." Kameron replied. A few seconds later the agents crept away, only one of their number lost. Detonating
charges left twenty burning tanks in their wake. The rest of the armor battalion had been
thrown into horrible disarray. That disarray will domino down from this point unit to the
rest of the enemy army. Kameron had bought the defenders the time they required. "Sir, they've halted their advance!" General Daishi turned his binocs in the direction indicated. The Rebels had indeed stopped their advance. He could make out several tanks burning, as well as infantry squads scouring the field of battle for, supposedly, whoever hit them. Every now and then he could see a barrage of blaster fire from the infantry, retorted by a single blaster shot that unerringly struck the head of one of the enemy troopers. He could not help but admire their marksmanship, whoever was doing this. "Sir, we have an incoming transmission." The aid said. "Put it on". The radio crackled to life. "Hello imperials. Mind if we join the party?." With that the sky darkened as a fleet of ships blotted out the sun. A Victory class star destroyer followed by eight correllian corvettes. "My god sir," the aid said in shock, "I sure hope they're on our
side." Amon looked out the view port as the corvette began its run to the starport. He reached for his comlink. "Report, Mr. Kameron." Kamerons response came almost immediately. "We have destroyed twenty heavy tanks and about a dozen infantry. The enemy attack is in disarray. I have two dead. We have exhausted our Ion warhead supply." "Very well. Return to the Evac point and keep an eye on General Daishi. If he gets captured you will have to explain why to me. I don't want the rebels to just waltz up and seize such and important man. Understood?" "Understood sir. A S A D C O T G." "That’s right space monkey. Now get to it." The battle was over now. The arrival of the warships in the atmosphere placed the rebels in an untenable position. General Lossen's crack division withdrew rather than allow itself to be destroyed by bombardment. Shortly thereafter the rebel fleet in orbit pulled out of the system. The Intruder Wing stood victorious, but at a terrific cost. Amon stood with Daishi outside the ruins of the starport. "I assume my agents were of use to you, Robert." He said. "More than you could realize. They saved our asses when that army came storming in." Was the reply. "Excellent." Amon said, "I think it is time for my boys and girls and I to ride majestically into the sunset." "Explain to me why you are helping us, Amon. You have never been a great fan of the Empire." "The boss gives a guy a job, then he's supposed to do it, right?" "From you, bulls***. You never did anything you didn't want to do." "You would be amazed." With that, Amon went aboard his murrian transport and lifted off the planet. Several
minutes later the ship jumped into Hyperspace and was gone. An hour or so later, Ad Kevin stood on the command deck of the Darkstar and looked out into space. The battle had been brutal. Hundreds of fighters, an interdictor, several escorts, all lost. General Daishi reported over fifty percent casualties among his ground troops. Kevin knew there was nothing that could happen now that would make things worse. When the power failed and the first explosion rocked the ship, he realized he was wrong. "What the hell is going on!?" "We have a massive power failure all over the ship sir!" A comtec responded. "Secondary power is down to fifty percent and falling fast!" "How, dammit!" "We don't know sir, it just started happening!" "Well get on the horn and find out who does know!" "Aye sir". The comtec accessed the communication system, the response was not what he was expecting. Out of every Holoprojector and viewscreen came an image that might just haunt Kevin for the rest of his life. A man stands wearing leather dominatrix gear. This man is Grand Moff Tarkin himself. With a crack of his whip, he addresses another man in an imperial uniform with a disturbingly husky voice. "I'm Jethro. I'm your date tonight." This was not something Kevin needed to see. "Where the hell did this come from?" He demanded as he reflexively ducked a flaming sextoy shooting through the image. "I don't know sir, It appeared as soon as I tried to access the computer!" The comtec replied. "The whole computer system is tied up with this thing, I think we're even broadcasting it to the entire New Imperium!" "What the hell is going on here?" In a different part of the ship, a swarm of droids continued their work. The order said the power system was bad. It said to pull out the power regulators. It said that there were biological infections on this ship, and they were not to know about the power system. The order also said destroy all the biological infections encountered. The Droids sometimes remembered that the biological infections had been there for a long time. They sometimes remembered that the biological infections would be nice to them and take care of them. But the orders said they were bad and had to be destroyed, and the orders couldn't be wrong. Orders were never wrong. The swarm of droids took apart another biological infection, took apart another power
