Not going home yet. [Hakim and I]

[FaMiLy]

I acquired a admirable position on Coruscant. My band and I have been waiting for this moment, the moment to find armistice in our commorancy. However, the air around us was beginning to boil. Something wasn't right, and I knew it. The crew leader from the far side of the ship made an broadcasting over the loud speaker.

Captain, we better land. This area isn't suitable for the ship. I'm afraid we're not going home yet!​

I had given the instruction to land on the closest suitable area. The ship had docked nearby on a planet. I found it pleasing to know that I could take pleasure in what I liked doing most.. investigating. After the crew assured that the atmosphere outside was safe. A few minutes later we decided to go out, out and into the unknown.

Being the leader, I made a promise to myself. To insure the safety of my crew, keeping the crew alive at all cost was an important measure to be taken and quite honestly my number one rule. I established myself as a person of values. Integrity, honor, and work, the crew itself took most of these values from me. However, after we left the safety of our ship. Whatever harm happened fell upon me. I was responsible.

I and the crew made our way down the docking, this place was musky, it wasn't a welcoming sign either. The odor in the air was unreliable, it made me think against the crew's say about the atmosphere. The surroundings were foul. I felt like I was venturing into an abyss. I disbelieved that there was, if any signs of spirit on this planet.

We approached a scope of surface, soon to notice that this was a uncompanionable planet, we were surrounded by mercenaries. Being armed with a slug thrower, and the crew having had hand blasters. We weren't ready for any conflict. So there we stood, astound and incapable to compete with the villians.

 

[Jiang Winters]

The Amber Sky carved through the darkness of space like the tip of the spear. The gleam of stars and suns reflected off the well-polished vessel's dark hull, which bore no insignia, no name, no designation. It was a ghost amongst the stars, just like the faction it belonged to: Rogue Shield. The warship had spent the last weeks cautiously weaving through the less populous sectors of space while the latest team members were rigorously drilled in the use of the Combat Exoskeletons utilized by Rogue Shield.

This day was different, however.

While it was initially planned as a day of armed maneuvers and live ammo practice set to take place on an uninhabited world, the discovery of an unknown ship sharing the stars with the Amber Sky forced the team leader and captain of the ship, Tamila Harper, to adjust the team's plans. "Follow that ship and rig for silent running. Minimal emissions, disable all active sensors and communications. Have all crewmembers report to their battlestations. Keep the navicomputer primed for an emergency hyperspace jump, just in case," Harper ordered.

"Aye aye, Captain!" the bridge crew chorused. But before her commands could be fully carried out, the Tactical Officer called out, "Captain, the unknown ship is descending into the atmosphere of this system's jungle world! Trajectory indicates an emergency atmospheric re-entry! Orders?"

Tam frowned and folded her arms across her chest. "Have Delta Team suit up and prepare for Jungle Operations. Close-contact weapons load. Charlie Team is to equip for emergency response to a starship crash. Assume orbit over the world; we'll use drop pods to jump in near their landing zone if they need help."

"Aye, skipper."

Several minutes passed as the Amber Sky trailed the vessel, then assumed geostationary orbit above the world on which the unknown ship had landed. The Tactical officer was quick to survey the surface and the unknown contact's landing zone using a high-powered optical and thermal imaging array. His report was grim; the ship had landed half a kilometer from what appeared to be a clandestine pirate encampment housing a pair of light raiding gunships.

A group of mercenaries and pirates had already surrounded the unknown vessel. Tamila was somewhat hesitant to intervene, but now was as good a time as any to make Rogue Shield known to the galaxy. "Set condition to Red Alert. Huxley, bring our main guns on-line and begin an orbital bombardment of the pirate base on my mark. Raze it to the ground; leave no survivors. Have Delta Team load up into a drop pod. I'm heading down planetside to personally oversee this."

