Clampdown

[J-Wash]

Sukie paced up and down in front of her rented speeder as the RNSF Lieutenant who she'd collared as an ad hoc liaison officer looked on nervously. Sukie's own Lieutenant Tokarian had taken the delay as an excuse to light up, and made a contrast to the nervous energy of her local counterpart, blowing heavy clouds of bluish smoke up into the still morning air. They stood in a ring of speeders parked in the cobbled courtyard of Commander Xexil's estate, where RNSF troopers hurried about, checking and re-checking their weapons, running last-minute maintenance on their speeders, and generally trying to take their minds off the coming battle. A much smaller contingent of the 3rd Starborne dressed in beige armour sat about on ammunition crates smoking and shooting the breeze, blasters laid to with practiced ease.

"I mean, where can they be?" Sukie muttered to herself, her carbine swinging as she rounded another lap. "There's a hundred and twenty armed beggars read to go, and they're not here."

"Calm down, Sukie," Tokarian said, rolling her eyes. "They've got time yet. Not everyone's got the time to be a neurotic mess."

Sukie curled her lip but didn't respond, going back to her pacing. She hadn't slept well, and today's operation promised to be long, hot, and messy. Where the hell were the rest of the team?

( @Herrith Hendarsin , @Kaylon Neroka )

 

[Herrith]

Avlin arrived second, almost silently, as she walked to a crate with two cases of unknown cargo. Instead of her 'formal' garb, she was wearing a jumpsuit. She set the two slim cases onto the crate, opening them both, first pulling out what appeared to be rifle parts and almost ceremoniously assembling them into an anti materiel blaster rifle, slinging it around her back after checking its charge.

The woman then moved on to the second case, attaching armor plates to the jumpsuit and then slinging the helmet under her arm as she turned towards the landscape, searching for a decent position to look over the compound.

She found some older housing areas and almost forgot to tell everyone else where she was going.

Avlin approached Sukie.
"I'll be in those housing areas to watch over you. Tell the Naboo guys too."

As she gestured, she also turned and walked away in the direction of the compound. Finally, she could do something she was best at...

 

[Kaylon Neroka]

Helia appeared to be the last of their number to arrive, having needed to make arrangements back at her base, she had no doubt she would be. With her aviation attire on, it was as effective a military outfit she had at her disposal. Helmet in the crook of one arm, her free arm brushed the hair from her eyes and she continued on to meet with them, her eyes lingering over the craft they had at their disposal. The light breeze that came with the beautiful morning held nothing towards the wind speeds that would assail those craft when they were in zooming to their destination. She almost couldn't wait.
Reaching who she assumed to be in charge, a somewhat skittish Captain of sorts, she snapped her heels and gave a salute. She outranked her captaincy, but on this venture she had been told she would be working with a woman by the name Captain Sukie Bathors, and the woman from the gathering she'd been informed went by the name Avlin.
Sukie was certainly shorter than she'd expected, but Helia had heard some idle talk about calling her "General", so she was unclear how a woman of her own rank was actually supposed to address such a person. Was she a Captain or a general with Captain's insignias?

"Wing Commander Helia Demarr, of the Naboo Royal Air Force reporting." Dropping the salute, she looked to the other woman she recognized from the formal gathering. She was already leaving, probably off to perform some task, but her appearance left its impression. In entirely different attire to the party, and without a mask, she had a completely different air about her, someone who was not to be messed with, or to be left alone with. Someone almost hungry for what was to come.

The idle nature of those hanging about the resting craft, as Avlin left, put Helia at ease. Watching as people smoked and waited for their orders, she relaxed and hoped to appear a little less awkward. This was to be her first operation as a Wing Commander, and while she was still getting used to the social component of the job, a few things were reassuringly the same as before. She turned to Sukie again.
"What is the plan?"

 

[J-Wash]

Sukie's mouth hung open as Avlin breezed through, assembling a gun of staggering size and grand power, and brusquely departed for some hidden sniper's roost. She had orders poised on the tip of her tongue, but the sniper's sheer laissez-faire discouraged her. Better to let the professional get on with her own business.

"Keep in touch!" Sukie called after her, waving a communicator.

A click of heels turned her head, swiveling quickly to be faced with a tall blonde flight officer saluting her, and it took Sukie a moment to realise this must be the RAF liaison. At least air support seemed willing to talk to her.