regulator, and continued work. "The power system is crippled," It said. "It will take weeks to repair. As best as we can figure, thousands of our own droids began ripping out important parts of the power system. We know this because they also began attacking any crewman they came across. That’s not all. Someone planted a virus that kept us out of the computer system until the droids were done. You, err, probably received the transmission that the virus sent out." "Sir, we have been sabotaged." The communication ended. Dogger contemplated this most recent disaster. It had to be
Nezumi. He had never trusted the agent of Cenotaph, the man had been making too much
noise. But how had he gained access to the ship's systems so easily? None of Sortek's
intelligence reports indicated he was a slicer of any kind. There was something here that
Dogger was missing... Sortek sat in a lounge aboard the Caliban with his intelligence adjutant. "You wanted to talk to me, adjutant." He said. "I wanted to give you this chance to leave the Intruder Wing now before I have you arrested and shot for treason." Came the terse response. "Figured everything out, did you?" "I know that you, not some rebel agent, sliced the orders that brought the Darkstar here. This disaster is of your own making." "Curious. Judging by your response it is obvious that you haven't figured everything out." "If you expect to talk your way out of this..." "Actually I'm just curious why you will let me leave at all." An evil grin crept onto Sortek's face, "You're a space monkey, aren’t you. You're one of Nezumi's agents." "Now you accuse me of treason" The adjutant replied, but Sortek knew it was mearly for the sake of the listening devices on the ship, the grin on the agent's face matched Sortek's own. "I can accept your mercy. I will leave aboard the Lizzy Hazen within the hour." With that Sortek was gone. He kept his promise and left the IW behind. Daishi looked at the shattered remnants of his troops, most of which he knew he could not keep in the service of the IW after such a defeat. Even Daishi was beginning to have doubts as well about his own abilities and how he managed to screw up so horribly, yes the fault must be his for he ordered the counter attack without authorization and ever since he set foot on world nothing was the same. The smell of the blood, smoke, intense blaster fire, and explosions of every type permitted Daishi's Vanreck Marine Combat Armor and made themselves known to him when he removed his helmet. "YHE, I don't think I could do this again. Despite what Sortek has done we had known purpose once again and it would have eventually proven to be our salvation or perhaps our destruction." Daishi spoke for the first time since the two of them boarded the Royal Barkalounger. "I know there is little I can say to stop you from changing your mind once you've made a decision but I am willing to gamble you haven't made up your mind yet. Not every battle can be a victory and not all battles are fought on the fields of death and glory. The..." "Greatest battles we fight are with ourselves. I know the saying quite well, after all I have heard it for as long as I can remember. My father used to tell it to me all the time, even after he retired from the Varneck Planetary Defense Force and the Family business, hell it was the last thing he said to me before he died." Daishi interrupted. "Well at least I learned something new about you. I can already tell this is going to be one long flight." YHE replied. "Besides, I didn't mean loose horribly in combat, I meant putting up with the waiting for someone to spark the life back into this motly group. I have tried it before and failed, I tried again with getting the POD going again and that already appears to be doomed as well for our men do not have the training or will to press on after such a defeat, frak I've already lost the commander of the 'Rolling Hell' battalion and I fear I may loose more before week's end." Daishi answered with almost a glimmer of hope in his voice and yet a great sadness in his general being. "At least the rebels have pulled back that new commander of theirs, for now. Hopefully this will give us the opportunity to take back the invite." YHE beamed back with all the exuberance of youth. The End. |
) in panic. The whole
flight was behaving exactly as it was expected to. One guy tried to chase the missile
while the two remaining were attacking him. That's a nice tactic, but this way a flight of
four can be halved by simply firing a missile. Anyway, he still had two fighters which
wanted to get shot.