With that, Tam left the bridge and ran as fast as her legs would carry her to the Combat Bay, where Delta's two Crusader exoskeletons and their single Goliath, all painted a dark green-and-black camouflage pattern, were loading into a drop pod. Tamila scrambled towards her own Crusader -painted a neutral gray color- and clambered into the cockpit. It roared to life around her and she was quick to maneuver the surprisingly agile war machine into the drop pod with Delta team.

"Tactical, initiate whirlwind bombardment of enemy installation and launch drop pod," Tamila ordered over the comms. The familiar 'Aye Captain' rang through the speakers, and with a violent lurch, the drop pod was sent racing down its launch shaft and towards the planets surface.

At the same time, the men on the surface would be able to see elliptical golden rods and crimson bolts -railgun shells and laser cannon rounds, respectively- raining down from the heavens. Bright orange-and-black fireballs tore from the forest around the pirate facility, and the drop-pod streaked down from space like a meteor. Its drag chute and retrorocket fired at the last second, slowing its descent to a safe level as it landed in the forest behind the Mercenaries. Within a second of its landing, the explosive bolts retaining the doors detonated, spilling out the pod's deadly cargo.

"All units, advance to support the downed craft!" Harper ordered. The exoskeletons around her acknowledged her attack and rushed through the forest, their heavy stamps and the snap and rustle of brush giving away their approach. It was too late for the mercenaries, however. The pod had landed only a hundred yards from the clearing in which the unknown ship had landed; within seconds, the armored titans burst through the brush. The lead mech -the Goliath, armed with 30MM gatling gun in place of its right arm and bearing a reinforced close-in combat arm for its left appendage- opened fire immediately, the throaty roar of its cannon sending but one message to the mercenaries: They were all about to die.

Joining the Goliath in its orchestra of death were the heavy machine guns of the three Crusaders. Firing in short, accurate bursts from the treeline, they sent forth jagged rows of tracers that arced into the Mercenary's lines, yet great care was taken to control the outbound fire and ensure that not one stray round came near the crew that the team-mates were trying to defend. Nevertheless, the added caution did not dull the effectiveness of the barrage; so intense and withering it was that the mercenaries, who would be startled by the suddenness and violence of the assault, would stand no chance against the metal monsters that now besieged them.

 

[FaMiLy]

My band and I knew the occassional hale of gatling guns and ammunition. It fueled us, the progress on the approaching men was too fast to comprehend.

"Down!" Myself and most of my crew said.

It was almost like an act in response, an immediate order, something that came natural. Most of the men including myself dropped their blasters and themselves into the ground. Entrenching ourselves around the heavy gunfire, I gave the order to my men to the far side of the area. I balanced a safety area with enough visual contact of the new party.

Opening my data pad I scrolled through it to find and classify this planetoid. I knew if we didn't find a way out these whereabouts, we minus well abnegate. "Guys towards the lower side of the mercenaries! Let's stay out of the way of this new Squad, on my signal run!" At that point of time, I moved the men to the new side in which we could have security. We were suspended over the new battle between the mercenaries and new squad.

"Charlie, go along and spot out a rendezvous area." Charlie was a good man, tiny in size and battle hardened, he was faithful. As he proceeded outwards to discover a place in which we could meet later, the rest of the crew and myself settled in, "Alright men, although we aren't to prepared, we need to respect the values of these men, we're going to destroy our enemies like always. Understood?" The response was significant, these men were ready.

Trailing inwards we brushed past the bushes and achromatized jungle. The dim light flickered and blazed onto our coating. Our faces were contaminated with dirt. Since we had the benefit of a acclivity in the ground, we fixed our dimensions on the mercenaries below. We gulped the air, held our breaths, and ignited a hammer of hell. Our projectiles made a chromatic causatum.

The departed bodies of the mercenaries lie, lifeless and bereft of life. We expressed out abomination. We were seeking to find more mercenaries, ultimately there weren't any.

 

[Jiang Winters]

The Mercenaries didn't stand a chance.