"General Sukie Bathors," she said, with as much authority as she could muster. "Glad you could make it. If you could turn your attention to the map table..."

She turned and gestured to a polymer map laid out on the bonnet of her speeder, showing a long valley running roughly north to south, with a small farmstead at one end, and a collection of red structures drawn on in red pen at the far end, nestled amidst rocks and steep slopes.

"As it stands, the plan is this. The RNSF will run their speeders up to here." she said, gesturing to a line of buildings at the bottom of the valley. "They'll run skirmishing sorties up the valley within firing range of the enemy compound, but they'll be in cover and supported by our," she paused and flipped on her communicator, said "VERY COMPETENT AND HIGHLY VALUED SNIPER." and flipped it off. "Besides which, it'll keep the smugglers distracted from this."

She gestured to a big, sweeping arrow that ran along the hill crest to the east of the red compound.

"We'll run around off-road, come down behind them and blast the fresh mercy out of their AA cannon. After that, I'll need your fighters to blow the gates, whereupon we'll sweep in and mop up whatever's left."

Sukie stood back, arms folded, smiling grimly to herself. "At least, that's the provisional plan."

 

[Herrith]

Avlin sat on an old archway, smirking as Sukie spoke into the comlink on her wrist. Yes, she'd get the job done, calm down...

In fact, she was already doing range calculations for various buildings and opposing possible observation areas. This was one of her favorite parts. She could measure and mess with her brain as much as she needed to, which resulted in a very well done job.

So, Avlin tuned in her scope, keeping her helmet resting next to her on the archway, humming quietly.

OOC - I'll be gone for two weeks. *gasp* But Pinky, that's an eternity! Exactly. Skip me if you need to progress the story here. Aight, bye.

 

[Kaylon Neroka]

"General Sukie Bathors"

That answered the question of rank. Helia stiffened slightly, considering the protocol for addressing a superior.

"Glad you could make it. If you could turn your attention to the map table..."

At being directed to the table, Helia followed her prompt, moving to observe the map sheet draped over the front of the craft's hull. The details of their destination, and the route they would take to get there looked simple enough. But simplicity bred laxity, and laxity could lead to a pilot ending up as an airborne fireball falling like a meteor down to the planet surface. She'd witnessed one such occasion before, but system logs had shown hardware at fault, as well. The craft was second hand and only used for training anyhow, but she could still remember that man's face when they'd flown out.
It was reassuring to know that Sukie had an understanding of the risks, and seemed to have all angles covered as she laid out the plan of attack, her grim smile causing the memory to evaporate as quickly as it had come to mind.

"An excellent plan, General. Are we sure the sniper will be up to it?" She glanced in the direction Avlin had went and realised immediately how foolish that remark had been as it left her lips, being sure to move on and not allow the pause to hang too long. She turned her attention back to the map, leaning over it and tracing flight paths with her finger along the valley path.

"I reckon if we were to keep low enough heading down the valley, I could lead a squadron to give saturating fire to wherever you'd need it. After that, we can peel off and regroup with the rest of the flight wing, ready for when you need a door-opener" She looked back to Sukie, hoping to gauge the woman's thoughts on her suggestion. This was an RNSF operation after all, and her air wing would be their support when they needed it.

"That all depends on the depression and position of the AA cannon, however. I'd rather not get shot at sooner than necessary, but if it means you guys on the ground stay mobile and aren't drawn into a slower than necessary advance, then it sounds like it's worth the risk. The element of surprise and mobility are going to be key to overcoming any opposition, after all" Ultimately, there would be risks no matter their course of action. The safest choice being to hold off until absolutely sure there was nothing that could risk the fighters, but that could put untold lives in jeopardy on the ground, and that was a responsibility all commanding officers had to consider.

She stood up to her full height.

"If it's unclear the AA is disabled, what'll be my signal to blow the gate?"

 

[J-Wash]

"The sniper?" Sukie waved a hand in her direction. "If she can fire that thing without shattering her collarbone, we're golden."

Sukie glanced sideways at her new comrade. This close and at her full height, Heila towered over her.

"You're the warbird," she said, looking back to the map, chewing her lip. "If you think you can get a run or two in, then by all means. I'll call you when the AA's down. Or, y'know, if we come across any unforeseen complications."

Sukie dug into a heavily-padded pocket on her uniform and checked the time on her watch.

"Any last-minute revisions?" she said, without looking up. "Only they'll notice the build-up sooner or later. I don't know what hunting trips look like here, but odds on they don't involve a hundred and twenty heavily armed pongos plus change and air support."

OOC: We'll miss you, Herrith.

 

[Kaylon Neroka]

"That's what the element of surprise on speeders is for, isn't it?" Helia smiled "Once we're at the gates, whether they've bolstered their defences or not, my fighters can blast the gate open and support you from the air. We shouldn't be expecting anything remotely heavy duty" Her smile faded "Should we?"

OOC: You'll be so stealthy we won't even know IRL what your character's doing! Jokes aside, we'll miss you and look forward to your return.

 

[J-Wash]

Sukie grinned, or at least pulled her lips back over her teeth. Of course she wasn't worried about it, she'd be in a sodding starfighter, by the time she knew if she'd been hit or not it'd all be over. There was no getting shot in the ankle and limping two miles to a dressing station up-there-where-the-air-is-clear.

"Yeah, right, let's get going," said Sukie, bundling the map up and stuffing it into the passenger-side door. She turned to the two Lieutenants. "Tokarian, other one, get moving!"

Lieutenant Tokarian clambered into the driver side of the speeder, chattering orders into her communicator, and the soldiers who had been resting or bustling moments before leaped into action, readying blasters and diving into their vehicles.

"See you on the other side, yeah?" Sukie shouted, over the high-pitched whine of engines and repulsors warming up.

 

[Kaylon Neroka]

Taking a few steps back to provide the craft with clearance, Helia saluted. The nonchalance of the response Sukie had given towards heavier threats didn't fill her with any confidence regarding their intel. But it wasn't as though they could spare the time to do further reconnaissance. Action had to take place sooner rather than later, and if there were a few surprises, she supposed they would have to improvise and demonstrate to rebels what the Royal Naboo Security Force and air superiority could provide.
She watched as the craft began to take off and she made to move towards where her own complement of fighters were stationed and ready to go. The various speeders and starfighters were a marvelous sight, taking off and making their departure as the rest of the force started to mobilize. She barked out orders to her men over the communicator, fighting against the din of engines cycling up and the deep bass thrum of fighters finally taking flight, soon they'd be joining them in the air.
She would be in her own fighter in a few minutes, ready to zoom with her own kind to the support of the RNSF wherever they might be needed. Back in the cockpit, the familiarity and the freedom the bird could provide a pilot brought a smile to her lips, and as she pulled the cockpit window closed above her, she readied for her own departure, calling down the comms for her squadron's flight checks.

 

[Herrith]

The deployment area was a nice overlook of the combat zone, Avlin had to say. But not good enough. As the vehicles had started and troops were loaded in, she had made her way to a better area. One where she could actually cover people.

The assassin set up her bipod on a stable position, pulling the stock close to her shoulder and scanning the lower area. Avlin smirked. Perfect. She tuned in the scope, zeroing in the distance. Then she pulled out a sound playing system, connecting it to her earpieces and turning on orchestral music, humming quietly along.

OOC - Surprise!

 

[J-Wash]

The speeder bounced and jostled over the rough country, the all-terrain repulsorlifts turning its handling spongy and awkward. Alongside Sukie's speeder came four others bearing chalked-on 3rd Starborne insignia and slapdash camo paint, while to her left, the RNSF speeders (all painted a garish if noble green) peeled off towards the line of low prefab buildings, their passengers leaping free with guns at the ready. Tokarian chatted with the RNSF lieutenant, her tone unchanging even as the first blaster rounds chattered into the houses. A few bipedal droids stood further up the hill, their simple processors registering intruders and responding with inaccurate random fire. They stood up from the marshy grass along the valley floor and edged forward without taking cover. Then Sukie`s speeder darted behind the brow of the valley, hiding it from sight.

"Eyes on the road, Lieutenant," Sukie said, her knuckles white as she gripped the doorhandle and cradled her carbine.

"The locals are requesting air support while they get into cover," Tokarian went on, without a pause.

"Well what are they asking me for? Patch them through to her nibs, madam wing commander," Sukie snapped, glancing out of the window and watching stray rounds fly over the brow of the hill.

 

[Herrith]

Avlin adjusted her scope and focused on Sukie, zooming in as the woman surveyed the battle. Sure, she could have been doing other thinge, namely shooting smugglers, but whatever. How easy would it be to accidentally shoot someone? A misfire, maybe?