Tracer fire sliced through bodies, bloody explosions rippled through the ranks of men, and plumes of dirt and grass spewed into the air as the withering barrage of heavy weapons fire tore into the motley group of pirates that had tried to surround the downed ship. They tried to disengage from Rogue Shield's forces, but it was far too late for them. The few survivors of the initial attack were either mercilessly gunned down by the pilots of the exoskeletons or finished off by the crew of the ship itself.

Within two minutes of the battle's initiation, all was quiet again. The Amber Sky had ceased bombarding the pirate installation, for it had been reduced to smoldering rubble from which columns of black smoke and fire rose up and licked the cloudless blue skies overhead. The four Rogue Shield mechs strode out into the battlefield, with the mighty Goliath using its foot to nudge one of the corpses that had been blown apart by high-caliber weapons.

"They're dead alright. Nobody survives gettin' nailed with cannons," the pilot rumbled, his booming and gruff voice audible over the external loudspeakers installed upon all of Rogue Shield's exoskeletons. "Check for survivors. If you find one, don't spare them. We don't want any Pirates getting the word out about our existence," Tamila ordered, though she was careful to use her suit's comm systems, rather than the loudspeakers. Her next order, however, was conveyed via the speakers. "Delta One, Delta Two, sweep towards the forest and find the crew of this ship. Inform them that the area has been secured and they are free to return."

Immediately, the two camouflaged Crusaders turned and went sprinting off towards the treeline. Tamila turned to the Goliath. "Badger, set a nav beacon for the engineering team. Get them groundside ASAP. If something's wrong with this transport, we'll fix it. Bring down Echelon Team as well; I want Valiances to go and search the pirate base."

The Goliath gave her a clumsy thumbs-up with its melee arm. "Aye Aye, Ma'am!" its pilot, 'Badger', thundered, before turning on its heel and stomping off a short distance to drop a baseball-sized beacon into the ground. As soon as the beacon was deployed, it moved away, clearing the landing zone. Now that the Intervention phase was complete, it was time to mop up. That meant getting the only witnesses to safety.

 

[FaMiLy]

This tickled us, we had made a brand of an ally.

Dashing at full length through the backwoods Charlie came within view. "Charlie, report asap.." I said, I was delighted to see his lineaments. "Sir, I found a unclouded range with adequate space to lay a beacon."

With that the crew, Charlie, and I were off. We were boundless, the bloodshed tore no holes in our hearts, we were upset over losing our ship. After about two miles into the dense jungle. We found exactly what Charlie was talking about, it was a beautiful wide open area with a dense overlay. It allowed protection and the area to lay the beacon.

Acknowledging that we were apart of the Republican military, we had some sort of acceptable accouterments. I commanded the men to stay downhill, in order to keep an eye on things. I was going to wonder back for a moment to find out weather or not our ship really was destroyed, the men understood, they lied down the beacon and waited.

I advanced down into the forest, cascading back into where I was nailed by those mercenaries. I became conscious soon and, before I knew it, I had went to far and part of that new squad was right in front of me. I knew not to let ammunition fly, that would be a false move. Despite the odds, I raised my hands and dropped my weapon. I was in the same situation as before.. Under the circumstances, I was hoping they really were the people that once helped us.. and it was my time to discover weather or not, they were as nice as they seemed.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Tango spotted!" the lead Crusader-class 'Mech yelled, as its pilot lifted the vehicle's weapons and began to take aim at the man who had appeared in the brush in front of them. "Hold your fire, 2-1, he's surrendering!" the second 'Mech ordered. The lead Mech kept its twin heavy machine guns trained on the man, ready to open fire at a moment's notice, while its partner slid its arms back, its M109 heavy machine guns -which it carried beneath its arms- retracting onto locking racks on its back, freeing the 'Mech's hands up.

The second Mech, which had its right shoulder emblazoned with the image of a eagle with its wings spread and clutching a globe-and-anchor icon in its talons, padded up to the man and crouched slightly, bringing its 'face' down closer to the man's level. "You with the crew of the ship that went down in that clearing back there?" the pilot asked simply as he gestured with his Mech's hand back in the direction of the ship, his voice slightly distorted by static from his suit's speakers.