She smirked and banished the thought, returning to eyeing the distant compounds, looking at small flashes coming from windows. One such flash zoomed in her direction, a stray bolt. The assassin didn't flinch as pebbles rained down over her head. Well, that was rude.

Avlin checked the distance, put her finger on the trigger, and breathed. She was suddenly back on Eriadu, arrow drawn on a primitive bow and looking right at her prey. Snow fell in slow motion.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

The arrow flew.

The man's upper half vanished.

She continued surveying the area.

 

[Kaylon Neroka]

There was life coursing through the starfighter's engine and it gave Helia goosebumps to hear it. The anticipation of flight, the promise of speed and to soar freely in the air. Armed with the intent to bring firepower wherever it was needed.

Take off was routine, and the steady climb into the air filled the cockpit window with the view of some clouds, inviting an ever-climbing pilot to plunge into it's vastness. She levelled out with her squadron giving chase, forming up to a V formation, she made a few calls back to each pilot, checking on their starfighter status and their own general wellbeing. Greenlights were returned in turn.

"Alright boys, keep your birds steady. We've got a little time before we get to the site, but I don't want anyone slacking or breaking formation unless I permit otherwise. Understood?" More greenlit responses and the idle chatter of pilots happy to oblige. Her tone was relaxed but still overruling the chatter of each pilot, yet she could very much understand how freeing it felt to be up with the clouds.
That wasn't to say they didn't have a job to do, they were representing the Royal Naboo Air Force after all, and that was the only thought keeping her from fully relaxing. She was the Royal Wing Commander of the King's own. These flyboys were her responsibility and she'd answer to the king if anything went wrong, or if they stepped outside the remit of their given operation. Starfighters weren't expendable, nor were truly skilled pilots.
"Helia, we've got a hail from the RNSF, they're reporting locals are requesting aerial aid. What're your orders?"
"Stay in formation and follow my lead. We'll be coming up on their location soon and we'll need to start dropping to low altitudes for our valley run anyway. Patch them through."
The communications link shifted with a haze of static interference as her stomach lurched and her starfighter began to enter a steady decline.
"-requested. We're not in position yet and they're starting to fire on us. I repeat, we're not in position yet-"
"Confirm, air support en-route. Please identify target hostiles"
"Affirmative. Current hostiles are identified as droids, currently occupying buildings on route to the target zone and located along high altitude points of terrain. What else do you need to know?"
"Understood, ground forces. Throw flares where you need us to shoot and keep your heads down, fire support is on it's way"
The link died in moments, not through any interference, but rather the termination node depressed beneath Helia's thumb. They knew what they needed to do, and she could do with her comms clear. Her hand darted to the console and controls about her, checking her ammunition and armament status for the fifth time since take-off. She made sure the safeties were disengaged and relayed the details to her team. It looked like things were going to heat up below.

She was hoping to bring the squadron in low enough that they'd be able to cover the area far ahead of where she suspected she was being hailed from, but travelling at such speeds as her squadron of fighters steadily descended and slowly accelerated, meant any target area would be fast approaching. The altimeter was still saying they had several thousand feed of clearance, dropping hundreds every few seconds, though their speed was already picking up. She started to relay the plan to the rest of the squadron, each instructed to keep an eye for flares.

The flares trailed coloured smoke into the air in three subsequently lit areas; each a bright light that would be hard to miss, even at their speed. The speeders could be seen zooming past, clearing the area with their swift advance below.
"Alright everyone, saturation fire beneath the flares. Precision is key, don't want to hit friendlies"
Rogers and affirmatives were returned on the opened squadron channel, and as they began to swoop in low, Helia caressed the trigger of her gun controls. Squeezing it just enough to for it to take her by surprise, but once the lances of laserfire started to discharge she tightened the finger around the trigger, fully depressing it and adding to the volume of her other fighters saturating the areas with fire, releasing a few seconds later once her trajectory needed correcting, having discharged plenty of rounds to disrupt the ground and throw debris scattering into the air.
Speed was still their strength, and as they were zooming rapidly past the speeders not too far beneath them, she started to pull the squadron around, arcing through the air and rolling to the left so the squadron could pull out of the combat zone again, clearing the top of the valley side with only a narrow margin of clearance.

 

[Herrith]

Avlin had made her way to near the front lines, standing tall by a landspeeder as bolts whizzed past. She'd nearly forgotten what it was like to be fighting fairly. Most of the time her enemy hadn't had a chance to even hear her. With helmet on and rifle slung, she watched as aerial forces repeatedly struck fortifications. The pilots were impressive, to say the least.

She pulled on the fur hide around her shoulders, then unslung her rifle, crawling just enough over a small depression to have view of the compound ahead. Her bipod flicked to the ground, she turned on the power conduit, and then breathed as her scope came into view.

Scanning the horizon, Avlin noticed several things. Open ground meant a slaughterhouse for the Naboo troops to run across, and higher positions granted to the smugglers resulted in even more kill zones. She scoffed in disgust at the utterly poor starting foothold even as RNSF took control of more and more land.

Ah, well. She took aim at a window and fired, rewarded with a lessened buzz of blaster fire.

The man she had shot fell out of a window and landed in a bed of flowers and thorns, and she gave in to quiet laughter.

Her rifle cycled and she aimed abroad once more.

 

[J-Wash]

Ill at ease with silence, Sukie grabbed Tokarian`s headset, wires trailing into her Lieutenant`s jacket across the speeder`s small cockpit and making the avianoid`s steering pull a little to the left. Tokarian cheerfully gave her a stream of invective, but the rush of thrusters overhead shut her up.

"Peas and rice!" Sukie swore right into the open comms channel as the fighters swept past.

A dozen long heavy bolts followed the fighters as the compound's heavy cannon opened up, barely skimming the brow of the hill and detonating in big, glowing red splats just behind their tailfins. The fire tracked them as they went by, the blasts inching closer. They were too soon, too close. Sukie's breath hissed between her gritted teeth.

"Get us into the valley!" she shouted, out of nervousness. "Focus fire on the wall, and we'll try to force an opening!"

Tokarian hauled the steering wheel over and the speeder swung in a lazy arc over the hill. They were a good few yards ahead of the compound's rear entrance, and blaster fire pattered into the thick black earth around them, smugglers popping up and down behind the back wall. In a flying wedge, the speeders bore down the compound. Rounds blew smoking holes in bonnets and doors as 3rd Starborne soldiers leaned out of car windows, unloading magazines of blaster fire into the prefab metal, rounds flying over Sukie's head. She ground her teeth together and shut her eyes tight. Of all the parts of the plan, this was easily the worst.

Tokarian aimed the speeder at the section of wall, locked the steering column, and jumped out of the car, one hand pulling Sukie with her. The speeder continued on, slamming into it at top speed. Heated metal sheared apart in a spray of sparks as the vehicle's forward repulsorlifts shorted out, ploughing its nose into the dirt. A gap maybe nine feet wide tore open in the compound wall, and the rest of her platoon rushed in behind, rushing over Sukie's head and around the wreck now pouring smoke and fire into the air.

 

[Kaylon Neroka]

Turbulence seemed to rock the fighters for a moment, skimming over the lip of the valley wall as its edge exploded in their wake from the firepower cast in their direction. The heavy sound of cannon-fire was already chasing them, great bolts of laser-fire as broad as Helia's wrist which lanced through the air in their wake and intent on swatting them from the air. It was too close a call to say it was inaccurate. They'd just been going faster than fighters were likely expected.

The advantage of speed was not to last, however. With their flight levelling out and turning more skyward for the altitude their acceleration was bleeding away fast, and with each round the heavy cannon-fire chasing them was getting closer and closer. Bright beams of light were already shooting past the wings of Helia's fighter and she reckoned her squad-mates were no less lucky than her.
"Keep loose, don't give it an easy target!" She called down the comms feed to them. It was more for their benefit than her own, she didn't have the clearance to perform any extensive manoeuvres, and if she so much as attempted to jink she'd move into the nose-path of any other fighter in their squadron. The sooner they spread out and gave her some breathing room the better.

Slowly banking round, she looked up through the glass, feeling the press of the G-Forces keep her rooted into her seat and trying to force her hands down from the controls. An explosion lit up below as a speeder crashed into the compound wall and it seemed to make a grand focus point for both parties engaged below. The sooner they could disable the heavy cannons the better, then they could provide the support they were assigned to provide.

Perhaps their ground assistance had been pre-emptive, maybe even eager, but what showed for it was the amassing RNSF converging on the compound through the valley leading up to it. No doubt they'd lost the tactical readiness to call in a surprise air strike, but lives would have otherwise been lost leading up to the main assault on the compound. Helia hoped that Sukie and the assassin would both see it that way at least.