Meanwhile, an engineering team had come planetside and was busily scouring over the surface of the man's ship, while the scouting team had lanced off to the pirate encampment, searching for and eradicating mercenary survivors with quick, brutal efficiency.

 

[FaMiLy]

(Sorry for the shortness.)

"I am," I was affected by the bigness of the Mech. His exoskeletion was suspended over me. Until he decided to slouch to my level. Quite honestly, I was scared, I anticipated which side these guys were really on. Unfortunately I had no way of showing them my identification. It was stored on the ships officer deck.

"My name is Zak Rato, i'm a Republic Officer. The ship that had fallen was mine, regrettably we had to land due to the alpine of the calefaction in the galaxy." I gave them a nod of acknowledgement. All at once I entered upon a mission to find something to assure them that I was really who I said I was. I didn't want to make another compunctious decision.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"The alpine of the wha'?" the crouching Mech's pilot asked. "Dunno, Delta One," the other one replied with a greatly exaggerated shrug of its broad shoulders. "He sounds like a busted thesaurus or somethin', 'cuz those were some pretty damn big words," the one identified as 'Delta Two-One' chuckled.

Delta One just shook his head -which translated to his Mech shaking its 'head' as it mimicked its pilot's movements- and set the gaze of his Mech's optical sensors upon the man. "We've cleared the area around your ship. You and your crew are free to return; we have an engineering crew groundside if you need any help repairing your vessel."

The war machine rose back to its full height as its pilot continued to speak. "Get your crew and return to your ship. We'll escort you there and back to make sure no other Pirates are in the vicinity. But hurry; we don't have a large time window to operate in."

 

[FaMiLy]

"Much obliged." Then in an instant, I was off. I grabbed onto my data pad while I was darting to dodge the tree lines. "Crew, remove the Beacon at once and head in the direction to the ship. We have a way out." I pushed the adjuster to my data pad. I knew we'd bump into each other soon.

After a few moments the Crew and I came too. I explained to them what was happening and they all agreed. I had finally cleared up the situation. We trailed downscale again and began to meet our destination, our ship.

Upon coming to the ship, we noticed the vast amount of soldiers set out and around the ship. We also saw the engineering team. Our real ticket out of this horrible planet. I walked over, followed by my crew and began asking.

"Whom am I suppose to talk to?"

 

[Jiang Winters]

The first Mech to spot them was none other than the gray-painted Crusader that belonged to Harper, leader of Rogue Shield. Immediately she turned her Mech on its heel and went marching towards them, coming to a halt immediately in front of the man who appeared to be the commanding officer of the group. Barely a moment after the leader had spoken, she piped up in response. "I'm Captain Tamila Harper of the Amber Sky. What is the status of your ship and crew, soldier?" she asked bluntly. She was a straightforward, no-nonsense officer, and it reflected in her tone of voice and the rigid, authoritative stance of her 'Mech.

Barely a moment after she had spoken, one of the lightweight Valiance Mechs came dashing up to the group. "Captain, Echelon Team reporting in. We've scouted the remnants of the enemy base. The Orbital Bombardment was highly effective, the enemy forces suffered well over ninety percent casualties. We mopped up the remaining forces before returning. Orders?"

Tam paused and turned to the Valiance. "Return to your drop pod and request a heavy lift dropship to return you and your pod to the ship. Good work, Echelon Lead," she replied. The Valiance gave a salute, then turned on his heel, rallied his men, and sped off into the forest, leaving Tamila to turn back to the Republic men, patiently waiting for an answer to her prior query.

 

[FaMiLy]

I respected a woman with such bluntness, leadership crawled within side her. I replied, politely, "My head engineer, Roberts will be happy to fill you in. He knew everything before we had to drop our ship." Roberts popped out from behind the crowd, moving past the men in my crew.