"Squadron, prepare for evasive manoeuvre beta!" Helia called through the comms. The incoming fire had left blackened streaks along her left wing where her tilted angle only now provided the natural light to see. Too close, and as they panned round they were no doubt easier targets. A few brief words of concern responded and she glanced to the altimeter. She had a few hundred feet of clearance, that'd have to be enough.
"Drop!" She blurted over the comms, and as one each of the craft turned to a nose-dive.

As was part of evasive manoeuvre beta, each fighter turned its attention groundward in a quite literal manner, making use of any and all rolling action they were currently engaged in, and emphasizing the subtlest of control stick movements for two seconds before arresting the flight in whatever direction the pilot resulted facing. Helia herself tugged the control stick hard to the side and with nauseating force her head swam as her ship began to roll in an engine-propelled freefall.

The evasive manoeuvres she'd called upon were not technically textbook, though Helia had made each member of her personal squadron learn the basics of performing alpha, beta, gamma and theta. Each had their own dangers and gambles that few besides Helia would call upon making. Depending who was asked and what their background was, the acts were either insane, or creative genius. More often, she'd been finding the former of the two criticisms becoming prevalent.
Performing too close together could kill various pilots in the same squadron by colliding into one another, and each attempt of beta was made by almost literally surrendering control of your flight direction, a gamble that would often escape predictive targetting, but would also pitch the aircraft in an entirely unpredictable direction.
Perhaps the biggest issues of all was that it could cause extreme nausea and impair a pilot's senses and judgement, or that too much force in conflicting directions could literally tear a fighter apart from the torsion. It was a manoeuvre that apparently only worked in an environment with gravity, according to the one space pilot Helia discussed it with (one who voiced it as foolish), but the repositioning potential it provided was almost as effective as in zero-gravity, with the only disadvantage (short of self-destruction) being that the resultant direction change could be entirely random.

She gritted her teeth as the altimeter span rapidly in descent before jerking her command stick back, more mercifully than she had been when enacting the spin (else her wings would tear off instantly). Her knuckles turned white and she wheezed out a breath as G-force tried to force her through the floor of her fighter, arresting her descent and once again flying in a completely random new direction.

"Rebreathers!" She spoke through her own affixed mouthpiece. Her words were muffled, but each pilot would know the call made after performing the evasion.
Her head was dizzy but in sucking up the oxygen-rich intake of the pilot rebreather, she blinked away her distorted vision, felt her heart steady itself, and through the glass she could see that each of her pilots had effectively executed the manoeuvre at different altitudes and was each flying in different directions. It had worked most effectively, and had spread them out far enough that the laser was only ever able to target the general direction of one at a time.
She knew that each of her pilots would be dizzy from the manoeuvre, and the brief plummet had provided a meagre increase in their speed once more. Enough to escape the pursuing fire she hoped.

"I've been hit! It's right on my tail!" The crackling voice of Jonas, the second newest of her squadron but an experienced pilot all the same, came through from the comms and captured Helia's attention immediately. Out the glass, the fire of the cannon really was bearing down on him at speed. Having been unlucky enough to pull out of the freefall in the direction of the cannon and flown danger-close over it's top.
Half of his tail was missing and a faint trail of smoke and vapour was leaking from the gaping breach in its tail. Not enough to disrupt his flight - by the path it illustrated he'd travelled - but it was a concern all the same that they'd taken damage. If he was leaking fuel, then he'd best be grounded sooner rather than later; if it was coolant, then his fighter wouldn't be safe to fly; and if it was anything else, it could be a danger all the same.
"Keep evading and pull out, Jonas, I don't want to say you died taking up sky-writing"
The laser cannon was already rotating to draw a bead back on his flyer, and the rest of the fighters were beginning to pull around, bringing the compound back into their crosshairs. They were one man down, but they had the distance to try for another run.
As the cannon drew into her crosshairs, Helia held her breath and kept the control stick steady.
"Target the compound, watch for friendlies. On my mark, Fire!"

 

[Herrith]

Avlin hopped on a speeder approaching the compound, hanging on to its side and rolling off as the machine halted. She holstered her sniper, pulling her pistol instead, then launched her grapple towards a nearby window.

Time slowed for her as she crashed through, straight into a group of five smugglers who stared at her in shock. The first one, nearest the window, was sent to the ground due to her impacting his chest from the entry. The remaining four had been next to a weapons crate, and they all reached for weapons as she closed in on them.

Three meters, two, one-

A blaster bolt impacted her chest gusrd, and she winced as her skin burned and blistered even as she fired a shot at the unarmored man in return. The last three were aiming at her, however their weapons were long barreled, giving her the advantage as she ducked under a third man, firing twice into his chest and then grabbing the muzzle of a barrel coming her way.

With a grunt, she lifted the barrel towards the ceiling as it fired, raining pebbles onto the combatants. She turned to the last man and swept his legs, producing a vibroknife from her bandolier and dropping her pistol as she turned to the one who she'd held the barrel of. In a clean slice, she cut his throat, then turned to the man she'd kicked upon entering the window, who had recovered and was rushing towards her.

The assassin released her stabbed victim's body from her grasp and kicked off the wall, stabbing Window Man in the face. The man she'd swept the legs of was now up and reaching for his pistol, but Avlin aimed her grapple launcher at him, fired the cable into his chest, and reeled him in, using that same arm to clothesline his neck.

As the man laid on the ground coughing, she spoke through the helmet vocoder.
"Smile for the camera."

She picked up her dropped blaster, aimed it, and fired a shot into his head.

Pressing a button on her helmet, she spoke in a tone that could be mistaken for passiveness, but in reality was happiness.
"I'm inside. Tell your troops to not shoot the lady in armor."

She walked down the hall, deeper inside.

OOC - Sorry for messing up the posting order! I was tired when I wrote that!

 

[J-Wash]

Sukie pressed her back up against the compound wall alongside Tokarian. They both panted, grinning at one another and reloading their weapons. Inside the compound, firing and screaming commenced from all angles as the 3rd Starborne hurtled through the narrow gaps between the compound's prefab buildings, mowing down any smuggler unlucky enough to be in the open. The huge laser cannon swiveled away from the starfighters and tried to depress down far enough to hit the speeders, but only succeeded in blasting huge holes in the sod outside the perimeter. Tactically it was negligible but added to the general noise and mess of the event.

"Alright, all units disable that cannon first, then await orders," said Sukie. "We need that warehouse under lock before the locals get here. Lieutenant, show us the map,"

"I thought you had it," the Lieutenant replied.

Sukie's heart dropped. They both turned to the smoking wreck of their speeder and swore in perfect unison.

Sukie grimaced. "Cover me, yeah?"

What a chuffing mess, she thought, ducking low and sprinting forward as her Lieutenant let an entire magazine loose over her head. Blaster fire whirred around her head, sparking off the car's buckled form as she slid into cover behind it. Sukie crouched behind the passenger-side door (graciously still open) and fiddled around for the map, tugging it slightly burned from the glove box. She spread it out in front of herself, and lying on her front behind a door rocked with blaster impacts beside a still-burning wreck, she traced the warehouse building with a finger.

"Any available Starborne, secure the low building sunk into the hillside, western edge. We need the contents in one piece, so keep fire light, okay?" She paused for a moment before switching channel. "Hey, Bardok, we need a little help clearing the warehouse. Give us a hand and I'll buy you something nice."

 

[Kaylon Neroka]

The storm of fire unleashed by Helia's weapons at the laser cannon blasted black patches across its outer surface, buckling and causing light damage. Its outer surface was somewhat reinforced with whatever the rebels had mustered.
Swooping in towards her target, she flew above it at speed, its gun aimed elsewhere and sparing her the same close call as her other pilot. It wasn't long before it'd swung its cannon round to aim at her tail, forcing her to dodge and weave to avoid the spray of incoming shots. She could glance others swooping in and snapping off careful shots wherever possible at the compound but none dared to dawdle.
There was nothing for it at that point, they needed to target it at another angle, or more of them would suffer.
"Sukie, any chance you can take out that gun? It's causing us some problems" Clicking on and off of the comms channels.
There was no response over the comms for a time, she was likely busy with her own endeavours down on the ground. With a little luck she might have heard, and would be able to react, but Helia couldn't afford to wait on such hopes.
She'd need to think how to take on the cannon. Perhaps an external power generator could be targeted? She'd need a few seconds to formulate a plan.
"Squad, keep your eyes peeled for a generator, and any more flare signals. We have our problems but so do our guys on the ground"