"I'm head engineer Roberts!" He said with a smile, "Unfortunately due to the lack of a good generator." He nudged me, he had been bugging me about buying and having him install a brand spanking new generator. "Our shields couldn't out stand the outside atmosphere from the galaxy! Therefore, I think.. well.. I know.. That the ship is practically done." He frowned, "I loved that ship.."

I was dismayed and I didn't know weather to ask for help from this Captain Harper. We were in no shape to withstand another attack. I was forced to, "Captain Harper, my name is Zak Rato. I'm sure you're soldiers explained to you that I am a Republican Officer, this.." I waved my hand to show my crew, "is my legionnaires. We were on our way home to coruscant, whenever... as Roberts said, our ship couldn't withstand the galaxies' weather. I'd like to ask you for your help

.. again."

 

[Jiang Winters]

"The outside... Atmosphere?" Harper repeated. However, her suit's speakers did not carry her voice; she was speaking via the comms to her teammates. Her mech's head turned to the nearby Goliath, Badger, who was quick to offer an explanation. "I think the engineer is trying to say they ran headlong into a solar storm or meteor shower, Ma'am. Nothing else makes sense."

Harper nodded -which lead to her Mech nodding- and turned her attention back to the crew. "If your ship can't be repaired, then I trust you won't object to us stripping it for parts and supplies. In exchange, we'll give you passage to Coruscant, or anywhere else in the galaxy you wish to go," Tamila stated. The Engineering team was already hard at work, with several of the smaller engineering Mechs having entered the ship and made their way towards the reactor and drive systems to survey what was repairable and what would have to be salvaged.

 

[FaMiLy]

(Haha, that's what I meant, I'm not to good with the Galaxy itself. ;) I know there's not an atmosphere, but I didn't know what else to call it. :P )

"That'll be fine," I was quick to react, I knew it was our only way. "Roberts can show your men where things are to make the task go farther. In the meanwhile, we were heading to Coruscant." I nodded to Harper, I was ready to go.

 

[Jiang Winters]

[It's kay, mate. ^-^]

"Meshes well with our flight plan. We have a shipment to pick up there," Harper replied. "Badger, escort Mr. Rato and his Legionnaires to the Landing Zone and call in a Medevac dropship. I'll be there shortly to personally watch over their transfer to the ship."

The Goliath-class exoskeleton gave a clumsy salute with its melee arm. "Aye aye, skipper," he replied, before turning to Zak and his men. "Alright boys, follow me. El-Zed's right this way," the pilot said, before leading them off to the beacon he had planted earlier, where a dropship was just settling onto the surface, ready to load on Mechs and personnel to return to the ship.

 

[FaMiLy]

My crew and I went along with the Goliath-class exoskeleton, we came to the drop ship, the planet's suns were getting hot. The dense jungle again smelt horrible, death made it smell even worse. Considering we were under the protection of this faction, the crew unarmed their selves and was stable once again.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Right, into the dropship," Badger ordered. "Strap yourselves in. You'll dust off as soon as the Skipper returns." With that said, the Goliath went striding back off. A few minutes passed, then Tamila's exoskeleton came to the dropship and clambered into the back. Harper holstered her machineguns on the back of her exoskeleton and slipped her mech's feet and hands into docking clamps on the floor and ceiling, respectively, prepping the machine for transport. As soon as she was set, the dropship sealed itself up, and took off.

Tam ran a quick diagnostic of her suit's systems, and so didn't come out just yet, instead communicating through her hardsuit's speakers. "How are you guys holding up?" she queried.

 

[FaMiLy]

From the tremble of the ship, to the convulses in our skins. The crew was vibrating as we began to lifted off from the planet. I was curious on who exactly these people were. To be funded so well, it scared me. I didn't want to check the Republican Database infront of Harper. It might be a mistake for the whole crew.

"I'm alright," after I answered to Harper, the whole crew joined in. They all replied with downright answers. From the beginning of this short mission we've been ready to go home. The republican military would provide us with a new ship, hopefully a more enhanced one. I'm sure that Harper's engineering ship realized what damage had already been done to the ship and it's age.

I sighed, I wanted to go home.